Reduce spam threads by downvotes?

[manpreet]

Over the past couple of months I have started noticing a huge influx of threads that really don't have much to do with IM on the homepage feed (when you first come on the site), this is exacerbated by trolling and constant back and forth arguments.

All above is fine as this is also a community and members should be allowed to express their thoughts, opinions and have a laugh.

However, there are members like myself who want to see new posts IM related and only good posts.

So my suggestion is having a downvote button which will help in a few ways:

Members like myself can have a filter of downvote threshold and filter out all posts from view (although subforums can be accessed as normal) which have X amount of downvotes

Mods get to see which ones have been downvoted and can either lock these off or warn the op - this system allows a collabrative forum cleanse and lets mods concentrate on crap posts/threads cery quickly

This will ensure that when someone enters the site it truely looks like an IM site whilst also having the community spirit in subforums for those who have time/want to lurk

 

[littlewebdragon]

Not sure about downvotes option, but I was rather thinking about selecting forums that you want to see in the feed.

If someone has no interest in viewing "Site Flipping" or "PPC" or "The Lounge" or "Cloaking" threads by making simple choice threads will not be shown at all at users feed.

IMO much more simple way to implement and deal with.

 

[MisterF]

The downvotes option would lead to people abusing it, sadly.

 

[Sherb]

It's a good thought, and I'm sure I'm one of the spammiest offenders. When I look at the home page though, of the most recently posted-in 50 threads, there are only three not related to internet marketing (this is one of them, and there are two introduction threads).

This is something that can be easily abused as well. If there's a pack of 5-10 people who want to target a specific member, they can easily downvote everything they post. BST sellers can downvote their competition. Members will create alt accounts and upvote their own things. Pretty soon you'd see BHW upvote services on other forums.

Again, awesome thought, but I'm not sure how secure it would be.

 

[3bisu]

Someone told me there was a way to filter sub-forum on the homepage feed but can't find the option

 

[manpreet]

With downvotes it can lead to some trollers taking the piss and downvoting their competitors so to speak but we can easily make filters/logics to eleminate this.

For example Tim can't downvote Sams posts more than twice a day (if bhw reads ips than even better).

Anything +20 downvotes > goes straight to mod > mod makes decision crap post /thread (lock off/edit/delete)...revenge downvotes (clear all downvotes on post/thread based on user/s)

There's loads of logics to eleminate abuse if thought about carefully.

The thing I'm not keen on in terms of filter outsubforums is that these crap posts are there too in which case we rely on mod moving it around. Sometimes there will be occasions where i miss out on really good posts/methods due to the crap stuff clogging up

 

[manpreet]

It's a good thought, and I'm sure I'm one of the spammiest offenders. When I look at the home page though, of the most recently posted-in 50 threads, there are only three not related to internet marketing (this is one of them, and there are two introduction threads).

This is something that can be easily abused as well. If there's a pack of 5-10 people who want to target a specific member, they can easily downvote everything they post. BST sellers can downvote their competition. Members will create alt accounts and upvote their own things. Pretty soon you'd see BHW upvote services on other forums.

Again, awesome thought, but I'm not sure how secure it would be.

BST should remain unvoted and personally I think this shouldn't show up on the feed as most of these are old and anyone looking for a service will go direct to the marketplace (or find there way there).

I can personally think of many ways to counteract abuse of downvotes (eg not for new members...maybe only for jr vip? In which case which person will make 100s of accounts to downvote a post/thread..how expensive will that service be)

Like I mentioned I personally think I miss out on some really good threads/posts (latest > so upvotes won't work as this is historical)

 

[Stiletto]

I too think that such a feature would be easily used for abuse. The more control you give people this way the more ways there are for them to manipulate stuff . Settings for each user to filter what they see might be the safer choice here.

 

[blogzandstuff]

A discussion forum needs back and forth interaction otherwise it isn't a forum, it's a collection of posts. Most members make valid points which fuels a discussion, so if you don't like something you want to down it. New members may not post for fear of a down vote, so not post. A forum should be open to members opinions as long as they are within the rules. This forum works well as it is, why try and change it because you don't like something

 

[manpreet]

A discussion forum needs back and forth interaction otherwise it isn't a forum, it's a collection of posts. Most members make valid points which fuels a discussion, so if you don't like something you want to down it. New members may not post for fear of a down vote, so not post. A forum should be open to members opinions as long as they are within the rules. This forum works well as it is, why try and change it because you don't like something

I did mention this in the openong thread and agree that you should be open to express (although Ive seen a lot of trolling and bullying here already some by respectable memebers even). What I'm suggesting is not a downvote to say basically "your shit go away"..but a a downvote that isn't viewable to all members (ie poster - so it doesn't hurt their sentiments as such) but if it is truely crap than it can be eliminated via my filter.

Maybe the term "Downvote" is too harsh. Maybe call it "Not helpful/Useful".

If someone has clicked on this the votes are accumalted backend noone really needs to see it (only mod after certain threshold) - even then mod can take a quick peek and understand in a few seconds whether it needs clearing or deleting

 

[blogzandstuff]

I did mention this in the openong thread and agree that you should be open to express (although Ive seen a lot of trolling and bullying here already some by respectable memebers even). What I'm suggesting is not a downvote to say basically "your shit go away"..but a a downvote that isn't viewable to all members (ie poster - so it doesn't hurt their sentiments as such) but if it is truely crap than it can be eliminated via my filter.

Maybe the term "Downvote" is too harsh. Maybe call it "Not helpful/Useful".

If someone has clicked on this the votes are accumalted backend noone really needs to see it (only mod after certain threshold) - even then mod can take a quick peek and understand in a few seconds whether it needs clearing or deleting

Maybe the term "Downvote" is too harsh. Maybe call it "Not helpful/Useful".

The thanks button does that, if members find something useful they give a thumbs up, if not they don't. The system works

 

[Deleted member 658642]

mod can take a quick peek and understand in a few seconds whether it needs clearing or deleting

So you're asking for something like this?

 

[manpreet]

The thanks button does that, if members find something useful they give a thumbs up, if not they don't. The system works

As mentioned the thanks button for me personally isn't very useful. Its nice for the poster as its a way to show gratitude but in terms of taking out the clutter it doesn't help as it brings out historical data as well (ie some tops mods have some of the highest level of thanks...ive already read these and they were noce but i want to see new stuff)

 

[manpreet]

So you're asking for something like this?

Sort of. But thats not correct. Who am i to report anyone if they wish to post somehing. What i am suggesting is two fold - collabrative cleansing and seeing new useful posts only without shaming anyone openly and letting them post but me not seeing it