NOTICE: Ratings Abuse - Knock it off, Seriously

[Off The Grid]

I'll be reversing these over the next couple of days and have over a dozen people who are involved in this practice and am going to have to set aside time to go through and manually write queries to delete them as it will require essentially over 50 queries to clear them all out, as well as run the function to recalculate them.

...I'm going to be running this report now each night to see how many negative ratings are handed out by certain individuals (and you know who you are, so consider this your one "get out of jail free card" to change your behavior) and it also shows me who you're apparently not getting along with by who you're slamming with those ratings, and if it continues I'll be revoking your ability to use them at all. For those being nailed by these people, don't retaliate as I'll see who is hitting you to begin with and will take care of it accordingly. If you retaliate, you're creating more work for me.

These are the parts of Ian's OP that really make me cringe.

We don't pay a Monthly Service Fee for this Site. Those of us who do contribute to its upkeep ~ whose Ranks I intend to join next month ~ do so voluntarily and presumably in appreciation for the the Oceans of Time required for the Maintenance of this Site ~ all to much of which, I suspect, amounts to BabySitting.

Such as this.

Whatever opinions each of us may have about individual Aspects of how this Site runs, I'm hopeful that most of us are appropriately grateful that Ian and the Moderators invest their Time and do the Work at all: He could, after all, simply wash his hands of the whole matter and unplug it.

So the fact that he's forced to choose between letting this Nonsense ride or investing a load of his otherwise personal Time ~ and asking the Mods to do the same ~ into BabySitting pisses me off.

Thank you, Ian, and thank you, Mods. Please don't ever doubt that many of us ~ most, I hope ~ are grateful.

***

Food for Thought for good old Quantum Mechanic and any "conscientious" DisAgreers:

I don't get the sense that your excessive DisAgrees are hostile in nature.

I get the sense that you're looking at them as a Voting Mechanism.

They are not offensive...But they do come across as rude.

Just something that I hope you'll consider.

 

[Off The Grid]

a mind is a terrible thing to baste...

DISAGREE.​

 

[fair catch fryar]

Do you think Tom Brady would click dislike on everything the Denver Broncos posted after he lost to them in an internet argument?

No, Tom Brady would work on his posting for 14 hours a day and then when the internet forum debate playoffs happened he'd kick their ass and send them home with a 'like'.

Post like Tom Brady you guys.

We can try, but in the end no one can post like Tom Brady. There is and forever will be only one Tom Brady.



Sorry, I can't hide it, my wife tells me I resemble a 12-year old girl infatuated with Justin Bieber when I talk about TFB.

 

[The Brandon Five]

Suggested Icon.

View attachment 11468

I vote for this:

 

[Kontradiction]

I'll admit that I've retaliated in the past when someone has hit me up with a few of them at a time but that's about it. Other than that, I really don't care. A certain poster here likes to "disagree" with everything under the Sun without leaving a reply for debate purposes. Those are about as useful as tits on a bull.

 

[Jackson 2]

I don't hit dislike all that much. I prefer to yell at them.

I don't always dislike, but when I do, I prefer double freedom rockets. Stay pissed off, my friends...

 

[The Gr8est]

Does anyone else think it might be a good idea to limit the ability to rate posts until a user has reached a minimum post count?

I've gotten dislikes from posters I didn't even know existed prior to the dislike.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Food for Thought for good old Quantum Mechanic and any "conscientious" DisAgreers:

I don't get the sense that your excessive DisAgrees are hostile in nature.

I get the sense that you're looking at them as a Voting Mechanism.

They are not offensive...But they do come across as rude.

Just something that I hope you'll consider.

I hit "dislike" and "disagree" on posts I dislike and disagree with. No hidden meanings. Pretty simple. And I plan to continue to do so.

I have to say I can't even begin to comprehend that anyone would actually care enough or take the time to file a complaint with Ian over "dislikes" or "disagrees". So fire away with disagrees or dislikes -- I honestly could care less. You'll notice I've never complained in public (or in private, though of course I have no way of proving that) about any ratings. Even when you started your silly thread bashing me.

And for what it's worth, I've given out 2800 likes, 6962 agrees, and 5032 winners vs 360 dislikes and 1053 disagrees. So if you did get a dislike or disagree it was for a good reason.

 

[JetFan79]

Being a software developer myself, I can definitely say this will be a pain in the @ss thing for @Ian to do regularly. Hopefully he can automate much of it.

Ian, if ya want any help, just let me know. Wouldn't mind having access to a DB of Pats fans. Especially one in particular... lookin' at you @Joker . Ha, I'd have some fun with that.

Seriously though, wouldn't mind chipping in some time if it'd help at all. This is a great board you have here.

 

[Ian]

Does anyone else think it might be a good idea to limit the ability to rate posts until a user has reached a minimum post count?

I've gotten dislikes from posters I didn't even know existed prior to the dislike.

This will be easier for me to monitor now and I'll also be setting up a second script that will send me an email and alert me if anyone racks up a high number of them over both a one day and also a one week span for those who try and be sneaky and dump a ton of them quietly.

They exist to provide reaction and context to a thread and somewhat keep people honest, although I haven't engaged the function of hiding posts if they get too many dislikes, etc. which is available but I think it would create more issues than it would probably solve. So I've never done it. For now the goal is to hopefully just reel in the people who have gotten way out of hand with it and have people settle down moving forward.

 

[50-yard-line]

Disagree is a neutral rating (the black center column), dislike is a negative rating (the red far-right column). Both have been in place since the inception of the changeover on this software, but only recently has it started really becoming a problem where people are going crazy with it. It's O.K. to use either and I've obviously had my share of both as well, but to see it hit that many times in one day by certain people toward individual users is just ridiculous.

One of the problems with this involves the symbols used for Disagree and Dislike. Dislike is simply a thumbs down, very similar to the Like symbol.

Disagree is a big red X, which stands out boldly on the page.

I disliked a post the other day, but it was nothing personal - I just didn't Like the reasoning behind it, and "Dislike" seemed more appropriate than "Disagree."

I, too, have no idea why anyone cares about "ratings," but I'll admit that there are a few folks who get all crazy and just start spamming and it's just annoying - mostly because when i see a perfectly reasonable post and see that big red X, I take the moment to hit "See List," because who could possibly Disagree with that?

Wastes time and energy.

ps. I DISLIKE the 522 Errors on game day. What can I do to help?

 

[Tony2046]

These are the parts of Ian's OP that really make me cringe.

We don't pay a Monthly Service Fee for this Site. Those of us who do contribute to its upkeep ~ whose Ranks I intend to join next month ~ do so voluntarily and presumably in appreciation for the the Oceans of Time required for the Maintenance of this Site ~ all to much of which, I suspect, amounts to BabySitting.

Such as this.

Whatever opinions each of us may have about individual Aspects of how this Site runs, I'm hopeful that most of us are appropriately grateful that Ian and the Moderators invest their Time and do the Work at all: He could, after all, simply wash his hands of the whole matter and unplug it.

So the fact that he's forced to choose between letting this Nonsense ride or investing a load of his otherwise personal Time ~ and asking the Mods to do the same ~ into BabySitting pisses me off.

Thank you, Ian, and thank you, Mods. Please don't ever doubt that many of us ~ most, I hope ~ are grateful.

***

Food for Thought for good old Quantum Mechanic and any "conscientious" DisAgreers:

I don't get the sense that your excessive DisAgrees are hostile in nature.

I get the sense that you're looking at them as a Voting Mechanism.

They are not offensive...But they do come across as rude.

Just something that I hope you'll consider.

Disagreeing is simply disagreeing. Agree?

 

[Ian]

Being a software developer myself, I can definitely say this will be a pain in the @ss thing for @Ian to do regularly. Hopefully he can automate much of it.

I appreciate that, but the plan is that I'll code out something to make it easier to reverse instances of abuse, so once that's done it'll make it easier to deal with. I think between the notifications I'm setting up and that, that will hopefully solve the problem.

 

[Ian]

One of the problems with this involves the symbols used for Disagree and Dislike. Dislike is simply a thumbs down, very similar to the Like symbol.

Disagree is a big red X, which stands out boldly on the page.

I disliked a post the other day, but it was nothing personal - I just didn't Like the reasoning behind it, and "Dislike" seemed more appropriate than "Disagree."

And that's exactly why "Disagrees" are neutral - so people can disagree without it showing up in the red column.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I hit "dislike" and "disagree" on posts I dislike and disagree with. No hidden meanings. Pretty simple. And I plan to continue to do so.

I have to say I can't even begin to comprehend that anyone would actually care enough or take the time to file a complaint with Ian over "dislikes" or "disagrees". So fire away with disagrees or dislikes -- I honestly could care less. You'll notice I've never complained in public (or in private, though of course I have no way of proving that) about any ratings. Even when you started your silly thread bashing me.

And for what it's worth, I've given out 2800 likes, 6962 agrees, and 5032 winners vs 360 dislikes and 1053 disagrees. So if you did get a dislike or disagree it was for a good reason.

In 17k+ posts I've given out 4 disagrees and 6 dislikes. I need to pick up the pace.

 

[Tony2046]

Being a software developer myself, I can definitely say this will be a pain in the @ss thing for @Ian to do regularly. Hopefully he can automate much of it.

Ian, if ya want any help, just let me know. Wouldn't mind having access to a DB of Pats fans. Especially one in particular... lookin' at you @Joker . Ha, I'd have some fun with that.

Seriously though, wouldn't mind chipping in some time if it'd help at all. This is a great board you have here.

Yeah great idea. While we're at it why don't we hand over the TSA to Iran or get China to help us out with our Government's internet security.

 

[Jackson 2]

In 17k+ posts I've given out 4 disagrees and 6 dislikes. I need to pick up the pace.

Slacker...

 

[tasmlab]

The Pats will never win unless they trade for a tall wide receiver.

(Just testing the system)

 

[Off The Grid]

Not even sure what the point of the system is. If we're all grown adults, why rate anything in the first place? I don't look at people's ratings and say "wow" that's a good/bad poster....seems like some ego stroking myself.

Earthlings are Social Critters. Living to please others because you have no Self Esteem is one thing: That's just being a Whimp. But it's a natural and healthy part of the Human Condition to care what others think.

I really like being able to send off an Attaboy or two with a simple Click of the Mouse.

Indeed, I think that the Ratings Systems was one of the Site's best Additions.

 

[Mark.]

These are the parts of Ian's OP that really make me cringe.

We don't pay a Monthly Service Fee for this Site. Those of us who do contribute to its upkeep ~ whose Ranks I intend to join next month ~ do so voluntarily and presumably in appreciation for the the Oceans of Time required for the Maintenance of this Site ~ all to much of which, I suspect, amounts to BabySitting.

Such as this.

Whatever opinions each of us may have about individual Aspects of how this Site runs, I'm hopeful that most of us are appropriately grateful that Ian and the Moderators invest their Time and do the Work at all: He could, after all, simply wash his hands of the whole matter and unplug it.

So the fact that he's forced to choose between letting this Nonsense ride or investing a load of his otherwise personal Time ~ and asking the Mods to do the same ~ into BabySitting pisses me off.

Thank you, Ian, and thank you, Mods. Please don't ever doubt that many of us ~ most, I hope ~ are grateful.

I became a supporter recently. I realized how much work has gone into this site after perusing some other message boards. This board is so much better than any other I have found by a large margin. Plus it seems that posters always have up-to-date info and are actually fairly intelligent (an anomaly in the sports fan world). We even have fans of other teams that stick around and are welcomed here. Other sites scoff at opposing team's fans and do not welcome any opposing opinions. Such a great site-I spend far too much time on it. Thanks!