META: Bring Back Actual Voting

I was one of the biggest whiners when the change was made, and I've been in favor of this ever since. Quite frankly I think it's kind of silly that we still have this system when even when the change was made 90% of users didn't like it. And it's not like it would be super hard to code or anything; we already had the perfect system. Just bring it back.

because I love America!

and Lamp.

In the old system this post would easily be worth 100 pts, sadly, all you good people can do is  alot me my 5 pt pittance.

Does anyone on here know anyone who knows anything computer programming?  I was a sociology major, so I barely even know how to use a computer, but I have to believe that at least one mgoblogger knows something about this stuff.   

Hell, when we wanted Iris Macadangdang to win NOY, we made it happen.  Can neg points be that much harder?

i think i got half my points in the NSFW Steven R Kass thread.

Bring it back!!!!!!

I am planning a move to Drupal 7 as soon as it is feasible and will  be starting that process as soon as the OSU game ends. Unfortunately, that process is going to take a while because some critical modules are still not updated. 

So the site will remain static until then; when I move to 7 the full glory of pos/negbangs will return. Prepare thy anus. 

If you are a coder who wants to accelerate this process, the best thing to do is take some drupal 6 modules and update them for the latest version. If you're interested, email me. I've got some cash for the project but not the 100-200 dollars an hour kind of cash most shops are looking for. 

11w has added an aggressive, unlimited voting feature like the mgoblog of old. I'm in full support

One of the things that I actually found most useful as a new user, when it came to learning about this corner of MGoFandom, was the voting system as it underscored what was lauded and what was frowned upon. It basically gave people a clear picture of the culture and how to contribute positively to it, I think. Just seeing which posts were heavily upvoted / downvoted often were policing in itself, as it stopped me from saying things that I could see would get oblitterated.

My question - would we go back to the same +2 upvote / -1 downvote relationship as before?

I wasn't posting, or even lurking, on the Blog before the change, so count me as one of those who are excited to see these new developments.

I'd like to see voting come back, but with a few tweaks.

I don't know how to deal with this, but I'd like to see the new voting system or mods have some way to address compulsive voting. Specifically, there are some people who compulsively downvote anything posted by someone they disagreed with in the past. For instance, there are some who reflexively downvote anything Section 1 ever puts up on the board, probably because of his position on RR and the Freep. It seems that some mgomembers hold a grudge against other mgomembers that never dies out, and will always downvote everything put up by the object of their wrath and ire.

The original post has a "voting details" tab which reveals both these compulsive downvoters (and also outs those who shamelessly upvote their own posts. IIRC, RollDamnTide / WolverineInABag did this a lot.) That kind of feature would be helpful if and when true voting comes back.

More than just voting, I think it would be helpful for the board to be able to do more self-policing. There are two areas where this can be needed.

First, some of the comments which add no content just clog things up. (i.e., posts that consist entirely of "YESSS!!" or "Ohio SUX." or "You're an A-hole." or "Denard's the man!") Short posts make sense when answering a question (Who do you want to beat most:  MSU or OSU?) But other one word / one line posts lower the level of the board.

The other thing is going to the dark side of acrimony and recrimination. Whether it is discussions on RR or the Freep or Denard's passing, or Borges' playcalling, on occasion, people on the board need to agree to disagree without becoming thoroughly disagreeable. Sometimes, once a thread has degenerated, people just pile on the offender.

On occasion, there were some classic meltdowns and flame wars on the board several years ago. These can be amusing, but usually are just sad, and not helpful. There were formerly some worthwhile posters who either were expelled or voluntarily left the board after being piled on. Again, if the board just pillories someone expressing an unpopular and non-mainstream POV, finally, a useful poster is driven away. IIRC, user mgoshoe signed off for several months because of board disagreements. I'm glad he is back, and don't want to see users like him driven away.

Lastly, there are some who will go through a thread and upvote everything, or downvote everything, with which the voter personally agrees (or disagrees.) I guess this is ok, but it kind of makes the point system . . . pointless. We don't just need a point beauty contest.

But my participation to the discussions have decreased substantially since the old voting system went away.

I think Reddit pretty much has a solid voting system.  Is there a way we could copy that type of coding into Mgoblog?  I can see that being fairly simple from a person who knows zero about coding..