Comments on blogs/news/features

[glunark]

I don't know if this is the right place to bring this up, but lately it seems there is quite a bit of abuse of the rate down and mark as spam features of the comments sections in the blogs, news and features.

Sure people have the right to mark something down if they don't agree with it, but sometimes it seems like once someone has decided not to like someone else, that person will be marked down no matter what they say, in any thread, and things are getting marked as spam that clearly aren't spam.

What is there to protect the site from bots is being used as a tool for people with axes to grind.

I don't know what the answer is, or even if there is one, I just thought I would let my feelings be known, and see if anyone else agreed with me.

Or disagreed with me.

Or marked this as spam.

[jumpin' jellybean]

I definitely agree about the marking things as spam. Spam is not "a post I disagree with". There's already an option for that, and if you strongly disagree with a comment, post and say so, instead of reporting them as spam for crying out loud! Thank goodness we have mods who actively investigate reports of spam rather than just canning accounts. I think that if you erroneously/maliciously report a legitimate post as spam there should be sanctions, at the very least a word in your shell-like from the mod team.

The marking down of posts has been a little daft of late, particularly during the SFX Factor (seeing every single post that said they didn't vote for Doctor Who marked down made me giggle heartily), but if there's a system for marking posts up and down, it's going to happen. Only marking up is really any use - it enables the highlighting of popular posts, which can be useful with posts that get masses of comments - but as someone who has had several comments marked down, meh, it's not a big deal.

[Boo]

I agree JJ.

Unfortunately that kind of system will be open to abuse (remember how the tags had to be removed from threads? and the ratings? Some people are just sad.) The thing I really dislike about the marking of posts up or down (to be honest hadn't noticed any being maliciously marked as spam) is having to scroll past the popular comments to read them all in order. I find when they aren't in order it can be confusing to read comments in context when people respond to another comment and then get moved up, and it makes it harder to see any new comments.

I don't really know what the answer is, I suppose the marking system could be removed but I think we do need some way that we can report any abuse or spam.

[Kudos]

As someone who writes for the website I've noticed oddities in the rate up/rate down system for a good while. It seems to be used by people to downgrade any comment that they don't agree with, including a mass rate down with the exception of one comment sometimes.

Strangely enough in the Day The Earth Stood Still article which was put up today there's all sorts of up and down rating gone on there yet all the comments are of the same opinion, so someone is either playing silly buggers or disagreeing with everyone but not actually make a comment and just using the rate system to disagree...

If that's how people want to use the system then that's fair enough, to be honest I don't really pay it any mind, I'm always more interested in the actual comments and opinions the things I write generate, you can't really reply to a nameless faceless system.

[glunark]

Trouble is I think once someone has said something someone doesn't like, that persons comments will be marked down for all time, regardless of content, just because the person handing out the ups and downs bears a grudge, sometimes well after the point where they cant remember what had upset them in the first place.

[Rompa1978]

Originally Posted by glunark

Trouble is I think once someone has said something someone doesn't like, that persons comments will be marked down for all time, regardless of content, just because the person handing out the ups and downs bears a grudge, sometimes well after the point where they cant remember what had upset them in the first place.

It is just getting silly in some cases, not always, but a lot of the negative posters don’t seem to be bothered uploading a picture, which rightly or wrongly makes me think they just log on to argue. I could be wrong on that assumption. (I sound panicked)

[Dave Bradley]

Hi folks

Thanks for all your input on this, I totally get where you're coming from.

Originally Posted by Boo

The thing I really dislike about the marking of posts up or down ... is having to scroll past the popular comments to read them all in order. I find when they aren't in order it can be confusing to read comments in context when people respond to another comment and then get moved up, and it makes it harder to see any new comments

I agree with Boo, this is something that I find a barrier to smooth reading too and it's something I've flagged up for future development on the site - whenever that might be (not imminent I'm afraid).

Cheers, Dave