Posted by: MightyDuckK
Relying on the Save Thread function as a "Voting with your mouse" function has a few issues that I see. One that John pointed out, which is that there are other Reasons for saving threads, some of which have nothing to do with thread quality or user quality. It should be called "Saved Threads That I Like" if that's the case. Common reasons to save threads (not exhaustive):
1. You are interested, want to keep tabs.
2. You posted - the OP was an idiot or a winner, want to check on response.
3. You need to reply, but don't have time.
4. It's hilarious, want to share it with others, don't have time right then.
5. It's really bad, need to do something about it...save it so you can deal later. Or gather enough as evidence that someone should report soomeone.
This is just a few - and as you can see, in some of these cases I would not want the user who wrote the post to be rewarded because I saved his thread. But I still want to save the thread.
I figured it'd have made more sense just to keep the Saved Threads feature as a general tab-system. However, I can see exactly why the choice was made for "trust" ratings to be included for this as well.
The second issue is that the Saved Threads feature is only a "vote" for the OP, not for other posters. No way to give positive feedback about someone who never creates threads but often does praiseworthy comments.
That's a fair point. I rarely make threads. And if I do, it's generally to make a point about a system (a positive point usually), or to compile lists of evidence/easter eggs or such, or to start a new craze (of which 2 of about 7 my threads have done so far...one being the whole TUE shenanigans, the other, LASO). I'm more of a replier to be honest. I enjoy giving feedback to others, helping others find answers to question and...I'll admit, "police" the Forum.
The third issue - Saved Threads as a vote of quality is not discoverable. This is a design choice...but it's pretty clear from the way people didn't get it how you were using Save Threads until after (witness Recon's I Get It thread as well). This is a design philosophy question - should rewards systems be apparent or not? I can see both sides. But in that case, why is Report discoverable, and Praise not? That seems to weight things in the direction that John was concerned about in the first place.
We could, if the system can allow us, Save the Thread, and then be asked why we're saving this thread in the first place. That could help categorize the reasoning better and improve the system.
Not sure what the right answer is, but I am going to use Saved Threads for everything and not reallly worry about the impact. If they get Heroic plus status as a result, not what I'd intend, but I don't have any other way to make a list of aliases. I suppose I could use the browser aliases function but that seems kind of bogus.
There's no right answer really, just what works a bit better. I agree with you though; I shall continue to use all of B.net feature's in a way that I see fit. And if Spammers, somehow (although, I doubt it considering I believe that each Save may contribute small ammounts of Trust points) get a higher Member rating...not what I was intending.
As I think was poined out in a thread before by someone:
*We could have the Report button catergorize why we're reporting that particular post. This could help Moderators see the difference between high-alert spammers and simple, yet still annoying, "Recon Threads".
*We could then also, categorize why we want these people to have their Trust/Karma increased.
*Finally, we could again use the Saved Threads in this way.
Think XBL's Player Review. For each member, you're allowed to prefer them, or each post, only once if you so choose.