I’m thinking about replacing the post upvote/downvote system with one that also allows voting on comments. If possible, I would disable downvoting on comments as it can lead to hurt feelings, but what do you think? Please vote in the poll in the sidebar to the right, and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
28 thoughts on “Quick Question”
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Absolutely no to voting on comments.
It tends to put people on the defensive and seems to encourage negative feelings as you noted. People like being “liked” but take “dislikes” personally.
I don’t think it’s necessary. We’re good at cheering each other on, and it’s more personal and community-building if we do it with words, not votes.
Agree.
It might be nice to have some positive reinforcement from people who don’t have the time to comment or respond to a comment, but I think it might also elicit some down votes from people who wouldn’t make a negative comment. I think the danger of hurt feelings might outweigh the possible good, though people who do comment on the site are very nice I think.In sum, no.
I voted for upvotes only, if you’re going to have voting at all. I’ll admit I often don’t think to vote on the post itself, though I do often move to click a non-existent upvote button on comments (partially a habit from frequently commenting on a blog that does have comment voting). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comment here that I would actually downvote (and I’d say about 90% of comments can probably assume I have upvoted them in my head 😉 ). That said, I don’t really have a preference one way or the other whether to have comment voting.
The other blog I referred to uses Disqus, which allows you to see the names of the people who have upvoted you, which is nice because you can acknowledge a comment even if you don’t have anything really to say about it. If the names aren’t visible then that doesn’t really matter, though. It does not allow you to see downvotes, however. You can only see if you yourself have downvoted a comment (the arrow turns red on your screen, but no one else sees it), and I assume it affects how comments are sorted (if you sort by “Best”), but that’s about it. (Since there’s no option to sort comments here, that’s a moot point, too.)
I don’t think upvoting on comments is necessary. We do a good job of replying “YES!” or “YASSS Queen!” or “I second that emotion.”, etc.
Part of the charm of this community is that we actually take the time to comment on each other’s comments. It’s more complicated, but in this time of taking the least amount of time to interact with other humans, it makes it feel more human and I like it. Sometimes, I like to come here to read the “conversations” we are having with each other.
I know you can like comments on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, but that doesn’t mean we need it. I also think “upvoting” on comments lends itself more to “apps” on your phone. This site is a slightly different animal.
Hear, Hear!! Well said. And I agree totally, no up/down votes on comments.
Totally agree!
Upvote this. 🙂
Snerk.
Agreed. The only thing upvotes on comments accomplish is hooking into the lizard brains of people with addictive personalities, and that’s rarely a good thing for quality of posts.
Agree.
After reading what Julie wrote, I have to agree with her! I love the conversations, they give me happees!!!
Yeah, me too. Words cannot ever express how much this community’s support cheers my heart. You all have become dear friends even though we’ve never met.
It’s fun to get feedback to our comments or little jokes but I agree with the others, I’d rather have a YES! or GOOD ONE! or a GROAN! And there is also emojis for when you don’t have time or don’t want to comment in words.
I vote to have the upvote/ downvote & commenting stay just like it is. I often will upvote and not add a comment. But will adjust to whatever you decide. NTMTOM, it’s nice of you to give us forewarning and/or ask our opinions before you change something on the site. It let’s us know you value your cutetropolis fans.
Strong yes to what everybody else said – for me, even just upvotes would create pressure to try to be clever and popular.
Thank you for the opportunity to weigh in!
I love the idea of being able to upvote comments! I’m more of a lurker than a commentator, so oftentimes when someone leaves a comment that makes me smile or chuckle I don’t say anything. But if there were an ability to upvote, I’d love that!
This was the one thing I thought being able to up vote might be good for, but then I would hate for people to start feeling bad if they weren’t getting up votes. So again, on the whole, I think not worth it.
I agree. I think not getting votes would hurt feelings too. Thank you Mike for asking for our opinions!
Mike, it is your site. But I don’t feel there is a need for voting on comments. We seem to be comfortable enough to say how we feel about things that are said.
I agree with those who say no voting of any kind is necessary. I read most of the comments but rarely make comments myself. Our ‘family’ does a great job of getting our feelings across. I’m not clever with words so I feel what I’d say probably wouldn’t be adding anything to the post. I receive emails from several YouTube posters every day and see so many who brag about being the first commenter, etc. I don’t feel that’s why I joined those YouTubers. They are families I just enjoy reading about of their daily lives with their little ones. I don’t need or want notoriety of being ‘first’ or any such thing. My ego (or lack thereof) doesn’t need pumping up!! That goes for not voting on comments here. It gets to be a race to see who ‘wins’ best comment of the day. If we really like someone’s comment, we feel comfortable letting them know it was REALLY brilliant. I think it should stay that way.
I read a few sites that have fantastic commenters and use an upvote tool. It can be fun–especially for lurkers. For the Frequent Commenters it can make one try a little harder to be clever and witty, which can attract new readers. (One site I follow is actually more fun in the comments than the main text–which would never be possible here.)
But if you do it, it is essential to disable downvoting.
Thanks to all who voted in the poll and commented. There seems to be a general consensus that any sort of voting on comments isn’t a good idea, so I won’t pursue that.
Thanks for asking us!
Thank you for asking, Mr. Mike!
Thank you for asking, and thank you for listening!
I’d like upvotes. There are a lot of times I love a comment, but hate to make a reply just to say “lol”