Does posting "+1" comment defeat the purpose of the feedback system?
Hi! This is sort of a nitpicky issue, and I hope I don't offend anyone, but I've always thought that when people post "+" or "+1" as a comment, it somewhat defeats the purpose of the feedback system by clouding the issue of an upvote with the additional knowledge of who has given you that vote. Knowing that user X has been voting up my posts might, for example, cause me to be sympathetic to user X's own posts, and feel compelled to vote them up as a response. I believe the feedback system should truly be about promoting/demoting the answers based on strengths/weaknesses, and knowledge of someone's voting record simply turns it into a system of patting each other on the back. In addition, there are a lot of posts on the site which deserve to be downvoted, but, again, knowledge of who has voted something down commonly turns the conversation into an argument, which obviously is counterproductive.
Again, it's a potentially nitpicky issue and not necessarily critical, but I'm curious to hear what everyone things about it.
John
Is this a worthwhile discussion?
2 Comments
+ 1 .
by rab777hp
Thanks Rab! Let me know which one of your posts you want a +1 on. :-)
by rdklinc