You mean like +1 ("2 Votes for Good Answer, 1 vote of useless message") or something like that? I was sort of thinking about doing that. I didn't do it because it's a lot easier to add a single field to a couple of database tables ("Score") than putting together the infrastructure to permanently keep track of the component votes. I think it's a good idea, though, so this will happen soon--hopefully next week.

As for listing the names of those who vote, I disagree that that's a good idea. I believe it would unnecessarily create tension among forum membmers--i.e., if someone scores a message poorly because the message was, in fact, not very good, the author could hold a grudge against that person in the future. I'd rather that everyone score messages without fear of being rediculed by others for their vote.

The only reason to display the names of those who vote would be to keep them honest so that they don't abuse the system. But I plan that we'll implement one or both of the following systems to prevent abuse: 1) The system will automatically monitor scoring over time to see if someone is abusing the system by constantly voting against the same person/people or only votes *against* messages. Such members would be flagged and I could then remove their ability to score messages. 2) We can do a "meta-moderation" thing like they do at Slashdot where the votes that are made anonymously can be reviewed by other members (anomymously) and if the score appears to be inappropriate the score can be removed from the original message and the original member who unfairly scored the message will have a point deducted from his karma. I.e., everyone remains anonymous but you get penalized if other members think the score you gave a message is unfair.

And while all of this is possible, I also don't want to make the system too complicated. The idea is to talk about 8052 stuff here--I'd rather people focus and spend time on that than making the scoring system absolutely fool-proof and spending more time scoring scores than contributing to the forum.

Regards,
Craig Steinre
8052.com Webmaster