Am I the only one?

Question

Am I the only one who uses the ratings system correctly?
Even if I disagree with a particular answer/question, if it's a GOOD one, I rate it as such and vice versa. If I find myself in the rare position of not being able, or willing, to concede the fact of this due to strong feelings, I simply don't use the rating option!

Should Y!A change the ratings buttons to "agree/disagree"? As it seems that's what everyone uses them for!
Many a very well put answer or question I see with the rating of being a bad one, simply because bigots don't agree with what it said.
How shallow can you get!

Hmm. Seems this was an atrocious question, should one judge by the "good question/bad question" ratings.

Or have I simply proven my point...

:)

I put this in this category for two reasons: 1) This seems to be the main category where this happens
2) I assumed(rightly it seems)that the truth would hurt the offenders enough to prove my point through example(although I DID fail to see that I could get a "bad question" rating for seemingly posting something in the wrong category!)

;)

GodShew: see, that's what I would call a "bad answer", as you make it quite difficult to understand you and you failed to answer the question!

Answer 1

Frankly it depends on my mood. I usually try to be fair and open-minded, but sometimes I lapse into the 'I agree' mentality.

Of course, remember that this is largely a plague of the R&S section (and the politics section). People asking questions about where to find a good restaurant in Mumbai or who played what role on M*A*S*H are rather more likely to rate answers objectively.

But I notice that you're right. It seems to change from day to day. Sometimes crap answers from one religious group get dozens of thumbs-up and sometimes great answers from that same group get all kinds of thumbs-down.

I just don't worry about it much.

Answer 2

Out of all users, you are the only one indeed.
Most people only ask questions to get their own opinion confirmed so answering these is waste of time anyway. And if you'd ask a question about the color of grass, the answer chosen as best by voters is very likely to be "square" or something like that.
In fact I don't see any purpose in voting at all. This answers thing should have been more setup as a forum where normal discussion is possible.

Answer 3

I try to use it fairly, Googly. And I do in the majority of cases.

The only time I might not be fair is when the same people keep copy/pasting really long text as an answer to my questions.

Having to scroll through that over and over is difficult for me because I have RA and sometimes my hands don't function properly.

So I'll give it a thumbs down to make life a little easier for me.

I've started requesting in my questions that people refrain from copy/paste, and that's helped the situation immensely.

Answer 4

Not quite getting why this is a religion-spirituality question, I think agree/disagree might make more sense. Why? Because, as you say, the word "good" isn't universally understood the same way. It requires a value judgement, and we don't all share the same values in the same way.

Answer 5

I rarely use the buttons because I think everyone is entitled to an opinion even if it is something I totally disagree with. It is not my place to tell them they can't have their view.

Making the buttons agree or disagree makes more sense as that is how people tend to use them.

Answer 6

How can I get rewarded the Best Answer rating from the asker of the question when I had six "Thumbs Down" for my answer?

That makes no sense at all!

Answer 7

I agree, and I also hate looking at the percentages of answers correct, because even if you answer, and someone thinks it is bad, or not what they are thinking, it still may have been a good one. Also if someone else, looks you up, they might form an opinion on the stats, and not what you say.

Answer 8

Are you talking about the thumbsup/down ratings? I thought those were there so that if somebody pissed you off with their answer you could give them a bad rating and if you liked somebody's answer you could give them a good rating. That's what I do. I kinda like doing that actually...

Answer 9

It really doesn't matter, this is just amusement.

But, I agree that it is used as a popularity poll rather than a rating. It is rating the user (asker/answer) not the question/answer.

Someone asked what a person is called who is rigid in his beliefs and I answered "dogmatic" and received 2 thumbs downs.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnD2KzchYubleoxAFXYJl7rsy6IX?qid=20060923194007AALFSxj

*ROFL*

"Thumbs downs" for providing the only correct answer to the question?

It's just a game...

Answer 10

I didn't know there was a correct and an incorrect way to use the rating system. Where's the manual?