Mixxing Up vs. Mixxing Down/Out

[twosox]

I have a question for you guys -- I'm loving Mixx, in general, and I agree that it has a lot more promise than the other sites out there.  My question is on why you vote up or down on a topic/article.  In my mind, I'm trying to decide if I'm voting something up based on the content or whether I think people should know about the article.  For example, if I find an article that offends me, but I think that people should know about the topic, do I vote it up or down?  (I submitted an article about a disturbing crime, and while I thought the topic was horrible, I thought people would want to know about it as a news item).

Seems like a simple enough question, but it speaks to the basic philosophy on these social news sites.

What do you think?

(And I do like the term "Mixx it Up", but "Mixx it Down" seems awkward.  How about "Mixx it Out"?)
Sox

[Bdog2g2]

I have a question for you guys -- I'm loving Mixx, in general, and I agree that it has a lot more promise than the other sites out there.  My question is on why you vote up or down on a topic/article.  In my mind, I'm trying to decide if I'm voting something up based on the content or whether I think people should know about the article.  For example, if I find an article that offends me, but I think that people should know about the topic, do I vote it up or down?  (I submitted an article about a disturbing crime, and while I thought the topic was horrible, I thought people would want to know about it as a news item).

Seems like a simple enough question, but it speaks to the basic philosophy on these social news sites.

What do you think?

(And I do like the term "Mixx it Up", but "Mixx it Down" seems awkward.  How about "Mixx it Out"?)
Sox

Sox,

You know I've never really thought about it that much.  Sometimes if I question the quality of the content I'll vote it down, but I do also vote down items that rub me the wrong way (I know that's a little selfish).

You do bring up some pretty good points, though.  And I've never looked at social sites (news ones especially) from a philosophical and pscychological perspective, but perhaps we should @ some point.


As far as the terms I use "Up Vote" and "Down Vote", along with a few others.

[cGt2099]

Voting is pretty much a personal choice as to how you do it.  It could be you voting it down because you disagree or whatever. 

Sometimes however, there may be stories about something you venomously disagree with (content wise) that really should be voted up to spread the word.  For example, Bush vetos Child Health Bill.  You might disagree with it; but it's probably worth voting up to let others know about. 

[twosox]

Sometimes however, there may be stories about something you venomously disagree with (content wise) that really should be voted up to spread the word.  For example, Bush vetos Child Health Bill.  You might disagree with it; but it's probably worth voting up to let others know about.

Excellent example.  I guess I'll have to see how it goes, but it does seem that there's an interesting discussion to be had around this -- we're probably not the only ones thinking about it, I'm sure.

Sox

[StandardsDT]

Voting is pretty much a personal choice as to how you do it.  It could be you voting it down because you disagree or whatever. 

Sometimes however, there may be stories about something you venomously disagree with (content wise) that really should be voted up to spread the word.  For example, Bush vetos Child Health Bill.  You might disagree with it; but it's probably worth voting up to let others know about. 

I never thought about it like that before. There many things over at digg that I would disagree with so I'd either not vote for it or bury it. But your perspective on this has completely changed the way I think now on voting stories up or down.

[preshit]

The whole idea of submitting stories / voting is that more people know about them and get involved.

For me, if I come across something that I disgree with or find offending, I'd Vote Up, and comment on it what I feel.

[MarkDykeman]

As a general rule of thumb, I won't vote stories down, just not vote on them at all if I don't like them.  Unless they turn out to be completely awful.

[jdaniels]

As a general rule of thumb, I won't vote stories down, just not vote on them at all if I don't like them.  Unless they turn out to be completely awful.

yeah, I've picked up this habit lately.  If I click on a link and I'm not entertained / intrigued, I'll just close the tab and move on.  Mixxers seem to reciprocate good/bad votes so I've been keeping off the "vote down" button. 

I think Mixx is about building a community, not bashing stories that other people find interesting.  When the site gets busier, maybe I'll become a bit more critical.  But for now, I'm trying my best to get the Mixxing ball rolling.

[FareTheeWell]

yeah, I've picked up this habit lately.  If I click on a link and I'm not entertained / intrigued, I'll just close the tab and move on.  Mixxers seem to reciprocate good/bad votes so I've been keeping off the "vote down" button. 

I think Mixx is about building a community, not bashing stories that other people find interesting.  When the site gets busier, maybe I'll become a bit more critical.  But for now, I'm trying my best to get the Mixxing ball rolling.

I'm in complete agreement with you.  The only times I think I've voted something down is, if it made zero sense or if I posted a dupe and didn't notice until it was too late.  I don't feel like I should deter someone from reading a story just because I don't like it. 

[StandardsDT]

yeah, I've picked up this habit lately.  If I click on a link and I'm not entertained / intrigued, I'll just close the tab and move on.  Mixxers seem to reciprocate good/bad votes so I've been keeping off the "vote down" button. 

I think Mixx is about building a community, not bashing stories that other people find interesting.  When the site gets busier, maybe I'll become a bit more critical.  But for now, I'm trying my best to get the Mixxing ball rolling.

I'm in complete agreement with you.  The only times I think I've voted something down is, if it made zero sense or if I posted a dupe and didn't notice until it was too late.  I don't feel like I should deter someone from reading a story just because I don't like it. 

I'm the same about the dupe thing. However I've never submitted a dupe before. People have summited dupes of the articles I submitted so I just vote those down. I once submitted something and very few people voted it up and the following day some one posted the same article I did and it had like 10 - 20 votes. I think I already mentioned this either in here or in a comment. But still either way thats the only time I've used it or if it's extremely old news. For example people were voting up a story that was submitted one month ago. It had to do with the Halo 3 sales and I was saying to myself "Why they hell are you people voting this up. It was submitted a month ago and just now it's making it's way up?".

[dustin]

I have a question for you guys -- I'm loving Mixx, in general, and I agree that it has a lot more promise than the other sites out there.  My question is on why you vote up or down on a topic/article.  In my mind, I'm trying to decide if I'm voting something up based on the content or whether I think people should know about the article.  For example, if I find an article that offends me, but I think that people should know about the topic, do I vote it up or down?  (I submitted an article about a disturbing crime, and while I thought the topic was horrible, I thought people would want to know about it as a news item).

Seems like a simple enough question, but it speaks to the basic philosophy on these social news sites.

What do you think?

(And I do like the term "Mixx it Up", but "Mixx it Down" seems awkward.  How about "Mixx it Out"?)
Sox

Sox,

You know I've never really thought about it that much.  Sometimes if I question the quality of the content I'll vote it down, but I do also vote down items that rub me the wrong way (I know that's a little selfish).

I'm about the same way, though I don't really vote something down anymore.  If I disagree with the article I'll post in the comments why, but I'll probably only vote down if it's blatant spam.

IMO, however, it would be nice I think if people posted a comment when they voted something down.  There are plenty of reasons why someone would vote something down and it's hard to ascertain how they really felt about an article simply from a down vote.

[MarkCarras]

I have a question for you guys -- I'm loving Mixx, in general, and I agree that it has a lot more promise than the other sites out there.  My question is on why you vote up or down on a topic/article.  In my mind, I'm trying to decide if I'm voting something up based on the content or whether I think people should know about the article.  For example, if I find an article that offends me, but I think that people should know about the topic, do I vote it up or down?  (I submitted an article about a disturbing crime, and while I thought the topic was horrible, I thought people would want to know about it as a news item).

Seems like a simple enough question, but it speaks to the basic philosophy on these social news sites.

What do you think?

(And I do like the term "Mixx it Up", but "Mixx it Down" seems awkward.  How about "Mixx it Out"?)
Sox

Sox,

You know I've never really thought about it that much.  Sometimes if I question the quality of the content I'll vote it down, but I do also vote down items that rub me the wrong way (I know that's a little selfish).

I'm about the same way, though I don't really vote something down anymore.  If I disagree with the article I'll post in the comments why, but I'll probably only vote down if it's blatant spam.

IMO, however, it would be nice I think if people posted a comment when they voted something down.  There are plenty of reasons why someone would vote something down and it's hard to ascertain how they really felt about an article simply from a down vote.

I don't think I have ever had a story voted down, but if I did it would be nice if an explanation was left in the comments.

[Glen]

I've had similar thoughts myself. I recently submitted an article about a drunk guy lying under a train the stumbleupon that didn't do well. I wondered if people didn't vote for it because it was stupid for the guy to do it, or didn't feel it was right to raise awareness of drunken acts.