Enable did you find this post useful for first post of thread also

Sometimes there is some useful information in the first post of some threads, like stickies or tutorial threads. It would be nice to see this enabled on the first post of threads too so that the thread starter can get some kudos for it.

There is a scales icon on the left bottom of the first post too.

But "Find post useful" is more intuitive. I just thought it didn't make any sense for it to be disabled on the first post.

I guess it depends on what the 'find post helpful' stuff is actually for.

Some folk use it to signal their approval/disapproval of a post (either because they agree/disagree with an opinion expressed or to flag a good/bad answer as such)

Some folk (quite often new to the board) seem to view it as a "This answer solved my problem" button and will click 'no' on perfectly good and valuable replies simply because it wasn't a silver-bullet for their issue: which tends to annoy the people who tried to help them who may tend to view them as ungrateful.

Some folks are just using it as if it was the "Thankyou" button we used to have.


The use of the "find post helpful" mechanism is a bit of a mess all round, and at this point I wonder if it is actually serving any purpose at all.

It does serve a purpose. But maybe the negative answer could be removed, just like there is no option for negative reps.

Originally Posted by GazL The use of the "find post helpful" mechanism is a bit of a mess all round, and at this point I wonder if it is actually serving any purpose at all.

My reputation points come almost exclusively from people clicking on that "Find helpful" link. It wasn't until I'd been around here for a while that I even noticed a strange looking icon that displayed "Add to reputation" on a mouse-over. How many newcomers are likely to click on that?

Originally Posted by rknichols My reputation points come almost exclusively from people clicking on that "Find helpful" link. It wasn't until I'd been around here for a while that I even noticed a strange looking icon that displayed "Add to reputation" on a mouse-over. How many newcomers are likely to click on that?

^this

I use the Did you find this post useful as a general indication of approval/disapproval. It doesn't matter whether or not the post solved a problem for me. I click yes if I think it will help the OP, or if it seems particularly informative or generally helpful to all users.

Originally Posted by GazL I guess it depends on what the 'find post helpful' stuff is actually for.

On the "first" post, the helpful rating can be used for giving
kudos "publicly" to the OP for a nicely formed question.

OTOH, a copypasta help me kind of homework question is bound
of get a landslide of downvotes.
i.e 0 out of 10 members found this post helpful.

BTW on a serious note, I think, on the first post, it is less likely
to get misused, since IMO, it will be used majorly by the regulars.
New members rarely answer the questions.

*Ahem* But some of regulars are grumpy too, you know... ;-)

Originally Posted by GazL Some folk (quite often new to the board) seem to view it as a "This answer solved my problem" button and will click 'no' on perfectly good and valuable replies simply because it wasn't a silver-bullet for their issue: which tends to annoy the people who tried to help them who may tend to view them as ungrateful.

But of course they have no reliable way of knowing it was the OP that clicked it? They can assume of course, but it could equally have been some particularly bloody minded troll or just someone who likes randomly clicking stuff...

Originally Posted by GazL The use of the "find post helpful" mechanism is a bit of a mess all round, and at this point I wonder if it is actually serving any purpose at all.

I've made my views known on this before - I don't think it serves any useful purpose. I certainly think the "no" option should go at the very least. Yes, I've seen the arguments about flagging up "dangerous" or misleading posts, but the best way to deal with such posts is to hit the report button and/or challenge them and post a correction. The inescapable problem with the "no" option in it's current form is that it's misused - so if I'm a newbie and I'm supposed to infer that an "unhelpful" post is misleading or dangerous, I'm potentially discounting a lot of helpful posts which were marked as unhelpful by some troll or an OP that wanted the "silver bullet" solution.

<deleted>

Originally Posted by Anisha Kaul *Ahem* But some of regulars are grumpy too, you know... ;-)

Originally Posted by caravel I've made my views known on this before

Originally Posted by Anisha Kaul <deleted>

What was that Anisha? Didn't quite get what your trying to say there

I agree I think the no link should be turfed, I've seen noobies be given a negative on their posts in their own threads when there was nothing wrong with it. Some people just seem to get a bee in their bonnet and target anything they don't agree with which makes a mockery out of the system. Yes people should harden up but people should also use common sense and unfortunately there seems to be a distinct lack of common sense with the negative button.

As for the OP I think in the case of Tutorials/HowTo's a positive is a great idea. I don't know the format for tutes here some sites moderate them to make sure they are tutes and if that is the case it shoudn't be to difficult to give them a positive button that people can use to show appreciation.

The person who clearly thought it would be a great troll to mark Anisha Kaul's last post as "unhelpful" clearly need to get their head examined. I feel it pretty much illustrates my point however in how flawed this post rating/reputation system is.

Originally Posted by caravel The person who clearly thought it would be a great troll to mark Anisha Kaul's last post as "unhelpful" clearly need to get their head examined. I feel it pretty much illustrates my point however in how flawed this post rating/reputation system is.

This statement of yours has prompted me to re-write
what I wrote in that previous deleted post.

In the previous deleted post, I had quoted your
first statement, and said that IMO, the reason why
people sometimes mindlessly downvote can be that
they know that they won't get caught.

Currently it is like hit and run case.

Example: If I know, I'll get caught 100% if I
steal your cookie, I won't ever try stealing it.

I suggested in that previous post that let it be
publicly shown that who downvoted, (by
making the statement, 2 out of 3 members found
this post helpful, as a hyperlink. And those who
wish to see can click that link and get the list.)

But after some minutes I realized that that
suggestion (if followed) will result in a flame war
in many threads, that's why deleted the post!

Also, previously the mindless downvotes were reduced
quite drastically when the root had disabled it for
the new members. Currently it is enabled for everyone.

Anisha Kaul, you can see the person who downvoted you in your user control panel, right? Do report members who abuse that feature.

I think that the "No" option can be removed from the post rating thing. After all if a person doesn't find it useful, it can simply be left un-rated. Far less offensive and impersonal.

Originally Posted by vharishankar Anisha Kaul, you can see the person who downvoted you in your user control panel, right? Do report members who abuse that feature.

I did, and not as a troll. It just seemed to me that a post with no content is unhelpful. You may think this is foolish, but I don't think so if it furthers this discussion in a productive way.

No slight against Anisha was intended. I believe Anisha to be mature and intelligent enough to understand this.

I think that the "No" option can be removed from the post rating thing. After all if a person doesn't find it useful, it can simply be left un-rated. Far less offensive and impersonal.

I wouldn't object to that, provided the intent of the system is clearly explained and the implementation reflects that intent.

edit
For the record I am referring to post #10 by Anisha Kaul, which at this time contains only the text "<deleted>" followed by Anisha's signature.