Quote:
Quoting pauls42:
But the point is that giving negative votes will change the behaviour of the original poster - it can stop them being able to post at all.

Giving a negative vote should be viewed like reporting the post to Ken/Gerri. They have just automated it so that whereas with other forums the post would have to be reviewed before any action was taken, here we have the possibility that is many report the post then action is taken automatically against the poster.

On other forums I have reported posts and within 1-2 mins have seen the offending post/thread stopped - but that relies on having enough moderators to carry out that role.

You have a point - o.k.! But we have to deal with very different points of views concerning the "gray areas" of what is offending/insulting and what not. Who can decide objective without any emotions?

I would like to give you an example of what I mean (only an example!!!):

I make a joke about Margaret Thatcher -> You give me a Negative

You make a joke about Helmut Kohl -> I give you a Positive

So, who decides what's right or wrong and what's funny and what's not? 

IMHO if in doubt don't vote! the freedom of expression should have priority. 

One has to be very careful these days to not inadvertently insult someone from a different culture.  Take, for example, the British Teacher in Somalia who faced severe punishment because her elementary class gave the name Mohammad to a Teddy Bear. Protesters in Somalia even called for her execution.  Statements made innocently are often taken quite differently depending on the audience.

Quoting goblinsdoitall:

Quote:
Quoting kdh1949:

Quote:
One has to be very careful these days to not inadvertently insult someone from a different culture.  Take, for example, the British Teacher in Somalia who faced severe punishment because her elementary class gave the name Mohammad to a Teddy Bear. Protesters in Somalia even called for her execution.  Statements made innocently are often taken quite differently depending on the audience.

You didn't have to go this far, as this thread shows (http://www.invelos.com/Forums.aspx?task=viewtopic&topicID=219677).
An annoyed user kicked of a discussion about what is cursing and what not and whether it can be tolerated. He definetly offended the religious feelings of some other users and would have gotten severly bad marks for this. But he never intended to offend someone (at least I hope so).
My point is: Tolerance in multicultural environments always has to be on both sides.
It's easy to offend people who want to be offended.

As for the idea of giving bad marks anonymously: it's partly disabled, since in profile contributions only the contributor is allowed to give reputation marks. Quite easy for the marked to find out who it was then.

Hear hear i seond this!

Hi Paul,

Quote:
But the point is that giving negative votes will change the behaviour of the original poster - it can stop them being able to post at all.

I see so the California Highway Patrol gives out all those speeding tickets & this makes the motorist respect the speed limit? In this example long term financial pain, does not change the behavior. When the motorist is bad enough they get there license taken away, or go to jail. I really don't believe Ken or Geri need a vote count to discern the troublemakers. So your negative vote, only temporarily relieves your frustration,  to the offensive post & does not change the posters behavior one iota. The immature poster has had a lifetime to hone his/her hurtful sarcasm, negative votes won't change this. Granted that negative stars will slow the offensive poster, but this is not the solution to bad behavior.

Part of the problem is the offensive person does not think his/her posts are bad. How about a thread with just negative votes (so all can see) with perhaps a very brief explanation why it's offensive. Perhaps the immature poster will realize what is & is not respectful. 

Take Care
Rico
Rico

Hi Paul,

So when do the Swallows come back? Very beautiful place 'SJC' + one of the original missions. Paradise!

You've missed my point! Negative votes & speeding ticket do not correct bad behavior. Most often only a very small number of people miss behave. The habitually bad posters, are obvious to the majority in the community, they stick out like a sore thumb. There behavior is so aberrant to the majority, they just stick out. I believe changing the bad behavior is far more powerful, than punishment. In order to change anything, one must know what needs changing. Hence a thread of shame, or bad behavior would be an eye opener for the miscreants.

Take Care Amigo
Rico

Rico, if you get a speeding ticket, the odds that you'll get another the next time you speed are very low.  I've been driving too fast for many, many years and haven't had a ticket in well over 10 years.  If someone behaves poorly here, they'll get nailed.  If they do it again, they'll get nailed again, and so on.  It would be the same as having a cop follow you everywhere you go to make sure you don't speed again.

Hopefully getting some bad votes will be enough to wake some people up.  If that fails, they'll temporarily loose the privledge of posting.  Either way it improves the situation for everyone else.  And that's a big win in my book.  I'm not interested in rehabilitating posters (although it would be a nice side effect).  I'm interested in making this place better for those who choose to play nice.

This has only been going a week now.  I think it's way too early to call this a success or failure.  Although you can't deny that it's made a big improvement in it's first week.

Quoting Mark Harrison:

Quote:
Rico, if you get a speeding ticket, the odds that you'll get another the next time you speed are very low.  I've been driving too fast for many, many years and haven't had a ticket in well over 10 years.  If someone behaves poorly here, they'll get nailed.  If they do it again, they'll get nailed again, and so on.  It would be the same as having a cop follow you everywhere you go to make sure you don't speed again.

Hopefully getting some bad votes will be enough to wake some people up.  If that fails, they'll temporarily loose the privledge of posting.  Either way it improves the situation for everyone else.  And that's a big win in my book.  I'm not interested in rehabilitating posters (although it would be a nice side effect).  I'm interested in making this place better for those who choose to play nice.

This has only been going a week now.  I think it's way too early to call this a success or failure.  Although you can't deny that it's made a big improvement in it's first week.

I agree, you have said everything I was trying to say. Only better. 

@ Rifter: You just earned a positive mark for this