Posted by chujoe on July 27, 2010, at 6:31:10
In reply to Re: Rewards, posted by Dr. Bob on July 27, 2010, at 1:42:37
I am very skeptical regarding any points or reward system at Babble. I used to hang around a couple of sites that allowed ratings & it became clear pretty quickly that the system is easy to abuse in several different ways. Even someone as "wise and compassionate" as me* was often tempted to rate down people I disagreed with politically, for example. Sometimes, the rating system itself becomes a kind of meta-subject in a thread, to the detriment of the actual subject. But my main concern would be that some people would be better at working the system than others, resulting in an in group & an out group & surely that would be a major problem for a community like Psychobabble, which presents itself as inclusive and supportive. There are lots of examples around the internet of sites dominated by fanboys and fangirls, who create a kind of echo chamber effect that merely amplifies the prevailing belief system of the site, while excluding (either subtly or overtly) other points of view. That is one reason I have been so insistent on finding ways to allow for argument within a community of support -- argument keeps us honest.
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*I'm being ironic, of course, but someone did actually use those words to describe me recently.
poster:chujoe
thread:952980
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20100714/msgs/956084.html