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budgallan... budgallan...
 
M$1 December 17, 2008 12:56 AM

Should helpful answers default to "yes" instead of "no"?

I've noticed on every users' profile I have seen the helpful answer graph is sort of a let down, giving the impression the majority of the answers have not been helpful, simply because nobody clicked the "yes" button. I know it is not a perfect alternative, but it seems like there would be better results if the default was "yes", rather than "no". Is there any ideas on how to improve this, or do you believe it is fine as it is?

Note: I'm using Jason's stat's as an example, because it illustrates quite well the downside to the current system. I think we'd all agree his answers are not 77% unhelpful.
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jasoncalac... jasoncalac...
 
 December 17, 2008 01:02 AM
This is a problem and I spoke to Eric about it yesterday.

we are going to move these charts to just a count (i.e. 17 helpful and 21 best) as opposed to as a % -- which makes no sense you're correct!
Asker's Rating:
• Glad to hear Mahalo is on top of this!


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edthedoc edthedoc
 
December 17, 2008 12:57 AM
How about only counting actual votes?

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budgallant budgallant
 
December 17, 2008 01:02 AM
Seems logical. There must be a way it was implemented the way it was, hopefully we'll find out why and generate some discussion on possible alternatives. Yours makes sense to me.

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eric eric
 
December 17, 2008 01:08 AM
Thanks for the feedback! You guys are exactly right. As Jason mentioned we're going to move to just showing the counts (i.e. 17 helpful and 21 best). We realized this before launch but ran out of time to fix it.

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eatthatpop... eatthatpop...
 
December 17, 2008 01:02 AM
No, I think the default should be neutral.
Let's say I have 12% "yes," and 3% "no." All the answers I gave that no one bothered voting on should no count against me. It's not that they weren't helpful, it's just that they weren't voted on.
Source(s):
Just my two cents :)
hope this helps


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bernices bernices
 
December 17, 2008 01:03 AM
I totally agree as I too was brokenhearted seeing my score for the first time. Very good point to bring up!

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jeffhoard jeffhoard
 
December 17, 2008 01:04 AM
I think jason, ed and eathat all offer valuable solutions, like Bernice said it's one of those features that gives off an aura of negativity for no reason, any solution to get rid of the huge negative graph would be great.

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xds xds
 
December 17, 2008 01:18 AM
I also think we should be allowed to see who is voting us down if they do it more than once in a answer they do not reply themselves to.

People could just be going around voting people down for no reason even if they are yellow belt or above.

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xds xds
 
December 17, 2008 01:21 AM
Also could someone please tell me how to have my avatar show up in my answers ?

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ssharon ssharon
 
December 17, 2008 01:24 AM
Great question, and I'm glad to see answers I like.

I would also add that there should be a way to tell which questions you have posted in (and if there is already being done, it should be more clear) . I like to return to questions I have answered to see other people's comments and this would help. (doing this through the profile is not what I had in mind by the way.)
Perhaps this will also encourage questioners to return to their questions to vote on answers they found helpful.

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edd edd
 
December 17, 2008 01:37 AM
Only askers should be able to rate answers in my opinion -- otherwise, social ratings can become skewed by particularly popular questions that happen to receive more viewers willing and capable of rating an answer unhelpful.

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