Experiment: No Comment Scores

#1

Post by pg » Sat, Sep 26, 2009, 4:24 AM UTC

Over the years several people have suggested not displaying comment scores. I finally decided to try it. There are so many users now that voting is starting to have a bit of a mob feel to it. We'll see if this makes the site feel better.

Voting still has all the same effects (on karma, and on position on the page), so I encourage users to keep doing it. The only difference is that comment scores aren't displayed in threads.

Re: Experiment: No Comment Scores

#2

Post by thorax » Sat, Sep 26, 2009, 4:27 AM UTC

Interesting experiment. I thought I was going crazy all of a sudden.

A suggestion: Any chance the numbers could show later as the article gets older? I'd like to see how the votes resolved after some time. Or perhaps hide them only on front page articles?

Re: Experiment: No Comment Scores

#3

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 26, 2009, 4:29 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Experiment: No Comment Scores

#4

Post by plinkplonk » Sat, Sep 26, 2009, 4:30 AM UTC

thorax wrote: post #2

Interesting experiment. I thought I was going crazy all of a sudden. A suggestion: Any chance the numbers could show later as the article gets older? I'd like to see how the votes resolved after some time. Or perhaps hide them only on front page articles?

"I thought I was going crazy all of a sudden."

heh! so did I . I actually asked a friend to look at it and tell me if he saw what I was seeing! (Long day, too much code, off to bed)

EDIT: I tried to vote up the comment above and got a "Can't make that vote" message. Then I tried to vote down a comment and got the same message. Bug?

EDIT2: Now I get a blank page on upvoting. I guess PG has a REPL open and is changing the site "live"

EDIT3: Blank page on voting (firefox/linux). This acts as a subtle disincentive to vote. "Oh I am going to see that blank page again and then need to click the browser back button. I'd rather continue reading(vs voting)". Is this by design? I hope not.

EDIT4: Fixed.

Re: Experiment: No Comment Scores

#5

Post by jrockway » Sat, Sep 26, 2009, 4:31 AM UTC

I can still see the score on the "edit" page, which means I can still edit my post to whine about being downmodded. Since nobody knows the degree that I am being downmodded to (or corrected to), people might upvote more than they should.

(I have also noticed that people don't stop upmodding even if the score is visible. I got 80 points yesterday on a one-line comment poking fun at Joel Spolsky. WTF?)

Just like when there is the delayed "reply" link that isn't showing, you can still reply to a comment by clicking the "link" link.

Edit: why is this being downmodded?

Re: Experiment: No Comment Scores

#6

Post by chaosprophet » Sat, Sep 26, 2009, 4:32 AM UTC

And here I was, thinking firefox was screwing up the JS. I guess this should improve the quality of discussions a lot, since a lot of people tend to just skim the few comments at the top. Not displaying the comment scores might make them read more.

Re: Experiment: No Comment Scores

#7

Post by joshuaxls » Sat, Sep 26, 2009, 4:32 AM UTC

Any chance we can see scores when we're looking at our own comments section?

Often when I notice a bump in my karma I look at my comment threads to see what was so popular.

Re: Experiment: No Comment Scores

#8

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 26, 2009, 4:34 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Experiment: No Comment Scores

#9

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 26, 2009, 4:35 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Experiment: No Comment Scores

#10

Post by mbrubeck » Sat, Sep 26, 2009, 4:35 AM UTC

It looks like pg is still in the middle of changing things. A moment ago I could see other people's comments' scores in the replies on my "threads" page; now I can't.