My First Orble Pet Peeve :: Multiple Comments
December 6th 2006 23:56
I should start off by saying that I believe this post may very well offend a couple of Orblers, and if that is the case then I apologize. I in no way mean for this post to be directed at any one person here on Orble and it is in no way personal. This post is merely my opinion on a form of "gaming", or cheating the system that seems to be rampant around here.
Secondly, I'm not moaning to get my own stories ranked well because I can do that on my own, and without using sneaky methods to keep them in the top ten.
All I wish to do is assert that there are some comment practices being used to game the system and it's as obvious as it gets that it's going on.
Let's get right to it...
I normally don't get in a fuss over petty things like this, but my being offended over it has now held me back from commenting on several posts that I felt were well worth commenting on simply because of the quality of the post. And it continues to happen.
Basically, I refuse to comment on a post where the author seems to think no one else will be bothered by their multiple comment posting, when only one comment is needed.
What I mean by this, and I'm not going to post any examples, is that a few Orble bloggers will reply to five or more comments using one comment per reply. This means that instead of the author using one post to reply to the recent comments, the author is posting one comment in response to each comment listed.
What does this do? Well, in short, it cheats the system and keeps a top ten post spot locked up and sealed off until the time period runs out and the "gamed" post falls off naturally.
Why? Simple. If a comment that you post on your blog is worth two votes, then why not give yourself 20 votes every time you need to reply on your blog right? I mean... who wants two votes when you could have 10 times that without anyone else's help?
In fact, I think Orble is the only place where I've seen this allowed. Multiple posting on forums like DigitalPoint and others will warn you for it and then ban you if it continues. Overall it's considered to be a very selfish practice and most online communities look down on this sort of thing.
Why does it bother ME so much? Because it means the system is not working on a level playing field. A post does not get to the top ten list because the readers want it to. No, the post is getting there because the AUTHOR wants it to. That in itself flies in the face of the community based structure that is taking the web by storm.
Now I'm not suggesting that those of you who do this are doing it just to beat everyone else off the top ten list, but it does raise questions as to how much concern you have for other posts that possibly deserve to be in that spot. It's also quite possible that some of you don't even realize what you're doing, but that doesn't change the fact.
Finally, it's logical to assume that this "back door" in the ranking system will eventually be exploited by money hungry web gurus who couldn't care less about you, me, and the credibility of Orble.
In my opinion, Orblers should begin looking down on this practice. I know, I know... it's an easier way to respond to all those different comments. But the fact remains that when you do this it games the system into thinking the post is better simply because it has more comments.
We've got some really good bloggers around here, some are even tech friends of mine here on Orble, and they can't seem to break the ice and get a post out there for all to see. I think we should be giving everyone a fair shake.
Gaming the system, whether you mean to or not, simply isn't cool.
-Eric
EDIT: Please know that I'm looking at this from a technical standpoint. I hope you'll understand that people see things from different viewpoints. With this post, I'm just saying that I notice something that I'm sure future Orblers will notice as well.
Also, as Jon points out below, this isn't necessarily about multiple posts being a bad thing, because they aren't. In fact, you should be able to comment all you want. But if this is going to be allowed then perhaps the voting system could be tweaked so it doesn't change the outcome of the post rank.
This is simply my opinion. Nothing more.
| 398 |
| Vote |
Comments (58)
Add Comments
Read More
