Should Positive Votes of Comments Be Anonymous

Currently, negative voting of comments is anonymous so I propose that positive votes of comments be as well.

It has been discussed before (in previous forum topics) that attaching users to negative votes of comments which caused 'a huge amount of fights' as in this topic https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/70230

Instead, I believe that Ozbargain should head in the other direction where both positive and negative votes are anonymous.

For example, a user presents an unfavourable opinion in a comment section which receives many negative votes. Those who vote negative here have no fear of retaliation, however, there may still be some who support the opinion but choose not to balance the argument with a positive vote as the positive vote is not anonymous. Therefore, those who vote positive or negative are not under equal circumstances leaving a skewed result of the true beliefs of the community.

What I'm trying to say is that it would be a good idea to have positive votes of comments unattached to users like negative votes. This would encourage those to possibly provide support for 'unfavoured' comments in a similar way to those giving negative votes anonymously, where there is minimal retaliation.

(Poll deals with above)

Additionally, comments which receive negative votes are initially greyed out before being collapsed, if it was a fair opinion however, I do not believe this is the right treatment of the comment as it can be likened to censorship. However, I understand that some comments such as spam,poor language and misleading information should be collapsed and can be difficult to moderate. Ultimately, I believe that spam, poor language and misleading information should be reported and dealt with by the mods while those fair comments which receive negative votes should have the 'score' displayed next to them but still be visible the same way positive or no-vote comments are.

Poll Options

  • 10
    I agree that positive votes of comments should be anonymous
  • 16
    I disagree that positive votes of comments should be anonymous

Comments

  • +1

    How do I view people who have given positive votes of comments? Is this it https://www.ozbargain.com.au/live

    • +2

      Click on votes next to reply under someone's comment.

  • Sometimes I reply negatively to a comment bit it doesn't warrant a negative vote.
    However if someone gives them a negative vote I feel my hand is being played to either + vote them so that they know it wasnt me who negged them or write PS I didn't neg you.

  • Eh, I honestly don't care how people vote on my comments, and I'm always controversial ;)

    • No you're not.

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