Threads Rating and Fairness

[Deer Thistle]

I really don't get the point of a rating system, especially in particular subforums where it's unnecessary and personal bias gets in the way such as the secondary market sim factions which is the most apparent. It almost reminds me of Reddit where people give (or subtract) karma because they like/ agree or dislike/disagree with the comment and not for the real reason karma upvote and downvote is there - for Reddit users to say how helpful a topic is or how much it contributes to the discussion or overall forum as a whole.

Any post that is truly of such importance that warrants five gold stars is most likely already stickied or perpetually bumped to the top of that subforum because it's just that meaningful that people respond on an occasional basis. It's human nature to click the downrate karma button if you disagree with an opinion such as on Reddit, or the five-star button to acknowledge your best breeding bud here on the forum who has created a topic even if you've yet to read that topic's contents, I don't think a lot of people consider what they're doing or are trying to "troll" but just have set views on various topics (and the denizens of that topic) that make them downvote or upvote something without thinking of what the rating system represents and I don't think anywhere on the site is it clear what the rating system does signify. I think as long as there's a rating system in place and even if it's clarified with how individuals should use it properly, there will always be people who upvote or downvote carelessly.

The rating system is unforgiving to accidents as well, and all it takes is one accident to discourage someone and ruin their topic's rating. What I find problematic with the rating system is something from personal experience and is extremely frustrating, and makes me agitated when I do so. In the past, I've misclicked the rating when I'm on my iPhone and it's very easy to hit one star instead of five stars when I tried to upvote an informative topic with healthy discussion, so I ended up doing the opposite of what my intention was and had no way to mend it, I've even downrated my own topic on accident once and had to redo it because I couldn't adjust the rating afterwards. Another instance of this once before I tried to click on topic titles while on my phone (Yes, I love KittyCatS so much that I browse on my phone very, very often LOL) and instead landed on the first star to the right of the title, the one star, which too could account for some of the random downvotes if others experience the same troubles. Why aren't we allowed to correct our accidents that might hurt someone's feelings and make them question their created topic? There's really no reason to not allow forum-goers to fix a mistake, whether an issue browsing the forum on the phone or a simple change of heart.

The forum is the only true place where the KittyCatS community can unite and share ideas without time constraints and I've met plenty of wonderful people from here that I wouldn't have gotten the chance to meet in-world due to our timezone differences, and it's disappointing to think that I may not have met some of these people because they were turned off from partaking in our discussions, or adding their very own discussion topic because someone might disagree and 1-star it - hopefully not out of malicious intention, but because the individual doesn't understand what the rating button is supposed to be based on or treats it as a like/dislike or agree/disagree.


TL;DR: While I love the idea of a rating system, there should be clarification on how it's supposed to be utilized or scrap the idea as anything that is of such importance can be stickied or will end up bumped to the top constantly like Saga's awesome traits collection. I also think that if the rating system will remain intact, that it should allow you to change your rating if you fat-finger on your phone or have other issues such as a change in heart that calls for a rating adjustment.