It defies the market principles of innovation to allow positive and negative votes to cancel when ranking ideas. 3/4 of us might hate a Britney Spears album but that doesn't stop her from selling 80 million copies. As long as you can find people willing to pay for an idea it doesn't matter how much detractors hate it. For purposes of ranking ideas then, the positive votes should be the only factor or at least the predominant factor. The negative votes are valuable information in gauging interest, but do not mean that an idea won't have a market.
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I completely fail to understand the point of a 'for' and 'against' vote? Does it mean that you personally have a 'feeling' that was warm and fuzzy, versus cold and sharp? Does it mean that you like the result of the idea or not, regardless whether the idea would be effective or ethical or viable? Does it mean that you think it would be of some nebulous benefit to humanity, however irrelevant that axis is in reality? Does it mean that you think the idea would work, regardless of how dangerous or unwanted the result would be? Does it mean that you're in a good mood with a nice cup of coffee right now? It's almost meaningless. Ask me in five minutes - I might have changed my mind.
the against vote is indeed silly. If someone has an "against" comment to make, then they should make a point in text as to their feelings. I've noticed several ideas where the "against" voters failed to make any notes, merely to be negative... and that has no place in a forum of ideas. Honest feedback does.
Great feedback. I intend to add a second measure, most controversial, which will reflect total votes, both for and against. Besides ranking via plusonly, what other scoring schemes do you recommend?
I remarked on this problem before and was squashed with a multitude of negative votes. I have submitted a good number of ideas and many times been puzzled by unadorned negative votes since unelaborated votes merely leave a great question as to why the idea should be rejected. Some negative voters were afraid that negative voters would be intimidated by having to justify their opinion which I find most peculiar in a forum which is supposed to evoke thoughtful answers that might inspire further investigation of a possible good idea.