We need a down rec button

[sibelian]

49. "rec" and "unrec" wars were long-lasting. I sided in the end with "no unrec"

There's some disingenuity going on in the comments further up, Aerows, actually there were plenty of examples of people using unrec as an excuse not to argue their position. You would get post after post simply saying "unrec", or "PROUD unrec" and suchlike. I was always on the point of posting, testily: "AND? so what? WHY unrec? Say something in plain English, stop pushing silly buttons and announcing it proudly! What's the point? Is DU like a kind of slot machine that you put recs and unrecs into, nothing meaningful results from this." It really annoyed me.

I wouldn't have called it bullying, that's silly, but it did encourage a lot of posts that could far too easily be interpreted as bad-mannered attitude striking. I don't think I would say that the feature was being abused in the classic sense, but it did not make the site a pleasant or useful place in which to discuss things. The admins got rid of it, I suspect, as the value added (which, TBH, was really minimal from the perspective of the site as an "institution&quot was massively outweighed by the snot. They got rid of it just to maintain some sense of civility.

The whole concept of rec is a bit weird. Why SHOULD there be a rating system for what should go on the front page? I've always thoguht the admins shoudl just pick it. It's their site after all. Or you could have a nomination system like on deviantart.

And there's another thing going that doesn't make any sense to me - how in God's name is possible to actually separate the concept of "this should go on the front page" from "I agree with this" or "I like this"? I see no meaningful way of supposing that it's possible. If we start from the premise that we want other people to read the article, rec is an attempt to draw attention to something. Why would anyone attempt to draw attention to something they disagree with or dislike?

I'm happy that unrec is gone. I added masses of volume to threads without much concomitant content.