Do you like the UnRec feature??

[Heddi]

I have never even read the greatest page, even when something I wrote (have no idea what it was) went to the Greatest and only know that because someone told me it was on the Greatest page. :shrug:

So I'm pretty ambivalent about it. I rarely rec threads as it is...maybe 5 times ever. I just used it 2x's on some hysterical threads in GD, I believe, just now.

I think I don't mind it. I don't get the vehement arguments against it. I don't see how this is so bloody undemocratic. I mean, you get a choice to vote "I like it" or "I don't like it" or "I don't care so I'm not going to vote" as opposed to previously only being able to vote "I like it" or "I don't care so I'm not going to vote"....

just wondering

[EvolveOrConvolve]

1. I love it

And I use the Greatest Page quite a bit to see what's "hot" at the moment. The quality of the posts on the GP has definitely gone way up since the introduction of the Unrecommendation feature.

[Heddi]

2. I have never used the greatest page. Maybe I should

But then again, I love the mystery of what lies behind the hyperlinks of the main page. What sizzling flame out will be wrapping up in the lounge (always wrapping up by the time I get there...I never get to read the good stuff :( )? What gaffe is causing a pile-on in GD? Who's throwing a tantrum in GD:Presidential?

It's like one of those mystery grab bags they sell at junk stores....maybe it'll be $4 worth of old wrenches (bleh) or $4 worth of crappy costume jewelery (yay!). You never know until you open it :-D. That's how I look at DU. ha ha

[EvolveOrConvolve]

3. Yea, I love watching the horrific car crashes in GD, too - I just can't look away

But if I want to get to the meat and potatoes of what is really being discussed I use the Greatest Page. I'm hoping that the DU admin brings us a "Worst Page" so that I have an easy way to browse immediately to the shitburger posts, flamefests, and other assorted tidbits of pure tabloid joy. Nothing makes me giggle like the DU pro-gun advocates arguing with the abortion warriors over the correct definition and etymology of the word "choice".

[Heddi]

4. I love

when someone forgets to log out of their sockpuppet account and replies to themselves...but under the wrong account. Then they get busted, go back and edit the "forgot to log out" to contain either no text, or completely different text, and pretend like nothing happened.

[trotsky]

5. I never paid much attention to the Greatest page before.

But that was mainly because of all the "Rec this if you..." crap. Now I actually find it to be a useful feature to find some great threads and info.

Count me among the fans of UnRec, definitely. Plus given the people it's pissing off, that's double plus good. :)

[realisticphish]

6. I really don't understand the hysteria

honestly, a lot of it is conspiracy theory-ish stuff. "organized groups are coming here and unreccing good threads!" etc.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

7. LOL that was classic. The DUZY awards were aweomse this week.

Founding fathers, Nazis, Orwell, Bush, Nixon...all invoked because of some messageboard feature. But you'll notice those conspirators are always very busy..being up in the DLC's business, creating viruses, forcing vaccinationsn on people...etc.

[realisticphish]

8. i love the orwell bit

yeah, allowing people to speak out against something is VERY Orwellian!

[Odin2005]

9. Some posters' persecution complex is astounding

:crazy:

[moggie]

10. It's been bizarre reading the objections

It's censorship! No, your posts won't disappear. It was funny to see people claim they were being silenced... in threads which got hundreds of replies!

It'll be misused by hordes of freepers and shills! That's possible, but I don't see you complaining that "recommend" can also be misused by the bad guys. Shouldn't you be calling for that to be scrapped too?

Say goodbye to controversial opinions! Democracy sucks when you're on the losing side. Every time there's an election and my candidate doesn't win, I'm annoyed, but I don't think the answer is to institute a loophole which allows me to "win" even when I lose. If a majority at DU don't think your thread belongs on the front page, you've got some work to do, convincing them. Nobody said changing minds would be easy.

It's unnecessary, because getting to TGP showed that a majority approved of a thread! Umm, seriously? Getting five "yes" votes in an election which doesn't allow "no" votes tells you about the majority how, exactly?

It's just like Orwell predicted! Jeez, get a sense of proportion! When you're disappeared into Skinner Towers (headquarters of MiniDU) and have rats gnawing your face, then you can talk about Orwell.

Why have a "fuck you" button? It's so negative! If that's what you think the button is, that says more about you than the feature. I'll unrec a thread posted by a friend if I don't think it belongs among the greatest. Only among the most over-entitled people could "this is not the best of DU" be equated to "fuck you".

It was almost refreshing to see the professional novelist who said that he sees TGP as marketing aimed at potential buyers of his books, and was outraged that it would now be harder for him to show up there.

[trotsky]

14. This post is full of win.

Every "argument" put forth by the anti-unrec'ers, neatly and summarily smacked down. Nicely done, moggie.

[beam me up scottie]

11. This thread sums it up for me:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6057541&mesg_id=6057541

I wish they would get rid of the Most Popular Page altogether. I liked reccing threads and with all of the recent hysteria I could grow to enjoy unreccing them, but I never cared who was winning the beauty contest.

[mr blur]

12. All seems very childish to me.

Pissing contests, really.

[moggie]

13. Now there are negative pissing contests going on

Unpissing? Those threads where the poster returns to claim that the number of unrecs they're getting validates their position. Oh, the drama!

[Orrex]

15. To date, I've only had one thread make it to the Greatest...

And that one was "Rec this if you couldn't care less about what kind of dog the Obamas have."

I've never understood the point or the logic of it, and I have no idea how the "top" story on DU's front page gets picked.


However, all of the squawking about secret FR operatives swooping in to "unrec" important threads seems a little paranoid to me.

[dropkickpa]

16. I never go to the greatest page

but I get the most giggliest fun out of watching people froth and foam over the unrec feature. I think a lot of people overestimate their own self worth and the worth of the rec feature. It's like myspace friends "I have 90 brazillion myspace friends, I'm uberpopular!!!" Yeah, try borrowing $50 off of them.

I think I've used unrec once, and that was on Skinner in his announcement thread for the feature out of sheer contrariness.

[LeftishBrit]

17. I'm not really bothered one way or another...

I hardly go to the Greatest Page; I look at the recent threads and see if there's something that grabs my fancy. As a Bloody Foreigner, often the threads that interest me most are a bit different from those that get the most number of recs.

I don't see all the fuss about suppression; quite honestly, if someone isn't prepared to look for what interests them, and just relies on the 'Greatest Page', then they're not that big an activist anyway.

[drm604]

18. When I first saw it I had an immediate negative reaction.

I thought "this can't lead to anything good", but after thinking about it I've decided that I don't care about it much one way or the other.

I've had a few threads in the past that made a big splash on the greatest page, so maybe my initial reaction was just selfish self interest.

If someone (myself included) writes something that deserves attention then it'll get attention even if a few malcontents or freeper trolls unrec it, but if enough DUers think it's getting undue attention and want to knock it down - hey, it's their site too.

[TZ]

19. I don't know why anyone should care one way or another

I mean yeah its nice to make the greatest page (and I have a couple of times) but I've had plenty of good stuff ignored and sink--and I would think that <0 would actually make a lot of people curious and read it more...

[uppityperson]

20. I never go to Greatest page and am very amused at whom is protesting

Those who are the loudest protesters are ones I really could not care less about.