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Sometimes I come across great answers which are, in my opinion undervalued (example: What is a Virtual file system or a file system in userspace?, answer by DomQ ). I'd like to promote the answer by paying with my reputation in 1:10 or even 1:100 ratio. I.e. I'd like to give 2 extra votes to DomQ by paying for those extra votes with my 20-200 rep.

Why? Because I know it's a great answer, much better than the one accepted (and I am a specialist in this area), and I would like community to know about this.

What do you think, can this idea be considered for implementation?

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  • This would already be kind of possible (in the form of a rep transfer) if one could immediately award a bounty after starting it.
    – Pekka
    Commented Jan 9, 2011 at 22:46
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    @Pekka it's not just about sharing rep, but more about upvoting the answer itself. I.e. the main purpose is to indicate the value of the answer, and secondary purpose to be to reward the one who answered. Maybe I misunderstand something in SO operations, though ...
    – Eugene Mayevski 'Callback
    Commented Jan 9, 2011 at 22:48
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    @Eugene I see what you mean, but in my book, an awarded bounty (it shows up with a +xyz sign next to the answer) is some indication of value. It's not exactly what you mean though, granted
    – Pekka
    Commented Jan 9, 2011 at 22:49
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    @Pekka I see what you mean now,. I really was not aware of bounty granting mechanism. Yes, my idea is similar, yet it would allow more people to promote right answers more actively. If one is an expert in quite a narrow area, he would hardly get to 10K rep to be able to grant bounties.
    – Eugene Mayevski 'Callback
    Commented Jan 9, 2011 at 22:52
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    @Eugene fair point.
    – Pekka
    Commented Jan 9, 2011 at 22:52
  • See: Should we have a small number of Supervotes per day? and see also: How to give some boost to some really good answers that arrive late?
    – Shog9
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 1:33
  • @Shog9 I've looked at those questions now, but they are 1.5 years old, and things have changed since then: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/74271/…
    – Eugene Mayevski 'Callback
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 8:06
  • @Eugene: actually, the mere fact that those questions were asked 1.5 years ago seems to indicate that things haven't really changed very much.
    – Shog9
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 8:50
  • @Shog9 the mere fact that people used horses as a main vehicle for hundreds of years seems to indicate that transportation didn't change much in the last decade.
    – Eugene Mayevski 'Callback
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 8:52
  • @Eugene: pretty sure horses are no longer a common vehicle for transportation outside of niche areas... While obviously folks are still upset that their votes aren't worth more than everyone else's.
    – Shog9
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 8:56
  • @Shog9 you probably misinterpret my question, which is not "I want my vote to weight more" but "how do we draw more attention to great answers". And in this aspect the things did change in 1.5 years: more people (especially newbies), more questions, less attention to each question and each answer.
    – Eugene Mayevski 'Callback
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 9:04
  • @Eugene: probably because that's not what you asked. You made the same mistake as Drake did in the second question I linked to: you identified something you considered a problem (answers getting less attention), picked a symptom of that problem (answers get fewer votes), and jumped straight to solving the... symptom (inflate votes). Of course, that doesn't necessarily do anything to fix the problem (in Drake's case, it might have); if anything, it just hides it. Like greasepaint over a pimple, the problem remains, obscured, to fester and grow.
    – Shog9
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 9:10
  • @Shog9 I guess we have different understanding of what "reputation" (which I wish to spend) is. For me is something that is earned rather than gathered, i.e. it has certain value.
    – Eugene Mayevski 'Callback
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 9:15
  • @Eugene: reputation is a number. If it means anything, it indicates site participation. It isn't currency, it isn't a measure of expertise, and it certainly doesn't mean you're more qualified than anyone else to pick a good answer. BTW: if you look at Greg's graphs in answer to that question you linked, you'll see that votes/answer hasn't really dropped off much.
    – Shog9
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 9:15
  • @Shog9 yes, participation, and so should have an adequate naming, as for me. "Score" would be a better term imho.
    – Eugene Mayevski 'Callback
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 10:16

2 Answers 2

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Not to pick on you specifically, but from a philosophical point of view...

Think about it: Why is your vote worth more than anyone else's to elect which post is best? One man, one vote. What you are asking for is a super-vote; one that can only be used by people who can afford to "pay" for it.

Unbalanced voting would throw off the whole vetting process. You wouldn't be able to evaluate the relative merits of a post — Is the higher-voted post better? Or was it simply favored by someone willing to pay to elevate it?

Reputation != Specialist != Smarter

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  • 2
    Yes, and exactly for the reason that Reputation != Specialist it can be important to promote narrow specialists. Reputation now seems to be irrelevant to the overall quality of answers. For example, I get 7 upvotes for the trivial answer to the trivial question (stackoverflow.com/questions/4640063/division-with-wrong-result/…), however I rarely get more than one vote for extended answers to architectural questions. This kills attitude to write complex answers and instead promotes hunting for easy coding questions.
    – Eugene Mayevski 'Callback
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 8:01
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I don't think the extra upvotes is a good idea. But maybe we could draw some extra attention to an answer by introducing the hall of fame (better names are welcome).

The hall of fame should be the place where excelent answers can be shown for a limited time (1 day?) to give them some extra attention (and probably upvotes). Users with enough (say 5000) rep can vote for the hall of fame. And if enough votes are cast (say 3-5) the answer is shown in the hall.

The hall is nothing more than a separate view showing the questions with the answers. Probably note the "famous" answers with a diamond or some other way.

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