8

Do you strategically mod vote?

Although I do not strategically mod vote and I have only voted positively for three moderates, I have noticed there are a lot of negative votes.

There is only one or possibly two moderators which I am against but I fhave decided not to down-vote. However, in general I have noticed many moderates are openly down-voted.

Do you think it is strategic to down-vote moderates who are not in your top selection?

Edit Clarification:

Strategic mod vote: up-vote the candidate you are in favor of but down vote all others regardless of election platform.

Further Edit:

When I say platform I am referring to a election platform such as campaign promises.

Is it necessary for downvoting for the election process?

By choosing not to down vote candidates of other platforms I am hurting my initial election votes? If people only vote positively for candidate (which appears to be the majority of voters) but others strategically down vote are they voting twice?

Should down voting be allowed?

Assume Tom, Dick and Harry run for the election.

Tom (Assume Tom has 2 people that vote for him but also down-votes Dick and Harry)

Dick (Assume Dick has 2 people that votes for him but do not down-vote)

Harry (Assume Harry has 2 people that vote for him but also down-votes Dick and Tom)

Each candidate should have one vote each but say Harry runs on a particular platform that appeals to a certain type of person.

The results are:

Tom 1

Dick -1

Harry 1

However, they should have equal amounts of positive votes. The down votes actually detract from the personality that refrain from down-voting.

Just for discussion...

Improve this question
5
  • Could you clarify what you mean by "strategic"?
    – Pops
    Jan 27, 2011 at 3:00
  • Are you choosing mods based on platform? Seriously? I'd prefer Grace Hopper to Rambo!
    – Dr. belisarius
    Jan 27, 2011 at 4:50
  • @belisarius - I think the OP means their election platform not their development platform. At least I hope so.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Jan 27, 2011 at 10:00
  • @ChrisF It seems so, after re-reading carefully :)
    – Dr. belisarius
    Jan 27, 2011 at 19:02
  • 3
    I think I've been voting wrong. Could everyone who is pro-.NET please identify themselves so I may appropriately downvote?
    – Ether
    Jan 28, 2011 at 0:46

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
20

Heck yeah! Why else would you down-vote? Odd numbers annoy you? You just like clicking things? Ok, those are good reasons too... But strategy is better. And my strategy is, "down-vote everyone I don't want to be a moderator".

Don't forget: these are the primaries - the point is to whittle down the number of candidates, not pick a final set of moderators. You'll have a chance later to vote only for the candidates you think will make the best moderators.

Improve this answer
6
  • +1: Exactly my point. If I am given the ability to downvote which would posivitively affect my candidate, why wouldnt I? Yet the majority of voters (judging by the ratio) appear to only to vote for their favourites.
    – snmcdonald
    Jan 27, 2011 at 3:10
  • 1
    @snmcdonald: people opting not to use their votes is a time-honored tradition when it comes to elections. To thine own self be true...
    – Shog9
    Jan 27, 2011 at 3:11
  • @Shog9: Very good point, but don't you think you are taking advantage of their generosity of only voting in good spirit? I mean if they had also down-voted their opponents as well wouldn't it be possibly a different outcome?
    – snmcdonald
    Jan 27, 2011 at 3:13
  • 2
    @snmcdonald: No. If I like kodos and you like kang, and I vote and you don't, then I'm not taking advantage of you. If I vote and you vote, and I down-vote and you don't... I'm still not taking advantage of you. Now... If I post an eloquent rant arguing against down-voting and then go down-vote, while you, swayed my by words, refrain... That would be taking advantage.
    – Shog9
    Jan 27, 2011 at 3:18
  • @Shog9: Good point. Judging by your opinion (and the current system), downvoting is part of the election process and should be taken advantage of.
    – snmcdonald
    Jan 27, 2011 at 3:21
  • 2
    Odd numbers bug me a lot actually.
    – Zoredache
    Jan 27, 2011 at 4:48
18

I don't (didn't). I voted up the ones I wanted to see as Moderators. I voted down the ones that I didn't want to see as Moderators. For those I was ambivalent about I didn't vote at all.

But that's just me.

Improve this answer
2
  • +1: I have only voted for my favourite candidate based upon platforms. I have not (as of yet) downvoted opponents based upon ethics. (However, I could be swayed).
    – snmcdonald
    Jan 27, 2011 at 3:11
  • This is also what I did.
    – jjnguy
    Jan 27, 2011 at 3:51
6

I downvote those that I do not believe will make good moderators. I expect every other nominee to do the same. I believe there are many good choices in the primary list, and I also know from experience that some of those potential moderators are not good choices for the community.

I would be doing the community a disservice if I did not vote my conscience.

It does seem like there is a conflict of interest, doesn't it? At face value at least -- but the important thing is that no matter the outcome of the election, we choose moderators who have the values of the community in their heart.

Improve this answer
2
  • It was probably intended that downvotes be used as such. I suppose all things can be abused.
    – snmcdonald
    Jan 28, 2011 at 2:16
  • 1
    @snmcdonald Yes it can; but we can take solace in the fact that there are only 30 moderator nominees. If there were 4,000, we might have a problem. :-)
    – George Stocker
    Jan 28, 2011 at 2:17
1

I didn't downvote anyone. I did upvote those whose names I recognised, after first confirming that the reason I recognised them wasn't because we'd had some massive difference of opinion in the past (on moderator-type functions of course, not tech answers - in other words, close votes, edits and so forth).

I figured the bods I hadn't heard of may well be very good moderators. So those I recognised as good moderators got +1, those who I'd never seen before got nothing.

There's perhaps one or two people I would have downvoted had they put themselves forward :-) But they didn't.

Improve this answer
-4

I don't downvote at all. I only have one downvite on Meta and that was becuase I didn't like the question.

I think users should have a limit of 5 upvotes and 2 or 3 downvotes per election.

But then again I don't make the choice,

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    In the next stage of the election process, you'll have no down-votes and limited up-votes.
    – Shog9
    Jan 28, 2011 at 3:24

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .