To expand: the paradigm of only offering +1 and not -1 is, to me, akin to the whole "everybody's a winner" problem; if I go to a product page, and all it has is a +1 button, and the 'score' is 0, then there's absolutely no context to justify the score.
Is it that the product is brand-new (and/or just added the +1 button), or conversely, is it that the product is horrible and though the +1 button has been there a year, nobody has clicked it?
Whereas if I were to visit and I could see that the score was -1000, then that would give me a very good indication that the product (or some aspect of it) sucks.
Then of course there'd likely be situations where there'd be a mix, and so it'd be good to see a representation that took all votes into account, e.g. [+1000/-500]; with that, I could see that the sample size is moderately sufficient (1500), and that most people approve -- but that it's not without detractors.
Mostly, though, I'm tired of "everybody's a winner".
I agree. I like youtubes system, where you can see total votes for both in a nice bar, opposed to simply a cumulative score.
But lets be real here, no brand is going to let FB/google/socialwhoever put a -1 button on their marketing page. And all the really matters at the end of the day is what the money decides, not you, as it's your eyeballs being sold. BigCo would never pay for the opportunity to have anyone to slap a -1 on their beloved flawless products.
Unless you look at things like app reviews. Where users are much more likely to complain than to leave positive reviews. I think the same applies for other +1/-1 options. People that don't like things run around jumping and yelling how much they hate it. Most of the ones that have positive things to say don't unless you put it right in front of their face.
- A dissatisfied customer will tell 9-15 people about it. And approximately 13% of your dissatisfied customers will tell more than 20 people about their problem. Source: the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.
- Happy customers who have their problems resolved will tell 4-6 people about their positive experience. Source: the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.
So are you annoyed that HN only allows +1 until you have been a member of the community for a while ? this is something good about not allowing people to stifle different opinions.
To expand: the paradigm of only offering +1 and not -1 is, to me, akin to the whole "everybody's a winner" problem; if I go to a product page, and all it has is a +1 button, and the 'score' is 0, then there's absolutely no context to justify the score.
Is it that the product is brand-new (and/or just added the +1 button), or conversely, is it that the product is horrible and though the +1 button has been there a year, nobody has clicked it?
Whereas if I were to visit and I could see that the score was -1000, then that would give me a very good indication that the product (or some aspect of it) sucks.
Then of course there'd likely be situations where there'd be a mix, and so it'd be good to see a representation that took all votes into account, e.g. [+1000/-500]; with that, I could see that the sample size is moderately sufficient (1500), and that most people approve -- but that it's not without detractors.
Mostly, though, I'm tired of "everybody's a winner".