What is down voting?

Once upon a time I moaned publicly that somebody kept scoring me low.

(I thought I would get that out there first)

Now I don't look anymore, I think I was 4.9 or something daft like that.

If I was a 4.9 poet I would have a published poetry novel out there.

In my opinion Ted Hughes 'The Crow' is 4 out of 5.
Does this mean that I am a better poet than Ted Hughes?

We all know that the numbers do not work

I give a 5 or nothing, If I think the poem needs a tweak, I comment with suggestions, but do not pick a number.
If I like the poem, I usually comment and give a five.

I am guilty of giving comments without voting
I have never voted without a comment.

This is why the voting system doesn't work, I am too nice to give a 4.

Now in my humble opinion I would rate myself a 3. I write poems off the cuff in about 5 mins then never edit, or rarely edit. If I did I could possibly stretch to a 3.5.
(If I could write a bloody sonnet I would bump this up to 3.8)

So how could the numbers work?

When should we score 5? Maybe if we see it as worthy of winning the weekly contest.

When should we score 4? When the poem is good but not as good as other nominated poems.

a 3?

when the poem needs a bit of work and contains spelling mistakes.

a 2?

Those poems that are written as a paragraph, contains spelling mistakes and poor punctuation.

a 1,

Probably too harsh for anybody on here brave enough to put their poetry out there.

All above is just my opinion of course but I am more than happy to receive any of the above scores even a 1 if you believe the poem is that crap.

In summary, down voting doesn't really exist on this site, we are all guilty of up voting.

From this moment I will vote as above, but I will give the score in the comments.
(a final point, as an unpublished poet, part time literary spewer am I qualified to score at all? I am not sure but I do have an A level/secondary education in English literature and English language studies)

**
Having said all of above, I may wake up in the morning, bottle it and give everyone a 5.

Great post! I only vote 5 or 3! 5 is for a poem that touches my soul, 3 is for a journal entry, meaning no poetic vision, a 15 years old can write it!!!

There are only a handful of times where I have downvoted, but you are right I think we do up vote too much and don't even really give a reason why. Same with down voting people are scared to say why, for the fear of having their own poems down voted, its a vicious circle!

Darren
I suppose what we mean by downvoting is the obvious vote and run scores that people leave. That is, a vote of 1 or 2 (in my opinion) with no comment. BUT it is only a downvote if the poem is obviously better than that.
On the whole, you're right though - we are all upgraded. How many poems are truly excellent? A few, yes, but mostly not. But I guess it is all relative; it's the same for everyone. The only problem comes when someone has a personal dislike for you or your work.
All the best

A poem that has over twenty 5.0 votes is more likely to have more than 1 down votes of 1 or 2's

If you give someone anything lower than a 3, you should have to comment why you thing the poem needs so much work....because a 3 is fair and what most poems on this site deserve, and the same should be required for and aspiring 4 or five vote, I'll say it again and again, there is far more up voting then there is down voting, the numbers aren't even remotely close.

"I'll say it again and again, there is far more up voting then there is down voting, the numbers aren't even remotely close."

They will never be! What really counts is an honest comment on your work! Regardless if its a negative one or a positive one...

When I feel a poem is not really worth a 5, I just comment and leave the vote out and tell them what I think about the poem, so they can better themselves.

Hi Alfred, it's great to share your poetry and tilde symbols again :)

I think I agree with Ingrid, I either give 5 or nothing.

The problem is that most of the members get offended by constructive criticism, it's not like the old days, which means better to avoid commenting instead of making enemies, after all we are here to share poetry and thoughts.
the downgrading "without" leaving an explanatory comment is pretty frustrating, it sends one message in most of the cases: "Jealousy".

I never down vote a poem. And do not care if they do mine. But recently in the middle of a confutation on the main board, a poem of mine unusually was down voted. I out of curiosity erased and posted it again to see what happens. It got down voted again in few seconds, and I did it again and the same thing kept on happening, so I figured, one of those guys I was refuting was coward enough to take it out of my poem. otherwise a random down voter is not persistent like this. So I addressed it. Otherwise every one is welcome to down voting them if it is not out of spite and evil.

A solution is to take away the voting option and rely purely on comments...

Maybe we should vote on that? Or other possible solutions?

^works for me, and has been discussed for eons, yet never tabled.....

I agree with Michael and Bob. What does stand out is that the voting system is thought by every member who discusses it, irrelevant.

I think we make it irrelevant,

to new members it is relevant.

It is a good gauge on how others perceive your poetry.
I can remember getting excited that I was scoring 5's, I remember thinking that my stuff must be good.

Then I discovered everyone gets 5's

I think when Janis started this site he had more hope for the scoring system than just ego inflation

Here is the scoring system as he programmed it into the site;

Rate this poem :

1 (Bad)

2 (Poor)

3 (Fair)

4 (Good)

5 (Excellent)

From the terminology used we can see that 3 should be the average score for us all. There should be far more 2's, a few 4's for poetry that stands out and a 5 reserved for those poems that make it into our favourites.

Why don't we try and make it relevant?

There is a pitfall, we have become so used to seeing 5 beside a poem we may ignore a 3 rated poem.

But the more experienced members should not be afraid of scoring truthfully.
I will score more honestly from now on, offering my opinion. I will always have this thread as a back up if somebody gets the arse with my score.

(If I can't find this thread in the future, I will just ask Michael)

^
this is also a good solution. As I said, why don't we use this thread to vote on a solution? At least that way the people that actually use this site regularly will be happier with voting and comments. Well, that's the theory anyway! lol

So we have the following options so far:

1. The relevant system

2. No voting just comments.

3.. add here

keep them coming then we can vote.

I realise any fundamental changes require Janis's input, so option 1. is looking good so far.

I actually think it would make a big difference if the scores were altered.

1 - bad
2 - fair
3 - good
4 - very good
5 - excellent

We would see a lot more 3s and 4s if people thought that 3 was good and not fair and 4 was very good and not good. - after all, we all like a bit of ego inflation.....don't we? lol

" 2?

Those poems that are written as a paragraph"

I know the beauty of poetry is that anyone can qualify it in their own way, but I don't agree with your grading system, Darren. Also, bad spelling can be annoying, but it's a negligible issue in a good poem. It should never be prioritised above abstract vs concrete imagery, unique content and delivery, profundity of impact, clarity, and universal truth.

I have never been comfortable following criteria for voting on poetry as a contest judge. I mark based on the personal effect of the writing. I am sure there is no other way to judge any art, no matter how hard we pretend. That's the point of it. It's as human as can be. It's a slippery little sucker.

As I said above, I guess ultimately, it's all relative. It's the same for all of us here.