Good Answer/Off Topic Choice

Tornado,

Tell CR4! Or hang around for another 500 posts.

You could just reply to a post; "Great answer because......" or "That sucks because...". It's even possible (I'm told) to not bother reading all posts in a discussion. In addition, one could speculate that votes don't always reveal the real 'meat' of the answer to a post.

As much as I respect the knowledge of CR4 members, I wouldn't look at a thread and only read posts rated as "Good" (or anything else, come to that). We can all find stuff in a discussion that is useful/of interest, but it's not necessarily the same stuff for all people. Being able to post 'off-topic' is a great feature of CR4 because it allows some digression and banter. I'll fess up to not always checking the off-topic box, but I try to only do so when a discussion is over, or was jokey from the start.

As Gump said, "My momma always said, Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." We can all derive knowledge/benefit from a thread if we take the time. Likewise, we can all express gratitude/dislike under the existing system or by posting as per paragraph 1.

Apart from all that, more than the existing "Rate" box would confooz my brain.

Great Answer squibble

Look, Garthh, I didn't exactly exclude the possibility of anybody giving me a GA vote ! Get back here, NOW, and give me one. Oh crap, that sounds so wrong . errr come back and..... slip back in and......do me a favour....I'd like your.... talk about screwing myself up ! To heck with simpering platypus platitudes, I want GA's !

well there was an incident

I can't vote

What kind of an excuse is that !?! Demand that your chums on CR4 visit and vote for you. There must be somebody who likes you enough to do the evil deed

GA—GA

there now. I just gave you a GA.

now you owe me one, too.

Thank you,

At last,,,,, the recognition I deserve.

When I've figured out who that bloke in the mirror is, I'll phone Del...... He said that if anyone wanted a right good seeing too he was up for it (hard buggers In Essex). I'm not sure our interpretation of that phase was the same, he didn't pause as he ran for the Heathrow flight clutching a pot of Vaseline.

Within this context: What about rating questions?

That we can already do. To the upper right of each OP is a box that allows one to rate the whole discussion. I missed that myself until someone pointed it out. Now I use it from time to time.

Thanks!

But: Rating a discussion concerns a collective effort. Good rating for a question is about relevance, originality etc. regardless of the answers eventually appearing.

It has happened that highly interesting questions did not receive fitting answers.

Well, it has also happened that stupid and/or trivial questions triggered highly interesting discussions.

I think these points align quite well with the original idea. I believe the system I have proposed would improve matters, but it is admittedly a tiny bit more cumbersome. If this does not resonate with many, I won't press it very hard. Then, when an answer is topical but incorrect, I will have no other choice but to vote it as OT, perhaps with explanation. I'm pretty sure that people have been confused by the present system, but if no one wants to change, so be it.

That's GA - job's a good 'un.

I agree with your intention & execution.

This concept comes up from time to time

I don't think you'll get much traction with Mcgaulin [webmaster, system admin] couldn't hoit

There is always the direct option, if you like something talk about it

Like the idea(s) brought up in one of the side disscussions [crosstalk] encourage the OP [of the idea] to post up, failing that start a new thread yourself

enjoy

The current rating system seems to suffice and offers definiteness on the answer-whether good or off topic. In many of the discussions deviated discussions are inevitable, in such cases the original theme can not be rigorously followed.

There are good number of generous members encourage by way of voting. The modified rating may rather worsen scores. What do you think?

I usually try to keep my posting on topic and focused on a solution to the problem presented. Often, for the benefit of "younger" members, I will expound on the "hows" and "whys" of my response or of the topic to raise the bar for all.

Recently. one of my posts was rated "off-topic" apparently because I dared to suggest that a residential installation that was the subject of the posting might have been installed by an unlicensed contractor (based on the issues raised in the posting) without a permit (which could put his homeowners insurance at risk) and that the homeowner (poster) should hire a licensed contractor to check out the installation and check with the building authority to see what was necessary for a "legal" installation.

Net effect- The current choice of voting is too limited and totally subjective, plus several postings of questionable value (truly "off topic", "bad/wrong", or some form of personal attack get no negative vote).

Tornado- Thanks for starting the discussion.