Spiteful neg rep?

[techtopia]

The whole thing about pos/neg rep is that it is anonymous ... thanks are public. I am happy that someone can neg rep me with feeling that they are likely to have me turn round and pick out one of *their* posts and be petty by ripping apart stuff they say, just because there is a difference of opinion. (NB I have never done this, never intend to but have seen it done where someone finds out someone else had given them neg rep).

 

If someone *really* wants to take me to task (as they have done) they will neg rep *and* PM me ... that is fine, it allows for point and counter-point ... discussion and presentation of facts and perspectives without dragging others into it who are probably not needed.

 

Likewise ... I am happy to have people give me pos rep and also PM me ... sometimes to tease out a few more details of what I was talking about, etc.

 

Yes, it is open to abuse where a small group might choose to neg rep certain people and pos rep others ... personally I would like to see a quota on rep you can give to people in the hope that this makes a few more think carefully about where they allocate it. I would even be happy to start from scratch again ... but to keep some happy we would possibly need an archive of the existing rep.

 

Personally, I'd prefer to know who it is that is disagreeing with me, as it adds value to their opinion and may even help me change mine.

 

If this were to lead to retaliatory posting, then unless that person has a good and valid argument lined up, it is going to be obvious what they are doing anyway, so they will just look silly. I would suggest those sorts of actions will be by the minority anyway.

 

As it stands at the moment, neg rep is nothing more than someone pressing a button which (as I now realise) can be taken with a pinch of salt, albeit a childish example of behaviour.

 

If someone is prepared to disagree with what you say, and stand up and be counted, I have a far greater respect for them than I ever will someone who just disagrees behind closed doors.

 

Just my 2p.