Forum:Voting on tragic WIGOs

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The other day, Blue and I got into a very mild edit-war over the Hitchins-is-dead entry on WIGO World; Blue's point, one that I agree with, is that it was odd to vote up or down on a headline that read "This Guy Died." What does an up vote mean--good WIGO, glad he's dead, a salute to a life well lived, or what? It's worse when the WIGO might read "dude shoots up gay orphanage" or something. What the hell does an up-vote mean then?

So, is there a way to selectively block voting on a WIGO when it would be in poor or objectionable taste to vote on it? Some coding magic or other work around? PintOfStout Talk Good people drink good beer. 23:14, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

How about add to the WIGO some advice on what up/down means? e.g. "Vote up if you think this is important/interesting news" vs. "Vote up if you think he made great contributions in his life" vs. "Vote up if you think this is a terrible tragedy" etc. ??? (((Zack Martin))) 23:18, 17 December 2011 (UTC)
I think we have done it before, when TK died. But I could be wrong. AceAce For Mod! 23:20, 17 December 2011 (UTC)
I always worked on the principle that we're voting on the notability of the WIGO - so, in this case, I'd vote up as a "This link is worth following" sort of way. Incidentally, we have this discussion in one form or another every year or so and the conclusion is always that it may not be perfect but it's the best available. For a start, the WIGOs have different meanings in the different WIGOs. In WIGO:CP you're voting on the inanity of Andy et al, similarly in WIGO:Clogs but in WIGO:World and WIGO:blogs you're voting on... well, in my opinion, how interesting the link is. Bad Faith (talk) 07:43, 19 December 2011 (UTC)
When SusanG died we used an asterisk instead of a vote on RWW. Nowwhat? 13:55, 19 December 2011 (UTC)
The basic practical alternatives are to go back to the old According To Some People format and use the bullet point, or click one of the buttons as soon as you post (to make it green or yellow) and then add "close=yes" to it to seal off further voting. There's no real need to vote except as a measure of popularity of the story in WIGO:World - so sealing it off will prevent it appearing on Best Of regardless of popularity. At least Clog/Blog has the "agree/disagree" connotation with it. Scarlet A.pngpathetic 14:02, 19 December 2011 (UTC)