GrabCAD Community User Group

I don't mind anonymous downvotes in the Question section since it can help spare some "hurt feelings" between members.

I wish there was a method for a comment to be added (anonymously) so misinformation can be fixed or otherwise cleared up.

Letting members know that someone down voted might cause a little bit of rudeness to go around. If someone doesn't like another users work and they know who the user is, its a possibility that harassment could be started by the person who got down voted.

Then take the Down vote away this will benefit both sides. I find it very rude to down vote somebody and not know why !!!

On this site the knowledge, skills, experience in engineering range from a lot for some, and hardly any for many. I have never taken up vote / down vote, in most cases very seriously. if it entertains some, well and good, but it is not of any great importance. The real value from this site is the opportunity to learn from, and get help from, the experience of other engineering CAD professionals from time to time. The rest is just a bit of entertainment.

But some answers need to be downvoted...

For example, check the answers here.

We keep downvoting around for users like you to be able to help other users. If you believe an answer is wrong, say its not correct and give the best solution in the most appropriate way possible. Or even if a model is not as great, you can downvote and maybe give a comment on how that user can improve their model in the most appropriate way possible. We want to help users learn and boost their skills. Teaching one another is one of the reasons why GrabCAD exists.

Was downvoting was introduced when a mechanism was implemented to sort the answers by their relative values related to up/down voting status?

The most upvoted would rise to the top, the most downvoted would sink sink to the bottom (like Reddit). It made sense, but it introduced the problem of a difficult to follow dialog string.

This discussion brings up some issues with the readability of Question posts, and the operation of up/down votes.

If downvotes remain, it would be great if an anonymous comment box went with them (like when using the report button on some pages). A downvote without a reason makes it difficult to improve the answer, or learn from a mistake.

I've heard rumors of switching the Questions section to a system that accepts an answer as the best (like the SOLIDWORKS forums) If that comes to pass, the need for up/down voting may be eliminated.

The question then becomes how to distribute points in a system where only one answer is picked as the best. Answers are often solved well by a collaboration of members making suggestions which work off of each other. Answers here from 3-4 members all works to find a solution.