If there is on average one comment per vote, then a single user, by systematically upvoting the comments they like and systematically downvoting the comments they dislike, would pretty much decide the outcome.
If there are on average ten comments per vote, then a single user could only partially influence whether a comment receives high or low total score.
It is similar to election. If in some country 90% of citizens don’t vote, a party supported by 5% of people can gain a majority in a parliament. If 100% of citizens vote, a party supported by 5% is mostly harmless.
That sounds like how the system is meant to be used. One of the basic rules of trolling is that “Whatever can be used, can also be abused”.
For example, guns can be used in self defense, and for “spraying graffiti” at the mall. Is the gun (that would be the voting system) to blame, or the person who pressed the trigger (the person making the vote?)
Don’t get political—that was the best analogy I can come up with.
If there is on average one comment per vote, then a single user, by systematically upvoting the comments they like and systematically downvoting the comments they dislike, would pretty much decide the outcome.
If there are on average ten comments per vote, then a single user could only partially influence whether a comment receives high or low total score.
It is similar to election. If in some country 90% of citizens don’t vote, a party supported by 5% of people can gain a majority in a parliament. If 100% of citizens vote, a party supported by 5% is mostly harmless.
That sounds like how the system is meant to be used. One of the basic rules of trolling is that “Whatever can be used, can also be abused”.
For example, guns can be used in self defense, and for “spraying graffiti” at the mall. Is the gun (that would be the voting system) to blame, or the person who pressed the trigger (the person making the vote?)
Don’t get political—that was the best analogy I can come up with.