Rating Threads -- A helpful feature?

[Dave McClung]

I have noticed that when I read a post, this software gives me an opportunity to "rate" the thread. So far, no one has been using that feature. I wonder if it is a feature the moderators should disable or leave active.

I can see that it might be helful to have ratings; but, I can also see that it might discourage someone from posting if their posts get low ratings.

We don't allow "personal attacks." Would it be a "personal attack" if I consistently gave low ratings to threads started by a particular person? I think it would be.

What do you think? I will add a poll to this post to give you a chance to express your opinion.:confused:

[Hans Deventer]

Dave, it might be useful in the book review forum I am thinking of. Otherwise, I don't feel like we should use this option. It is either somewhat useless or in the worst case, negative. So I am not voting, because my view is neither yes nor no.

Hans

[Steve Reece]

I give this thread five stars.

I like Hans' idea, for the book forum the ratings might be useful, as long as people are rating the book, not the review.

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

i don't really care.

i just know that when i was away from the computer studying - coming back i found that someone had rated the "Stedfast Men" as a five. WoW - that got my attention. i have no clue who did it. i have had no emails - pro or con. i just know that it did let me know that someone thought it had value.

[Alan Stokes]

I think the number of views tells a better story of how people rate a post because their time speaks volumes. I don't see a strong need to have ratings, so I voted yes to remove. I can go either way which is what the 50-50 vote reveals so far.