The Dell Community has contributed: 9511 ideas | promoted 651402 times | 73314 comments

How IdeaStorm Works:

Post Promote Discuss See
-370

Demote an Idea should require a Comment

-370 points posted to IdeaStorm by s3indiana 04/03/07

When an idea is demoted a comment should be required to give the original poster a perspective that was missed. It doesn't take much research to note those that are demoting for the sake of demoting...

benjesuit
04/03/07
LOL. True. And a good idea. But then again, the comment could be something silly and not at all constructive.

Our most famous demoter is captainsensible.

I wouldn't get too worked up over demotions. DELL isn't simply deciding on what to implement based on the popularity of an idea. After all, this site is predominated by "techies" as evidence by the Linux crowd.

In any event, some of the lesser known or less popular ideas will give DELL and edge over their competition or in some cases, put DELL on par with their competition. And that's something they will and are considering.
phubert28
04/03/07
Not only that, but it appears that your POINTS _increment_ even when your article is _voted DOWN_!!! :-D
benjesuit
04/03/07
LOL. Gotta love that!
jervis961
04/03/07
That's one of the reasons I come back. If Dell isn't smart enough to change hopefully another company will use some of the better ideas and I will buy from them. Asus, Lenovo are you paying attention?
lowtech
04/24/07
Merged Idea originally posted 04/10/07
Require Demote Comments

Some users of DellIdeaStorm are demoting thousands of ideas. It seems like they may have some other agenda, such as demoting all ideas except their own. Or maybe they're trying to become a "Top Contributor" without really contributing anything. Or maybe they are a competitor to Dell, and want to scuttle ideas. I bet Dell's competitors are watching the DellIdeaStorm carefully, and might even try to manipulate the results to their advantage.

Therefore, make it harder to demote an idea. Require any demotion to be accompanied by an explanation why the idea is being demoted.

[#444791]
tricky
04/24/07
Merged Comment originally posted 04/10/07
cosh
04/24/07
Merged Comment originally posted 04/11/07
Or MAYBE, the people demoting thousands of ideas just read every idea on the site and found most of them to be lousy, not worth the development expense, or just plain not possible. I've got no life, so I'm in a good position to evaluate everything that appears on this site..
phubert28
04/24/07
Merged Comment originally posted 04/11/07
Sounds like this sort of suggestion may really be saying "Encourage constructive participation" ... and I AM in favor of that.
captainsensible
04/24/07
Merged Comment originally posted 04/11/07
I think if one person demoted EVERY story it still wouldn't have any impact. Not with the current order of posts anyway. There should be "Most Discussed Ideas," along with Top 100 for the Last 24 hours, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, etc. I demoted a LOT, but not for fun, my plan was to push down horrible spelling, anything that's not an idea, articles from other sites (and other things listed as bad in the Ideastorm terms of service). It needs more DIGG-like features for promoting/demoting user comments too.
badblood
04/24/07
Merged Comment originally posted 04/11/07
I am not sure your spelling crusade is very fair. There are lots of non-native English speaking Dell Customers out there and they shouldn't be penalized for their lack English. In fact you would exclude most Americans.
cosh
04/24/07
Merged Comment originally posted 04/12/07
The English don't speak English now then? ...
moiety
04/24/07
Merged Comment originally posted 04/12/07
Pssst...new versions of Firefox include spellcheck. No reason to be misspelling things these days anyway.
phubert28
04/24/07
Merged Comment originally posted 04/12/07
captainsensible has his own order of value and appropriateness, correct spelling or no.

But, I agree regarding non-English speakers even WITH the FF spellcheck! It might be interesting to have a full range of stats for this site:

Where people are accessing FROM (al la http://www.ip-adress.com/) & what browser they are using!

Unfortunately, far too many Americans have especially poor English (and the English would likely say we have none at all!).
captainsensible
04/24/07
Merged Comment originally posted 04/12/07
MOIETY... I noticed that spellcheck a few weeks ago, I thought MS Word had invaded my web browser!
badblood
04/24/07
Merged Comment originally posted 04/12/07
Phubert28 is as usual full of wisdom, that keeps me bound to continue my ruminations on this vebsite...
cosh
04/24/07
Merged Comment originally posted 04/12/07
@phubert: I'm English and I don't say that!
howlingmadhowie
08/09/07
it's pretty clear that anything that makes demoting more difficult would also make the life of the microsoft etc. shills who come here more difficult. i doubt dell would allow that.
esseffe1
08/30/07
Merged Idea originally posted 06/05/07
Demote only with comments

Ideastorm is a very nice idea.
But I propose that somebody wanting to DEMOTE an idea, MUST also post a comment on why he demotes it.
In this case people can post better ideas.
jorge
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/05/07
Another rant... its called IdeaStorm, we tend to demote because if its not an idea it does not belong. Read the rules or get demoted, live with it bad idea posters.
jervis961
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/05/07
It would be a pain to have to write a comment on every stupid idea, plus I could just type "stupid" and that would be considered a comment. This idea was discussed before and (may even still be mixed into the clutter here) the consensus was that it wouldn't work. Its a nice thought though.
benjesuit
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/05/07
And then you'll get simple and not so constructive comments like, "your idea sucks" "or stupid idea." Then they'll hit the demote button.

Let's face it. Many on here think of Dell as their mum or as Santa. And they just post ideas without any thought of how practical or feasible the idea might be from a business standpoint. It's as if they forget that Dell is a business.

Anyway, the site didn't start off with the option to demote. That was added about a month later. It makes it easier for Dell to gauge the marketability of an idea. And they're awre of the fact that this site is predominated by Linux fans, a community that is hard to please given their politics, they'll only implement the broadest and most feasible ideas to placate the community. They wouldn't want this site to appear as a waste of time.
mistern
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/05/07
benjesuit: Do you work for Dell or why do you care about whether ideas are interesting for them (rather than for you)?
jervis961
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/05/07
It doesn't sound like he works for Dell to me.
cosh
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/05/07
Reason for Demotion: Because it's a multiple duplicate.
benjesuit
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/05/07
No I don't work for Dell. It's just simple logic. Marketable ideas are the ones that will be implemented. The more thought given to an ideas marketability, the more likely it will be implemented. And it's not hard to figure out how to come up with a marketable idea.

When this site first started, most of the ideas were marketable and feasible ideas. Some were based on what the competition was already doing. Some were not as marketable but had strong interest.

I'd like to see this site return to the seriousness it had at its inception. What's going to happen is that many of these ideas are not going to be implemented because they're just not feasible. And that will lead to a backfire in some respects because the feeling that Dell isn't listening will crop up. It's happened already concering OpenOffice and Firefox options. And what is more, this site doesn't really reflect the general computing public. It mostly reflects the Linux public. I'm guilty of that being partly a member of the Linux community. And that does Dell little good.

My prediction: This site will either close or become a multiple choice site for Dell initiated new ideas.
dino
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/05/07
...
badblood
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/05/07
Same reason for demoting as cosh.
phubert
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/05/07
ditto
esseffe1
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/06/07
good
I see that there is some interest in this post...and it's been commented
badblood
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/06/07
mistern
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/06/07
winoffice
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/11/07
Also, this way (by requiring a reason for demotion), people would not be able to unfairly demote and to demote without a reason, which is why I like this idea very much. Therefore, I do not understand why so many people demote this idea.
jorge
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/11/07
Did you read the comments?
jervis961
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/11/07
In a perfect world this idea would work, but here it would fail miserably.
esseffe1
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/14/07
winoffice -- good comment
jorge -- yes I'm reading and smiling
phubert
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/14/07
I've taken the direction of simply NOT VOTING AT ALL on any post that seems useless or is a multiple duplicate...

Voting is largely a popularity poll... and such do not encourage comment, now do they?
sopwith
08/30/07
Merged Idea originally posted 08/06/07
Require Comment in order to Demote

If someone Promotes your idea, it seems pretty obvious that they are in agreement.

However, if they Demote the idea, it is not always clear what they are objecting to - they idea in general, one aspect of the idea, they have a better idea, the idea is duplicated partially/fully somewhere else, etc.

Why not force a comment to be added for a Demote vote?
premcv
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/14/07
Demotion because: It's a duplicate.
buttafuco
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/26/07
if you don't like an idea don't promote it, but if you demote it explain why - either bad idea, will never work, duplicate, not a real idea, etc. i don't like the idea of demoting because it's not like the idea would be forced on you, if it's not for you than don't vote for it. for example, if it's a new product idea you don't have to buy it, it doesn't cost you anything. if it's useful to someone isn't that good enough?
jervis961
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
comment. :)
jorge
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/26/07
I re-demote this right now. Why?
petzymathuram
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
not required...;)
badblood
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/26/07
Um, why?
benjesuit
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
kjfhdsafufj dccjdskjdscfui sjbjhdfuiefo jsfaldfndmldaief seufheufhesfipd jdjdal lldjashfuief?

DOH!
jorge
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/26/07
Note how there are never dual demotes like there are dual motes, another oddity in the IdeaStorm crapware.
petzymathuram
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
Hi Benjesuit,

U made your fingers run on your key board?......;)
badblood
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/26/07
You need the POWER!

Actually I've never seen a double-demote....I shall practice
benjesuit
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
No, that's actually a very ancient language spoken first by the mumble gods. The Lords of Chaos.
I was just surprised I remember it is all.

:)~
cosh
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/26/07
I've been trying with my supervote script like I did before - doesn't seem to be working any more, promotes or demotes, even when it sends 15 simultaneous requests to the server :-(

The server was down for "maintenance" for a short while yesterday evening. I wonder if they fixed it.
jorge
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
Damm! I was going to say "Comment.", you beat me to it!
jorge
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/26/07
Yea, the java thing is sneaky, tried it as well.
cosh
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
badblood
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 06/26/07
You lost me.....I used the FORCE.....I am still practicing.

I am sure it has to do with my crappy wireless connection.
premcv
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
Damm, cosh beat me to it. I just pulled up the duplicates. Reason enough for a demote.
jorge
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
Double Damm.
markvs624
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
dupe of a dupe of a bad idea. that would only flood the idea with unnecessary repetition (i.e. i agree w/ jorge who agreed w/ cosh who agreed w/...).
jdelidc
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
no comment
premcv
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
No comment is a good comment!
jorge
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
Maybe they should require Demotes to Comment?
premcv
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
heheh
jdelidc
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
then there would be more comments like this
davmcn
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
In Ways in would be nice....To find out why.
gferrigno
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
I just demoted and all the comments you see support the demotion.
davmcn
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/06/07
Basicly you want a comment ask for them even though many people don't add any anyways but worth the try.
bbr
08/30/07
Merged Comment originally posted 08/08/07
qwerty
mistern
09/01/07
qwertz
jorge
09/01/07
blertz
mistern
09/01/07
You lost.
jorge
09/01/07
Foiled again!
winoffice
11/28/07
mistern, jorge: "quertz", "blertz", "You lost.", "Foiled again!"...LOL!!!!
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