My vote was lost, albeit it averaged out as neutral.

Forum: LXer Meta ForumTotal Replies: 9
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TxtEdMacs

Oct 31, 2004
9:15 AM EDT
The former chemical engineer, who took up Linux programming story seems to have lost my vote.

I think a story like it belongs in LXer, but the source, more properly the author seemed uninformed about the meaning of free software. To him, free was the price not the freedom to access and the right to employ it without question other than repaying by sharing the additions/changes.

Checked twice immediately, then I waited and still the vote is absent and I have not found my vote on any nearby story.
bstadil

Oct 31, 2004
9:44 AM EDT
I am almost certain this happened to me as well a few days ago. I think I was the first to vote and it never showed up. I can't remember the story but remember I was first since I took pains to write a little note to explain the reason for vote.
TxtEdMacs

Oct 31, 2004
9:58 AM EDT
Did you happen to see a message afterwords confirming you had voted? I thought I saw the message, hence, I closed the window. This is the first time for me that a vote has disappeared.

Let me encourage you to continue to cite a reason for your vote. Too often I wonder on what basis people voted. My reviews manytimes are either mixed or opposed to other voters that seem so completely certain but otherwise opaque
TxtEdMacs

Oct 31, 2004
12:02 PM EDT
I found my vote recorded on my home page and associated with the wrong story. It is listed as being applied to the purchase of the advertisement in the NYT for FireFox. Nonetheless, I neither read that story nor does it show as a votes for that story on my screen.

I wonder if this explains how the vote was lost? Next question, if this is not an associated anomaly on my system: was my vote sent to limbo as an outright error or is it due to some error checking code that assures votes only where the links are at least opened? If it is the latter, perhaps a message to the user might be in order, because the end message on the screen seems to indicate all is in order.

Thanks
bstadil

Oct 31, 2004
12:30 PM EDT
I looked at my home page and think I found my missing vote attached to the correct story. I am fairly certain but not positive it was missing when I checked back a few hours later when I revisited LXer. I voted in a tab rather than my normal windows so I just thought I screwed up somehow.

On the comment issue I concur and think at least the initial voter should leave a comment. There is a story about Mepis currently that ISAM has voted negative all 3 option. I can't for the life of me figure out why this would be Off-topic. Maybe bad content or crummy source but how can a story about a linux distribution be Off-Topic?
TxtEdMacs

Oct 31, 2004
2:53 PM EDT
Can't resist carrying on this on lack of comments, but my example is diablod3. [S|H]e never seems to comment and from my memory is a usually a straight vote. Moreover, regarding this story: "Programmer tries life with Linux" s/he is the only negative vote. Others abstain particularly about the source but are otherwise positive. If my vote had been taken I would have shown: abstaining from the content, for the topic in LXer, and against the source, because I did not believe the author knew what they were describing. That is, by now those writing about Linux should know what Free and Open Source software represents at least roughtly.

What bothers me: is there are four votes (mine is still not showing) without a single comment. Perhaps the word disturbed would be more appropriate.
dave

Nov 01, 2004
4:36 AM EDT
I don't know why a vote wouldn't have registered, but please keep in mind that the LXer homepage is cached and is only updated every few minutes. Therefore, your vote won't be reflected on the homepage immediately.

dave
TxtEdMacs

Nov 01, 2004
7:59 AM EDT
Dave: The problem is that my vote was only on my home page. Just checked it: it is on the FireFox advertisement for the NYT - the wrong story.

I still suspect that you have some code that caught my not even opening the link for that story, hence blocking the vote. I thought I checked repeatedly without seeing my vote on the wrong story until this morning.

dave

Nov 01, 2004
8:42 AM EDT
No, the system doesn't record what you do. When you click on a story, you go straight there. Therefore, the system has no way of knowing which stories you read, and which ones you don't.

When it comes to voting, it is ignorant as to your reading habits. For this reason, you can vote on something without even seeing it.

When you vote, make sure you are clicking to vote from within the box for which you want to vote.

Dave
TxtEdMacs

Nov 01, 2004
9:09 AM EDT
Then it is solely my fault. I left a note on the other story telling potential readers to disregard my vote. If they read my vote comment and read the story they should be wondering what that guy is thinking about.

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