The Quotidian Word » voting http://blog.quotidianword.com Maieutic promulgation. Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:10:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Where Did The Votes Go? http://blog.quotidianword.com/where-did-the-votes-go/ http://blog.quotidianword.com/where-did-the-votes-go/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:53:41 +0000 epeolatrist http://blog.quotidianword.com/?p=26 If you’re here, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve hidden the vote counts next to the current word’s sentences. “Why is that?” you may be wondering. Well, in this experiment we call Quotidian Word, we noticed a bit of favoritism towards sentences that already had votes next to them and feedback from users concerned that the voting system was unfair in that respect, even though points don’t really mean anything and the site is for fun and education. So we decided the best way to counter this effect is to hide the total vote counts for a sentence until the voting for that word is over.

This does three things:

  1. It eliminates the ability for a sentence to “gain momentum.” The best sentences will get the votes because they’re the best, not because everyone else thinks they’re the best and you’re unsure of which to vote for.
  2. It encourages more people to vote. We noticed some people wouldn’t vote on sentences because they knew the vote counts of the other sentences and knew that their vote would either make or break a sentence’s lead. Since you no longer have that information, all you should do is vote on the sentences you like best!
  3. It adds a little mystery and excitement to the site. If you check back often during the day, you typically have a pretty good idea of who is winning and who is going to win, unless there is some late-night surge in voting. This way, you really don’t know who is winning or not until winners have been determined!

You may notice if you have submitted a sentence that you are able to view your own vote count. We felt that knowing your own vote count is not detrimental to the voting process. You may also still check your votes via text message if you have registered your phone number.

What do you think about this new voting system?

]]> http://blog.quotidianword.com/where-did-the-votes-go/feed/ 0 POLL: Should Vote Counts Be Visible? http://blog.quotidianword.com/poll-should-vote-counts-be-visible/ http://blog.quotidianword.com/poll-should-vote-counts-be-visible/#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:02:26 +0000 epeolatrist http://blog.quotidianword.com/?p=20 We’re always trying to improve the user experience at Quotidian Word, and one of the issues that has come up has been voting. Even though the site really isn’t about voting and winning (everyone’s a winner when you expand your vocab!), the voting process adds a little fun. In order to maintain said fun, we’d like to propose a little user poll to see how people feel:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. ]]> http://blog.quotidianword.com/poll-should-vote-counts-be-visible/feed/ 0