Do you vote for Indivine posts without reading it?
Indivine has been a superb addition to Indiblogger. It has really helped readers in chosing quality content without actually doing blog hopping and we get introduced to new bloggers too.
I normally reads certain posts based on the votes they got. Sometimes it has left me disappointed too, because the post might not have enough stuff in it to get this high vote.
Are people voting for posts without actually reading the post?
I am posting this under Blogging ethics, since I think a true blogger should not vote for a post unless he has read the post.
When talking about the newcomers I was indicating the Indivine and not competitions.. oooppppssss forgot to clarify it.
You have given me something to think about and I will think it over whether to encourage newcomers to indibloggers or not.
As for the competition last time I jumped into it body and soul and that is it... I got in touch with lots of friends who did not even know about blogging but learnt it later on just to leave a comment on my pepsi post LOL... I cannot repeat it once again. I will just submit a post and vote like I usually do on indivine. No changes for the competition.
I was missing here for a month due to exams. Or else I have been always quite active on indivine.
Just an addition to my above comment. Well, we already have Popular and Latest buttons. We can continue to have that.
I agree with Sanchita comment #3
Directing to the post- You can have 2 buttons say "Read"(always enabled) and "Vote" (initially disabled but enabled after 20-30 sec). Clicking on the "Read" button will open the post in a new tab. That way the user is forced to visit the post at least once and might read the post while waiting for the "vote" button to be enabled.
The other point to add here is, this way traffic to blog is improves, which is every one wish
The Random voting without reading might not add any value , a good blog post will be lost, as its way down in the last pages of indivine.
@Farida
I appreciate your positive approach to help new comers. Please think of a better way to help them. A proper structured help section or reviews of their posts and blogs might also help them.
I agree. I don't see why it is important to help newbies. There is hardly any correlation between the date one has joined Indiblogger and how interesting his or her blog posts are.
If a blog post is interesting, people would vote automatically irrespective of when he or she has joined Indiblogger.
When some one votes blindly on a post as a reciprocal vote without reading a post, the newbie or the person who gets the vote will be under the wrong impression that his post is really great. This false sense of achievement may actually hinder the development of a newbie than being a help to him.
Ofcourse it is always a nice feeling to see many votes against our indivine submissions.
What is your opinion regarding, opening the blog post in a new window under an indiblogger frame which contains the voting button?
Opening in a new frame might work well.
Since this topic is getting many replies. I request you or any other active person to write a summary in a 'fresh reply to this topic' if possible. I know it is a tedious job.
I think a voting option to such imp issues with too many replies should help to make a decision easy.
A new frame increases the traffic, so a definite yes!
Glad this topic is discussed. I am also pissed with the voting process presently we are following. People gave good suggestions on the voting, but I suggest some kind of filter or manual check on the Indivine directory. Some posts are posted in wrong category and still voted on top !!!
In earlier forum topics, I suggest to add age to each Indivine post excluding competition post. Like a post will be in in the Indivine directory for 15 - 30 days or so and it will be remove automaticaly. It will help to see new topics coming and to avoid one posts getting all the attentions.
Also, can you add the number of posts in footer of the page. Like you do in forum replies. It is interesting to see how many posts are there in each category and easy to jump to the page we want to. eg:- 1 2 3.... NEXT LAST.
I fully agree with you @Richa and also your opinion about IndiRank.
Ravin &Subups have dissued this issue in detaIl.Indiaspirituality have replied nicely and have given some suggestions.I think his KISS policy is imp.
One thing I never vote without reading .And also I have seen people reading the post but not voting or leaving any bad or good comment on it .
Http://savadhan.wordpress.com
@ sanchita.... i appriciate ur views regarding the topic and ur suggestion must be fruitful for this problem
I think even a delete button on an Indie Post would be appretiated...
now this is my presonal experience..I made a post on Indivine. A few days later I changed my blog theme n that post wouldnt fit in the theme..So I had to delete it and repost it. However there was no way to delete it from the indivine n people are still voting for it. (No need to mention the fact that they arent reading it :D). Infact its the post that has gotten me the most amount of votes. I would really like to remove the link.
So adding a delete button would really help.
Cheers.
Unfortunately, on an average, only one out of 10 voters actually click the link to my posts. :-(
Well what can I say so is the tragedy of life...
n on the indiprofile there are just 5 slots for indivine posts I get 5 posts which get more votes than the deleted one..it will stay up there in perpetuity..
coz people will keep on voting for something which isnt there..
:D
only if*
Currently Indivine shows the posts with the most number of votes as the default view; I think changing that to the latest first would make better sense, as then people would read posts from a lot of different bloggers instead of the same few bloggers hogging home space.
I also agree with the suggestion of having anonymous voting; makes best sense, as if no one knows who voted for them, the scope of "scratching each other's back" will be less.
This is a fascinating topic. I haven't been part of too many contests on indiblogger nor have I actively solicited votes for posts so I don't know how much canvassing for votes or buddy voting helps. Here are a couple of my thoughts.
I have realised votes often pour into posts that are currently in the top 10, primarily due to visibility. The patterns of voting that I see on Indivine makes me conclude that people read the top 5 posts, vote for them and move on. unless their posts are somewhere down at 20, which is when they go through other posts above and below theirs.This means that newcomers trying to get their work seen face a pretty rough draw. Its normally bloggers well-known on the Indivine circuit who make it to the top, others never get the chance of breaking out of 20 votes and more. This is unfair. Mostly when some posts at the top, I feel, don't deserve to be there over others which are far better that are languishing with just 10 or 12 votes.
Ramchandra's idea is excellent. It takes the weight off reciprocity that many bloggers suffer from. More importantly, it gives a better idea of which posts were better received without having to cancel out one's blogger buddies as being the regular votes.
Sanchita's idea of increasing visibility is an easily achievable layout change, isn't it? That means more blogs are seen. Adding to her suggestion of using up the empty space, I think if there was a mechanism to promote maybe 3 blog posts that have been getting a lot of traffic through indiblogger( not votes)could be shown, I think that will be an added incentive to read them. I'd be happy to be directed to good posts by totally unknown people. I have literally stumbled upon some great posts that I had no clue about through a link from someone else'. I think Indiblogger can help new comers more that way.
Ok. I think loads have been discussed now and are being still discussed and suggested. But I am not listening from the moderators? So how bout the Jiyo Life contest? Will it also be evaluated on the current/past formats or anything new is in place for evaluation n not just no.of promotions.
I do feel that ranking of many blogs are high due to promotion of post by friends and requests where as it should be based on the content and quality of writing.
That's one of the problem wich admins will always face. I have come across websites like commission junction, which require users to read the entire terms and conditions, up to the bottom, where they get the "Accept" button. But any user, invariably scroll down directly to the bottom and the button gets activated. Some things we may have to live with!!
btw Ramchandra Upadhya has given a good suggestion
Another suggestion- Let the post get 'Promoted' automatically whenever some body posts his/her comments. This will ensure that only genuine readers are promoting a post.
yes,what Ayyangar says is also correct. We must think about his suggestion that ranking should be based on the content and quality of writing.
Personally I read the summary first. Then I read the ones I feel will be interesting. I leave a comment on the blogs of those whose entries I read. If I like it then I vote for the post. Therefore I comment on all posts I read but I may not vote for each of them.
I think not too much should be put into the votes for the posts. The true value of a blog is known by the level of interaction with it's readers. In other words, quality comments are what should be of value to the blogger because they show that the blog has been read and it's value has been appreciated.
Perhaps we could have a rating based on the number of quality comments on a particular blog post. Something like a dzone or a reddit does but even more stricter.
well about 10% of the times............and that's why i haven't been active on Indivine for a long time....and haven't even promoted/read.................but hope to be soon active again.........
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