4 Votes
My Nerd-It Rubric
To earn a nerd up:
- Is the comment legible?
- Does the comment make a sound point?
- Did I learn something or have to stop and ponder something because of the post?
- Is it something I can respect being said, agree or disagree?
To earn a nerd down:
- Does the comment make unsubstantiated and controversial claims?
- Is the comment unnecessarily mean
Overall:
If a comment is at 0 and I don’t think it added anything to the discussion, I usually just leave it be. If a comment is negative and I don’t think it took anything away from the discussion, I nerd it up. I something is a strong comment but already has a fairly high rating, I will often just let that stand and not nerd it up higher than the “level” I think it deserves:
Rating:
- A reasonable comment that adds to the discussion
- A reasonable comment that adds to the discussion with sources
- A strong comment that makes clear and logical arguments and backs them up with sources (when necessary)
- A comment that a lot of effort went into producing and is clearly a well understood item and superbly put statement
- I have never modded anyone up who was higher than 4.
For modding down, it is more subjective. If someone is clearly just flaming a thread, I will mod them down, no matter their current rating. I try not to pile on someone who already has a negative or zero rating. When I see someone who falls into the realm of my nerd-down rating system, and they have a higher rating, I will sometimes mod them down because I don’t think the comment rates a 3, 4 or 5 (etc). I like my votes to be “I support civil, reasonable and intelligent discussion/debate” rather than a more facebook-like “I agree”.
RE: My Nerd-It Rubric by Jackson
And I already see a flaw in what I posted.
Does the comment make unsubstantiated and controversial claims?
I should explain this better. If someone is purporting something, that is generally considered false, to be true and don’t back up what they are saying in any way, just hoping that people will take their word for it I will mod it down. Not just anything, but somethings are just not nerdy. It’s like the Supreme Court Justice Potter Stevens said about obscenity:
Applied, of course, to non-nerdy comments.
It is also difficult for me to nerd up comments that are rife with grammatical and spelling errors; not one or two (to err is human), but the entire post. I also find it hard to nerd up comments that rely on “internet-speak” too much… you know, too many LOL, ROFLMAO, TTYL or any other crap like that.
Lastly, I wanted to say that I try not to mod my own submissions at all, up or down. I don’t see how you can truly be objective about your own crap.
RE: My Nerd-It Rubric by gnifyus
I something is a strong comment but already has a fairly high rating, I will often just let that stand and not nerd it up higher than the “level” I think it deserves:
And:
I have never modded anyone up who was higher than 4.
What’s happened here is that we’ve become so used to the nerd-it system not really being used, that a “4” seems high which is sort of pathetic. I think the system was originally designed with much higher numbers in mind in order to rate content in a meaningful manner (like Digg on a smaller scale or something).
With the exception of your #5 “rationing policy”, I use the same exact criteria when determining nerd-its. (Now don’t be insulted: That assumes I’ve noticed a persons comment in the first place.)
RE: My Nerd-It Rubric by wyldeling
I consider it funny that both of your most recent articles (#1 and #2) have received 8 and 6 nerdits, respectively, as of posting of this comment. You may be right in that it may be a disuse problem. However, with comments it is especially difficult to track and read some of the more active threads, so I see that as more of a barrier to truly stellar ratings then for articles.