This is just a random idea that I wanted to get feedback on.
With Voat, one of the things we struggle with (on the backend) is the mutability of user votes (allowing a user to change previous votes on comments/submissions). When a user can change their vote (up to down or removing a previous vote) we can’t effectively deal with this data until it reaches the “archiving” phase, which is currently three months or 90 days.
If we can effectively “archive” user votes before this time we can do much more within the code base.
The idea is this:
User votes can not be changed after a 24-hour window (time period is variable, but shorter the better). This would mean that once a user has voted on a comment/submission, they are only free to change it within this window. After the 24 hours, it sticks and would be permanent.
What are the cons? How often would this be an issue? How often do you change a previous vote after 24 hours? Etc.
Let me know your thoughts on this.
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DayOfThePillow ago
So long as people can't edit their comments after the same amount of time it makes sense, otherwise you could change a massively upvoated post to something else to give the false impression that was the popular opinion.
Valensiakol ago
Maybe create an amending edit system, where you can't modify the original comment after the 24 hour period, but you can add on a new segment to your original comment that is clearly amended, if you need to correct a mistake or you changed your opinion or something.
BlackSheepBrouhaha ago
Or add a button next to Report that says (original) which allows us to see previous versions of the comment as collapsed replies to the comment.
Valensiakol ago
Yeah, that's more or less how it works for the Facebook version I mentioned. Probably the best way since it reduces clutter and allows for menial edits like spelling errors without making a big deal out of it.