There is a kind of 'who else liked this' featurewhere your 'friends activity' page will show you the stuff your friends liked, and list how many of them liked it. Not quite a list of everyone who liked a post, but interesting nonetheless.
In answer to your point about fake/secondary accounts, I very much doubt that has much effect at all even if it goes on. The amount of votes needed to get on the popular page, and high up in the image challenge varies depending on how many people are voting at that time. Sometimes they need a lot of votes, sometimes not so much. Times when there have not been a lot of votes, maybe the results are a little more whacky. Stuff that gets frontpaged is obviously going to end up with more votes as it remains more visible than a post that falls off the board before it gains any voting momentum.
Having said that, can you define quality/hummus? What you think makes a good picture is not necessarily what everybody else thinks. Just because you clicked 'i like this' doesn't mean many other people have. Maybe everyone else just has shitty taste, or maybe you do?
And at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, 'Does it really matter?' It's just a website full of photoshops that is trying to make people laugh a bit. Does it really matter that one person's badly photoshopped cock joke got a couple of votes more than somebody else's?
(In answer to your point about fake/secondary accounts, I very much doubt that has much effect at all even if it goes on. The amount of votes needed to get on the popular page, and high up in the image challenge varies depending on how many people are voting at that time. Sometimes they need a lot of votes, sometimes not so much. Times when there have not been a lot of votes, maybe the results are a little more whacky. Stuff that gets frontpaged is obviously going to end up with more votes as it remains more visible than a post that falls off the board before it gains any voting momentum.
Having said that, can you define quality/hummus? What you think makes a good picture is not necessarily what everybody else thinks. Just because you clicked 'i like this' doesn't mean many other people have. Maybe everyone else just has shitty taste, or maybe you do?
And at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, 'Does it really matter?' It's just a website full of photoshops that is trying to make people laugh a bit. Does it really matter that one person's badly photoshopped cock joke got a couple of votes more than somebody else's?
Mystery_Bob,
Thu 28 Oct 2010, 15:22,
archived)
Sorry for the late reply. Real shitty day.I agree with what you say, and I understand that my version or quality or hummus will be different to anyone elses.
It's just that I kinda agree with what Happytoast has to say, but maybe in a more direct way. There doesn't seem to be any kinda formula or sense in how making something popular or fp'd works, which brings out the analytical cynic in me. THINGS MUST MAKE SENSE!!!
And no, it doesn't really matter. I just think it may matter to someone who's put a lot of effort into a pic/animation for it to be trumped by maybe something maybe not as good but not 'liked' (or just dismissed altogether) as he or she hasn't the 'friends, sir' to make it so. It could put off someone from continuing to participate on the board.
As for the clique thing - I've actually found this to get worse over the past year or so. I may not participate as much as many of you guys but I spend a lot of time on this board. Consider me the quiet, timid guy who sits in the corner, not really talking to anyone but taking it all in. It's not a bad thing all together, it shows the solidarity of the board in a certain sense; but it makes you kinda see where the popularity of some peeps work comes from.
In the end it doesn't really fucking matter. I love this place and will continue to be a quiet guy in the corner part of it for a long time. It's probably the only site I go on which doesn't get closed on my browser all day, unless the boss walks in.
It's just one lonely mans point of view ;)
(It's just that I kinda agree with what Happytoast has to say, but maybe in a more direct way. There doesn't seem to be any kinda formula or sense in how making something popular or fp'd works, which brings out the analytical cynic in me. THINGS MUST MAKE SENSE!!!
And no, it doesn't really matter. I just think it may matter to someone who's put a lot of effort into a pic/animation for it to be trumped by maybe something maybe not as good but not 'liked' (or just dismissed altogether) as he or she hasn't the 'friends, sir' to make it so. It could put off someone from continuing to participate on the board.
As for the clique thing - I've actually found this to get worse over the past year or so. I may not participate as much as many of you guys but I spend a lot of time on this board. Consider me the quiet, timid guy who sits in the corner, not really talking to anyone but taking it all in. It's not a bad thing all together, it shows the solidarity of the board in a certain sense; but it makes you kinda see where the popularity of some peeps work comes from.
In the end it doesn't really fucking matter. I love this place and will continue to be a quiet guy in the corner part of it for a long time. It's probably the only site I go on which doesn't get closed on my browser all day, unless the boss walks in.
It's just one lonely mans point of view ;)
BleachedEgo draw a cdc then get back to your teen porn.Pricks,
Thu 28 Oct 2010, 22:02,
archived)
Perhaps there is an element of friends liking each other's posts more than othersbut not through any kind of conspiracy. If you like somebody's posts, you will probably add them as a friend, have their posts show up in your friend feed and then be more likely to notice and vote on their subsequent posts. I often click stuff I see in my friends page which has long since disappeared off the board.
As to spotting trends in front pages - I wouldn't bother. It's down to the whim of the mods and whatever made them laugh at any given time. The popular page may be scanned to see what the board has been liking recently, but the final say for frontpages are the individual mods and whatever tickles them. Maybe half the board might click for a particular post, but if it doesn;t make any of the mods laugh it's not going to get frontpaged.
Like Monkeon says down there, if any boarders seem to get more frontpages than others, then maybe they just have a sense of humour that makes one or more of the mods laugh.
(As to spotting trends in front pages - I wouldn't bother. It's down to the whim of the mods and whatever made them laugh at any given time. The popular page may be scanned to see what the board has been liking recently, but the final say for frontpages are the individual mods and whatever tickles them. Maybe half the board might click for a particular post, but if it doesn;t make any of the mods laugh it's not going to get frontpaged.
Like Monkeon says down there, if any boarders seem to get more frontpages than others, then maybe they just have a sense of humour that makes one or more of the mods laugh.
Mystery_Bob,
Fri 29 Oct 2010, 2:43,
archived)
My 2 cents ..Interesting discussion, but I don't think that you are right. Sure, some of the most frequent posters will tend to build up a common history. They will use the board for chatting, over time some will even develop friendships. B3ta will become an integral part of their social fabric.
However, I don't think it affects the "I like this" voting in any decisive way.
First of all, even though there may be a dozen or two of these really active "core" members, I think that they are far outnumbered by the occasional posters and the lurkers. People who will, without prejudice, click "I like this" when they see something they like.
Secondly it contradicts my own experience. I am the irregular poster, active at times, less active at other times. My merits include winning the image competition a few times and being front paged on a few occasions. I have also posted a lot of things that didn't work out, ideas that seemed good when they popped up in my head but which in retrospect were dead ends. I generally agree with the "verdicts" of the board, both when I hit the target and when I fail miserably. I try to make a point of learning from my experiences and I think that b3ta has helped me sharpen my sense of what is funny to other people and what is not. I don't attribute my occasional successes to being a member of any "clique" since I'm obviously not.
An important thing to understand here is that on b3ta the idea weighs just as heavily as the execution. If you create a really funny or bizzare cartoon, the crowd will not mind that you drew stick people in MS Paint. You will probably also get a round of applause if you create a really beautiful or artsy drawing. But the stick people bizzareness might very well float to the top.
(,
Fri 29 Oct 2010, 8:16,
archived)
However, I don't think it affects the "I like this" voting in any decisive way.
First of all, even though there may be a dozen or two of these really active "core" members, I think that they are far outnumbered by the occasional posters and the lurkers. People who will, without prejudice, click "I like this" when they see something they like.
Secondly it contradicts my own experience. I am the irregular poster, active at times, less active at other times. My merits include winning the image competition a few times and being front paged on a few occasions. I have also posted a lot of things that didn't work out, ideas that seemed good when they popped up in my head but which in retrospect were dead ends. I generally agree with the "verdicts" of the board, both when I hit the target and when I fail miserably. I try to make a point of learning from my experiences and I think that b3ta has helped me sharpen my sense of what is funny to other people and what is not. I don't attribute my occasional successes to being a member of any "clique" since I'm obviously not.
An important thing to understand here is that on b3ta the idea weighs just as heavily as the execution. If you create a really funny or bizzare cartoon, the crowd will not mind that you drew stick people in MS Paint. You will probably also get a round of applause if you create a really beautiful or artsy drawing. But the stick people bizzareness might very well float to the top.