3. Voting

Voting is applied only to the initial post of a Forum Topic, This is the post that appears in the Forum Listings.

Below is an example TopicPosting.

TopicHeading

NOTE : If you are an unregistered reader (guest) then you will not see the Moderate Post and Add Vote features.

If you have the authority to vote a posting (any registered member), you will see drop down selection box located at the bottom of the initial post titled Moderate Post: which will contain a number of options to select from;

• Excellent
• Useful
• Average
• Below Par
• Utter Rubbish

Voting a Post

Select one of the options and then click the Add Vote button below the drop down. All votes are then averaged up. Each registered / established user gets one vote and the option to change their vote later.

Effects of Voting

By voting a Topic Heading, you can "promote" the entire Topic to appear on the Home Page. Further votes that reduce the average can see the Topic removed from the front page. Extreme voting down may see the Topic itself disappear completely from the forum allong with any comments attached to it. How a Topic Post appears on both the front page and the forum, along with all associated comments, is based on the average of votes provided by Registered Users.

Changing Your Vote

With initial Topic Posts, you can adjust your vote at a later point in time. By returning to the post, you will see, if you have made a vote already, that the Add Vote button will now read as Edit Vote. Simply follow the same steps as for Voting a Post and your vote will be changed.

The voting system is intended as a Democratic way of monitoring the quality of discussions on the Forums. Do not just vote down postings. You are also encouraged to vote up or vote average when ever possible.

Voting a Topic Post is different to Moderating a Comment Post. See Moderating for more on Moderating Comments.