So, do we accept "mob rule"? Do we give in to the "classroom bully"? Surely the actual problem should be addressed, i.e. the people causing such issues? Then the other 99.9% of us can carry on either ignoring or assessing the number of stars appearing on a thread.

That would have been good.

I do understand the flip-side too. From an administrative point of view (especially on a non-commercial service) removing a feature to solve a problem will result in less hassle and work for the admins, who no doubt have better things to spend their time on.

The ONLY issue was with the people who are so insecure that they judge their lives by a rating on an IBB.

If I want to give a Birthday Thread ONE star, I should be able to do so. To be told that I cannot or should not is simply idiotic.

It's not our decision whether to accept or not accept it. The owner of the site makes the final decisions, and he decided to get rid of the feature rather than get rid of the problems. His choice, and I'm not going to agree nor disagree with him.

That's not the issue here. Give all the one stars you want. The issue is that only certain people were having their threads one starred that it appeared to be a group in concert. The rating system was abused by a small group of people targeting an equally small group of people they didn't like. If you did some research, it stuck out like a sore thumb in some forums.

Why would that be a problem?

Again, a small group of people who measure their self worth by an IBB. Why delete a feature that worked well for most users only because a small number were "offended" by having their threads rated low.

Have you ever thought that the members who had their threads rated low simply started terrible threads? Maybe their was no "group in concert", Maybe there was simply a diverse group who did not care for idiotic threads?

Read above. They weren't idiotic threads. They were birthday threads and very informative threads. They were every single thread started by certain users in forums which had no other ratings.

THEY didn't get their cyberfeelings hurt ;) - however, it was noticed by others, myself included.

No one has said a word about idiotic, useless threads started by people. The issue is and always has been that only certain people had their very non-offensive threads single starred by a group of people. In the case of birthday threads - they weren't even started by that person.

I happen to think that the Birthday Threads are VERY idiotic. As for informative, that is in the eye of the beholder.

I beg to differ. This became an issue due to the whining of a few members who cannot stomach critisism.

Do you have proof that this "group" acted in concert? Have you given any thought to the fact that there is a VERY good chance that the member(s) who had there threads rated low have irritated a large DIVERSE group?

Post 39 and counting. ;) If ever there was prima facie evidence of the power of a single issue to generate controversy and heat, this is it. Yet another reason to just leave it off for good.

Some of the arguments in favor of bringing it back seem like variations on the "it depends on what the definition of 'is' is."

I'm also reminded of the bizarre arguments that if we are allowed to pay compliments to other members, we must also be allowed to insult them. (I am not kidding on that one - there really were people making that argument. But I digress...)

EDIT: Oops. Post 40 and counting, sorry. :D

That's your perogative. Did you/Do you go and rate every birthday thread in community with a single star because you don't like them?


It became an issue when a few members noticed that only some birthday threads had a single star rating and the others had either none, or 5 stars. As I said, I don't have any skin in this, but I did report that it appeared that only certain people had single star rating on all their threads. Call it whining, if you'd like. I like to call it pointing out that there's a group of people acting in concert against others they simply don't like.


No, I don't have concrete proof. However, RP did investigate and he reviewed it. After doing so, he removed the feature. That's proof enough for me.

Again, no matter who or how much these posters irritated someone, the rate thread feature is for the thread information - not the person who started it.

There seems to be another thread on this very same issue. I've answered my thoughts here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=471025

In that thread, i think i suggest that the issue might be one taken to the member-elected TalkBoard. I have faith that they were elected from our members to address items and features such as this. My role at the time was to make judicial decisions while the Board was forming and getting settled to represent the members of FlyerTalk.

I hope this helps but any more dialog contributed here is likely to get lost or fall on the wrong set of listening ears.

Thank you.