# Is there a system of rating post comments that would be an improvement?



## kingkongufulgus

Sometimes there are a lot of comments on a thread, and that can be overwhelming for language learners. What if Wordreference adopted something akin to Reddit's system of upvotes and downvotes, but the comments never deviate from their chronological order? Maybe we could have a button at the top to go to the highest rated comment or something like that. It wouldn't have to be intrusive, and could fit into the interface subtly...

What do you guys think? Any ideas?


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## kraftwerk

I agree


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## Kelly B

My concern is that you don't always know what a vote really means. I worry that it would be misleading.

Some people will downvote anything Person X says because Person X is a pompous pain in the neck, never mind whether his answer to the question is accurate.
Some people will downvote a comment because it's full of grammar errors, even if the portion of the post that answers the question is accurate.
Some people will upvote a comment because Person Y is a helpful and friendly person, even if Person Y is totally wrong in this particular instance.
Some people will upvote a comment because they were desperate for a quick answer and an answer came quickly. It's a shortcut thank you, with no regard to accuracy at all.


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## kingkongufulgus

The system isn't perfect, but all in all the best comments will float to the top. We just have to have faith that people are here to participate in a learning community. All evidence that I've ever seen points to that.


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## Cagey

Many of the threads are discussions in which people respond to earlier posts. They sometimes change their mind because of something someone else has said. 

Putting the comments out of chronological order would create a lot of confusion.  

This rating system works better in forums in which posts are longer and can function as stand-alone comments.  Our best threads are the product of close collaboration among several members.


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## tsoapm

Cagey said:


> This rating system works better in forums in which posts are longer and can function as stand-alone comments.


Or when the threads are … threaded(?).


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## Myridon

tsoapm said:


> Or when the threads are … threaded(?).


That could be very complicated.  What if I don't like this post as a reply to it's immediate parent, but it's very apt for its grandparent and great-great-great grandparent and the original post.


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## tsoapm

Indeed. I wasn’t actually recommending it.


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