So, there is a splintering in our community. One side says down with the down vote, the other says up with the down vote. Both groups have their valid arguments, both deserve to be heard and both want a solution that everyone can live with, because we all want PMC to continue to be a great place to be. This got me thinking. The problem many people had with the down vote was that it had far more uses than just disliking a certain submission. The down vote was used as a trolling device, used as a discredited, and used to bump popular items from the leader reels. It was often used without any form reasoning behind it, and it sucked. On the other hand, there is now no way to counter a horrible submissions popularity if that submitter has a band of buddies (or multiple accounts) who just like something because of who submitted it than on the merit of its worth. So we need a solution that appeases both sides, but has a way of limiting the abuse, making trolls farther and fewer in between, and encouraging a stronger community in the process. Io ve though up just that sort of solution. It might be foolish, it might be beyond the scope of what the PMC crew could implement, but I think it just might work. I call it Diamonds and Coal.

It works a lot like up votes and down votes in a sense, but this time around, instead of an infinite like or smite stick, you get more sway in the community for how active you are in it. Every post, submission, and comment you give gives you Diamonds and Coal. Diamonds are your likes, and you get a lot more of these because everyone wants to like things. Coal is your dislikes, you get far less of them, and so youo ve got to use them wisely. You cano t just smite everything you feel like smiting; you want to use them on the things that truly deserve to be down voted. Every up vote you receive gives you more diamonds to give out as well. This is to encourage you to do your best, and so that you can keep giving out diamonds to your hearto s content. If someone posts on another person submission, and it was not constructive in any way, or the submitter didno t like it than they could still delete the post, which would in turn take away any diamond and coal gained from the post. Maybe every day you get a refill set of diamond and coal if you get on (doesno t compile daily unless you log in) just so you dono t start the day with nothing to give out.

Now, this can be abused, as everything will always be able to, but it encourages a much sounder community effort. It encourages positive interaction in the community by conversing with other PMC members by posting on the forum and on users submissions, which nets them a certain amount of diamonds and coal (3 to 1 maybe? Probably something a little higher) and encourages the submission of higher quality stuff.

It is a start to something that could work. It might be impractical, but it was just a thought that came into my head. It would detract from the trolls, grievers, lurkers and stalkers who dono t really play a part in the community, but still feel the need to give out ratings. It also satisfies those you want to be able to mark someone down, while satisfying the group that doesno t want it abused by making the down voter actively part of the community in some way to actually achieve those down votes to hand out. It makes down votes have more meaning as well, instead of the drive by shooting it was before.

Just an idea. Let me know what you think.