What does it mean to be voted for my post?

Question

I keep getting voted for some recent posts. I think I know why I am getting voted on, but what does this mean overall on BP?

Do people actually look at this and decide whether to pay attention to someone's posts or not?

Jean Bolger · Answer

I think that usually a really terrible reply or misinformation will be pointed out by someone else in the thread. I understand what you're getting at, but I think having a "thumbs down" vote would inhibit a lot of people from participating, and would create a more contentious atmosphere. It's really kind of amazing how well-mannered the BP forums tend to be -- you just have to look at most internet interactions to see how quickly people can go negative -- and I think the "vote" tool helps with that. If someone issues a correction to a misinformed response, and a bunch of people vote on that correction, then they are giving their tacit approval of the correct information without having to pile on to the guy who gave the bad info, which would probably just make him defensive, and then, ...well, you know how it goes

Michael Wentzel · Answer

@Kevin Yoo

Good question. I generally vote on a post if I like their input or appreciate the insight.

Mike

Kevin Yoo · Answer

@Jean Bolger

I understand your points. I really do. But that makes BP like my children's recreational soccer league where everyone is a winner. Everyone gets a trophy at the end of the season. There is definitely a reason for this as I had all three of my children go through recreational soccer and I know how fragile their egos were at that young age.

But I know that when I step away from my computer and the world of gentle and well-mannered real estate investors, the real world of real estate investing is filled with land mines with incompetent and crooked investors constantly giving me advice that seems eerily similar to that I get on BP. And when I like a fool believe them and go down a path with them, I simply do not get that trophy every time.

Although there is a reason and a place for BP community, it is somewhat detached from reality.

Julian Dangerfield · Answer

Well @Kevin Yoo  I just gave you a vote for asking that question because I've been wondering the same thing. lol

Mark Freeman · Answer

Vote for good posts that are helpful or make you laugh.  When someone has a great answer or puts a lot of thought into helping someone it deserves a vote.  I've been surprised sometimes when I've seen a comment about how great someones post was and the post still doesn't have any votes!

Micah Copeland · Answer

@Kevin Yoo

Yea for me personally anytime I see someone with an extremely high vote count I am always impressed by them and take my time reading when they do post. You can compare them to deals. If someone has a vote count that equals 100% of their all in posts then they are probably a smart person (;

The Vote Post Multiplier. VPM!

George P. · Answer

it means you are a rock star.

not really, means people liked what you said.

Jean Bolger · Answer

@Kevin Yoo , I have often seen people come down like a ton of bricks on posters if they are indeed posting anything that is downright dangerous, fraudulent, or otherwise misleading to others. And if someone reads through a forum thread and sees the senior members slamming someones advice and then chooses to follow that dubious advice anyway, well... that's investing Darwinism at work, right?I did vote on your last post though because I love the analogy of the "everyone gets a trophy" kids' sports teams. Made me laugh.

Kevin Yoo · Answer

Why don't we have the opposite? If your posting sucked, misleading, misinformed, or outright fraudulent, we should get some sort of opposite of voting. I know some of these posts get taken down but then no one will every know you were terrible.

I for one would want to know if I ever posted such a thing. And if we want to help BP learn, should we not learn only from good posts but also bad ones. Strange how we only reward good deeds, but do not punish bad ones in the group.

What does it mean to be voted for my post?

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