I think it would be pretty cool have down votes only affect that post, not the account. Only have up votes tie to the account. If that post gets down votes, the post still gets buried, but the account wouldn't show it, just the up votes. I think that would make users that are prone to be lurkers (me included) much more comfortable in contributing.
Another thought would be, in order to down vote a post you have to reply to that post. Without a reply, the down vote wouldn't stick. I think that would go a long way in moving the conversation forward.
That sort of defeats the purpose of the reputation system, no? If there is no way for your reputation to go down then there is a lot less reason not to spam.
The second idea is interesting, but it doesn't really work with the downvote.. The point of the downvote is because a post doesn't contriubte/ is spam, so if there is anything worth commenting, then you shouldn't be downvoting anyways.
I think it would be pretty cool have down votes only affect that post, not the account. Only have up votes tie to the account. If that post gets down votes, the post still gets buried, but the account wouldn't show it, just the up votes. I think that would make users that are prone to be lurkers (me included) much more comfortable in contributing.
Another thought would be, in order to down vote a post you have to reply to that post. Without a reply, the down vote wouldn't stick. I think that would go a long way in moving the conversation forward.
That sort of defeats the purpose of the reputation system, no? If there is no way for your reputation to go down then there is a lot less reason not to spam.
The second idea is interesting, but it doesn't really work with the downvote.. The point of the downvote is because a post doesn't contriubte/ is spam, so if there is anything worth commenting, then you shouldn't be downvoting anyways.