I think if this feature was added you'd see a lot of the disagrees stop.

I kind of agree with Irish that a person can tell by who's online at the time, but I don't believe this is always the case. I know there are people who lurk on this site all the time, never making reviews or comments, but are all too eager to push the disagree button, then whoever's on happens to get the blame for giving the unknown disagrees.

no need to fan the flame wars

I don't really care enough to demand this feature or to lobby against it.

I don't give a fuck. Besides, I can often guess, given who else is online when I write.

Not really bothered by the Disagrees I get. And though sometimes I'm curious to know on certain reviews, other times I can guess and the majority of the time I just don't care.
Too many people forget that this is an Opinion site and not a Popularity contest. And many of the same people get too worked up about the bullies and Trolls on this (and other) sites.

The only thing this will accomplish is identifying (what we already know) whose clique people belong to. Sorry...not interested.

And maybe the ability to tag those reviewers with a cookie so that you could see what other web sites they visit and some kind of olfactory tracker so you can tell if they had garlic for lunch.

Let's have the users who don't vote a certain way hanged, drawn and quartered!

The good thing about adding this feature would be that people would probably use it.

Can't for the life of me understand why anyone would even care about this.

Have we learned nothing for the widget...

Can you say TROLLS? I don't think anyone needs to know who gives them unhelpfuls, as it will only lead to more trouble on RIA.

The more I think about this, the more I like it. It would spell the end for trolldom and the supertrolls.

The widget helps with the supertrolls, i.e. those who have, say, 3000 reviews, and over 40,000 anonymous ratings.

Let's do the same with the helpful/unhelpful.

I'll pass on that war...

Do this and you're just asking for flame wars. One of the reasons I like this site is that I don't have to worry about dudes flaming me. Adding this feature will destroy your site.

i think that would be cool im just carious to see who likes my opinions and add a short message to why they agree.

It would encourage a lot of hate mail and what is the point. What matters is that you know if your review is appreciated or not it does not matter who likes it or not.

I would not want someone to know what I have rated them.I like to be anonymous.especially if I have rated someone as not helpful since we are allowed to write other posters a private note we can tell them what we think that way.if we choose to do so.For the few months I have been on Rateitall most of the posters have been decent to each other.Believe me, I have been on other forums where people can get nasty.So as for the revealing who rated helpful/not helpful I would just as soon keep it anonymous.

Bad, bad, bad idea. Unless you want to change your domain name to Flameitall.com.

Well, I want to know exactly what I'm doing that isn't helpful. Maybe if people could leave a comment along with their rating, that would encourage a continuously improving system.

After considering my own concerns and reading the other comments, I must rate this suggestion as terrible. As I understand the primary benefit, members could determine if someone is spamming their comments as not helpful to retaliate for an unfavorable comment, etc. as well as finding the handle of the spammer. The primary downside is that this feature would open the door for additional retaliations for a not helpful. As it seems to me that there is nothing RateItAll can really do to prevent retaliations even if the information was available and that this feature would most likely result in only more retaliation, this suggestion nets out as a terrible one. One solution to this spam problem could be that one is limited to how many not helpfuls could be hit against another single member in a 24 hour period. Another solution is to get rid of the not helpful button entirely. This second solution seems to solve several problems since the feature isn't all that beneficial because the helpfulness of a comment is better measured by how many helpful hits it gets rather than the number of unhelpful hits. If a comment isn't getting any helpfuls, it's a sign that the comment needs to be more detailed. Of course the root of the problem is that too many people confuse helpful/unhelpful with agree/disagree. I may disagree with a comment, but that doesn't mean it is either wrong or unhelpful. In fact, some of the most helpful comments to me are those with which I ultimately disagree.

What good would it do? We still wouldn't know who is really rating us, since some people on here assume multiple identities.

I'd rather not know who thought my comments were helpful and not helpful. Some people might take it too personally

Definately! If the same girl is rating my comments then we could hook up for a drink!

I think this is an awful idea, however I wished RateItAll would come up with a way to stop people from being able to use more than one handle. However, I know this is next to impossible, so I am sure nothing can be done about that jerk that gives so many not helpfuls.

C'mon. . .toughen up, people. Who the hell cares if you get upset because someone clicks 'not helpful'?

I really don't know what to think of this idea. Most of the time, I don't give a good hoot who thinks I'm helpful/not helpful, but on the other hand, it may be somewhat worth it to find out who these clowns are who go wild with their mouse clicking everyone's comments "Not Helpful", just for the sheer fun of it; sort of makes one wonder if they are even bothering to read the comments. Maybe a move of some kind should be made to try to track them down.... or should we just allow them to have their fun?! They've got to be terribly bored! All I know is they certainly aren't doing anything to benefit anybody; just leaving the legitimate users of this website scratching their heads in wonderment as to who these practical jokers might be. I am well aware that there are a few people who might honestly disagree with one or some (maybe even all) of my comments, and I'm fine with that. No explanation needed, they'll either agree or disagree. If it were up to me, that "not helpful" button would be eliminated from this website.

I’ve written online for several sites through the years, and have always had this option available to me. It would be helpful to see who liked or disliked your comment only for the sake of being able to see who is clicking off others comments for their own gain. But by having this feature, it does add a bit more feeling of community to the site. However, it should be set up with safty features in mind to avoid people abusing your email addresses and such. I have seen sites that offer this feature but guard your actual email addresses.

As tempting as it is to be able to see if it's the same jerk clicking "not helpful" on all your comments or not, really this isn't necessary. If someone's seriously got a problem with what I say, then they could send me a private message. Otherwise, it's not worth my time.

It would only be good for finding out who the jackass is that keeps giving everyone a dozen unhelpful ratings right off the bat.

That's a really bad idea: we'd be asking for trouble.

baaaad idea. There already seems to be enough people on this web-site with strong vendettas against other, who needs to find hate mail waiting for them when they log on. The helpful/not helpful aspect is the most annoying thing about his site since few people use it correctly anyway. Thirty seconds after I leave an opinion, someone slams my comments with four not helpfuls, so I know it's one person (it's flattering that someone has gotten so worked up about what I write) who just doesn't like me. I don't care who is doing this, however some of the hotheads on this site would care if someone did this to them, and by knowing their identity, it would just start a nasty feud.

This sounds like more trouble than it's worth. Plus, you'd have a LOT of people spamming each other's private messagebox with useless comments like "I can't believe you didn't like my review, I hate you, jerk" etc. There is enough confrontationalism on the internet as it is.

I've got mixed feelings on this one, but overall, I think that in order to avoid the emergence of feuds between reviewers that this idea should be disregarded. If someone supports your ideas and thoughts a lot, they will probably send you a messege of appreciation, and if they strongly disagree they will probably send you one as well. I for one do not want to be on anyone's hitlist because I voted non helpful. However, perhaps we should add this feature for one day so we can find those damned pranksters who are giving all of us 14 not helpful votes less than an hour after we post.

While I do think it's an invasion of privacy, I think this could be helpful because some people are very immature and will go and rate every single post of the person who disagreed with them as "not helpful". UPDATE: It's happened to me a couple of times. I'll make a few comments and a few hours later, they'll all be rated "Not Helpful". These people who do this are so immature. Rating my comments as unhelpful will NOT make me change my opinions on things. I don't know why we need the "Not Helpful" buttons in the first place. Update #2: I made some posts last night and tonight, and sure enough, within a couple of hours, all of my comments that I made have at least two "Not Helpful" votes. I don't know the person(s) who have been doing this to me lately, but KNOCK IT OFF!!!! You are NOT doing anything to make me change my opinions or stop posting here altogether. Go find something constructive to do with your time instead of pestering people here!

Only if it's for helpful (it would be nice to see who agrees with me) but it wouldn't be "helpful" to know who disagrees.

Thank you, Cyber Cop. EVERYONE, send a message to RIA complaining immediately! Tell them to remove the not helpful button. Just to let you know, idiot, Im not going to leave this site becuase of your stupidity, immatureness, and your idiotic behavior. A person named GUIDE is responsible for all of these negative helpful's. They sent me a message.

This could be helpful because some people are very immature and willl rate all the comments by a person as "Not Helpful" because that person said something the other person didn't like. That's happened to me already. I made a few posts about a week ago and I came back last night to find that all my previous posts had been marked "Not Helpful", some as many as 8 times. Maybe if this function was in place, people would be less tempted to do that. UPADTE: It has happened to me again! Some litle twerp apparently went through several of my recent posts and marked then "Not Helpful" because I said something they didn't agree with. I don't know what these pea-brained jerks are trying to accomplish, but they are NOT making me change my opinions on stuff. I think RIA should do away with the "Not Helpful" buttons so that these immature children can't ruin the integrity of this otherwise great site.

Normally, I would say no to this sorta thing, but the prankster that has pressing not helpful 14 times is getting on my nerves.

Not that you could do anything about it, but I have a feeling a lot of people go right down the list of some of my reviews and mark them not helpful for the simple reason that they didn't like what I said on one little subject. That compromises the integrity of this website.

At first I was for this for the same reason as many others, that because of one comment someone (or someoneS) gave all my ratings Not Helpful. I would love to find out who those people were because I think that is really petty. But as for the rest of it... I don't know. I'm not really interested in seeing who didn't like my comment about e.g. Cheez Doodles, because to be quite honest that doesn't bug me at all. However I WOULD like to know who clicks Not Helpful when I rate something political; because it really bugs me when they give me a Not Helpful review on a political rating but don't bother to tell me why. Then I'm stuck wondering if I put something the wrong way or if they just have a differing political view and who it is who has this differing political view. So yes I would be able to see who rated me Not Helpful.. on some issues.

Adding this would cause a great deal of animosity among the users. I think it's great when people find my comments helpful, but not everyone is going to agree with what I say or find it helpful. For those who don't find my comments helpful I absolutely have no problem with that, everybody is entitled to his or her opinion and knowing who doesn't agree with me makes me no difference. Ultimately this would cause more harm than good.

i think it invades people's privacy (in a way). if you want to rate someone's comment as bad, they shouldn't know it's you because then it might start a feud between you and him if he gets upset about it! Terrible idea...

I'll admit, I'm kind of torn on this one. On one hand, I'd really like to see who gives me positive and negative ratings, just to know where my support is. But for the site as a whole, I think it's a very bad idea. Out of all the forums I am listed on, this one definitely is the best to get your ideas across without having your opinions picked apart and belittled. If this feature is added to the site, it will make arguments personal. Ideas won't be exchanged, insults will be. There's already enough of this on the site as is. Rate-It-All cannot become a site where people are divided along "partisaned" lines. Everybody should be honest with their opinions without making anything personal.

good!

Although I can appreciate the rationale from those who rated this suggestion as a 5, I think it would be more likely to create bad feelings and vengefulness than anything constructive. I think that most users of this site are fair with their helpful/not helpful ratings. Obviously, judging by pedrogouveia's and Arebus Man's experiences, that isn't always the case. Still, I would rather accept that kind of immature behaviour rather than encourage personal attacks. I agree with CastleBee that a well-written rebuttal is a more suitable (and more interesting)way to deal with the differences of opinion that arise from time to time. After all, if everyone agreed, there wouldn't be any point in having RateItAll!

That's a right to privacy that should be respected. I don't find it necessary, either.

Absolutely. I want to know everyone's opinion of me, whether it's good, bad, somewhere in between. I also want to know which people found my comments not helpful so I can politely inquire as to why. I think this is a must for Rateitall. I'm sure many people will agree with me on this one. Don't we all want to know what others think of us? Or at least, what they claim to think of us?

i think the idea needs work. firstly, i'd say that for me this only has value if the same person is rating me 'not helpful' for some petty reason. i don't want someone to seek me out because i found one comment of theirs to not be helpful, and if someone rates me 'not helpful' on the majority of what i've written i don't really care who specifically they are but would really appreciate knowing that the bulk of my negative feedback has come from one person. what i would suggest is a method of informing a user how many of their 'not helpful' ratings came from the same person. this way, if one day i accumulate a 'not helpful' on every comment because i praised someone's least-favourite band, i can see a footnote telling me that some nameless person has rated 12/12 of my comments to be not helpful, and since i check in every couple of days i'll know that it happened overnight. aside from that, if someone is rating me as 'helpful' on a regular basis and wants to drop me a line, they are of course more than welcome to do so.

I guess no forum attempting to collect and present the opinions of people around the globe could expect not to have a few sparks now and then. But I honestly think adding this feature would make it easier to declare world-class flame wars. To me the best way to handle a strong difference - OR similarity - of opinion would be to add your own comments in a well-written review/rebuttal/agreement. I doubt that a positive response would cause much trouble but, knowing exactly who disagrees with your every comment could only serve to possibly tick people off to the point that they stop focusing on the subject altogether and begin to seek some kind of revenge (by voting the other person's ratings down, sending hate mail, etc.). At best though, having to own up to your opinions COULD actually deter this kind of thing, who knows? A certain amount of anonymity may be the only thing that makes people feel they can vote what they really think without hurting someone's feelings.