Who are they ? My  fourth grade teacher ?

LOL, I've got one.  I feel  every "unhelpful" is a badge of honor!

RIA is a place where opinions are like ass#oles. That is why it is called the opinions network!  Everyones got one, and i dont care if people rate my comments as unhelpful. Im just here to have some fun. Even though it would be nice to find out who gave me those unhelpfuls.

Jeez, if I had a nickle for everyone who ever did this...

I really don't care one way or another. I do think that there sre some trolls here on RIA that seem to be making a career out of giving unhelpfuls to a couple of the top reviewers (as if they gave a rats ass), but there are some honest reviewers that are doing exactly what they should be doing, marking something they feel that is (in their opinion) unproductive or unhelpful. I have given a few unhelpfuls but never with the intention of sticking it to someone. It's not a big geal.

"HOW TO COLLECT UNHELPFULS"

 I really don't care one way or the other. Here's a great way to get a bunch of unhelpfuls at once, just describe yourself:

oscargamblesfro ( 3 unhelpfuls from people who mistake me for a Yankee fan) is half Irish ( 2 unhelpfuls  from reviewers I won't name, I'm not a rat) originally  from a largely blue collar Boston, ( 3 unhelpfuls from the trendier than thou snobs on here who  though they'd never admit it, suspect a working class background) Massachusetts ( 8 unhelpfuls from the far right and the Deep South) but with some Southern ancestry ( 4 unhelpfuls from Yankees) likes 60's music ( an unhelpful from the terminally hip), likes baseball ( 2 unhelpfuls from those who think you should be reading Proust instead) and  has a tri-racial girlfriend ( the entire neo Nazi, KKK, and crypto- racist set descends upon me with 455 unhelpfuls..)

See how easy it is? 478 unhelpfuls just like that...

I've got one of these,although he's not as active as he used to be and I have a real good idea of exactly who it is too. I really find it bemusing why someone can be bothered.

I imagine them thinking "seven more unhelpful clicks. That bastard irishgit won't sleep tonight."

It's irritating, but at least it doesn't count for anything. I start to worry when the number of 'not helpful' votes outnumbers the 'helpfuls', however...

Sometimes the "unhelpfuls" can be even more gratifying than the helpfuls.I get a vivid mental cartoon of a red-faced,smoky eared troll and that never fails to get a chuckle or a grin out of yours truly.

Depends on if I'm already irritable, but usually it's just funny because it's so obvious. It's like they're saying "Wahh, you suck, stop writing!!" . . . Yeah, well, get over it. LOL, Planetary Gear, I don't know who this "Ricky Ullman" kid is, either, but apparently, according to some posters, he's hotter than the sun and the best thing that's happened since sliced bread ( . . . judging from the pic on the "Disney Stars/Ricky Ullman" page, though, he kinda looks like a beaver or woodchuck. Can't decide which, but I'd hope that RIA just picked the worst picture of him and put it up; if that's as good as he gets, then I just don't see what the pre-teens see in him. Sorry, kids.)

This got my goat about a month or so ago when I had not one, but FOUR trolls who went through my posts. But now that I've been innoculated, it doesn't bother me so much anymore. But I do notice that there are certain 'sacred cows' that if you talk any kind of smack about, you will almost always be followed by a troll or two, and by my short time here I can already name three of these objects of sinful idolotry, and they are: 1) Ronald Reagan 2) Fox News, and 3) the fetus - be prepared to face the wrath of the feeble minded Orks when engaging in any of these topics. ***Update** Who the hell is Ricky Ullman?

Yeah, I lose sleep at night thinking that someone thinks that I'm "unhelpful".

It would seem to be an absolute waste of time for the person as they click their way to carpal tunnel. However, if it keeps them calm, off the streets and out of their babysitters hair, then whose to say it doesn't serve a purpose?

Not like you know who they are.

Well, if one is marking any given comment of mine unhelpful because they have READ the comment and honestly disagree with it, then there isn't a thing wrong with that. After all, everyone is different. However, there are still those who come here occasionally, go down the line and mark everyone unhelpful just for the heck of it -- I simply don't know why anyone would actually get pleasure out of doing that. Oh, well....

if someone disagrees with something i say and gives me an Unhelpful, I can take it. it does seem childish when we get the trolls who decide they dislike someone and to be spiteful gives them all unhelpfuls. It does not get my goat, i just think, they must be awful bored and unhappy people. I find it kind of laughable.

I think that, for the most part, when you receive a not helpful the person so clicking is characterizing your point as incorrect, not unhelpful. I find myself anticipating the rebuttal.