Maybe a hybrid system where if you don’t have the necessary karma to rate something, you have to post a comment.

The problem you run into with the required comment approach is suddently having to deal with spam comments, which may seem trivial to people used to using plugins on their blog to deal with it, but it’s actually a major undertaking when running a custom application like Protagonize.

I’d have to tie into a third party web service like Akismet or something in that case, because I don’t have the time to sit there filtering every comment by hand, and I can’t expect users to do it for me via comment ratings.

I may leave the existing system alone for the time being, because again, the more votes in the system, the less an individual can affect ratings. And with more users in the system, it’s becoming less and less of an issue.

The karma system and activity-requirements seem crude. Some of us can get writer’s block for weeks on end and do nothing but read and rate - and do so quite thoughtfully. That can’t be done with such a system.

So, if the ratings required an anonymous mini-critique readable to the public (and thus more likely for spam to be flagged among it and spam-ratings to be deleted).

However, that doesn’t stop someone from coming across an amazing post with flawless grammar and format, intriguing characters and delicious symbolism and posting a dishonest comment of a twisted view. But we don’t live in paradise, yet, do we?

I’d like to know what about my work you don’t like and why you’re giving it a bad rating. It can really bring down the morale of a writer to get shitty ratings and no reason as to why.

Either this or at least us being able to view who’s rating us, because right now its like a ‘rate and run’ system, where someone can rate me and never have to explain themselves because I’ll never know it was them.