I am still seeing a certain pattern of voting, by some participants, which I, personally, consider to be an abuse of the voting concept here. Why?

Because I see the pattern as being designed to achieve an end other than to simply commend a particular posting based on its own merits.

I won't invite a flame-war by referring directly to the particular voting pattern, instead I'll describe my own voting etiquette which, I think, would eliminate such an abuse.

We are offered three different voting options on each posting.

We can vote it UP.

We can do NOTHING.

We can vote it DOWN.

I'm easy. I find nearly all the postings to be interesting and I vote them UP, accordingly. Included in this are all stories warning of clear and present dangers to the whole Free Software Community. I find these interesting, even when they are often alarming.

There are usually two classes of posting with which I, personally, disagree and invoke the second option, to do NOTHING.

The first is gaming, which I, personally, think is a waste of valuable hardware as well as having moral objections towards violent shooter type games. Many of these are promoted by M$ and allied companies, anyway.

The second class are postings commending software from organisations which I, personally, consider to have betrayed the principles underlying Free Software. Typically, these companies will have signed certain accords with Microsoft.

However, I always choose to do NOTHING, in these cases, because I respect the concept of Free Speech as much as I respect Free Software.

I never vote DOWN stories with which I, personally, disagree. This is the most unfriendly action that can be aimed at a posting and shows complete disrespect to whoever may have posted the story in good faith. It would imply that I was insisting that my own opinion was absolutely right, if I employ a tool of potential censorship against a story with which I, personally, disagree.

There is only one class of posting which I always accord this level of disrespect and vote DOWN.

SPAM!

This has no place here and I completely disrespect the opinions of pathetic individuals who attempt to grab a few minutes of free advertising by posting stories like, "Get a NEW Ferrari", posted by, "Fly by Night Loansharks Inc." Usually, these clowns have only registered with this site a few minutes before they begin to make such pernicious postings.

I urge all voters to show courtesy towards the opinions of others and to simply ignore postings with which they, personally, disagree.

Please, save the big gun for SPAM.