Do you think it would make sense if forums like hackernews/reddit/etc.. would have two sets of upvote/downvote buttons?<p>The first set would be used as a "contributes to discussion - vs - does not contribute/flame" indicator, while the second set would be used for "I agree/support this view - vs - I disagree/don't support it".<p>The usage of the voting at the moment seems a bit unsymmetrical, the up button is usually used to show support of the argument, while the down button is used, correctly the most times, to indicate a comment that is inflammatory/troll or doesn't add anything to the discussion.
I've thought this as well but you probably only need 3 buttons: agree, disagree, and inappropriate.<p>Basically pressing either agree or disagree is also saying that it contributes to the discussion. Clicking inappropriate is the same as downvoting as it is now. Finding the right terminology might be difficult.<p>I'd love to see this as an experiment to see how it changes the discussions here.
I don't think there's any point to having agree/disagree buttons. What should they do, push posts down that most people disagree with? Clearly that would be a mistake and a sure way to create an echo chamber.
I'd argue that the UX for up/downvoting is already correct. Vote up if you agree, down if you disagree. It's intuitive and how most people use those buttons.<p>You can attack this problem from a different angle: Factor the number of reports/flags into the karma calculation and unweight downvoting itself. The report button on Reddit is essentially a "this content is inappropriate" button - why not use it as a part of the scoring system?
Five buttons total:<p>- two sets of buttons: agree/disagree & good/bad argument<p>- one flag button for inappropriate/abuse<p>Edit to add: karma calculations left as an exercise for the reader ;)