I have found a correlation

I was a 10 star before I started participating often in the politics section. Yes people do rate others down for disagreeing with them, but why should their immaturity and spitefulness stop me from expressing my views? To answer your question, no, I have never rated anyone down for disagreeing with me, even if I find their positions on issues to be the complete opposite of mine. If I bother to post or respond, it is because I found that post to be interesting enough to get my attention. That automatically makes the discussion worthy of rating positively. In fact, I once gave a best response to someone who always disagrees with me. I have my own integrity to maintain, and I guess it's more important to me than maintaining a high star rating.

Anyone who does like you ask about down rating people who don't agree with you is in violation of the MyLot guidelines. It's explained at: http://www.mylot.com/o/faq/faq17.aspx A recent discovery by several of us show that the ratings are not very accurte, even though I have seen people drop, & then suddenly go back up. That would be a sign that someone went through all of their discussions & responses, down-rated them, & then the safeguards corrected it. When it is a sudden drop like that, & it stays, it usually means that someone found a way around those safeguards. There are many of us who see the rating system as one way for MyLot to save money, because the lower the star rating, the less you earn, & there are some who suspect that some of the drops in the star rating was actually done by someone on the MyLot staff.

Yes, politics have long since destroyed the 9 I once had. I earned it posting in various parts of mylot. Religion was what initially lowered my star, but I stopped posting there a long time ago because nothing positive seemed to come out of discussions there. Either way, if I let the jerks who rate me down silence me, they win. I never rate people down. I largely ignore the plus/minus, but occasionally I give someone a plus when I feel they deserve.

I can think of two reasons for this: Reason 1 - People believe that if you do not see things the same way as they do then you are wrong and deserve a lower star rating. Reason 2 - People who are fans of politics are more democratic, therefore believe in using the star rating plus/minus options more than the rest of us.

You're right, this board is hard on your star rating. I was a perfect 10 before I started posting here. Some folks do use the + and - button as a weapon because they don't agree with someone but I only use it when someone is being a total a$$. I guess I've been considered one a couple of times as well but that's the nature of political discussions.

I never think about ratings until someone mentions it. I enjoy the political section. It's probably my favorite. I like the back and forth that goes on. It's much more exciting than, "do you brush your teeth every day?" type questions you get in other sections.

I don't generally like to discuss politics too often because it raises my blood pressure, but I have also noticed this as well regarding people who frequently post in politics get lower ratings most of the time. I suppose it's because there is a lot of controversial topics and strong opinions voiced in this category.

I don't know. I've always had about an 8 rating, which I feel is pretty high, and I post in political discussions all the time. Once someone had a problem with me and started to rate me lower and harass me, but that due to just general myLot nastiness. I never rate someone low for having different beliefs. I only rate people low for breaking rules or going out their way to mean to members. I've always spoken honestly on myLot and shared my opinions, I don't hold back in sharing my political opinions.

Hi sugarplum, despite my own advice to myself to not respond in either politics or religion I've ended up adding both to interests and yesterday posted some responses in religion. Wow, just like that my rating dropped, 1 minute ago I was a blue with a rating of 98 and suddenly it has gone to a red of 93. I cannot think of any other reason than beyond getting embroiled in a religious discussion where my views don't fit in with the norm. I am really angry about this as nothing I said was offensive, just a difference of opinion but it seems that this section can be intolerant of that. It is the only reason I can think of which means I won't be posting there again as it becomes not a discussion but a kind of censorship by negative ratings. I have been careful of which topics I respond to, any outright arguments between people I don't respond to, or anything I perceive may be deleted. I have been offensive to no one and believe have only posted quality or wouldn't have achieved a rating of 98. I have seen friends ratings hounded down by negative ratings, pursued deliberatly but obviously by stealth as no one can be sure who is doing the negative ratings. Is there any way to query this, I mean to drop suddenly by 5 points is obviously the work of negative rating?

Wow, that is rude that you would rate someone down in a political discussion. I rated someone down for the first time today, before I figured out that he was a nasty little troll and I filled out the abuse form, and now he is gone. His posts were vulgar and inappropriate. But I would never negative rate someone just because I didn't agree with their opinion. I thought thats what mylot is all about, the freedom to voice your opinion. And I try to be nice even when I don't agree. I thank people for commenting on my discussions, because I always welcome others thoughts. I thought that is what open minded was all about. Hmmm...