I think the easiest way would be to intergrate commenting and voting, so you can't do one without the other. You could even keep the layout the same (ie, a different link for voting and commenting), but they would lead to the same page.

I think that when you write a comment, you MUST vote... like if you press the post button, and you haven't rated it manually, an options box pops up or so saying "select a rating for this song: [options]" I do think one should be able to select a "refrain from voting" in that pop up, because some songs weren't submitted to get a rating, like when they are unfinished.

which leads me to the idea of having the audio arena split up in "showcase" songs (finished products) and one with "work in progress"... where people can put their stuff up for suggestions and maybe even raw tracks for collaborations... just some wild off-topic ideas here.

PX I like the idea to split the arena. Final versions and pieces under construction can be viewed in different forums.

As for the final versions I would prefer to fill out a template before submit your comment. So you dont need to write sth if you dont want to and it would be easier to make a vote. Example:

Personal likeness:   90%
Recording quality:  100%
Mixing quality:         80%
Musical quality:        90%
Quality of art:          90%
Idea:                       80%
Performance:           90%
Chill factor:              90%
Summary                 90%

The summary could be calculated automatically by the program.


So if you dont like the music the personal likeness can differ to 20% or so, but there are other criterias to judge over a piece of music or lyrics or videos (?)....

Only an idea

triton I think that's a good idea... it would be much more accurate maybe... but I think it would actually discourage people further from voting... as they would not only have to click inside one magic box, but several of them... maybe... maybe not...

anyway... in reply to a comment to the post by journeygirl, I don't think voting is really biased. From what I've seen, I think that people are generally cool in their voting behavior, ie, they vote on the song itself with regard to quality, construction, etc, whether they like the style or not... At least, that was my impression.

As for the number of people voting... I'll admit, for a while I wasn't voting much, I really wasn't voting at all... just because I didn't realize the importance... Now, I'm trying to vote more... I'll agree, it would definitely help if there was some way to get more people to vote... maybe, leaving puppet in the chat to guilt people into voting?

but I don't know it it's necessary... songs entered in battles tend to get more attention, and that's were the votes count anyway.

Also... I just can't think of a reasonable way to convince people to vote.. besides forcing them.

I like Triton's Idea. Not only would it be more accurate, but the song's author could see what people like and do not like about that song, even if they didn't leave a comment.
Then mix that with Pup's idea and that's what I'd like.

I personally like the idea of voting for songs, whether I like them or not.
After all, that's why I come here, to check out new music and rate it.
I think that is a fair thing to do, seen as everyone takes the time to upload their material.

We should stick together as a musical community and support each others hard work.
It only takes a few seconds to vote.

Whatever the case, I think the voting system on this site is not straightforward by any means.  It took me atleast a month before I had it figured out.  I dont know why it has to be so complicated?  Can we not just have radials with 1-10 or something?   I just think the more obvious and the easier it is, the more participation we will see.  Take the learning process out of it for the lazy people and just let them click the obvious checkmark and move on.... just an opinion.  Having said that,  SUPPORT OUR COMMUNITY, VOTE!!!

votevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevotevote more yeah.

What about not letting someone navigate away from a song page without a post? Make it manditory to comment to move forward through the site.  A bit extreme perhaps but its an idea in the right direction.

Can someone explain to me how can i vote, i have seen the current battle, but i dont how can i vote there?