Grace period idea (currently editing...)

One solution would be to have a grace period where votes are hidden:

• The grace period begins when the question is posted and lasts for some set length of time.
• During the grace period the following is true:
  • Sorting by votes is disabled (questions are displayed in a random order if 'votes' is chosen)
  • Votes from other users are invisible meaning...
    • At first all answers appear to have a vote of 0
    • Any answer that you vote on will display your vote only (+1 or -1)
• When the grace period ends, all votes which were hidden will be revealed.

Maybe the grace period could be the same as the grace period for editing the question.

@Jeff Atwood

Sounds complicated

No more complicated than...

• A grace period in which your edits don't count as real edits.
• Hiding the number of Offensive flags from some users and not others.

All you need is a simple flag that switches between two modes of the question: "Grace Period Mode" and "Regular Mode". You must already have this because of the grace period for counting edits on questions.

Will people understand what is happening?

Yes, if you explain it to them. Let's say we name this grace period "Secret Voting". All you have to do is put a banner of some sort above all the answers that says "The Voting is Currently Secret". When the grace period expires, the banner would be removed.

Also during the grace period, the Votes sort tab would not be present, but instead a Random sort tab would be present. Again, people will understand it, because the interface explains it to them and doesn't make them think.

Grace period idea (currently editing...)

One solution would be to have a grace period where votes are hidden:

• The grace period begins when the question is posted and lasts for some set length of time.
• During the grace period the following is true:
  • Sorting by votes is disabled (questions are displayed in a random order if 'votes' is chosen)
  • Votes from other users are invisible meaning...
    • At first all answers appear to have a vote of 0
    • Any answer that you vote on will display your vote only (+1 or -1)
• When the grace period ends, all votes which were hidden will be revealed.

Maybe the grace period could be the same as the grace period for editing the question.

@Jeff Atwood Sounds complicated

No more complicated than...

• A grace period in which your edits don't count as real edits.
• Hiding the number of Offensive flags from some users and not others.

All you need is a simple flag that switches between two modes of the question: "Grace Period Mode" and "Regular Mode". You must already have this because of the grace period for counting edits on questions.

Will people understand what is happening?

Yes, if you explain it to them. Let's say we name this grace period "Secret Voting". All you have to do is put a banner of some sort above all the answers that says "The Voting is Currently Secret". When the grace period expires, the banner would be removed.

Also during the grace period, the Votes sort tab would not be present, but instead a Random sort tab would be present. Again, people will understand it, because the interface explains it to them and doesn't make them think.

Grace period idea (currently editing...)

One solution would be to have a grace period where votes are hidden:

• The grace period begins when the question is posted and lasts for some set length of time.
• During the grace period the following is true:
  • Sorting by votes is disabled (questions are displayed in a random order if 'votes' is chosen)
  • Votes from other users are invisible meaning...
    • At first all answers appear to have a vote of 0
    • Any answer that you vote on will display your vote only (+1 or -1)
• When the grace period ends, all votes which were hidden will be revealed.

Maybe the grace period could be the same as the grace period for editing the Question.

@Jeff Atwood

Sounds Complicated

No more Complicated than...

• a grace period in which your edits don't count as real edits.
• hiding the number of Offensive flags from some users and not others.

All you need is a simple flag that switches between two modes of the question: "Grace Period Mode" and "Regular Mode". You must already have this because of the grace period for counting edits on questions.
 

Will people understand what is happening?

Yes, if you explain it to them. Lets say we name this grace period "Secret Voting". All you have to do is put a banner of some sort above all the answers that says "The Voting is Currently Secret". When the grace period expires, the banner would be removed.

Also during the grace period, the Votes sort tab would not be present, but instead a Random sort tab would be present. Again, people will understand it, because the interface explains it to them and doesn't make them think.

Grace period idea (currently editing...)

One solution would be to have a grace period where votes are hidden:

• The grace period begins when the question is posted and lasts for some set length of time.
• During the grace period the following is true:
  • Sorting by votes is disabled (questions are displayed in a random order if 'votes' is chosen)
  • Votes from other users are invisible meaning...
    • At first all answers appear to have a vote of 0
    • Any answer that you vote on will display your vote only (+1 or -1)
• When the grace period ends, all votes which were hidden will be revealed.

Maybe the grace period could be the same as the grace period for editing the question.

@Jeff Atwood

Sounds complicated

No more complicated than...

• A grace period in which your edits don't count as real edits.
• Hiding the number of Offensive flags from some users and not others.

All you need is a simple flag that switches between two modes of the question: "Grace Period Mode" and "Regular Mode". You must already have this because of the grace period for counting edits on questions.

Will people understand what is happening?

Yes, if you explain it to them. Let's say we name this grace period "Secret Voting". All you have to do is put a banner of some sort above all the answers that says "The Voting is Currently Secret". When the grace period expires, the banner would be removed.

Also during the grace period, the Votes sort tab would not be present, but instead a Random sort tab would be present. Again, people will understand it, because the interface explains it to them and doesn't make them think.