Do you agree or disagree with me?
Thumbing is like voting. Instead of voting on the OP's question of normalcy, we are voting on whether or not we think a member's comment is legitimate.
The OP is expected to accept all comments given (good or bad) for their story or poll. Some would even like to take away the OP's ability to hide unwanted comments. An OP would normally get a big "why did you ask if you aren't willing to accept the answers when they don't agree with you?" if they complain or disagree with a commentor.
If that is the deal for the OP, then why is it not the same for the commentors and thumbing? Nobody is forcing the members to comment and half the comments written are not for the OP's benefit, so why would those commentors believe that they don't deserve the thumbings they get? Not everyone is going to like your opinions or they way that you share them, so what. Do you really think you deserve a handful of thumbs up every time you make a comment or that every single person who reads your comment will think you're as witty as you do?
You want to comment and you are not in it for the acknowledgment of others, so it should not matter to you if you get a thumbing down. However, if you do want to put any value into it, then see it as a sign that not everyone likes your opinions and not that you are being targetted.
Feel free to disagree but please explain why :).
| Strongly agree | 9 | |
| Agree | 13 | |
| Undecided | 9 | |
| Disagree | 6 | |
| Strongly disagree | 11 |