"Good" ideas are completely subjective, as are bad ones. The best way to make an objective decision is to see how many people have an issue with the idea, and how many think it's the best thing since heroin on toast. At the very least, voting will make people feel like they had an impact, similar to any democratic system. You're certainly right in the forum population aspect.
I don't think heroin on toast could ever be classed as the 'best thing since', even as a metafor :(
I think we do this any way with a +1 But do like the idea. Also if it could be made possible to click on the topic and take you right down to where you last posted [if at all] would be great :)
A voting system would also bring the -1's out of the woodwork, cuz they're rare as things are. I've rarely done a real -1 in the ideas forum. When I'm against it, I still try to say something positive or change it a little to improve upon it. You never know what ideas can be polished into gems.
Subjectivity is sorta objective when there is 1 judge. Reasoning why you like/dislike it can point out something that TS may not see. They've taken at least one idea that had all -1 verbage and rejected a ton of +1 floods.
But, this idea has come up before. I don't know if it was denied or put in a 'someday' category. Misha may have it with "I think we do this any way with a +1."
down the road, i could see this sort of system really getting annoying.
first, the person with the most friends will tend to "win", not necessarily the person with the best idea.
second, it makes proposing ideas into a competition, and not everyone who makes a suggestion wants to get into a competition.
third, at some point there will be an idea with all +1s sifted to the top, and people will get pissed off at the developers for not implementing it because it "won" a vote. even if it is totally impractical or not a direction the developers want to move in.
lastly, it would discourage polishing and improving ideas through discussion in exchange for up and down vote in a conflict based system.
I would say that in general that forums have 3 types;
Participants
Lurkers
Trolls
I believe the vote system will really provide a participatory means for lurkers. Participants are always going to voice their opinion as well as provide their vote.
Trolls are just trolls and they can be moderated.
The vote system would just make an idea popular or not. As I see the game developing there could be tons of new ideas posted to the forums daily and if you don’t check frequently it could make it hard to go through the forum. You would be able to see the topics that are getting the most action, instead of the last topic posted on.
as the game goes on there will be fewer and fewer ideas as the game structure solidifies.
there may be increased requests for particular items and quests, but content generation within a framework likely requires it's own system outside a forum, possibly in-game.