I've often wanted the pattern of upvotes/downvotes of a comment to be visible in sparkline form (much like the 'SF Giants' win/loss example on the top right of this page).
Why? I think a +2 comment that is 100 upvotes and 99 downvotes is more interesting than one with a single upvote. It's also interesting to see the comment-voting that changes direction once conversation progresses, or when a different audience shows up (for example, at night). (These could be indicated by extra ticks when followup comments are posted, or background shading to indicate time-of-day.)
It'd be too much to include these in the main threaded view, but as an extra detail (like the 'flag' button) on individual-comment pages, with soft enough colors, it could be interesting.
Why? I think a +2 comment that is 100 upvotes and 99 downvotes is more interesting than one with a single upvote. It's also interesting to see the comment-voting that changes direction once conversation progresses, or when a different audience shows up (for example, at night). (These could be indicated by extra ticks when followup comments are posted, or background shading to indicate time-of-day.)
It'd be too much to include these in the main threaded view, but as an extra detail (like the 'flag' button) on individual-comment pages, with soft enough colors, it could be interesting.