Actually, I see a second problem with this new system. There is something really strange about the way the voting is sending posts to become the highest ranked posts.

My evidence that it is strange?

Go look at the two main stories about Castro and Cuba right now (Wente's column, and the editorial page editoria).

The top-rated post for both is the post that praises Cuba, that praises Castro, that defends Trudeau, that says things that Trudeau would like to read.

That is a problem mathematically, because if you look at the thumb voting on news stories yesterday and the day before (now erased), thy were like 85 percent against Trudeau, 85 percent against Castro, 85 percent calling Castro a totalitarian thug.

Something really strange has happened, therefore, with the mechanics of how a post becomes the top most popular post. This star voting is not giving the same result as the old programming system.