Forum Reputation

[Mattheus]

So. Along with the swanky new forums comes the reputation system. I have to admit I'm a little wary of this, so thought I'd make a thread on it. Not everyone seems to be aware of it yet, or maybe no-one really cares. If so, great.
As far as I know, it's a system where any forum member can give positive or negative 'reputation' to another member for any post they make. This adds or takes away to your total, which then shows itself in green or red blobs under your post count. Apparently being a good indicator of the well respected posters, and also the notorious trolls. You can view any rep you've received along with the person who gave it to you in the user cp iirc.
Good in theory, but also a recipe for circle jerks, abuse, and petty arguments ad infinitum. I've seen many squabbles about it on other forums. Just like post count, signup dates etc, forums reputation can become yet another way for people to stroke their e-penis and marvel at its growth.

I personally think that rep should be based on forum conduct, not on opinion. For example, I personally don't think you should give negative rep to someone just because they disagree with your suggestion/gripe. If they disagree in a trolling/flaming manner, then go for it. But if they make a well thought out and worded post then it's a bit low to take away from their 'reputation' merely for having a differing viewpoint.
If someone gives you negative rep, then don't just retaliate by giving that person negative rep back. Maybe he/she had a good reason?
The reason I'm saying this is because I'm already seeing many people with negative rep, despite not really doing anything wrong. I'm already hearing about someone receiving neg rep for simply disagreeing with someones gripe. I'm already hearing about this person saying he may just neg rep him back for abusing the rep system.

If this system is going to be kept (which I kinda hope it isn't), then can we at least use it maturely? Any thoughts?

 

[Alcibiades]

You can view any rep you've received along with the person who gave it to you in the user cp iirc.
Good in theory, but also a recipe for circle jerks, abuse, and petty arguments ad infinitum.

Agreed. I don't think it's going to be something to engender a lot of 'positive' feeling on the new forums.

I personally think that rep should be based on forum conduct, not on opinion. For example, I personally don't think you should give negative rep to someone just because they disagree with your suggestion/gripe. If they disagree in a trolling/flaming manner, then go for it. But if they make a well thought out and worded post then it's a bit low to take away from their 'reputation' merely for having a differing viewpoint.

Again, agreed completely.

If this system is going to be kept (which I kinda hope it isn't), then can we at least use it maturely? Any thoughts?

Other than an appeal to the playerbase to use it appropriately I can't think of a way to make only 'reasonable' offences reportable. I wouldn't mind if it vanished entirely, I think in all honesty most people on these forums can tell the trollers/flamers/brains/polite players apart with a fair amount of ease. And those new players we get will pick up fairly quickly as well i'm sure. I don't love this feature, and while I see that it could be a cause for a lot of fighting and an 'eye for an eye' kind of retaliation, I hope we haven't degenerated that far, that would be sad. I have faith!

 

[tobapopalos]

My thoughts are that anyone that gives me bad rep will get knifed in the face. And that includes you, Mattheus, you big jerk (I kid, I kid).

The whole rep thing sounds ridiculous and will only bring more arguments and *****ing, which is one thing I do enough as it is.

 

[Azzer]

I may disable negative rep altogether.

Positive rep can't really abused to a bad degree - and will, on the whole, reflect the more "intelligent" posters, but can also just be seen as a bit of fun, too.

While I personally wouldn't feel sensitive about being given negative rep by people that didn't like me, I understand some people do get more in to the "e-peen" side of things, and often take things like rep seriously/personally, so perhaps it for the best if I disable the possibility of giving negative rep, and keep it as a system of simply saying "Hey, that was a good post, +rep!".

 

[Cheese]

Like a virtual pat on the back or a virtual kick in the nuts.
It's slightly gay but not the most gay thing on this forum.
Sort out the colour scheme before removing the virtual kick in the nuts!

 

[f0xx]

Are moderators still able to give negative reputation?

 

[Weeble]

Nope. No one can give negative reputation anymore, not even Azzer. Even if he adds negative reputation directly through the database, it'll just appear as neutral rep.

 

[f0xx]

How do you explain this then?

 

[Weeble]

Wup. News to me!

 

[f0xx]

I am happy to help the Mods

So they can give negative reputation?

 

[Weeble]

Apparently so!

 

[Azzer]

Apparently the negative disabling doesn't affect mods. I'll let the mods know that negative reputation should be treated as "globally disabled". Any mods logged in would have simply seen reputation working as it did from the beginning, so can't blame harriergirl for not realising it was meant to be disabled!

Edit/Update: Never mind, found I have the ability to also disable negative reputation for mods, too, so no need to rely on simply asking mods not to leave negative reputation. I'll remove any negative rep already given.

 

[harriergirl]

I still love you f0xx. :ldovey:

 

[flameharvester]

My opinion

My opinion

I personally feel positive reputation could easily be abused as well.

To clarify if a person gives someone rep 100 times will the effect be the same or limited due to it being one person ?

Oh and positive rep to alci for his well worded post

 

[Weeble]

From what I've experienced, you cannot give reputation to the same person twice in a row. There's an unspecified number of people you have to give rep to first before you can give rep back to that first person.
Also, the moderators (and Azzer) will be checking for this kind of thing - if we see one person going around giving rep for completely inappropriate posts (or what-have-you) just so he can give rep to another person again, we'll take action.