Suggestion: do away with the rep system

[Echo38]

I've felt this way since the day I first joined this forum, but I didn't say anything about it for a long time, because it would have looked like sour grapes when my forum profile was new and had no Reputation points. Now that I've amassed a meaningless collection of green squares, something has recently reminded me of my intention to bring this up.

 

The reputation system, I feel, does little good for the community. At best, it's a popularity contest; at its worst, it's a form of virtual lynch-mobbing. Of all of the + rep I have received, over 90% of it was not for some helpful, lengthy post I had made for someone, but rather for a witty one-liner I'd made or a comment I'd written that my benefactor agreed with.

The system is also open to malicious abuse--on at least one occasion, someone has detracted rep points from someone, only to have the latter party call his two dozen squadron mates to all detract rep from the other party, leaving him in the deep red.

 

All in all, I believe the reputation system to be largely pointless; people will quickly discover on their own who is helpful and/or knowledgeable, and who is an ignoramus and/or a troll. (And, of course, everyone has a different idea of what comprises these things!) And, beyond pointless ... potentially harmful. None of the other Internet forums I've attended (and I've attended more than a few!) have had such a system, and most of them got along well without it. This is why I think that the rep system should be done away with. (Hope I'm not stepping on any toes here, but I guess such is inevitable when one takes issue with anything that's been around for a while.)

Edited October 27, 2013 by Echo38

[AlphaOneSix]

Totally agree, +rep for you! :P hahaha

[Lange_666]

+ 1 (although i don't really care).

 

I got a few + reps for being helpfull, a few + ones for being a smartass and a few - ones for telling my own opinion (where i even mentioned it was my opinion) and a few pointless others. Hell, i even got - one and a "you are wrong" comment for telling something like 1+1=2...

 

It's useless...

[kk0425]

I remember one instance where I got a - rep just for stating an unbiased fact about the F-35. But I agree with the OP. I don't really see the point in the rep system. I've seen users with high rep being generally unhelpful and trollish, and users with low rep with good attitudes.

[VincentLaw]

My reputation is actually pretty evenly split between helpful posts, stating my opinion, and making jokes. The system could certainly use some revisions, but I think it has a valid purpose of encouraging people to make posts that other users will approve of (even if that means more witty one liners around). I imagine this would be difficult to quantify, but it would be interesting if someone did a study on the nature of posts between forums with and without a reputation system to see if there really is any correlation in post quality.

 

Some things that I think would make the reputation system more effective:

• New members with 0 rep should be able to +rep. The people that need help the most are new people, but they can't actually reward people that help them.
  
• Rep should have a floor. If people get huge negative rep because of a "lynch mob" or they made a really offensive statement, their rep should not be able to go negative. People with negative rep might quit caring about the reputation (defeating it's purpose), or they might be proud of their "infamy meter," and actually try to rack up as many red squares as possible.
  
• Reputation should be multidimensional. The reputation system would be more useful if users could be rated separately for helpfulness, humor, cordiality, significance, relevance, grammar, and style (how about those bullet points). Then people would not get rated the same way for witty one liners as they would for saying something profound.
  
• Users should get points (on a separate tally) for rating other posts, that way people are encouraged to actually use the system. Everyone likes scoring points right?
  

[...]I got a - rep just for stating an unbiased fact about the F-35.

The F-35C doesn't have an internal cannon! That's right, I went there! Edited October 30, 2013 by VincentLaw

[joey45]

I deserved all the neg reps I have had.....

[Picksplitter]

never really understood this rep thing...

 

PeterP should have @ 1k green squares w/ 3 gold stars...

 

Cichlidfan same idea... as @ 100 others to remain nameless

 

We help who we can and we know 'bout the others.... 'nough said!

Edited October 31, 2013 by Picksplitter

[Rangi]

Not sure what the problem is here, if you don't like/agree with the rep system, ignore it.

[Picksplitter]

Not sure what the problem is here, if you don't like/agree with the rep system, ignore it.

 

 

succinct... I like it! :thumbup:

 

+1.. he-he

 

while we're at this... why do I still have 5 yellow 'warn' blocks on my sig..? I fear someone out there knows me and my potential to go medieval / postal at the drop of a hat... :huh:.. (satire)

Edited October 31, 2013 by Picksplitter

[agrasyuk]

... None of the other Internet forums I've attended (and I've attended more than a few!) have had such a system, and most of them got along well without it.

 

hmm, most of the forums i've been to do have something of that sort. Also don't disregard the fact that this forum has quite big Russian portion (if not ) now and rep of some form is quite common on that side of the net . all in all, if that "metric" does not matter to you then just don't give any weight to it. simpels )

[159th_Viper]

 

while we're at this... why do I still have 5 yellow 'warn' blocks on my sig..? I fear someone out there knows me and my potential to go medieval / postal at the drop of a hat... :huh:.. (satire)

 

Everybody has them but only you can see your own:

 

 

Going Postal:

 

Blocks are not important as such - they get filled/coloured in as the warning percentage as indicated to the left increases. Degree of attempting to go postal/medieval is in direct proportion to the percentage mentioned. Reach 100% and you'll have filled up your 'blocks' and you will be officially listed as 'Lost in the Post' .

[BHawthorne]

Frankly, I see the rep system as a sanctioned way to troll users. If what we thought of others was important, we'd all still be in high school gossiping about each other over lunch in the cafeteria. Many of us outgrew that nonsense 25 years ago.

Edited November 3, 2013 by BHawthorne

[Lucky]

Frankly, I see the rep system as a sanctioned way to troll users. If what we thought of others was important, we'd all still be in high school gossiping about each other over lunch in the cafeteria. Many of us outgrew that nonsense 25 years ago.

 

Sadly, many have not.

[NineLine]

Frankly, I see the rep system as a sanctioned way to troll users. If what we thought of others was important, we'd all still be in high school gossiping about each other over lunch in the cafeteria. Many of us outgrew that nonsense 25 years ago.

 

Troll is kinda harsh, but in the long run, if someone uses the rep system to vent, then I am more ok with that than them going postal in a public post ;)

 

I like the system, and I like some of the comments people leave... both good and bad :D

[MTFDarkEagle]

Troll is kinda harsh, but in the long run, if someone uses the rep system to vent, then I am more ok with that than them going postal in a public post ;)

 

I like the system, and I like some of the comments people leave... both good and bad :D

 

^This ;)

[Bucic]

Troll is kinda harsh, but in the long run, if someone uses the rep system to vent, then I am more ok with that than them going postal in a public post ;)

 

I like the system, and I like some of the comments people leave... both good and bad :D

+1

[WildBillKelsoe]

yeah takedown the repo system

[Bucic]

Latest Reputation Received - there's an arrow to the right. Press it. Done.

[Echo38]

Latest Reputation Received - there's an arrow to the right. Press it. Done.

 

And all the colored boxes below everyone's names--that will make these go away as well, yes? ; )

[Bucic]

No, but it leaves proponents with a solid argument being "the problem is there are colored boxes below everyone's names" :)

 

Besides, the magic boxes are not some obscure javascript elements. Just block http://forums.eagle.ru/images/reputation/reputation_pos.gif in your browser. It's a workaroundfor desktops and opera mobile only though...

Edited November 7, 2013 by Bucic

[Echo38]

I think you may be missing the point, Bucic; the point is that even if I don't see colored boxes below people's names, that doesn't mean that others won't see the ones below mine. The number & color of boxes under my name may affect their behavior toward me (and this is the core problem!), regardless of whether or not I see those boxes. That is why "if you don't like them, don't look at them" is an odd response to the objection; it doesn't address the actual problem.

[Bucic]

Ah, I get it. It's just that I simply don't see enough cons to vote for discarding the feature. Especially having the cumbersome PM system. Also there are months when I send a dozen of short messages to newbies, from short welcome messages to "it's not appreciated on the forums", "please use the forum search function", "you'd be better off posting the question in the input output forum section" or "here's how you post youtube vids" etc. If it's a newbie I sort it all using positive rep. A pager of sorts.

 

A PM improvement in place of the rep system - I'm all in. But I'd like to retain some sort of ranking anyway. I use it to filter content on every single forum I'm registered to. You know, "senior member", "tester"...

[green_sunfish_]

Totally agree, +rep for you! :P hahaha

 

lol! rep points don't bother me nor do I care for them... simply here for the free vast and rich info!

Edited December 15, 2013 by green_sunfish_

[TraxusIV]

My reputation is actually pretty evenly split between helpful posts, stating my opinion, and making jokes. The system could certainly use some revisions, but I think it has a valid purpose of encouraging people to make posts that other users will approve of (even if that means more witty one liners around). I imagine this would be difficult to quantify, but it would be interesting if someone did a study on the nature of posts between forums with and without a reputation system to see if there really is any correlation in post quality.

 

Some things that I think would make the reputation system more effective:

• New members with 0 rep should be able to +rep. The people that need help the most are new people, but they can't actually reward people that help them.
  
• Rep should have a floor. If people get huge negative rep because of a "lynch mob" or they made a really offensive statement, their rep should not be able to go negative. People with negative rep might quit caring about the reputation (defeating it's purpose), or they might be proud of their "infamy meter," and actually try to rack up as many red squares as possible.
  
• Reputation should be multidimensional. The reputation system would be more useful if users could be rated separately for helpfulness, humor, cordiality, significance, relevance, grammar, and style (how about those bullet points). Then people would not get rated the same way for witty one liners as they would for saying something profound.
  
• Users should get points (on a separate tally) for rating other posts, that way people are encouraged to actually use the system. Everyone likes scoring points right?
  

The F-35C doesn't have an internal cannon! That's right, I went there!

 

I like the improvement suggestions. I'd +1 you, but I'm in the red right now. :D What I'd really like to see though is an explanation of how rep works in the first place. For example, I've gotten three negative rep contributions, and two positive, but somehow that equals three red boxes and (according to my CP) -74 points. Additionally, some people have 8 green boxes and 36 rep power, while others have 7 green boxes and 512 rep power. It's not clear how it all works.