Confused...

[electricepeeist]

I registered here last year and forgot about it, but lately have been posting...apparently you start out with 10 repuations, right? The reputation section on my user CP has a little red dot next to three or four threads, and a gray next to one, and it says that my reputation is now 7...so someone must have lowered it...I haven't posted any "bad" responses, but how do I find out how many reputations were taken away, where, and why?

[Soldier]

I'm seeing red, green, and grey dots. Which do those mean?

[Cyranox11]

Probably that you need more sleep...

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Your doing pretty good, I have a reputation below -30.... way below.

[The0ne]

I think that is completely due to your annoying bouncing avatar!

[noodle]

red is a negative, green is a positive.
each dot is worth any number of points because it all depends on the person who gave you the dot (how many they have to assign).
the grey ones i assume are from people who aren't allowed to give out points (less than 10 rep), but slap one on you anyway.

to put it lightly, people give out rep for often stupid reasons. i've gotten the stupidest rep changes in the world.
odds are i'll get negative for this post

rules of thumb for rep:

1. the more inane the post, the more likely you are to get some type of reputation change.
   1. if the post contains something totally offtopic or totally nonsensical, raises bad rep odds
   2. if the post contains pop culture reference, raises bad rep odds
   3. if the post contains negative statements targetted at a person, raises bad rep odds (notable exception: nick evangelista)
   4. singular posts on controvertial topics raise bad rep odds
   5. if the post is reasonably linked to the topic in some form and rules a, b, c, or d do not apply, raises good rep odds
2. the more informative the post, the less likely you are to get reputation
   
   1. if the post is directed to specifically answer someone's question in a timely fashion, raises good rep odds
   2. humor does not increase good rep odds unless coupled with rule 1
   3. multiple posts on controvertial topics lower bad reputation odds until negligible.

[Army Fencer]

You can't get too uptight about it either. People can ding you for strange reasons. I got dinged for saying that I missed Bob Edwards!

[Tireur]

Yeah, I got dinged for misreading the title of a thread (getting older, eyes are getting worse) and apologizing for it.

[Soldier]

So again, what are the grey dots?

[noodle]

the grey ones i assume are from people who aren't allowed to give out points (less than 10 rep), but slap one on you anyway.

in an effort to still be able to comment on a post but not change the rep

[hpfencing]

I'm really glad you started this thread. I started a simular one today and I am going to try to close it out now that I understand a little more.


I still cannot belive I have been dinged for the post I have been. They have all been in the Water Cooler too, hummmm... Is the water cooler a bad place to hang out?

[hpfencing]

I am going to start leaving rep. points when I can remmeber to once my rep points are high enough to matter again.

If everyone started doing that the bad dings for sillly things would not matter as much.

Just a thought.

I also noticed you can vote and rate a thread at the bottom just before you post to is or at the bottom if you read that far down. I think that is a great tool as well.

[noodle]

no.
the water cooler's just where people are allowed to throw out their opinions.

and we all know that people don't agree on everything.
you can't really talk about many things without stepping on someone's toes.
sometimes, instead of getting into a non-hostile discussion about things, people take offense and throw negative ratings around. but sometimes the things that people say are just trolling/inflamatory to try and get negative/unusual responses.

i've found that people are much more quick to throw around negative ratings than positive ones. you have to be a reasonably well-respected person (and try to be diplomatic in your posting mannerisms in the water cooler) to garner a decent number of points.

<font size="1">edited to switch a few things up so more sense is made of the post</font>

[Soldier]

What's "a decent number"? I don't really seem myself as "well-respected", but I've got 30 points.

Of course, I've gotten negatives for describing my Friday evening and commenting that it snowed, and positives for such things as saying "Why doesn't the abundance of Democrats surprise me?" or advising hitting a ferret against the wall to get it to take its teeth out of your finger.

[noodle]

What's "a decent number"? I don't really seem myself as "well-respected", but I've got 30 points.

Of course, I've gotten negatives for describing my Friday evening and commenting that it snowed, and positives for such things as saying "Why doesn't the abundance of Democrats surprise me?" or advising hitting a ferret against the wall to get it to take its teeth out of your finger.

i have no idea i only have 25, but thats because i took part in the "ask the expert" argument to which people seemed to have taken personal offense to my interpretation of right of way
i've gotten positives for telling people i was lazy and negatives for advocating safety in fencing. go figure.

[Peach]

i've found that people are much more quick to throw around negative ratings than positive ones. you have to be a reasonably well-respected person (and try to be diplomatic in your posting mannerisms in the water cooler) to garner a decent number of points.

Hmm . . . I must be doing it wrong. I almost never give negative ratings, just positive ones.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

... i've gotten dings for the "stank" thread. i think it was because i jokingly refered to my really really nice socks as "yummy".

*shrug*

[fencerontheline]

I got dings for being stupid, like in the avatar wars.... Except this is the watercooler- stupidness is the domain...... People don't have a mind for immaturity- and that's too bad. Little kids are often the wisest among us- because they 'know' the least. That being said- I (who doesn't wanna grow up- who wants to be a toys r' us kid ), will leave to go fencing.

[electricepeeist]

Hm, I guess that clears it up...I got a red for signature color, movie moments, and who likes their bruises, despite my only comments being a benign quote from a movie, an opinion on bruises, and pretending that I wanted rainbow fencing clothes, and was all "oh no! people don't like me!" (I'm stupid that way) and then scanned my posts and found that they were no more negligible or silly than any of the other ones...I guess someone was just being liberal with their negative reps. Thanks for the help!

[CvilleFencer]

Until I stumbled upon this thread I never new this part of the forum existed, and I kind of wish I did not know! I have never used it or put any stock in it, and I think most people on the board do not know about it, so if you have a less than stellar rating Iwould not sweat it at all. Seems to give way to much power to trolls and those who prefer to be petty. Lets all just pretend this feature does not exist!