thread to blow off reputation-induced stress

[noodle]

since people seem to be doing this in every other thread when they please, i figured i'd try and consolidate them all and give people a place to go to complain. if someone gave you some negative rep for the stupidest reason, tell us here. don't tell us in the thread where it happened. maybe someone gave you positive rep for a horrible reason, too. you can tell that story here too.

i'll start off to try and get things rolling here, someone poked me a few minutes ago for stating the obvious, that my grasp of the rules came from my coach and from other refs i've watched/talked to.

<font size="1">also, this is the first thread i've ever started myself</font>

[Schiavona]

Cripes! Why'd they do THAT? You wrote a good post.

I got dinged for refering to another thread-just telling about it!

I also got neg rep for asking Inquartata if we should start naming him after a 15th cent English mercenary(you had to be there )

[esskreemr]

How's this one (I got hit twice, gee wonder who did it?):

poster1: How do reputation points change. I went from a 13 to a 7 this week!

poster2: hp-- see the "confused" thread.

poster3: Sorry there is a nother thread called confused that talks about this already, please go there and maybe this thread will die.

ME: You'll probably get dropped a few points for starting a redundant thread

[Masterurethane]

Hehe,

I got negative points, for saying AC/DC were classic, saying that Rock 'n' Roll would conquer all, suggesting DFP settled a reputation dispute with a duel, and for being a bit negative and tongue in cheek about my country, but liking some Scottish phrases.

Guess I should watch who I offend in the future :-)

[Artisan]

These issues would all dissipate if the attribution of rep points were not anonymous. It also seems that since one cannot give rep to the same person twice in a short period of time - that rep has to be "spread around first" that many folks are misusing the feature as it is intended - as a guide for the general reputation of the poster, not as a means of providng feedback for specific posts.

I have received + and - rep, but very few of the minus have any comments as well, so I dismiss them as a "potshot" - like a cheapshot to the kidney in a big pileup - with no one taking credit. Its cowardly. You disagree with me? Fine, either post a reply in the thread, or leave a comment why. Or bite your tongue and move on. Here's the proof: Where I've recently been embroiled in a rather subjective debate, the plusses I've received with comments supporting my attemts at expressing my view have outweighed the negatives applied with no commentary, so net rep has grown despite the the lame kidney punches.

Regardless, the rep thing has added an amusing dimension to the board and its community.

[Peach]

I got socked for responding amiably (and a little off-topic) to someone congratulating me on my wedding anniversary. I can only assume it was (a) criticism for being off topic (b) someone trying to spread points around so they could vote for their favorite again (c) someone who just finds my posts annoying in general (d) a vote against marriage, children graduating from college, or wishing good luck to friends or (e) random.

[Artisan]

Hmm, Craig? Maybe there's a bug in your code (or is it a "feature) that just applies rep points randomly to the nearest post or poster in the cache.

Its one way to stir the pot.

...or poke a stick into a hornets nest.

[esskreemr]

Yes, mine's pretty much the same way. I've recieved a few negs that were deserved (2 out of 5), but most of the negs were what Artisan describes as potshots (3 out of 5). People seem alot more gung ho about smacking neg points over minor issues than to give out positive rep points for contributions...

It's not necessarily the neg points, I've broken pretty much even, it's the anonymity; no reason, nobody to retaliate against... oops, I mean respond to. It would be cool if we could erase 1 a month or something and the person got a reply "Your rep points have been dismissed for being ridiculous and inconsequential".

Currently, it's hard to put any faith in the reputation system. Perhaps we could propose changes, have them ratified, and try the new rule changes on a lesser message board before instituting them on this one (tick tick tick go the rep points... ).

[noodle]

its not necessarily fair to the people giving rep to attach their names. and if you make just the comments necessary, you'll find you have a lot of "-" comments or something similar. maybe a few "12345" comments. i often get the feeling that people could be doing the pot shots by mistake. that or there's one lurking jerkface thats doing this to everyone evenly...

[telkanuru]

I know the VB system can be modified to display *who* bumped you up or down. It is configured as such on another forum I frequent. Perhaps implimenting this will cease the foolishness? The only problem I see is retalatory negative rates.

All in all, though, negative ratings should almost never be used. The only case I can see in which they would be utilized is if someone is making repetative, offensive, or incorrect posts.

[noodle]

oh, i'm sure it can too. in less than a line of code, no doubt. but its a respect issue. and there are good cases for negative rep, just they're very few and far between in a community with people who respect each other.

[CarlKnoch]

I was dinged by someone becaues of my view of the gay marriages. And I wasn't even nasty on my post! Just stated my thoughts on it.

[achilleus]

Originally Posted by CarlKnoch

I was dinged by someone becaues of my view of the gay marriages. And I wasn't even nasty on my post! Just stated my thoughts on it.

That'll teach ya!

Expressing your thoughts. Sheesh, next thing you know people will be wanting to live in a free country.

[mrbiggs]

I don't think that people should be forced to show their names on negative rep points, because then it sets people up for revenge, with random negative point giving all around.

Personally, I never give rep points. I haven't yet, and I have no intention to do so in the future. If I disagree with what someone says, I'll tell them so in the forum. If I think they're just being obnoxious, I'll tell them that too.

One solution: A maximum number of negative rep points per week. Like 2 per week or something. That wouldn't prevent people from giving negative rep points, but it would prevent one person from lowering everyone's reputation randomly.

I got a negative rep point recently saying "because I feel like it". That's an abuse of the system. I don't relly get excited about rep points, but it would be nice if they meant something.

[dunastor]

I was dinged for one of my posts 3 times??!??!?!

That seems a little over the top...

[fixxmyweapon]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

I don't relly get excited about rep points, but it would be nice if they meant something.

Hehe. That reminds me of elementary school when you would try to get some sort of ticket, or something for doing something good and the kid with the most at the end of the week got a prize. And if you did something bad then you got them taken away.

Go on, is someone gonna rep me for making an off the topic comment?

[mrbiggs]

Look at your rep.

[fencergal33]

Ok......I'm both clueless and confused.

1) I didn't even know this reputation thing existed until this thread was posted.

2) So once I discovered it, I went to go check out my own rep. I have only 2 reputation thingies, and the comments are both blank! I went back and read the posts, and they were both completely benign.

3)How do I tell if they are positive or negative? My score is an 11. Is that good or bad? What the best you can be? Is there a place for me to go to find all these things out?

4)Does it really matter at all anyway?

Thanks in advance for the help and patience with clueless me!

-K

[noodle]

you start with 10. if the square is colored red is a nevative, green is a positive, grey means the person who posted it didn't have enough pull to change your rep.

no it doesn't have any real effect on you except to kind of gauge the content of your posts based off of the response to them, and yourself overall based on your posts. also, that little green box next to your post count under your icon on your actual posts changes with higher reputation.

[fencergal33]

Ahhhhhh....that clears so much up! Thanks!

But one more question....

Why post a rep thingy, if there are no comments attached? I can't do anything about something bad I may have done if I don't know what it is! (I haven't done anything "bad" yet, but we'll see, I'm still fairly new.)

Thanks again!