Oh, for the thousandth time!!! (re: reputation)

[Doran]

Please forgive me for asking a question that has been beat to death. I'm slow. :o

Q1 -- Rep colors appear to be green (positive?), gray/black (neutral?), and red (negative?). Is that right?

Q2 -- Do all posters have the freedom to choose any of those colors, and if so, why would anyone ever choose "neutral"?

Q3 -- Or do those giving rep have to, somehow, earn the ability to give green points?

What else am I missing? Man is this a slow curve for me!

Doran

[Janna]

It's funny to me that you think this has been beat to death. I asked about this awhile ago and never got a response, and I haven't seen anything on it to know it's been beat to death. I've only seen complaints about the ability to give/receive reputation marks - not the reasoning or color codes behind it.

Therefore, this is my assumption: The only way you can rep someone is with a good or bad rep. I don't see where "neutral" is an option. Which makes me think that in order to have neutral (the black/gray), you have to have had more than one person rep you on that thread, and some were positive and some were negative, thus giving you the average of neutral.

I don't think you have to "earn" the ability to give green points. I have seen (though have yet to use) where you can rep the person and it's just a "positive" or "negative" option.

Again, this is my assumption. I really wish there were more explanations on this. And I wonder why someone would negative rep a post that is so clearly a neutral post in content - meaning there is absolutely nothing threatening within the post whatsoever. That's when I think the person is negative repping not on the post, but on the poster. Which is sad.

If you get answers, let me know too, K?

[PamInMN]

It's a silly thing....... on another board we have "stars".... that others can give to us..... I think I have 3 out of 5 stars there :p . I just gave you both good reputations..... :D ...... consider it a Random Act of Kindness :cool:

[Doran]

It's funny to me that you think this has been beat to death. I asked about this awhile ago and never got a response, and I haven't seen anything on it to know it's been beat to death. I've only seen complaints about the ability to give/receive reputation marks - not the reasoning or color codes behind it.

Therefore, this is my assumption: The only way you can rep someone is with a good or bad rep. I don't see where "neutral" is an option. Which makes me think that in order to have neutral (the black/gray), you have to have had more than one person rep you on that thread, and some were positive and some were negative, thus giving you the average of neutral.

I don't think you have to "earn" the ability to give green points. I have seen (though have yet to use) where you can rep the person and it's just a "positive" or "negative" option.

Again, this is my assumption. I really wish there were more explanations on this. And I wonder why someone would negative rep a post that is so clearly a neutral post in content - meaning there is absolutely nothing threatening within the post whatsoever. That's when I think the person is negative repping not on the post, but on the poster. Which is sad.

If you get answers, let me know too, K?


No -- I don't think a negative and a positive cancels out to gray. I've gotten two black/greys, and one was claimed by the author. I didn't get the impression it was bad, and how could two people merge into one? I'm not making any sense (off to bed NOW!!), but neither does this rep system. Hoping someone else will chime in.

BTW, thanks Pam!! ;)

Doran

[Queen_Zarga]

On other boards I frequent, you have to have a certain number of posts before your reps count for anything. I think this is partly so new people can't go around "slinging rep" (e.g. they could create multiple accounts and just give their primary account a whole bunch of good rep points). The whole idea of the reputation system is to reward helpful/smart/upstanding/senior members since the number of posts isn't necessarily an indicator of trustworthiness.

If that is how this site is set up, that would explain the gray boxes: a positive (or negative also, I suppose) rep, but the member doesn't have green or red box rep power yet.

Don't quote me on this though. ;)

[Janna]

Interesting! That makes a lot of sense because the two rep's I just got were supposed to be "positive" but appeared as gray (neutral). So I'm thinking at this point, your reasoning stands the most chance of being correct.

Gee, so that begs the question...when does someone have "rep" power for green and red?

[gardenschooler]

I think this is how it's been explained in other threads. So you have to post (or earn rep points?) your way up to the ability to give green or red.

It would make more sense to have higher reps give green/red, but I think it's posts (or that's the conclusion that most people came to).

So convoluted!

[Queen_Zarga]

It would make more sense to have higher reps give green/red, but I think it's posts (or that's the conclusion that most people came to).


That would be interesting, but how would we do it if we all came in with the same rep points? Suck up to the admins, I guess. :eek:

[gardenschooler]

We all did start out with the same rep power - I'm just saying rep power would make more sense to me if it were based on rep, not # of posts. You can post all day and say nothing worthwhile, so why should that add to it?

Maybe make it to where after you had a certain number of good reps given to you, you turned green with the ability to give green.

I just don't think posting a lot means you're necessarily writing posts that really deserve a thumbs up, so why should that determine your rep-giving power?

[Queen_Zarga]

We all did start out with the same rep power - I'm just saying rep power would make more sense to me if it were based on rep, not # of posts. You can post all day and say nothing worthwhile, so why should that add to it?
I agree that more posts != trustworthiness. I think the idea is that if you have posted X times, you are more invested in the community vs someone who just signed up and started slining rep (a spammer type, perhaps).



Maybe make it to where after you had a certain number of good reps given to you, you turned green with the ability to give green. It is common in these types of forums that the more rep you have, the more you can give (e.g. if you have 1000 rep power and you rep someone, that counts as, say, 5 points instead of just 1). No idea if it is set up that way here.



I just don't think posting a lot means you're necessarily writing posts that really deserve a thumbs up, so why should that determine your rep-giving power?Because we have to start somewhere.

[Doran]

Thanks, ladies. This seems to confirm what I thought I understood. How's that for vague! :rolleyes:

Doran

[DianeJM]

The whole thing is pretty confusing to me, and I wonder why all this is even necessary. I liked just posting and reading the posts on the old format. I guess there's more to this than I understand. I was wondering what those grey circles and green circles were all about, and the more I look into it, the more confusing it is :o, although I have figured a FEW things out.

This new stuff seems to introduce a sort of competition or a comparison aspect into the mix, when on the old boards it was just the information going back and forth, and I liked that better. But I'm getting used to it, and talk about a learning curve, I don't know if I'll ever understand it.

I'll just continue to read posts and post when necessary, and forget all the extra stuff, since I am not computer savvy, apparently not young enough to learn it quickly, and don't have the time to spend on it. :o

But I have gained so much from people here, and I do appreciate everyone!
Blessings,

[Doran]

I was wondering what those grey circles and green circles were all about, and the more I look into it, the more confusing it is :o, although I have figured a FEW things out.


FWIW, I think the larger "circles" up at the top of the posts, beside our names, have to do with whether we are online or not at any given time. OTOH, the little squares near our names (over the the right, I think -- not looking right at it right now), those are the reputation indicators.

And, that's about where my understanding stops. LOL!!

I still miss the old boards, too, but I'm trying to adapt to the change.

Doran

[DianeJM]

Oh, thanks!

[Peek a Boo]

if y'all do a search for "reputation" you'll find a few threads w/ lots more answers :-) Threads tend to get buried very quickly if they aren't discussed every 5 minutes :-(

see ya!

[gardenschooler]

Queen Zarga, thanks for clarifying some things for me. I agree that it makes sense to weed out spammers.