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ravenvii

macrumors 604
Original poster
Mar 17, 2004
7,585
492
Melenkurion Skyweir
I am just thinking about the jackasses and nastiness going on on those boards lately.

I'm thinking maybe adding the rep system will help solve some of the problem. It will enable us to rep people who help out or post good posts, and neg those who are being jackasses or nasty. It will also force people to consider their posts before posting.

I think it would be a good addition to the forums.

I am aware of the negatives, such as that it might limit people from expressing their true opinions. It can be open to abuse as well. But with most cases, I think it can work.

Maybe disable reps for the politics forums, and maybe the community and the current news forums, so people can continue to feel free to express their opinions there, and also enable people to give reps to people who post good posts in the Mac sections, and limit the nastiness (which the majority of, happens in the Mac sections I notice).

Just thought I'd throw this out there for discussion.
 

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,375
2,801
It's been discussed a number of times, with the general feeling that the potential abuse makes it not worth it. But perhaps it's worth considering again in light of the recent perception of nastiness on the forums, if such a system would help. But my hunch is that the ones who would really care about a rep system would mostly be the ones who would abuse it. So I guess I'm still against it...I've seen it on other forums and never really found it useful.
 

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
I've seen it on other forums and never really found it useful.

Likewise... I've seen it mess with people's heads, and if people are being jackasses or nasty, please report their posts. That's just as simple and possibly more effective. ;)
 

arn

macrumors god
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,362
5,795
ya, we've talked about it before, and the bottom line is we were worried people would become obsessed with the reputation system. Kinda like how people were obsessed (and still are) with their post count.

arn
 

motulist

macrumors 601
Dec 2, 2003
4,234
611
I think a rep system would ruin the diversity of ideas and opinions that has made the MR forums so popular. I come to MR forums because I know that when a topic is discussed I will hear a lot of different ideas and I'll hear all sides and angles of the story. If there's a problem with an Apple product and someone posts about it, lots of people will downvote it just because they're apple fans. I could give other examples, but you get the idea. The MR forums would turn into an echo chamber where people only comment about things that they think will be popular.

I agree that the recent newbies poor behavior is a growing problem that needs to be fixed, but I think an up/down vote rep system would have even worse effects.
 

yg17

macrumors Pentium
Aug 1, 2004
15,027
3,002
St. Louis, MO
It's used quite extensively on another forum I used to frequent often. Here's a general breakdown of it:

People would positive rep the staff constantly to suck up and gain brownie points
People wouldn't bother positive repping any useful posts because they found it a waste of their time
People would positive rep funny, yet extremely off topic posts, like a post where person A flames person B for asking a stupid or often asked question. Others find it funny and person A gets positive rep even though he's being a total douchebag.
People would negative rep any post they didn't like, even if there was nothing wrong with that post.

For example, I posted in a political thread there, some guy didn't like what I said, and negged me with the comment "Idiot." Do I care? No. But is the rep system being used for the purpose it's supposed to be used for? No.
 

MacNut

macrumors Core
Jan 4, 2002
22,995
9,971
CT
It would turn this place into High School, egos would inflate and someone would get thrown into a locker.:rolleyes:
 

RedTomato

macrumors 601
Mar 4, 2005
4,155
442
.. London ..
I agree, a rep system is overcomplicating it, and leads to groupthink - like the karma system on slashdot. I joined slashdot in its first couple of years, but in the last few years, i just ignored the whole karma thing.

Option A:

Perhaps announce sitewide a more liberal use of the temp ban / time-out button for nastiness? That would put out a strong message.

I like temp-bans rather then perm-bans as it encourages the user to stick to the same account. Perm-bans just causes resentment and creation of sock-puppets and trolls.

Option B:

If you want to fiddle with the system, perhaps cause people to have their number of temp-bans displayed by their name on their posts. (Only if num> 0.) Then other people, newbies, and mods would know that someone has a history of stepping over the line.

If you're gonna do this, then I suggest having the displayed temp-ban number go down over time, perhaps by 1 a month or every fortnight. This encourages people to put their personal history behind them, prevents competition for the highest number of temp-bans, and encourages moving on.

Useful?

xxRedTomato
 

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,520
First the iPhone came and havoc ensued. It died down.

Then the hacking came and havoc ensued. It died down.

Next, the iPod touch came and havoc ensued. It died down.

Leopard came and havoc is going on. It will die down.

It's an Internet forum. Don't take it so seriously and let others spoil it for you.

I think I'll go vote this thread negative. ;)
 

ravenvii

macrumors 604
Original poster
Mar 17, 2004
7,585
492
Melenkurion Skyweir
First the iPhone came and havoc ensued. It died down.

You sure about that, though? The general mood seemed to change after the iPhone. I don't think it "died" down, exactly.

Anyway, good points guys, guess the rep system is probably not going to be a good solution.
 

Unspeaked

macrumors 68020
Dec 29, 2003
2,448
1
West Coast
You sure about that, though? The general mood seemed to change after the iPhone. I don't think it "died" down, exactly.


I have to agree with this.

I don't things these forums have been the same since the iPhone was released.

I certainly find myself posting less, though maybe Leopard will change that.
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
It would turn this place into High School, egos would inflate and someone would get thrown into a locker.:rolleyes:

Shhh... don't talk about the hazing. What happens in the [forum name deleted] stays in the [forum name deleted]. :D

I think it might be good to "officially" endorse one or more of the marketplace rating systems (e.g. Heatware or perhaps Beerology), for a few reasons. First, it would be nice if MR were on the dropdown list. ;) Second, it would be nice if one were preferred over others so people wouldn't keep asking for feedback on some new random site. But I don't see value outside of that.
 

Virgil-TB2

macrumors 65816
Aug 3, 2007
1,143
1
Likewise... I've seen it mess with people's heads, and if people are being jackasses or nasty, please report their posts. That's just as simple and possibly more effective. ;)
The only one that I have ever seen that actually works is slashdots. It's a fantastic little system, but even then nothing will stop a complete jerk (especially a newbie jerk), from posting something stupid and a moderator is always required to remove the post anyway.

I would only be in favour if the system was at least as refined as slashdots and I don't think that's likely (or even possible), with this particular forum software.

Lastly, the concept that a person is "a jackass" or "not a jackass" might be a flawed concept. I am mostly an intelligent, tolerant person myself yet I am certain that I have behaved like a jackass on many occasions also, probably in this very forum. :)

Shhh... don't talk about the hazing. What happens in the [forum name deleted] stays in the [forum name deleted]. :D

I think it might be good to "officially" endorse one or more of the marketplace rating systems (e.g. Heatware or perhaps Beerology), for a few reasons. First, it would be nice if MR were on the dropdown list. ;) Second, it would be nice if one were preferred over others so people wouldn't keep asking for feedback on some new random site. But I don't see value outside of that.
If we're going to be putting the digital equivalent of "gold stars" beside peoples names, how about letting us have avatars as well? :)

I'll probably either get banned or bored before I hit that 1000 post mark. :D
 

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,520
If we're going to be putting the digital equivalent of "gold stars" beside peoples names, how about letting us have avatars as well? :)

I'll probably either get banned or bored before I hit that 1000 post mark. :D

It's 500 posts to an avatar. And you'll be one post shorter when the mods merge your 2 consecutive posts. :p
 

BillyBobBongo

macrumors 68030
Jun 21, 2007
2,535
1,139
On The Interweb Thingy!
It would turn this place into High School, egos would inflate and someone would get thrown into a locker.:rolleyes:

A locker!? Luxury I tell you!

When I was a lad I used to get stuffed into the rubbish bins at lunchtime! Oh...how I dreamed of being stuffed into a locker, whilst being pressed against coke cans and half eaten sandwiches! ;)
 

~Shard~

macrumors P6
Jun 4, 2003
18,377
48
1123.6536.5321
No need for a reputation system in my opinion. As previously mentioned, if there are abusive, troublesome users, simply report their posts and let our Mods do their job. :cool:
 

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
Lastly, the concept that a person is "a jackass" or "not a jackass" might be a flawed concept.


Perhaps so. I was merely responding to the OP... but reputation systems might bring a whole heap of trouble that we currently don't have as pointed out in yg17's post.

Anyway, spend any decent amount of time here and you soon get to know who is consistently good for valuable comment.
 

Jaffa Cake

macrumors Core
Aug 1, 2004
19,801
9
The City of Culture, Englandshire
The forum does go through phases where there's a lot more sniping and general unpleasantness than normal – there's a degree of tension for a bit, then it all blows over and calm is restored, and then after a while something else comes along that gets people's backs up. Such is the way of teh interwebz.

I think one of the problems of a rating system is that it'd cause as many arguments as it solves, if not more so – I can imagine there'd be some bitterness if people didn't feel that their contributions were being rated as highly as they'd like. There's also the fact that what makes a 'good' post is a matter of opinion (as long as it's within forum rules of course) – what I may consider a good post worthy of a high rating might leave others cold.

Personally, I think it's far better to take the time to read other people's contributions and form my own opinions, rather than trust an arbitrary rating system that's potentially open to abuse.
 

TBi

macrumors 68030
Jul 26, 2005
2,583
6
Ireland
I was in favour of a site-wide reputation system until i went to one thread about it and read the pro's and con's. There were a few things there i hadn't thought of regarding abuse of the system.

However what i would like is if i could have a personal reputation system that only i can see. I don't want to "block" people outright but i'd like to have help in knowing who to ignore so i can get to the main point of a thread.

The central point of this though is that only I can see the points i give to any one person. There would be no reason to abuse it.

It would be nice if you could read a thread and give points to people who give a good answer, and take away from those who give a bad one. Then future threads could be shaped so that people you rank higher will be given more prominence in the thread (highlighted) and people who rank lower will be dimmed or made smaller.

I hope i made my point clear there. Any thoughts on this?
 

~Shard~

macrumors P6
Jun 4, 2003
18,377
48
1123.6536.5321
A reputation system would cause me some confusion, being the Official MacRumors Bastard™ and all. Would I be aiming for a good reputation or a bad one? :confused:

:p :D ;)
 
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