Thank you wildfire, accepted. As you can see, I can become quite aggressive when rubbed the wrong way, and not something I like to be, but I am a very strong willed person. I know what I want, and how I want it; I call a spade a spade, and accept very little BS in regard to things upon this forum. I really don't like bringing out even the slightest of aggressive nature I have, because its not pretty for myself, my family, and generally the person on the other end. I make no secret I can be the biggest prick on the face of the earth when persisently rubbed the wrong way.

I like your post wildfire, and just want to support you, learn from you, learn from others, and we all just help each other and have a good calm chat. Venting is obviously allowed, and encouraged, just not at others is the only thing I ever make note off. Thank you wildfire....

Hi Anthony, the idea is sound but I might think about amending the category to be less 'offensive' "This was helpful to me/This was not helpful to me"...to appease our sensitive souls :smile: . At the moment we have black or white.

If you really want to you could add a couple that give more than one 'brownie point'.



0 Alert moderator
0 This was not helpful to me
1 This was helpful for me
2 This was very helpful for me
3 This was mindblowing for me
4 Light bulb moment. Carramba!

An idea only, and in case anyone else thinks it is good, then bear in mind the work it probably cause the person organising this and expect it to stay as it is for a while first :smile: . Otherwise feel free to think I am full of stuff and nonsense (aren't we all?) :crazy-eye. There are times when posts are useful and there are some I have read that opened my mind and understanding completely.

My other rambles:

If you average out the score to a monthly one, then the new people will feel more included, approval rating will go down gradually if we disappear off somewhere else, or stop posting anything. Nothing more demotivating than seeing someone on 1500 points and remaining at 20.

You could then also search (most) 5 rated posts, (most) 4 rated posts etc which would make it much easier for new people to find the most relevant info when they come on first. The code for that would be a bit of a pain, though.

Both of the last bits would be a bit of a headache but over time you might find them useful. (I was the annoying voice at the back suggesting to IT what was wanted, while looking for the 'on' button once it was done).

Out of everything I have said I would change the 'nul points' option to something more 'cuddly'. Time to go and hug a tree for me now.

They are some well thought out, and presented ideas carp. I don't have any issues with them, but I will outline what the board is capable of doing as software....

The board has three main types of "systems" that function users, being:

1. Thread rating,
2. User ranks, and
3. Reputation.

The first two are both turned off. The reason they are turned off, is because the overall capacity to abuse them, or use them for purposes to outline something as more important, or prominent, opposed to other information, are the two that are most often abuse within forums. I say this, because I have been dealing in forums for nearly 7 years now, out of about 10 years within the online marketing world.

User ranks works off post counts, so one can just make lots of useless posts to gain higher worth to the users eye, though not in actual fact contributed anything worthwhile, or relevant, to the community overall. Thread reputation is to open to interpretation, as within a thread, you can have 10 posts, where one person will give the entire thread a rating of 5, another a rating of 1, etc etc etc. This labels threads incorrectly, as a thread is more or less important to each person individually, and not something that should be judged collectively. So this leaves user reputation levels...

Reputation is given or taken from a user, and not a threads worth individually. A post whether good or bad, jumps out at a person individually, thus can never be examined or rated collectively this way.

If someone grudged another, then I could see it when I look within the reputation statistics, and I see everything in regard to reputation giving and taking, so I can judge whether someone is abusing the system or not. If a person PM'd me that someone was constantly giving them negative reputation, even for posts that are earning lots of positive reputation, then chances are the person is using grudging to influence their reputation passing, thus I can change it, edit, delete, and punish a user if they have outright abused the system. I like honesty, and if users aren't prepared to be honest on this board with themselves and all other users, then I would not really want them here, as this board and the relationship of the community is very trust and honesty orientated for the well being of us all.

Let me just say, that a user cannot influence the software to get higher reputation points for themselves, without being quite proficient within posting, as the software whilst adding at certain points, will also deduct in other aspects if a user goes wrong. I do not mention all these aspects intentionally or all settings I have enabled intentionally, to help reduce any thought of abuse.

If nobody abuses the system, then it should work very well to show who is providing quality of information, or simply honesty within themselves, which ever people want to reward, the system remains constantly changing and unique, never relying upon a set of statisical aspects to further oneself.

As administrator and moderators, those positions automatically obtain one extra point for the role they perform, though everything else is inline with any other user, ie. post counts, reputation factors, length of membership, and many other factors. You can go away and not post, and you can still earn reputation on users reading your previous posts, and if they are useful to them, so nobody will ever miss out.

Obviously the system has common flaws, such as an older user will generally have more reputation, though not necessarily, as it depends on so many factors whether you move up or down. It will be nothing at all, an and no surprise to me, seeing other members have a higher reputation than myself, as being administrator certainly doesn't allow me any favours to receiving positive and negative reputation.

What people must remember, is that when users cast reputation on a post, it is their opinion of how they perceive that post, and not a reflection on you as a person. A person may give you negative rep on one post, a few days later give you positive on another for a well written or topical thought, or just being honest about things.

Like everything, it is not perfect, though with a little intervention and monitoring, we'll see how it goes, and if it works it works, if not then so be it. If users don't approve of it, then they can turn their own reputation system off within their user CP, so their reputation is just not shown, whether positive or negative. So each user still has a choice on whether they want their reputation to be seen or not, though reputation may still be given and taken whether a user turns it on or off uniquely, it is just not shown to the public.

The system itself though does not have the capability to assign points to certain factors, ie. allow a user to assign points to how they perceive a post, it is merely their reputation power that is assigned. What you give, also affects your own reputation through the system, that much I will say. So a user has to think about the post, and if they think it deserves opinion, then give it, otherwise, leave it alone until a post warrants the occassion.

uhh sorta old thread but it's been bothering me,

how can you check what the comment someone made was when they gave you the reputation point?! i can't figure it out and i wanna know!!! lol

When you click on the "user cp" link at the top of the forum, in the black navigation bar, the window that opens displays your latest reputation given or taken. IF the person giving or taking the reputation has left a comment, you will see it, if not, then all you will see is the post that it was left upon.

Again, if any person believes they have been given negative reputation unjustifiably, then please private message me as I can look at it in further detail than what users can, and change the reputation if I believe positive or negative reputation is abused.

I know this thread is super old but, there is no such thing is negative reputation anymore is there? It's been changed? Because when I give reputation to someone I can only choose positive, not negative. Actually I'm happy about that, I think the ability to give negative rep could definitely be abused. I know at times when I am upset with someone I would be sorely tempted to give them negative rep unfairly and then regret it later.

Negative reputation has been turned off for all members. Moderators and above do have the ability to give negative reputation though, being trusted into their positions.

Big up Anthony.

Negative reps are kinda awkward... sometimes its hard posting on this site and I know I regularly feel that I'm getting it all completely wrong, and that people must get the wrong impression of me. I would hate to get a negative rep in the form of the rep system - because it's not a "i dont like that post" it's "You now have a negative reputation"... I would rather someone PMed me specifically if they had a problem with a post I might have put up.

However, do agree with Anthony in that the possibility of triggering someone is so high in PTSD, in the end its about each individual person taking responsibility for what they can or can't cope with and if they can't cope then don't look and protect yourself. If I worried about triggering someone, I wouldn't write anything ever about PTSD just in case.

I have had one positive rep comment, and I tell you what - it made my day. I don't know who gave it to me (is it meant to be anonymous?), but thanks to that person cos for once I actually felt good about myself to get some good feedback. So for that reason I'm all for the system. It's quite a thoughtful and supportive system in that respect.

I have turned off a lot of parts within the software that could trigger people, though at the end of the day, having the toilet roll around the wrong way can trigger a person, so its useless trying to continuously shape the forum. If I tried, I would be constantly changing it, removing information that offended another, adding what some would see as positive steps, to then remove them for another who believes it was a negative step, etc etc etc.... we all get the idea I'm sure.

The forum is a broad software program written to cater as a wide variety of owners and users as possible, each simply having to modify to suit. Initially I never used the system for these reasons, being it can and does cause conflict, but that is not something that can always be avoided, and it has more positive self esteem issues than negative for sufferers overall IMHO. That is the idea of it.

I encourage more users to use it, because the more it is used, the more you find those who are being outlined for their quality posts and those who can be looked towards for guidance. Not to say a person with low reputation is any lesser, again, not the aim. The problem as it stands though is members must use it, and that is where the system falls down.

Its pointless only editors using it, because its a member system, not just for editors to use. I rarely give reputation because mine is so high due to the way the system is built. No, as the admin I do not have special priveleges in regards to the reputation system. I can, but I turned it all off so "every" member has the same building power. The problem is with me giving reputation, is that because I have so many posts, and the system is based on posts, time registered, reputation earned, etc etc... a combination of factors that if balanced would see a member with enough reputation to give once and increase a persons reputation immediately, as mine does, ie. gives more than 100 points at once. Veiled and bec would have high passing points also looking at their posts vs. time vs. rep given towards them.

I think most get the idea though... More can be read from vbulletin themselves at: http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/reputation

Is there such thing as giving out too much of this reputation? Evie gives out quite a lot, not recklessly I believe, but often says thank you to people using that method. Wife and I included.

Jim.