Reputation -- Alive and Well!!

Hey folks!

This is sort of a reminder for old-timers and an intro for newer folks who may not be aware. At this time, we have two different methods set up so that YOU can show your appreciation for someone's posts. The newer way is the more visible system called "Thanks" that I think most everyone is aware of.

The older system we have in place is called Reputation (or Rep). A person's rep score is visible only by the little green boxes that show up in the field below your avatar in each post. Everyone starts out with 10 rep points and one green box. Each time you reach 100 rep points gained, you get another green box. Unlike the "Thanks" system, everyone who can give a rep point can also take away a rep point.

This system is intended to be used to show appreciation for exceptional posts...or to show dismay at an exceptionally poor post. Negative reps should never be given out for common annoyances or in retaliation for anything. All comments left in the reputation field must comply with the site's TOS/Rules.

To leave a reputation point/comment for a particular post, look under the person's avatar. There used to be a little icon shaped like scales...but we've decided that was a little too obscure, so I've put up a new button. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/theme...reputation.gif If you still see the scales instead of the new button, simply do a shift-refresh to clear out old cached images. Either will work fine, though.

Ever since implementing the "Thanks" system, the reputation system has become used less and less. But it is still an important encouragement for many members. SO...we've revamped the system a bit to hopefully make the gain of reputation points a little faster and easier. One, by making the new button more visible and relevant...two, by allowing even the newest members to leave rep scores...three, by increasing the number of points a person gives, based on long-term membership and high post counts. We've also done some other little tweaks to help. But, of course, the system will only work if YOU use it. ;)

Now we come down to a decision that we want the membership's input on. Do we want to continue using the "Thanks" feature, with the constant potential of it always overshadowing the Reputation system? Or should we turn off the Thanks feature and just go with Reps?

I know some will wonder why we don't have an option of turning off the Reps and keeping the Thanks...or turning off both of them altogether...but that is because the staff has already decided that the Rep system is a very strong encouragement and we want to keep it. Simple as that. :)

So think about it and vote...and enjoy the site!

____________________________________

DISCLAIMER: As always, when we make these kinds of changes, they are subject to review and change as necessary, especially if the system is abused too much.

I use both for different purposes.



I use thanks for people sayin nice things about my pictures...or posting a helpful link.


I use Rep for someone who goes above and beyond saying something nice, or posting something helpful.

I think that they are two sepearte enities and used for their own purposes.

Definitely agree with Pattimus on this one here.
Keep them both, they can both be used for different things.

I voted both :gj:

Iwould say keep the thanks and also do something with the rep for say sales or trading snakes within members on the site. Helps people pick out who's good and who isnt to deal with

I like them both. Very valuable tools...

Thanks for explaining that. I've been reading through forum info and it seemed like those scales/green squares weren't being used, so I assumed they shouldn't be clicked.

So, when should each be used? (Since it seems that most posts here are helpful.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Patricia

Thanks for explaining that. I've been reading through forum info and it seemed like those scales/green squares weren't being used, so I assumed they shouldn't be clicked.

So, when should each be used? (Since it seems that most posts here are helpful.)

---

It's completely up to your discretion when you choose to use the reputation button.

We WOULD like to bring attention to them and encourage people to use it more often, especially for positive rep points, because it really does encourage the receiver to get them!

Um, I was going to add this to my post rather than create a separate post, but my "edit" button seems to have disappeared.

Anyway, being a newbie asking a ton of questions and getting a ton of help, I've said "thank you" in my replies many times. I guess I should have clicked the "Thanks" button instead, and "Reputation" for super-duper helpful replies. I like how those green squares accumulate. Reminds me of the rattle on a rattlesnake. :D

(Can we get that Edit button back?)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Patricia

Um, I was going to add this to my post rather than create a separate post, but my "edit" button seems to have disappeared.

Anyway, being a newbie asking a ton of questions and getting a ton of help, I've said "thank you" in my replies many times. I guess I should have clicked the "Thanks" button instead, and "Reputation" for super-duper helpful replies. I like how those green squares accumulate. Reminds me of the rattle on a rattlesnake. :D

(Can we get that Edit button back?)

---

The edit button stays visible for 10 minutes. After that, it's no longer available.

Yes! I use both pretty often! :) However, I don't ever give bad reputation. I wouldn't mind if you turned off negative reputation, as is the case on every other forum I'm on. Also, I want the edit/delete post buttons too! ;)

I personally like both, but I'm still more in favor of getting rid of the "Thanks" button. It's nice and all, but I feel as though the rep button holds more weight in the long run.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lillyorchid

I personally like both, but I'm still more in favor of getting rid of the "Thanks" button. It's nice and all, but I feel as though the rep button holds more weight in the long run.

---

I pretty much agree with this... it's nice to have, but it doesn't seem to hold the same value when getting an impression from someone's reply or post. (in my mind, it doesnt)

Like some have said, an 'I agree' button would work too, either way... the reps have definitely gone on the way side.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Patrick Long

I use both for different purposes.



I use thanks for people sayin nice things about my pictures...or posting a helpful link.


I use Rep for someone who goes above and beyond saying something nice, or posting something helpful.

I think that they are two sepearte enities and used for their own purposes.

---

good point, i agree :gj:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Patrick Long

I use both for different purposes.



I use thanks for people sayin nice things about my pictures...or posting a helpful link.


I use Rep for someone who goes above and beyond saying something nice, or posting something helpful.

I think that they are two sepearte enities and used for their own purposes.

---

he says it all right there

Thank you all very much for your input so far! As for the questions asked about edit buttons...that system will remain unchanged. We like to allow a small window of time (about 10 minutes) for a member to fix a typo, a slip of the tongue, or add a quick missed thought. BUT...we don't want members going back and editing a post in a conflict and then saying, "See, I never said that!" Not that most would do that...but enough would that it is a genuine concern.

Besides...it's hard enough to keep up with all the new posts. I personally, wouldn't have time to go back and read OLD posts on the off chance that someone had gone back and edited it to add something new. When you make a new post, it refreshes the thread and everyone interested in it will know you've posted something new and will be far more likely to read it than if you went back and edited an old post.

:)

Oh...and one more thing I'd like to add. There's no "right" or "wrong"....or "should haves" involved with either system. Taking the time to type out a genuine thanks is ALWAYS appreciated! Use either system however it seems best to you....so long as negative reps are only given out when most needed. Unfair neg reps can be appealed to staff and changed....and if a member continually abuses the neg rep system, they can lose the ability to give reps at all.

Heh....I guess that's two things. :oops:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JLC

BUT...we don't want members going back and editing a post in a conflict and then saying, "See, I never said that!"

---

That's why you always quote the insanity lest it be removed by the person who posted it. That's what is done over on a crafting board I frequent. ;)

Yes, I understand, and thanks for the reply re. the edit button. Guess I'd never noticed before that it's available for only a few minutes after the post is made.

I don't know if it would be too off-topic to post the initial query post in other areas of this forum (or perhaps link to it here?), but there are probably people active in those areas who haven't yet seen it here, or who don't come to this section. You might get more feedback. :)

BTW, JLC, are you the head honcho around here? If so, just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for creating this forum. It's by far the most informative I've seen, and has helped me (and our wee snakey) over unfamiliar territory so very much this past week. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Patricia

BTW, JLC, are you the head honcho around here? If so, just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for creating this forum. It's by far the most informative I've seen, and has helped me (and our wee snakey) over unfamiliar territory so very much this past week. :)

---

Judy, Nate, Emily (mledeede) and myself (names in red) are the four co-owners/Admins of this site, and those sporting green (not going to attempt to name them all for fear of leaving someone out:oops:) are our awesome Mods!

So glad to hear that this site has helped you and your snake! Hope you'll enjoy your stay here!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Patricia

BTW, JLC, are you the head honcho around here? If so, just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for creating this forum. It's by far the most informative I've seen, and has helped me (and our wee snakey) over unfamiliar territory so very much this past week. :)

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rabernet

Judy, Nate, Emily (mledeede) and myself (names in red) are the four co-owners/Admins of this site, and those sporting green (not going to attempt to name them all for fear of leaving someone out:oops:) are our awesome Mods!

---

^^^ What she said! :P

We can't take credit for creating the site, though. A young man who goes by "TheGodfather" created it in the fall of 2003, and gave it over to the original admin team in the spring of 2004. Since then, there have been changes in the admin team from time to time, but we are all always equally committed to keeping the site running and growing and educating!

Very glad you like it! :D

Ever since the Thanks came up, I had noticed the Reputation tab die a lot.. Made me kind of sad to see too, as it was a neat system.

I think, like Pat said, thanks are more to nice posts where reputation should be to extremely useful posts. It's more important to me when I see someone has a high rep then when they have a lot of thanks.

I like both systems, and use them for different purposes, similar to what others have already said.

However, I like the rep system better, and the thanks system seems to have pretty much stopped the use of the rep system, which I think is a big loss to the site. When I was a newbie here, I really liked being able to check the rep of a person to have some idea of how much I should trust the advice they were giving. It isn't perfect, but the thanks system is worse, because it is easy for someone to get a large number of thanks just by posting "nice snake" on every picture thread.

IF we can find a way to have both and get the rep system being used more actively again, I'd like that. But if thanks is going to continue to overshadow rep and make the rep system mostly disappear, I'd rather go back to the old way.

Is it possible to make the rep button bigger, like the thanks button is, so more people would notice and use it? Perhaps even the same button could be used to access both systems, and it would pop up a dialogue asking if you want to give thanks, positive rep, or negative rep?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kc261

Is it possible to make the rep button bigger, like the thanks button is, so more people would notice and use it? Perhaps even the same button could be used to access both systems, and it would pop up a dialogue asking if you want to give thanks, positive rep, or negative rep?

---

It is bigger now, bigger than the Thanks button. I don't think that they can be placed side by side, and not sure if there's delivered functionality to merge the two together with one button. Hacks make upgrades more difficult to implement.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rabernet

It is bigger now, bigger than the Thanks button. I don't think that they can be placed side by side, and not sure if there's delivered functionality to merge the two together with one button. Hacks make upgrades more difficult to implement.

---

Hmmm, on my screen, it is still showing up as the same icon it always was, and that is quite a bit smaller than the thanks icon. Perhaps it depends on which skin you are using? I am just using the default (I think, since I've never changed it).

EDIT - nevermind, my husband told me to hit control-refresh, and it fixed it to the new button.

Is there any way to search for posts that have earned you reputation points? I don't really know where I was given points and I'd like to read what people had to say when giving them.

I like the new rep buttons too :salute:
*Maybe put this next to the thank button and have the scales still there to show someones rep or something

Go in user CP and you should be able to see the last 15 threads for which you earned a rep point.

It will show the name of the thread, the date, the name of the user who left the rep point and comment if any.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ev477

Is there any way to search for posts that have earned you reputation points? I don't really know where I was given points and I'd like to read what people had to say when giving them.

---

Have you considered leaving the "Thanks" system in, but removing the little sentence saying "Thanked __ Times In __ Posts"? I like the Thanks system because it's nice when threads aren't clogged with one-line posts saying "thank you" or "I agree with ____"... But having the number of thanks listed below your username might be misleading. Say that someone owns a lot of animals and takes pictures of them every day to post, but isn't very helpful when it comes to answering questions or giving advice. But if this person gets 100 thank you's for pictures, and someone else gets 100 thank you's for writing long, thoughtful posts and trying very hard to help people with their setups, how does it make sense that these two people can be compared with the number of thanks they have?

Also, if the "Thanked __ Times" was removed, maybe people would be more inclined to use the rep button for the useful, though-out post rather than hit that easy "thanks" button and leave it at that.

Maybe the thanks could be tied into the rep. For instance for every five or ten thanks you get you earn one rep point.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Patrick Long

I use both for different purposes.



I use thanks for people sayin nice things about my pictures...or posting a helpful link.


I use Rep for someone who goes above and beyond saying something nice, or posting something helpful.

I think that they are two sepearte enities and used for their own purposes.

---

^^^^ Ditto!!!!!^^^^^^^

I only use rep points for the people I see being helpful rime and time again, or if they have that good of a point (it has to be very special not just a good post)

I like the use of neg rep points for the folks that say things that are really that nasty or dis-tasteful.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by flameethrower

Iwould say keep the thanks and also do something with the rep for say sales or trading snakes within members on the site. Helps people pick out who's good and who isnt to deal with

---

Do you want to do business with a person that is a general turd?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheOtherLeadingBrand

Yes! I use both pretty often! :) However, I don't ever give bad reputation. I wouldn't mind if you turned off negative reputation, as is the case on every other forum I'm on. Also, I want the edit/delete post buttons too! ;)

---

Like I have said I like the neg rep points. It helps keep people in line. After receiving a few neg rep points I changed some of the things I was saying, I like this site and want to be welcome. Neg rep points let the people know that what they are saying is not welcome by every one.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JLC

Thank you all very much for your input so far! As for the questions asked about edit buttons...that system will remain unchanged. We like to allow a small window of time (about 10 minutes) for a member to fix a typo, a slip of the tongue, or add a quick missed thought. BUT...we don't want members going back and editing a post in a conflict and then saying, "See, I never said that!" Not that most would do that...but enough would that it is a genuine concern.

Besides...it's hard enough to keep up with all the new posts. I personally, wouldn't have time to go back and read OLD posts on the off chance that someone had gone back and edited it to add something new. When you make a new post, it refreshes the thread and everyone interested in it will know you've posted something new and will be far more likely to read it than if you went back and edited an old post.

:)

---

I always wondered why there was a time limit on the edit button ;)

I never thought of it like that, now I totally understand why.

Thanks for all that you guys do. Please keep both systems as I use both quite often.

Mike

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by snakecharmer3638

Maybe the thanks could be tied into the rep. For instance for every five or ten thanks you get you earn one rep point.

---

The downside to this, is that people could easily reach a high reputation level only by posting “nice snake” or “ nice picture” which ultimately would make the reputation system meaningless.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deborah

The downside to this, is that people could easily reach a high reputation level only by posting “nice snake” or “ nice picture” which ultimately would make the reputation system meaningless.

---

I don't know if it would make the rep system totally meaningless. I think part of having a good rep is taking the time to read threads, make nice comments about peoples animals, and taking the time to welcome new people to the site.

I just have to say I found out about the rep system when I was just a wee newbie and I have always tried to use it as much as possible. I love the rep system and I check my rep and everyone elses rep all the time. Maybe I have no life....:giggle:

Anyway, thank you for reviving it! It is a great system and it really encourages me and other to learn more and do good :)

Oh yeah, keep the thanks, and keep it separate from the rep points. I think they have very separate purposes and meanings.

Yay rep system!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by snakecharmer3638

I don't know if it would make the rep system totally meaningless. I think part of having a good rep is taking the time to read threads, make nice comments about peoples animals, and taking the time to welcome new people to the site.

---

No, that's part of being a nice person, NOT necessarily having any knowledge.

There is a substantial difference.

I don't want to go to the head of the welcoming committee if I have a problem with a snake. I want someone who knows how to help me, not tell me what a pretty picture I took or how nice my snake is.

There's nothing wrong with that, being nice, I guess, but there is not any way to know anything about that persons actual knowledge if all we go by is the number of thanks tallied up.

One is very nice, the other is useful for more than knowing who to invite to social gatherings.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by snakecharmer3638

I don't know if it would make the rep system totally meaningless. I think part of having a good rep is taking the time to read threads, make nice comments about peoples animals, and taking the time to welcome new people to the site.

---

That may or may not be true...however, the mechanics of the system don't allow for a ratio of thanks:rep.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deborah

Go in user CP and you should be able to see the last 15 threads for which you earned a rep point.

It will show the name of the thread, the date, the name of the user who left the rep point and comment if any.

---

Hmmmmmm... I went into my user CP, and can't find anything! I think I have rep points, so how exactly do I get to them? :confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lolo76

Hmmmmmm... I went into my user CP, and can't find anything! I think I have rep points, so how exactly do I get to them? :confused:

---

Everyone starts off with 10 rep points and one green box. If nothing new has been added to that starting point, then they won't show on your user CP yet. I just repped your last post, so you can go back and see what it looks like. Let me know if you still have trouble finding it.

(BTW, Your current rep-score total can be found in the top-right corner of the box that shows your rep comments)

Ah cha.... I see it now! Thanks for my first rep point! :D

I like both systems and think they both serve useful yet different purposes. My only complaint about the rep system has been that when someone has been particularly helpful, I can't give them positive rep points for different posts unless I've 'spread around some reputation to to others before I can give them to this use again' (or whatever that message says) It's always seemed to me that it's penalizing a user for being on a roll and being particularly helpful.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MarkS

I like both systems and think they both serve useful yet different purposes. My only complaint about the rep system has been that when someone has been particularly helpful, I can't give them positive rep points for different posts unless I've 'spread around some reputation to to others before I can give them to this use again' (or whatever that message says) It's always seemed to me that it's penalizing a user for being on a roll and being particularly helpful.

---

Remember looswheel and dandy and those wonderful folks at Fauna? They were going around repping the heck out of eachother to build up their points without actually deserving the accrued totals.

Rich put a limit on how many times you could give positive or negative reps without doing so to other members to prevent it.

The same thing here. If we were chums and wanted to up our reps all we would have to do is keep sending eachother good points for every post we made, totally invalidating the entire system.

The sneaky turds ruin it for the good guys every time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wilomn

The sneaky turds ruin it for the good guys every time.

---

Ha! At least with the spreading around feature, the sneaky turds have to give props to innocent folks while they play their games. :P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wilomn

Remember looswheel and dandy and those wonderful folks at Fauna? They were going around repping the heck out of eachother to build up their points without actually deserving the accrued totals.

Rich put a limit on how many times you could give positive or negative reps without doing so to other members to prevent it.

The same thing here. If we were chums and wanted to up our reps all we would have to do is keep sending eachother good points for every post we made, totally invalidating the entire system.

The sneaky turds ruin it for the good guys every time.

---

I was never much of a fauna user, I've been a member since it began and I think I still have less then 100 posts. But yeah, I see your point. You don't want to make it easy to subvert the spirit of the rep point, on the other hand I don't see why you can't give someone who's been especially helpful an extra bump without having to hand out rep points to another twenty people first. Perhaps instead of just a single counter, would it be possible to add a day timer as well? That way you could hand out rep to a person after X number of rep points OR X number of days whichever came first? (Sorry Nate, more programming requests...;) )

Oh, and another one is that several times when leaving rep points I fat finger the keys and end up posting the points with only part of the message done. It probably looks kind of odd to the person receiving it.

Omigosh, I got my first Rep thingamajig! :banana:

I was only looking up a prior post I'd made, and noticed that Rep had come in 2 days ago. Thank you! :)

looks like there is plenty of room where the rep button is to make the rep button a little bigger. That would be my only suggestion.

Lots of forums have "thumbs up" AND "thumbs down" buttons. I wish there was a "no thanks" button.... but what can I say... I also watch Jerry Springer sometimes...

:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh

looks like there is plenty of room where the rep button is to make the rep button a little bigger. That would be my only suggestion.

---

It is bigger now - clear your cookies and cache. ;)

I would say thanks is on a different level then reputation. Hey thanks for taking the time to comment on my pic, or thanks for reminding me of something.

rep seems to have a bigger wow factor to it, above and beyond a casual thanks, just my two cents:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rabernet

It is bigger now - clear your cookies and cache. ;)

---

I cleared my cookies and cache... it didn't get any bigger. It would still be at least twice as long without interfering with anything else.

Mike

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh

I cleared my cookies and cache... it didn't get any bigger. It would still be at least twice as long without interfering with anything else.

Mike

---

like as big as the "post reply" button right under it....

Hi,

It's about half the size of the post reply button - it should look like this https://ball-pythons.net/forums/imag...reputation.gif.

Is that what you can see or is it still the old scales icon you see?


dr del

I think Mike is saying that he wants it to be as long as the post-reply button, not just half its size.