Suggestion for a "rating" system

[frankykeno]

I was just thinking about how a newcomer to this forum would actually know who is experienced and who is not as a forum join date is really no way to tell. This came to mind.

Is it possible to develop some sort of snake/man(woman) hour rating system. It wouldn't be exact but close and perhaps helpful. It could work like this....

Person A has 1 snake for 6 months.....1 snake x .5 years = rating of .5

Person B has 5 snakes for 2 years....5 snakes x 2 years = rating of 10

Person C has 10 snakes for 10 years...rating of 100

Person D has 100 snakes for 5 years.....rating of 500

This would acknowledge that even with less years of experience if you handle a much larger collection you will have a more varied experience therefore more likely to have faced something a newcomer is questioning on.

I would be a rating of 2 using that system.

I currently have 4 snakes but have only had some for a short time so average experience 1/2 year....

4 snakes x .5 years = rating 2

Then as my collection grows and my experience grows in a year say:

6 snakes x 1.5 year = rating 9

Therefore easily seeing that in the following year and with 2 more snakes, I've likely faced more challenges and learned something worth passing on.

I don't know how workable this is but thought I'd suggest it.


~~Joanna~~

[rabernet]

If it's something that's manageable, then I think it's a wonderful idea! Definitely a good tool for someone new to know who actually has hands on experience and how much of it they do have!

[frankykeno]

Oh I forgot the "policing" part of my idea.

As the Admins and Mods surely don't have time to do the math for this system or police it I would suggest this.

Each person does their own calcuation and posts it in some consistent form. If a person does not post their rating within a pre-set reasonable time after joining the forum, does not keep it up-to-date on say a twice a year basis, or "fudges" their rating level by exaggerating their years or collection size....they get one warning and then get turfed or temporarily have their posting rights suspended until such time as they comply.

If a person is responsible enough to keep snakes, I think they should be expected to be responsible enough to honestly rate themselves and maintain their rating. It should not take more than 5 minutes at join and 5 mins twice per year to tend to your rating.


~~Joanna~~

[jglass38]

I like it!

[tigerlily]

I think you'll still be hard pressed not to have some users come aboard, faking their experience. It's not like we can actually verify their knowledge. It's a great idea but i don't know how well it would work in practice. And as you know just because an owner has had said 2 snakes for 1 year, doesn't mean those snakes didn't have 3 RIs, and is missing an eye from neglect. It's hard to quantify experience but that's just my opinion.

[frankykeno]

Very good point Christie. I had thought about that a bit. No rating system could ever really reflect experience properly or ensure someone isn't lying their face off (though if they post enough, it would become glaringly apparent).

I think as long as a sticky or warning was posted with the rating information that this rating is an honor system ONLY, that it is just provided as a tool to assist forum members in judging the validity of another member's posts and that in the end one must be sensible in deciding if any advice given is valid.


~~Jo~~

[Smulkin]

WOuld be a nightmare to implement in practicve though in theory a great idea = please note everyone can always use the reputation system to add/remove points froma given user if it is thought they are dispensing bad advice, getting too flirtsy, acting like a spaz, using incomprehensible "interweb grammerz" etc. The labels for those ("xx is welcome around here" etc could be adapted fairly easily to something a little less generic and more herp oriented. It is there just not employed very often (same with the thread rating tools - feel free to rate posts/threads).

Just a logistical $.02

[Adam_Wysocki]

getting too flirtsy

sorry. ... LOL

-adam

[Smulkin]

ROFL Adam!

Hahah - ah swunny hunny
"Ah do declare wherevah would you get the idea that referred to you, ah say ah say"

(sorry my Foghorn Leghorn has suffered from long disuse)

Seriously I was just rattling stuff off - been a bit swamped over here this morning!

[Adam_Wysocki]

I was just going for the cheap laugh!! ... Glad it worked!

Me flirty? GET OUT!!



-adam