Webmaster: what about using the reputation feature?

[jeff p]

Have you thought about enable the rep power feature of the software? some may find it useful & helps to quantify ones resonses?

[Webmaster]

Reputation feature

Thanks for bringing this up, Jeff.

I think you are writing about the "User Reputation" feature of vBulletin. Here's what the forum user manual has to say about it:

User Reputations:
vBulletin's user reputation system provides a way of rating users based on the quality of their posts. Users on your forums can add or subtract reputation points from other users by clicking the reputation link in their posts. You can set restrictions on the giving and taking away of reputation points by users in your vBulletin options.

User reputations allow the users in your community to tell vBulletin which users are quality and which users are not. And in response to user feedback, vBulletin has the ability to label and reward users for the quality of their posts, as is indicated by their reputation.

You can label quality users by defining reputation levels in the User Reputation Manager. User reputation levels work very similar to user titles and user ranks in that they are an indicator of status that are displayed next to names in posts.

You can reward quality users by creating promotions on the Promotions page. Promotions are used to change a user's group memberships when they meet certain conditions, one of which can be their reputation level. Because forum permissions can be controlled with group memberships, a user's reputation in conjunction with promotions can be used to control a user's forum permissions. And so by using a combination of user reputations, promotions, and group permissions, you can enable your community to reward and punish good and bad posters on your forums.

There are many features in this software that I just haven't yet taken time to understand, and this is one of them. I have looked through this a little, and while it sounded interesting, my first reaction was not positive, so I did not immediately enable it.

Without giving it a lot of thought, I was concerned that this could become a negative rather than a positive experience. Humanity can be fairly fickle in large groups.

But, I may have "rushed to judgement." I'd be interested to hear what others think about this.

David

[jeff p]

features

I think this feature is good at weeding out "trolls" not that we have to much of a problem with that here but I have noticed the opposite from a lot of experianced posters by that I mean they have some really good real world experaince to share with others & it may help to let newbies know they have the experaince to talk about their subjects kinda like getting a star on your helmet. Hopfully others will read & contribute to this thought.

[homerdave]

while you are at it...

is there a spell check option?
some of us could use it!!!

[Webmaster]

Good idea

is there a spell check option?
some of us could use it!!!

Good idea, Dave. Turns out there are some hacks available for this. I'll put it on the list of features to add. Thanks!

David

[jeff p]

is there a spell check option?
some of us could use it!!!

I guess I should slow down when I type ...lol

[Water_Gremlin]

Awhile back another forum I am on used rankings or User Reputation. I felt the maturity level of the forum as a whole wasnt as high as this one, and the ranking feature turned into a turd storm real fast. The feature was disabled after a couple of weeks. Naturally some people do not get along on these forums, so it would be tempting to destroy their user reputation with just a few clicks of a button. I can see nothing but problems and a full pm box of complaints when webmaster logs on.

It is an interesting idea and would work well if everyone was honest about ranking other members. But is that really going to happen? I doubt it.

[WinMag]

Rank Reputation

I can see both sides of this issue. I can easily see it becoming a game to some.

When I view a post from someone with whom I'm unfamiliar, I just "view all posts" by that individual. I think a tremendous amount can be deciphered by their posts alone.

If there is a legitimate way to assign, regulate and update rankings or reputations then I think it could be utilized. Whether or not it's actually helpful or needed... I don't think so.

[homerdave]

and another thing...

often when i see a post from a "new member" i check their profile...when no additional info is posted i am unlikely to respond directly..
c'mon guys (and gals) where do you live, what do you do? what are your other interests?
you don't share.....i won't either...

[jeff p]

neg reps

I think if neg reps was to get out of hand its not to hard to control I believe there are limits that can be set along with mod control over this software. It would most likely cause a little more work for the mods but could also be usefull to users. Nice to see a little discussion about it.

[WinMag]

right on HOMERD

often when i see a post from a "new member" i check their profile...when no additional info is posted i am unlikely to respond directly..
c'mon guys (and gals) where do you live, what do you do? what are your other interests?
you don't share.....i won't either...

Hey good point.... I have meant to update my profile since this new forum started... Now done.. Thanks for the reminder.

[AlleninAlaska]

I don't have a life, therefore I don't have a profile. :-)

[GreginAlaska]

is there a spell check option?
some of us could use it!!!

I secund thate! HA!

[4whlr]

profilling

Allen,

Isn't profilling illegal anyway? That's why the TSA can't search everyone with a towl on their head...

[homerdave]

4whlr

profiling only has one "l", and towel has an "e" in it.
yeah, and he came unto the forum, and his name was "SPELLCHECK"
dave (formerly ethics police)

<joke guys...a joke>