Reputation system: meaning & value

Confirmed on the rep points (not power):
Absolute max is signed long integer (32 bit) with 2.147 billion cap as Curtis and I had said. Reaching this point will apparently freeze your rep counter with no rollover.

Presumably, the Rep power could be the same cap or higher since it's unsigned, but every situation vBulletin allows puts it at a much smaller number. Here it's divided by 100. If there isn't a freeze of the reputation power at 65,536, the max is almost definitely going to be 21,474,836. There may be some odd programming though. Look at the discrepancies between rep power and rep points.



As for the main issue, I'm still in the "change it" camp. Not sure exactly how would be best though. Most of us are sharing opinions based in our biases as longer-term users, but the effects on newer members are arguably more important for the health of any online community.

One other option that hasn't been discussed is to remove both the rep stats from the sidebar and just have it in the user profile.

The green bars are also absolutely worthless with reps regularly as high as they are. They're pretty much a visual representation that somebody is over some now small number of rep points. It's not going to show anything different for pretty much any member that isn't deep in a negative rep hole. Look at the member that was recently hit hard by neg reps.

Rivem said:

...One other option that hasn't been discussed is to remove both the rep stats from the sidebar and just have it in the user profile.

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I like that idea too.

RB astro said:

I think it's healed the forum.
I joined in mid 2014 and I came in at the tail end of the 'bad' period.
But I did catch part of the VG saga.
Then there was Isaac Clarke and friends.
Not to mention the MrJoker episodes.
The forum didn't seem like a kind friendly place to visit back then.

Mr Alaskan changed all that, for the better imho.
We don't post for the sake of it, we're not a bunch of Accu's.
It's turned into a nice place, well moderated and the reps are given out freely and actually even noob can build up quickly if they post sensible content.
I believe if you post regularly you can build up quickly.
But post nonsense and you'll receive those red bars in a flash.
I like the forum now, it's brought everyone (the regulars) closer and we've gotten to know each other much better now.

Anyway, with the Aussie dollar being were it is now, that's just my AU$0.02c worth.

RB
:beer:

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Well said and completely agree...

Alaskan said:

In the past the rep system was being used to slap members around because only a couple of active members had much, now they can't bully with threat of negging, too many have high reps who can easily replace the lost points now.. What I originally wanted was the rep system to be done away with, but since that wasn't happening I worked hard for a couple of years strait to cause this rep inflation and it worked, no more rep control of members by someone who could take away too many points.

I do think the forum is better, now we have less negative responses a newbies question when it was perceived as something they could have searched the forum for, the slap upside the head responses to newbies was too harsh a couple of years ago. I say that when I need to improve my own behaviour when I think someone is a sock, but I've been doing better in regard to that, at least, outside the vets section.

At this point I don't know what is best regarding reps, or no reps, but I do believe some of us are having fun with it. I normally only rep active members who have been in the forum long enough to prove they aren't some banned members sock, for that I am surely missing an opportunity to spread the plus pats on the back around, but in time as I get to know new members I begin repping them too. Maybe the solution is to stop calling them reps? Calling them something else?

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As I stated in another Thread...
The Rep System is fine the way it is. It was/is a
response and remedy to the abuse of this very
Rep System by some Members in the past..
It's called evolution/natural selection.
The Rep system will find equilibrium on it's own.

For the members that have issues with the Rep
System... Post good, helpful and useful content
on the Forum and +Reps will come your way....


Jerry

I can agree with that.

Same.

same , is fine the way it is

lasersbee said:

For the members that have issues with the Rep
System... Post good, helpful and useful content
on the Forum and +Reps will come your way....

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I just voted to remove it. Does that apply to me too then?

There's more than one reason to take issue with the rep system, mine is now "can we stop debating this every 6 months!?" and maybe stop circlejerking over it too, that'd be an added bonus.

diachi said:

I just voted to remove it. Does that apply to me too then?

There's more than one reason to take issue with the rep system, mine is now "can we stop debating this every 6 months!?" and maybe stop circlejerking over it too, that'd be an added bonus.

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Agreed. I probably shouldn't have woken this thread back up.

Everyone just ask admin to give me all your reps and I will return with huge amounts of interest in three months

Ok Alaskan.

diachi said:

I just voted to remove it. Does that apply to me too then?

There's more than one reason to take issue with the rep system, mine is now "can we stop debating this every 6 months!?" and maybe stop circlejerking over it too, that'd be an added bonus.

Click to expand...

Hmm. I haven't heard the term circle jerk in many a year. It's funny to think that this is what is going on with a never ending discussion on the merits of the rep system. It has always been this way and now it seems, to me, to be working better now than it did before. I am all jerked out on this subject. Maybe we can take a respite for awhile before starting this up again. :crackup:

Sorry to revive this thread again, but I just had to look into how the system works. I haven't payed much attention until recently the past few days, and it would seem as if the rep point system has just reached a seemingly nearly out of control exponential increase. You could look at it from a relative perspective, but when a relatively new member like me can get a couple reps from people with 1mil, it would seem to blow my reputation out of proportion. It isn't nearly as much of an issue for those with huge numbers since they already have huge numbers, but I think a slower and more steady system could be used.

Not like it matters much

..but the more accurate and reliable the rep system the better. Because if people see it, they are tempted to think about that person proportionally to their number which could affect how they weigh advice and such. Mainly an issue for newer members or those who don't understand the system as well and put too much trust in it.

Yep, the system is completely bonkers now, it's just for fun.

The only thing which I think the rep system could seriously impact with this inflation is when buying and selling, a newbie might think someone with thousands of reps are to be trusted as a seller, when they aren't necessarily trustworthy. If they follow the sticky post in the BST section on how to keep from being ripped off, it shouldn't matter. i.e. someone wants you to send money to them under friends and family to reduce ebay's or ppal's percentage from their funds, I won't do that unless the member is well established with a good history selling on the forum, if they baulk at that, I just send them an amount extra to cover their ppal loss, if they refuse to do that, I won't buy from them.

Good points, Chris. I repped Nutball today and it did have a major impact on his overall rep, but I wasn't intending to cause him any anxiety. If it did, I apologize. Not a bad rep for someone with 128 posts.

No problem. I was just like 10,000! I was at 100 just a few days ago. Paul says he gives me a rep when I'm at 20k and next thing I know it's 30k, and I knew something was weird about the system. I've got 600+ posts and a couple more years on another forum, and I still have one green bar under my name after getting a few helpful post votes. Just a huge difference in proportion.

Regarding your concern someone who has inflated reps might be given unearned credence in regards to knowing laser technology, if any one of us says something a bit off, or wrong, even our friends here will immediately set it strait, being wrong in this forum is exposed very quickly. That's one of the reasons I sometimes come back and qualify my posts more, refine them more, because if I don't, the wet noodle is surely to come out and slap me.