Reputation system..

[IKE]

A low rep, and a low post count just means you are new.

I use it to provide positive feedback. I usually use IMs to convey messages of negative feedback for the first strike or so. Usually any post that I would give a red mark to, enough others have buried the person in a sea of red.

[bardd]

I don't think people look at low-repped posters differently (unless they're on the red scale). I've never noticed people treating my posts differently and always take them seriously (when the posts themselves are serious).

Personally I don't rep people, but that's because I don't really understand the system. I think it's a nice system, not because it can tell you how knowledgable the poster is (as Ian pointed out, though it can give you a general idea sometimes), but because it can make a person smile and know his post made an impact on someone. And since most, if not all, FIRSTers are firm believers of GP, there's little risk of someone getting bad repps he doesn't deserve.

[Steven Donow]

Personally, positive rep is a huge self-confidence boost for me. I think there's (at least this was true for me) a slight fear in posting at first upon starting to post here, for fear of coming off too strongly or being ridiculed for a differing opinion or comments being taken the wrong way. At least for me, getting positive rep changed that and increased my confidence at posting.

[Cynette]

I will give positive rep for a wide variety of reasons, most often to someone just starting to post on CD. I will also, like Ed and Sam, give positive rep if I think someone has received negative rep unfairly. I'm more inclined to give neutral rep rather than negative rep if I think someone needs negative feedback on a post, but most often I'll send a pm to the poster.

I will look at rep in conjunction with post count prior to reacting to a post that is written in a fashion to be non-helpful to the CD community, but other than that, if you are a middle of the roader and building rep in a slow and steady fashion, you are good to go!

[Arefin Bari]

They are only dots...

... somebody had to say it.

[Kims Robot]

I agree with all above, but I also wanted to throw in an additional way that I use it. If I am looking for someone from a particular team to ask a question, I often search the members list, and then send a PM based on the reputation & role. Chances are if they have good reputation, they know what is going on with their team and/or can point me to whomever does.

But don't "worry" about the low rep. As long as you don't have red, 99.999% of the community will take your posts just as seriously as anyone elses.

[JohnBoucher]

It's a very effective method of keeping all the "Me too and I agrees" out of a thread. It also connects the community a little more. The more communication the better.

[JaneYoung]

The cool thing about CD is that there are so many wonderful people from the FIRST community who post or who have posted here, helping to build and sustain the CD community. Some of those wonderful people can become heroes and role models to you and when they appreciate a post that has been made and take the time to rep it, it can absolutely make your day. I've seen posts sprinkled throughout the years of participating in CD that are along the lines of, "Oh wow! I just got repped by Andy Baker!", and I know how much that meant to the person on the receiving end of that rep. It's along the lines of having the great role models stop and talk with you at a competition or send you a private message of encouragement or wisdom.

That's what's great about the reputation system. What is not great about it is that some people don't really take the time to understand that participating in CD can be a very valuable experience and they focus on trying to get those green dots as quickly as they can, instead of letting them accumulate naturally.

Humor and knowledge have been mentioned in this thread as reasons for giving positive rep. I think there are other good reasons as well, such as asking thoughtful questions or bringing the discussion back on topic when it has strayed off course.

Another thought is that everyone starts out with one green rep. We build our reputation from there, some more slowly than others. The key word is build.

Jane

[rachelholladay]

I completely agree with Jane.

I give green rep points if someone makes a really good point in the hopes that they will continue to make really good points (and therefore continue to teach me and others)

[ratdude747]

I use the system to give credit where credit is due but I personally don't like the system.

I am a super moderator over at badcaps.net forums and there they disabled the reputation system. At least at that forum it was somewhat useless; usually one could see how good someone is based on how they post and what they post. I along with a few members sometimes have very unpopular opinions; I know that we'd get spammed with negative rep over it.

Over here that doesn't seem to be as big of an issue although in the past I have gotten some negative rep for IMHO stupid things. One was for questioning the opinion of some who the person giving the rep was "above being questioned". Another was for making a point that the person giving the rep thought was "unhelpful". There are other thigns I've been given that were kinda dumb but that's beside the point.

The other thing I'd like to point out is that humans typically have a stronger reaction to negative feedback as oppossed to positive feedback. As my dad once told me, "it takes 100 'Atta-Boy!'s' to counteract one 'you [stink]!' " This why I rarely if ever give negative (or for that matter neutral) feedback.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

The other thing I'd like to point out is that humans typically have a stronger reaction to negative feedback as oppossed to positive feedback. As my dad once told me, "it takes 100 'Atta-Boy!'s' to counteract one 'you [stink]!' " This why I rarely if ever give negative (or for that matter neutral) feedback.

This is exactly why I rarely give negative rep unless the person is just generally being harassing or offensive and won't listen to anything else. I prefer neutral rep if they are being jerks and occasionally even use pos rep to ask them to chill out.

I'ma paraphrase my friend Santosh, the moment I start caring about dots on the internet I hope someone hits me.

[z_beeblebrox]

I haven't been giving (or receiving) much reputation, but I think that I'm going to start.

When reading a post, I don't pay much attention to reputation. Even someone with few posts and therefore a low reputation can contribute to a thread.

[artdutra04]

We don't agitate the dots.

[EricVanWyk]

I give negative reputation for repeat inaccurate or misleading posts.

Just mirroring everything said above already. Low rep doesn't mean anything unless you're in the red zone, which isn't good at all. Likewise, having the max rep doesn't mean you're Andy Baker (Unless you are Andy Baker, in which the previous statement becomes invalid).

All in all, a well thought-out and intelligent post benefits the community regardless of reputation (And it may even earn you some )