Reputations. Do they deserve more careful thought?

[Amanda Morrison]

Originally Posted by Kris Verdeyen

I think this is where our misunderstanding lies. I don't rebuke those who post sloppily. I usually just don't say anything back.

I'm all for a kindler, gentler, easier to read CD.

Kris is completely right.
Maybe I am a grammar elitist, but I will come out and say that I DO judge people on their ability to communicate on these forums. This of course is NOT to say that I do anything to disparage the ideas of bad spellers or those who abbreviate. Let me explain.

I can't expect everyone on these forums to be great at English. In fact, assuming that would be ridiculous; nobody is perfect. I can't expect everyone's posts to be clear, consise, or even in the same tense... I am not an English teacher. And yes, I make mistakes. A vast majority of my own posts edited by myself are from proofreading and realizing that something is wrong.

But looking at some posts, it might as well be Greek to us to decipher them. Nobody wants to sit here and sound out your AOL abbreviations when they're looking for quick, honest programming help. And guaranteed, it doesn't make you look so hot when you're posting something about your team and can barely spell out what you are trying to say. English is not the language of the future here, people. This is basic communication. Learn it. It's kinda like writing bad code on purpose - it's pointless and you're just going to end up with a lot of people not looking upon you so highly. 'ur' and 'u' and all these incorrect, ignorant misspellings just make things harder to read.

Are these negative rep-worthy? Not really. But guaranteed, 500 posts from the same person writing incorrectly and indecipherably are going to get VERY annoying VERY quickly. Spelling and grammar nazi's may be a little out of hand, but if nobody can tell what you are saying, why are you bothering to post? That's where repping the person comes into play.

If you don't agree with this, that's fine. But you still read this and know what I mean because I can practice English somewhat correctly. I don't ask much but an attempt of the same. You may be here to learn about science and technology, but you'll go nowhere fast without clear communication.

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As for some of the earlier posts about the reputation system being flawed, I ask you, what is the flaw? Judgement from peers? The reputation system is the same as it is in real life. If you can't get your ideas or information across and only talk to someone in one word sentences, I don't know that you're going to be highly regarded. That's the common thing with many of the people high on the list - they help, they communicate, they contribute. I'm surprised I'm up there with them, but just like John said, it hasn't been friends deciding it would be fun to rep me, just for the halibut. I've been negative repped before... Big deal. Sometimes things need to be said.

I'm not a huge fan of the reputation system, but that's mainly because I forget that it's there and generally send out a PM or IM if I need to say something about that post. It's a good system, though, if used correctly.

Again, it's like life - you're going to have to put up with some jerks... just deal and practice your self control, and mainly people will treat you with the same respect.