Are Chief Delphi users thin-skinned?

[mechanicalbrain]

Ultimately asking "Are Chief Delphi users thin-skinned?" is akin to "does the sky have clouds". The answer to both is yes. I think we are all a bit over sensitive to a topic and even the way something is said. This is invariably a part of human existence, we tend to to be a little of everything (sometimes all at once). Sometimes we can be very sensitive to a subject and other times we really couldn't give it a second thought if we tried. That in itself doesn't matter, what matters is how we react to it.

Of coarse we should look at our posts and construct them to be intelligent, well thought out, pearls of brilliance. Do we try to do this? Yes. Do we always manage? Of coarse not. And even when we do make such pearls should we also sanitize them of feeling that went into their making? I've seen many references to the responsibilities of the writer, but what of us the reader? If a statement clashes with our ego is it devoid of merit? I think responsibility also lies in the reader who finds themselves bothered enough to stand up and do something to first look at whether or not they themselves are possibly, as hard as it is to admit, being a little thin skinned.

Now onward to the reputation system. Many people mention various unjustified neg reps that they have been the victim to. They happen. However, I submit this to you. What about positive reps? How many of you have positive reputation points that truly say nothing about your character but because you made a good joke or some other useless bit. How many of you are victims of positive reps? It all adds up in the end and a person's reputation will show through. My only grievance with the use of the rep system is it really doesn't give a person a chance to talk. If someone posts something you thoroughly enjoy drop them a mail, you might make a new friend. If they post something you don't like drop them a mail too, you might find it a misunderstanding. Plus some of the people I enjoy talking to the most are people I also find myself at odds with. That doesn't excuse a person from rudeness but it does mean taking a deeper look at something we don't always agree with.

Many people on the Internet are infected with the God syndrome. We assume something is right or wrong, this way or that and apply it to what we read on the Internet. ChiefDelphi is, if nothing else, a community. Communities are made of people and those people bring their opinions and personalities to hopefully contribute to the group, this at least the goal we should shoot for.

I'm sorry if this is a little long and rambling but I had a urge to write down some feelings. If you read it all I very much appreciate you taking your time to listen. Finally in answer to the question that spawned this whole debate. No I don't think Ive ever seen any team look down on a rookie team and I hope I never do. Even experienced teams are made of rookie FIRSTers.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

Now onward to the reputation system. Many people mention various unjustified neg reps that they have been the victim to. They happen. However, I submit this to you. What about positive reps? How many of you have positive reputation points that truly say nothing about your character but because you made a good joke or some other useless bit. How many of you are victims of positive reps? It all adds up in the end and a person's reputation will show through. My only grievance with the use of the rep system is it really doesn't give a person a chance to talk. If someone posts something you thoroughly enjoy drop them a mail, you might make a new friend. If they post something you don't like drop them a mail too, you might find it a misunderstanding. Plus some of the people I enjoy talking to the most are people I also find myself at odds with. That doesn't excuse a person from rudeness but it does mean taking a deeper look at something we don't always agree with.

That's definately me.
My rep got fat on the first season of Fantasy FIRST and it's fanatical followers who were so happy to have the game they dumped good rep (and a couple of bad reps by mistake) to any post I made based on Fantasy FIRST for a week.

[BlackRoboDragon]

I only had two off point rep point changers. One was for a cool signature, they said, it added. The other was because someone jumped to conclusions, putting words in my mouth, taking points away. I'd much rather earn my points, that way, it makes me feel better, I'd also much, much rather actually earn the negatives as well, then I actually know when I do something wrong. But some people don't really need to add or take away points for small things, and for when they jump to things, just send them a mail or PM, letting them know how you feel about what they said, or just to talk about it. But please, for the sake of all that is good, no more putting words in peoples mouths to take away points, if you're going to do that, just mail them.

[anna~marie]

my first experience on Chief wasn't very encouraging at all because I posted something and I got 3 neg. rep things simply because I had accidently brought up a thread that hadn't been talked on in a while.

[Cody Carey]

Ok... Let me word this differently, for those of you who quoted me.


In REAL life, You make snap decisions... but those snap decisions are based on what YOU think... Not what hundreds of people before you thought and made known. I give myself reputation based on how I act towards one person. My facial expression and body language are part of it, but right now you have absolutely no idea what I look like. All you have to go by are my words... and what the people before you thought. Without my body language to referance, you could easily not be reading what I meant to write, and start reading what you feel I meant... largely based on my reputation. In my case, that is not an entirely bad thing, but in doug's case, everybody saw one green box and assumed, "hey, he's new, I'd better show him (with negative rep) that he shouldn't post things like this."

[Brandon Martus]

Originally Posted by Cody C

but in doug's case, everybody saw one green box and assumed, "hey, he's new, I'd better show him (with negative rep) that he shouldn't post things like this."

My opinion on this is .. you should give a neutral rep, PM, e-mail or instant message giving some kind of pointer/tip/explanation. Only after that, and some kind of reply, would it be ok (to me, at least) to dish out some negative rep. the next time it happens. I'd hope everybody would follow this, but it's not that important to make enforceable just yet ..

.. and they're just dots.

[pyroslev]

Originally Posted by Brandon Martus

.. and they're just dots.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/im...tation_pos.gif

gifs actually.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Well, I've waited while I thought about this thread and the posts it addresses and I am ready to respond. Are CD posters "thin skinned"? The answer is a most resounding "NO". Are they passionate, yes, are they excited/excitable, most definitely, are they caring and protective, without a doubt. Are they professional and gracious, of course, it is our law, our credo, our guiding light. When you ask a question similar to the original post, you strike at the fiber of each of these emotions and principles. You will see that you need to expect the response to be passionate, excited, protective and I would hope gracious and professional. You are dealing with an imperfect group though, sometimes we are more passionate than professional, or more protective than gracious. It does not make us bad, it just reveals the imperfections.
As to bad rep points, I have not found a reason to give one yet. No one who has ever posted here with sincerity, has ever posted anything that so flies in the face of our ideals to warrant bad rep. Those that have posted serious and meaningful questions or discussions require the rest of us to think and respond, much like in this post. I hope that you learn from the posts in this thread and read deeper than the words printed here that these people are committed to turning this world into a better place. They believe they can make a difference and I believe they can too. First allows us to function in ways that no place on earth can. We compete but are on the same "team", we come from different backgrounds, religions, or countries, but share in the knowledge we gain for the good of all. We are imperfect but are striving to become the best we can be.

[Taylor]

As a newcomer to CD, I view rep subjectively, and I cross-reference it with longetivity of the user. If I'm looking at opinions or ideas, I ignore the rep - good or bad - because often the best ideas come from those that are not mired in the intricacies of the problem. If I'm looking at technical support or testimonials, however, I'll look more closely at, and value higher, the users with lots of experience and rep.
Which begs the question:
Does reputation and, similarly, CD experience truly make one person smarter, more educated, more experienced, more refined, and more worldly than a (to use the vernacular of today's youth) n00b?
As a user with ~70 posts, minimal experience, and one green dot (or jpeg), I hope not.

[andyhoyt911]

Originally Posted by pyro20911d

Yesterday when making a post about rookie teams I got walked all over


What Does everyone think? After getting trampled and receiving -120 rep points i could use a little help

well doug, it could be because FRESHMEN arent all bad, just like rookie teams. after all, everyone's gotta start somewhere. [[pointing out the obvious]]

[Qbranch]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

It takes a lot for me to give negative rep to someone. But there's a few on here who seem to have no problem giving it out like candy.

Same here. I have taken criticism for posts before but I don't believe anyone has disliked somthing i've said so much they gave negative rep points.

As they say it only takes the few to ruin it for the many...

-Q

[LordTalps]

I would expect most people here use the reputation system with a fair amount of maturity. I've only been so much a part of this forum, as my postcount shows, so you might need to take that with a grain of salt.

I have seen, however, others using the system quite immaturely. A friend and another user exchanged a few replies, whereupon an academic means my friend proved the other wrong. The other user decided to "get back" by casting some negative reputation in his direction. What makes it worse, is I've seen a fairly prominent member of this forum (and a member, no less) do the same thing.

If I could offer advice concerning rep, think objectively AND subjectively about why you're giving a person rep. Has how a person said something been incredibly disrespectful? Not just deserving a comment about tone, but deserving a permanent mark for them to remember? Can you see yourself making such a statement and thinking you deserve some neg rep hating? Subjectively should be easier, and oddly enough it isn't. Is what they're saying offensive? It might be offensive to you if you're on the losing side of a discussion/debate, but unless it's strictly matter of opinion, SOMEONE is going to be wrong. Don't start throwing around hate just because someone proved you wrong. Take it gracefully, and learn from it, that is why we have discussion and debate...

Past that, remember it's a number most people don't look at. I know I'm going to look at the content of every post before I ever look at their rep bars.

[thegathering]

From my experiences, I have noticed that members tend to use the reputation system instead of the personal messaging system when it comes to differentiating opinions.

This is part of our nature, but as Talps said, I too think that to allow for a forum that supports constructive criticism, negative rep should be used when the user is being offensive in some way or otherwise damaging the forum environment. Issues otherwise should be handled through either the thread where the issue is or the private messaging system.

There will always be disagreements and even more so in a forum that has a high population of engineers and others that are not willing to stand down from their beliefs and accept new ideas. However, I don't believe that the negative rep system should be used to force ideas or retaliate against other people who may or may not have a valid point in their ideas.


As for the private messaging system, I have received only one of these from another member concerning ideas in a thread, but much more often received negative/neutral reps stating disagreements of opinions. The private messaging system does not damage either users (otherwise leading to neg rep wars) and allows for the users to respond to each other and discuss their different opinions.

I personally have never felt the need to negative rep someone for any action because I have yet to be personally attack or disrespected. I've always felt that issues with other members were better dealt with through either the thread or a two way conversation.

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by thegathering

From my experiences, I have noticed that members tend to use the reputation system instead of the personal messaging system when it comes to differentiating opinions.

There will always be times in life when you read or see something that will cause our emotions - whether for good or for bad - to temporarily "over-ride" our logical thinking. When you see a thread entitled "help!!!!!!!!!!!!! my controller wont download default code!!!!11! plz help!", don't automatically and irrationally bomb them with negative rep just because they are new to the forum. Instead, send them a PM or neutral rep explaining what they posted wrong. But do so in a polite and business-like manner. Don't flame them.

In the 18 months I've been here, I think I've only given negative rep at most three times.

Originally Posted by thegathering

There will always be disagreements and even more so in a forum that has a high population of engineers and others that are not willing to stand down from their beliefs and accept new ideas. However, I don't believe that the negative rep system should be used to force ideas or retaliate against other people who may or may not have a valid point in their ideas.

Disagreements != Negative Rep

If you present your ideas in a clear, meaningful, and mature manner, there is never a reason that you should receive negative rep. If someone goes out and posts that "Pi is equal to exactly three!", they are not automatically wrong. They could be limited to a single significant digit in their calculation, in which case this statement would hold true. So even something that looks wrong at first glance may hold deeper truth.

When I first signed up, I never thought that I would become one of the members with eleven green boxes of positive rep. All I knew was that I never wanted to have negative rep. So all I did, and still do today, is double read every post I make. I usually take anywhere from twenty minutes to two hours to compose a single post for ChiefDelphi. (This one took about 40 minutes.) I will usually write it out, reread through it, change stuff around, clarify this, take out that, and run the Spell Check until all I'm left with is a great post.

A lot of people forget this when posting, but your posts here on ChiefDelphi will more or less be here forever. Do you really want that post you just be made to be on the Internet forever? Once something makes it onto the Internet, its usually there in some way, shape, or form forever, even if the original post is deleted. Search engine caches, the Internet Archive, and the memories of the people who read it prior to being deleted are all traces of your original post. Post wisely.

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

When I first signed up, I never thought that I would become one of the members with eleven green boxes of positive rep. All I knew was that I never wanted to have negative rep. So all I did, and still do today, is double read every post I make. I usually take anywhere from twenty minutes to two hours to compose a single post for ChiefDelphi. (This one took about 40 minutes.) I will usually write it out, reread through it, change stuff around, clarify this, take out that, and run the Spell Check until all I'm left with is a great post.

A lot of people forget this when posting, but your posts here on ChiefDelphi will more or less be here forever. Do you really want that post you just be made to be on the Internet forever? Once something makes it onto the Internet, its usually there in some way, shape, or form forever, even if the original post is deleted. Search engine caches, the Internet Archive, and the memories of the people who read it prior to being deleted are all traces of your original post. Post wisely.

Excellent points. People... please re-read what Art wrote above. The time he takes preparing his posts on this site means many things:

a. He cares about the people reading his post. The things he can do to make it easier and clearer for us to read, the better the post is.
b. Like he says, anything written on here is forever.
c. The only way many of us get to know Art is through his posts. We aren't fortunate enough to be located in the same area, so all many of us see are his posts. This is one of the only way (along with his masterful Vex creations) that we get to know him. Obviously, he wants to make a good impression.
d. He realizes that he is representing his team. While he represents his own opinions, he does so with tact so that his team is not embarassed by his actions.

Thanks, Art, for this note. We all can learn from it.

Andy B.