Appropriate use of reputation points

[FizMan]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

on a side note: one of the funniest things i heard is people not posting in topics because they were afraide of bad reputation...

I've heard similar things; not on this board, but afraid of the moderators deleting their posts and warning them; maybe even suspending them. Sad thing is, their fears were justified

[mtrawls]

Okay, there's a lot of you out there who are upset about getting negative rep.

No, not upset at all. Slightly disappointed at the inappropriate use of the rep system by a few members, I would expect more from the CD/FIRST community, .... but the negative rep surely doesn't bother me -- in fact, if I made some silly comment in a post like "Kerry suxors" and just said that, I would be just as dissapointed if I got a bunch of positive rep from Bush supporters.

Originally Posted by Karthik

After all, it's just a reputation system for an online discussion forum. There's no reason to get this uptight about it.

Oh, let me elaborate on what I said, if that comment was directed towards me. I really couldn't care less about reputation points. They are meaningless; and, even if they did mean something, I'm mature enough to look to myself to judge my own worth, and not what other people who I don't know are saying. I'm not trying to be uptight, and to the comments that I talk to Brandon, I'd rather not bother him for something I don't even want changed at all. I just thought some attention on the subject would be a good thing, specifically as to what is appropriate and what is not. It seems there has been some discussion on that, and while I did search, it was late and I came back from a long day at work, ... so I missed some things, for which I'm sorry if I offended anyone.

I'll just say that of course the system isn't perfect, but it does have it's place ... the question is just determining what it's place is, and how to improve it with formal or informal rules. (And even though there were old discussions relevant to this subject, it sure seems that people have more to say.)

[Max Lobovsky]

I have another example of strange things done with negative reputation:

Someone gave me some negative points for my post in this thread: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...5&postcount=20 stating simply that i was "factually incorrect". I have PMed and emailed the person since and he seems to just blatantly ignore my asking for clarification. It was a bit offending that he just simply stated I'm wrong and left it at that, but what is even worse is that the only thing anyone gained out of that encounter was maybe him having the satisfaction of feeling superior. If I was truly wrong, he should have posted an explanation in that thread so everyone could see.

Frustrating...

[Bharat Nain]

I agree guys, there are many things which are unfair. I have gotten unfair reputation points but it doesn't bother me. All I can say is if you are seriously offended or something, let Brandon know. He is a nice guy and he will sincerely look into it, even though he is a real busy man(as we can see).

Sometimes its best to let people have their five minutes. It happens to me everyday. I have to deal with people at my job, they argue at ridiculous things, and me the wise guys, smiles, gets my job done, without caring of the customers attitude. Let some people have their five minutes, and if you dont like it, let Brandon know, simple solution

[Mike Ciance]

here is what i give positive reps for:

• good ideas
• helping me
• good jokes
• any other good, well thought-out posts that warrent attention

i give negative reps for:

• attacking or insulting other people without good reason
• use of bad language
• unnecessary complaining
• off-topic/pointless posts

i don't give bad reps often, i'd say 90% of the reps i've given have been positive

i do agree that the reputation system is not perfect, but it is way better than not having one. as long as everybody uses it somewhat responsibly, it will show who is nice and who bothers people. i find it very useful. when you see 10 squares, you know that person has to be pretty nice/smart/etc.

i'll talk to anybody and treat them with respect no matter what their reputation, even if they have red squares. because some people don't use the rep system correctly, some pretty unfair reps go out. and about treating people badly in person because of their rep on here, thats rediculous. somebody could post stupid stuff and get people mad on the forums, but really be nice in person, you just can't judge by this. it rates how well they use message boards, not how good of a person they are, at least not to the extant that you should ignore them or anythign like that.