User Reputations

[Greg]

vBulletin's user reputation system provides a way of rating users based on the quality of their posts. If this system is enabled, users can add or subtract reputation points from other users by clicking the reputation link in their posts. I can set certain restrictions on the giving and taking away of reputation points by users.

User reputations allow the members to tell the community which users are quality and which users are not. And in response to user feedback, vBulletin has the ability to label and reward users for the quality of their posts, as is indicated by their reputation.

I know some of you have particpated on other forums where user reputation was enabled. I'm sort of torn on the issue, but I'd like to get some feedback whether this is something all of you would like to see implemented, or not...

[cbcbd]

From my experience on other boards, reputation is a positive thing... until you receive negative reputation.
It's nice to give a personal kudos on a good post and to receive kudos if you have posted something that helped someone.
As long as people don't get too bent out of shape when they receive negative feedback (everyone is bound to disagree with someone at some point) then it's a pretty painless and good feature to have - also cleans out threads by eliminating the need to post your agreement or appreciation.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by cbcbd

From my experience on other boards, reputation is a positive thing... until you receive negative reputation.
It's nice to give a personal kudos on a good post and to receive kudos if you have posted something that helped someone.
As long as people don't get too bent out of shape when they receive negative feedback (everyone is bound to disagree with someone at some point) then it's a pretty painless and good feature to have - also cleans out threads by eliminating the need to post your agreement or appreciation.

Are the reputation votes public?

[noski]

Would I automatically get a bad rep because I don't ski/board, forever to live in the Miscellaneous section? *sniff*

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Greg

Are the reputation votes public?

Nevermind. I think I figured this out...

More thoughts?

[cbcbd]

No, you can't see other people's reputation comments, only the ones you receive from others. The only thing the public sees are the green (good) or red (bad) squares that build up in your user box. Reputation goes by points, so the more positive points the more green boxes. And I think to some extent, users with higher post counts give out more points per reputation that they give.

Also, depending on the bulletin version, you can choose to show the name of the user who gave you reputation or just opt to leave the comments anonymous. - Seeing the name could be good or bad.


edit: ah ok, you got it, nevermind

[JimG.]

It sounds interesting, but...

it could be misused and lead to conflict too.

If you decide to turn it on, we would all have to monitor the results carefully.

[awf170]

I like it. It seems to work fine over at T4T. Also have rep be anonymous. If you want you can leave you name. Ex: "Nice pics-Awf"

[Greg]

Originally Posted by JimG.

It sounds interesting, but...

it could be misused and lead to conflict too.

If you decide to turn it on, we would all have to monitor the results carefully.

Agreed on all points. However, I think most of the members here are pretty civil and mature. There will be some inherent misuse of the system, but if enough people post positive rep points when warranted, it should outweigh the ones that abuse it to post unwarranted negative ones. There are several options I can set to make this system less prone to abuse. For example, I can set a minimum post count and/or reputation level before a user's reputation hits count towards other members. Folks with more posts and higher reputation can also gain additional points of reputation-altering power. Similarly, members that have been here longer can have higher rep-altering power. And on and on.

And with all that said, we can always try it and if it becomes a problem or causes animosity, we can disable it. My feeling is if you're contributing in a positive way as you should be (and most members do) there is little to worry about and I would hope this system acts as a way to commend other members, rather than continually slam them.

[bvibert]

I think it could be a good thing. But as Jim says, it could also be abused. T4T has all sorts of restrictions on how often you can give rep to a person and what not that should be able to limit the amount of abuse. Here is a link to their current reputaion rules.