"User reputations" feature

[Rebecca Petris]

Okay, I confess, at this point I hardly ever remember to use this feature. It seemed reasonable to switch it on... our community is growing awfully fast and it's just kind of hard to keep track of who's who. But maybe the feature isn't a good fit for us.

It's the sort of feature that just doesn't work at all unless it's used frequently. I'm not sure our userbase is made up of people who are likely to use it. (As opposed to boards that attract mostly techies etc...)

Thoughts?

Like/dislike?

Never heard of it and don't care?

Etc?

[tearless2]

I really like this feature and thought others were using it.

I don't use this feature on every e-mail. I use this feature a lot when someone is especially helpful. I use it so often that occassionally the website says I have added too much to one person's reputation and I need to spread the love more. I Sometimes forget who I have given kudos to and whom I haven't -- I just do it based on the posting. I have only used the negative feedback once.

One time when I was very diligent and answered someone's difficult e-mail question with a lot of research I gained an extra green bar. It really made me feel great that people thought I was being helpful and encouraged me to respond more if I knew I could help someone.

So, I'd like to keep it and hope others start using it more.

[ScottishDave]

To be honest I didn't realise it was there. I think it's a great feature and i use it a lot in other forums I browse.

The litte star doesn't really jump out at you does it?

[Rebecca Petris]

Whoops, I forgot to reply to this thread back in January - oops!

Anyway I'm just bumping it up to the top as a reminder to use the STAR in the blue bar on posts to add to people's reputation when they post something helpful, supportive or informative. Appreciate all those who have been using it!

[PotatoCakes]

Tearless2 took the words out of my mouth. Exactly how I feel!

[Súil Eile]

I keep forgetting about it, but I think it's a lovely idea to be able to show appreciation of a post. I'm going to try and use it more often!

[Rebecca Petris]

Update to Reputations... John's been customizing it to suit DEZ better. As you can see we've now got nice blue droplets instead of mysterious little green bars. We'll post a little tutorial with screenshots later.

I'm kind of on the fence about the "REPUTATION: 1234" just over it. What do you guys thing? Helpful? annoying/overkill? I thought it was kind of annoying at first but now I'm starting to think it will remind me to "approve" posts more often.

[Súil Eile]

I love the droplets! To be honest, I originally really liked the idea of the reputation bar in that it's a great way to show appreciation of a post. But now I'm a bit worried that there might be too much emphasis on building up a reputation. DEZ should be a place where we aren't judged and there's no pressure on anyone to post or post in a particular way. I hope the emphasis doesn't move to collecting more droplets under our names. That being said, it is nice to show appreciation of the mods, yourself, and some of the unbelievably helpful posters on here. I just hope it doesn't change the vibe of the forum

[robster]

I like the droplets but what happened to the points that were on show for everyone's profile earlier?

[DEZadmin]

I like the droplets but what happened to the points that were on show for everyone's profile earlier?

Rebecca asked me to remove the numerical reputation. But I think she's reconsidering, so you might see it again.

[robster]

One thing I definitely don't agree with is the comment that comes up when you try to give a positive review to someone who you have fairly recently given a positive review to - "you must spread some reputation around before giving it to (users name) again"

Some people are really helpful and post good advice regularly, we should be allowed to give positive reviews to whoever we want as often as we want as long as it's limited to one positive review per poster per thread.

The person I was trying to give a positive review to I had not given a positive review to for over 3 weeks. I have given other positive reviews to other people in the mean time and it still wouldn't let me give this person a positive review.

I don't disagree with much on this forum but I strongly disagree with this. Certain people deserve lots of praise and I don't think it's right to limit that.

[DEZadmin]

One thing I definitely don't agree with is the comment that comes up when you try to give a positive review to someone who you have fairly recently given a positive review to - "you must spread some reputation around before giving it to (users name) again"

Some people are really helpful and post good advice regularly, we should be allowed to give positive reviews to whoever we want as often as we want as long as it's limited to one positive review per poster per thread.

The person I was trying to give a positive review to I had not given a positive review to for over 3 weeks. I have given other positive reviews to other people in the mean time and it still wouldn't let me give this person a positive review.

I don't disagree with much on this forum but I strongly disagree with this. Certain people deserve lots of praise and I don't think it's right to limit that.

What you ran into is the result of a software setting called "Reputation User Spread". Currently the default setting dictates that after giving Reputation to member A, you must give Reputation to 5 other members before giving Reputation to Member A again.

I'll discuss this issue with Rebecca. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. (There are a lot of software settings we haven't explored and haven't ever messed with.)

[Rebecca Petris]

Ugh. I am totally with you Robster. I am pretty sure this was a new "feature" in the software upgrade but you guys would be more likely to know than me (administrators are exempt so it doesn't interfere with me the same way ).

[robster]

I can't remember encountering it before the upgrade. But it has only been in the last 2 months or so that I have been giving feedback so I could be wrong.

[Scout]

Thanks for bringing this up, robster. And thanks to Rebecca and The Almighty for looking into it. It has been this way for a long time. I was so frustrated with it that I just stopped adding to people's reputations.

The problem for me is that I usually read the posts that are more focused on the symptoms or the issues that resonate with me and my own symptoms. So it is not unusual that the same person may add more than one very useful tidbit that helps me.

I tried to add more mojo to one of those people who was particularly helpful and was told I could not because I had previously done so. I thought it was a time thing, but it told me to give someone else mojo first. I tried that but it still did not work. I didn't realize that I needed to add to FIVE other persons' mojo before rewarding someone again.

I just stopped adding to people's reputations because it was frustrating.

Yeah, I think this could be tweaked a bit. Thanks!

Scout

[DEZadmin]

Thanks for bringing this up, robster. And thanks to Rebecca and The Almighty for looking into it. It has been this way for a long time. I was so frustrated with it that I just stopped adding to people's reputations.

The problem for me is that I usually read the posts that are more focused on the symptoms or the issues that resonate with me and my own symptoms. So it is not unusual that the same person may add more than one very useful tidbit that helps me.

I tried to add more mojo to one of those people who was particularly helpful and was told I could not because I had previously done so. I thought it was a time thing, but it told me to give someone else mojo first. I tried that but it still did not work. I didn't realize that I needed to add to FIVE other persons' mojo before rewarding someone again.

I just stopped adding to people's reputations because it was frustrating.

Yeah, I think this could be tweaked a bit. Thanks!

Scout

FYI, Rebecca has set the "Reputation User Spread" to zero, so you shouldn't run into that limitation any more.

Regarding Reputations and any other "features" of the this bulletin board which seem problematic or confusing, everyone is encouraged to give feedback to Rebecca, either via PM or in a new thread.