Cougar Allen
Buccaneer (ret.)
- Joined
- Oct 9, 1998
- Messages
- 75,795
Frequently Asked Questions about the Reputation Points System
What is the purpose of the reputation points system?
To give newbies another clue who is likely to know what they're talking about besides join date and post count.
Why doesn't the system tell me who gave me each rating?
Because it would pervert the system if people gave ratings in response to the good or bad rating the author of a post gave them last. The idea is to give your honest opinion of the post you're rating, not to reward people who have given a post of yours a good rating and punish people who have given a post of yours a bad rating.
Some other websites have had problems with mate raters -- dorks who get together to inflate each others ratings. Over at www.photo.net they're banning everybody they suspect of being a mate rater and that seems to be working for them. We haven't had that much of a problem with mate raters here -- so far.
By the way, Moderators and Platinum Members can see who rates them.
Why don't you have any sympathy when I throw a hissy fit over a negative rating?
It's only one vote. All that matters is the majority. Write a letter to your favorite politician and ask him if he throws a hissy fit every time someone votes against him. Even idiots are allowed to vote and it doesn't matter as long as the majority of those voting are not idiots.
What does it mean when the system tells me I have to spread it around before I can rate that person again?
The system won't let you keep rating the same person over and over. If it did allow that then one dork could make a significant change in your rating by searching out all your posts and clicking his mouse over and over again.
Also, if you hurry to rate a lot of other people so you can rate that person again the system will tell you you've rated enough posts for a while, give it a rest and stop humping everybody's leg like an overexcited weiner dog.
What does a gray (blue, purple) square mean?
A gray square, which might look blue or purple if your monitor isn't calibrated very well (you might want to adjust that) means somebody tried to rate your post but the system wouldn't let him. That could be because he rated another post of yours recently, or because he's been running around humping everybody's leg like an overexcited weiner dog, or because his own rating is so negative the system figures nobody cares what he thinks of their posts.
There is no way to tell whether he intended to give your post a positive or negative rating; the system stopped him before he got that far.
The system said that and I never rated that person before. What's up?
A number of people have said that and it's always turned out they did rate that person before. I'm not even looking any more. The computer has a better memory than you do.
How do I rate a post?
Click on that scales icon at the top of the post. A dialogue box will pop up. If you are running a popup ad blocker that kills all small windows you'll have to put Bladeforums in your trusted zone.
How do I see my recent ratings?
Go to your User Control Panel. Down at the bottom you'll see a line that says "Latest Reputation Received ... X points total" If you click on the icon at the end of the line it will expand to show your last five ratings and comments.
Have I left anything out? The number of points per rating depends on how many points the person rating you has, and moderators and super moderators have more weight too. Newbies can rate a post and it does count, but not a lot of points per click. The configuration for that and for how long you have to wait before you can rate the same person again, how many posts you can rate per day, details like that, are subject to tweaking from time to time.
I'm sure I've left out some frequently asked questions -- post in this forum and I'll add it to the FAQ. If your post is a hissy fit about a negative rating, though, don't expect any reply from me. No matter how calm and rational your complaint may appear to you ...
What is the most important thing to understand about the reputation points system?
It really doesn't matter much, except possibly to newbies, and even the newbies probably don't pay any more attention to it than to post count and join date. Once people get to know you they'll decide for themselves how much weight to give your opinion anyway.
You can't take it with you.
What is the purpose of the reputation points system?
To give newbies another clue who is likely to know what they're talking about besides join date and post count.
Why doesn't the system tell me who gave me each rating?
Because it would pervert the system if people gave ratings in response to the good or bad rating the author of a post gave them last. The idea is to give your honest opinion of the post you're rating, not to reward people who have given a post of yours a good rating and punish people who have given a post of yours a bad rating.
Some other websites have had problems with mate raters -- dorks who get together to inflate each others ratings. Over at www.photo.net they're banning everybody they suspect of being a mate rater and that seems to be working for them. We haven't had that much of a problem with mate raters here -- so far.
By the way, Moderators and Platinum Members can see who rates them.
Why don't you have any sympathy when I throw a hissy fit over a negative rating?
It's only one vote. All that matters is the majority. Write a letter to your favorite politician and ask him if he throws a hissy fit every time someone votes against him. Even idiots are allowed to vote and it doesn't matter as long as the majority of those voting are not idiots.
What does it mean when the system tells me I have to spread it around before I can rate that person again?
The system won't let you keep rating the same person over and over. If it did allow that then one dork could make a significant change in your rating by searching out all your posts and clicking his mouse over and over again.
Also, if you hurry to rate a lot of other people so you can rate that person again the system will tell you you've rated enough posts for a while, give it a rest and stop humping everybody's leg like an overexcited weiner dog.
What does a gray (blue, purple) square mean?
A gray square, which might look blue or purple if your monitor isn't calibrated very well (you might want to adjust that) means somebody tried to rate your post but the system wouldn't let him. That could be because he rated another post of yours recently, or because he's been running around humping everybody's leg like an overexcited weiner dog, or because his own rating is so negative the system figures nobody cares what he thinks of their posts.
There is no way to tell whether he intended to give your post a positive or negative rating; the system stopped him before he got that far.
The system said that and I never rated that person before. What's up?
A number of people have said that and it's always turned out they did rate that person before. I'm not even looking any more. The computer has a better memory than you do.
How do I rate a post?
Click on that scales icon at the top of the post. A dialogue box will pop up. If you are running a popup ad blocker that kills all small windows you'll have to put Bladeforums in your trusted zone.
How do I see my recent ratings?
Go to your User Control Panel. Down at the bottom you'll see a line that says "Latest Reputation Received ... X points total" If you click on the icon at the end of the line it will expand to show your last five ratings and comments.
Have I left anything out? The number of points per rating depends on how many points the person rating you has, and moderators and super moderators have more weight too. Newbies can rate a post and it does count, but not a lot of points per click. The configuration for that and for how long you have to wait before you can rate the same person again, how many posts you can rate per day, details like that, are subject to tweaking from time to time.
I'm sure I've left out some frequently asked questions -- post in this forum and I'll add it to the FAQ. If your post is a hissy fit about a negative rating, though, don't expect any reply from me. No matter how calm and rational your complaint may appear to you ...
What is the most important thing to understand about the reputation points system?
It really doesn't matter much, except possibly to newbies, and even the newbies probably don't pay any more attention to it than to post count and join date. Once people get to know you they'll decide for themselves how much weight to give your opinion anyway.
You can't take it with you.