Reputation Points & Comments- WHY?

Ahnko Honu

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What is the purpose of reputation points for posts, especially the ability to make comments? Can we redeem points at the UU store? I see no constructive reason for it's existence. I think all it does is allows anonymous trolls the opportunity to attack UU members with the most vulgar, racist, childish comments with total freedom and no fear of getting banned since not even the administrators or moderators can see nor remove these comments from what I am told, they have NO control over these anonymous moa kukae posters hiding behind their freedom and anonymity provided by this forum which I think really goes against the aloha spirit and what the 'ukulele should represent.
I say dump the feature, no other forum has it or needs it. :mad:
 
I like them, sometimes a behind-the-scenes pat on the back can help remember why I come here. Other times a neg rep comes around and I repent, hit back, or just edit the post a bit if the comment was right.
Trolls will get you whether they dive under the surface or not. A new account is made easily.

Maybe the administrator could shed some light on the anonymity of reps? I do not type my name, whether pos or neg. It's just a policy :)
 
I've read other things about reputation points, but how do you know if someone added to yours? Are you notified if someone leaves a reputation message - or do you have to go back to your posts and check? It looks like I'm on "a distinguished path", but that's the extent of my reputation knowledge - I really don't know how to use it properly :)
 
I like them, sometimes a behind-the-scenes pat on the back can help remember why I come here. Other times a neg rep comes around and I repent, hit back, or just edit the post a bit if the comment was right.
Trolls will get you whether they dive under the surface or not. A new account is made easily.

You can't hit back if this feature allows total anonymity, cowards can say whatever they want and hide behind there monitor. Why hide a pat on the back or a stab in the back, don't be a coward, show your face. This feature let's you use whatever vulgar language you want to with total impunity and these comments cannot be erased by anyone. If you politely and tactfully put an idiot in his place, or a moron is just insecure, and he post an attack via reputation there is nothing to repent about. It's a useless feature that only encourages negativity. I'm not afraid to tell someone how I feel to their face whether it be positive or negative. If too shame to post in the forum say it in a PM at least not in a cowardly anonymous reputation comment. :rolleyes:
 
I agree with Ahnko. If you have praise or criticism, them PM that person. I wasn't aware that the posting of rep. points is totally anonymous. Why is that?
 
One forum I'm on allows you to publicly thank somebody for a post by clicking on a button under the post. It then shows who all thanked the post, so there's no anonymity. I don't know if that's available on the UU platform, but it's kind of a nice barometer of how helpful your posts are to other people.

I agree that the anonymous rep thing seems weird - I don't know what purpose it serves. I've had a few positive, but the one negative one I got was anonymous, which seems like a pretty cowardly way to communicate.
 
I usually sign my rep comments.

JJ
 
I'm glad this thread got started.

Just 2 days ago, someone zinged me with a negative on my reputation because of a post I had made that evidently set someone off the deep end. :eek:

I went through the normal "I don't believe it (denial)" thing, then I got mad :mad: which fortunately didn't last too long, and now I'm still thinking about it and haven't reached the acceptance stage just yet. :confused:

I made the post in good faith and it wasn't an argumentative post. Whoever it was that zinged me could have PMed with their concerns over my post. That would have been a simple and considerate thing to have done.

Why should someone be allowed to hide behind a keyboard and take potshots at your reputation when you have no way to defend yourself?

I do feel better now...thanks for listening...:D
 
I like the rep points, but agree it seems it could be misused. I suppose the point of it is so other members can better assess your character and maybe so mods can determine when a troublemaker has been given enough slack.

Is it possible to see what people have said on other member's reps?, if so I haven't found it.
I would hope that even if a troll sticks you with a bad rep point for an illegitimate reason, that a member would have enough positive points to counteract that.

I try to give + reps to deserving folks whenever I think of it.
 
I like the rep points, but agree it seems it could be misused. I suppose the point of it is so other members can better assess your character and maybe so mods can determine when a troublemaker has been given enough slack.

Is it possible to see what people have said on other member's reps?, if so I haven't found it.
I would hope that even if a troll sticks you with a bad rep point for an illegitimate reason, that a member would have enough positive points to counteract that.

I try to give + reps to deserving folks whenever I think of it.

Can't rep you -- too soon, but +1.
 
I don't see anything. Does that mean I'm Joe Plain Vanilla and have neither inspired anyone with my brilliance nor enraged them with my wit? How boring is that?

Lol well, yes it is under User CP lol

I agree that it does give those internet trolls the advantage..
I indeed think it's a bad idea.. but that's just my opinion
 
What is the purpose of reputation points for posts, especially the ability to make comments? Can we redeem points at the UU store? I see no constructive reason for it's existence. I think all it does is allows anonymous trolls the opportunity to attack UU members with the most vulgar, racist, childish comments with total freedom and no fear of getting banned since not even the administrators or moderators can see nor remove these comments from what I am told, they have NO control over these anonymous moa kukae posters hiding behind their freedom and anonymity provided by this forum which I think really goes against the aloha spirit and what the 'ukulele should represent.
I say dump the feature, no other forum has it or needs it. :mad:

I had no idea that this problem even existed. :( Why, of all people, would someone give negative reps to Ahnko? I don't understand the system either, and don't know what it is really for. I've only had one rep comment, and it was positive (thank goodness!)

Sorry to hear that there are folks who would behave so immaturely on UU. It is still a very positive, caring web community for the most part. Ahnko, I hope the mods can help you solve this one....
 
If only the recipient can see their rep, then what's the point?

There is a rep icon under your post count, little green boxes with a phrase like "xxx is on a distinguished road". More good rep = more little green boxes. Most folks have one for now. I think there are black boxes for negative rep (most of these systems have both), but I'll have to ask Ryan to be sure. Not a lot of negative rep on this board.

To the original question "what's the point?" - The point in my opinion, is to have a simple tool to help foster communication. We can't read facial expressions or body language on this contraption - the reputation doohicky helps us communicate our likes an dislikes without the usual people reading skills of everyday human interaction.

Over time, it also serves to aggregate the general social feeling towards you - with that little green box trick. It means that eventually, a new member can see at a glance those who the community generally feel have something worth saying, or not. Coming from several motorcycle boards where being an ass is a sport, knowing where all the old-timers stand with the majority is a very good thing.


And yes, because humans are involved, it can be used to be a pain in the ass. It DOES have some basic safeguards (you can't give too much rep to the same person for example, without spreading it around) to keep it relatively free of abuse, but some folks are jerks no matter what the medium of jackassery delivery is. They'd be jerks without the rep feature too.

The anonymity feature is there to make certain that there is no retaliation for giving negative rep. The side effect is that jerks can use it too - but over time, it should average out. and in my experience, it makes the jerks that much easier to spot for new members.

And of course there is always the perfect solution - if you don't care for the feature, ignore it. It's just an extra, no need to worry about it too much.
 
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