Vote on the Reputation System

[Lupigis]

Suppose we're on an extended vacation at the home of a mutual friend. Some person present and not known to you, call her Janet, makes a joke and you laugh. You laughed -- which is to say you benefited from and were in any case largely sympathetic to the person who wanted to speak her mind. Now another person in the party, an acquaintance and someone you generally like pretty well, call him Brad, is offended and asks that no one tell any more jokes for the duration of the vacation, not even the ones that would make him laugh. After all, the ones that make him laugh might offend someone else. He wants no one to benefit because some people will be hurt.

Is that supposed to be an analogy to the reputation system of the board? If so, it is a poor one. I don't even understand what is meant to be analogous to what. Is the joke an analogy to a +1? Or is it the laughter?

I don't see how the above is relevant to the discussion of the reputation system at all!

[Ran]

So, time to close the thread. Many thanks for all the feedback.

While those not wanting the system at all are a majority, it's not a clear cut matter when one adds in those who'd like to see it around with some changes, and those who don't care either way. I personally continue to believe it could have value, but perhaps in the more free-wheeling General Chat it's a hinderance to the board's particular culture of discussion.

So. I figure we'll be keeping the system. There will be three changes.

1) The biggest change: no longer in General Chat. I suspect that will satisfy, or at least greatly reduce strength of feeling, of a large proportion of those who voted against the system. I need to install a mod to get that taken care of, and should be able to do that by the weekend.

2) Remove user reputation score from public view. This has already been implemented, I think, but let me know if you spot it anywhere else.

3) Introduce a system of seeing who repped you last, and a way for them to offer brief input for why they plussed or minused. This'll be done by the weekend if the mod doesn't give me any problems when installing it.

While some good arguments have been made for and against anonymity, I believe it'll be worthwhile to experiment with this system in the non-GC forums and see if it has a positive effect in shaping conversation with less animus.

So, there we have it. Thanks again for all the feedback, folks. :)

UPDATE: No longer available in Gen Chat, and user reputation no longer shown as already noted. Tried to install the last mod, and that one is not working, so will have to ask around to see if it's workable.

Edited January 12, 2010 by Ran