@seventi: for problems with your avatar, try doing what's written
here first.
as for reputation, here's the information i gathered so far in no particular order since i'm insane:
- you can only give rep points for a single post (not for users or threads), and only once for each post.
- you can choose whether to give good or bad rep, thus adding or subtracting points to that person's reputation. it is of course possible to give good rep to a user once and then give him bad rep next time round and so on.
- you may or may not add a comment to the rep-giving process, where you may or may not mention who you are.
- reputation is anonymous: if you don't type your nick in the comment box, noone will know it was you who did it.
- the amount of reputation assigned every 24 hours is set to a value that you can't exceed. if you try to give reputation to posts after you've reached your daily quota, you get a message basically telling you that you have to wait.
- after you've given either good or bad rep to a post by one user, you can't give him/her rep points again until a cycle is complete. the cycle is composed of two variables: a certain time that has to pass + a certain number of reputation points given to
other users. you can't just give someone rep over and over all day, or targeting that one user only.
- reputation points for everyone start at 10, one green dot. above 100 points, you get a second green dot. above 200, a third one. and so on, i expect, but noone reached such a value yet and we're still unaware of any upper limit in either numbers or green dots. you may never drop below 0, and you may never lose your first green dot.
- you can turn off your reputation from the control panel. you still have your rep points, and you can still receive and give, but no other user will be able to have an idea of how much reputation you've got by looking at the number of green dots, since they will disappear and be substituted by one single black dot.
- rollover comments can be seen by pointing your mouse over any user's dots. as of now, known comments are: between 10 and 5 points = *nickname* is an unknown quantity at this point; below 5 points = *nickname* has a questionable past; 10 points = *nickname*; between 10 and 50-something points = *nickname* is on a distinguished road; between 50-something and 130-something points = *nickname* will become famous soon enough; above 130-something points = *nickname* has a spectacular aura about; black dot = *nickname* reputation off.
- in your control panel screen you can see the latest five reputation given to you and their comments if there are any. a green dot represents good reputation. a red dot represents bad reputation. a white dot represent reputation given to you by someone with reputation turned off and it does not influence the amount of rep points you have in any way.
- the actual
number of rep points you add to or subtract from somebody's total depends on two factors: your postcount and the date when you joined ultimatemetal. the higher the number of your posts and the earlier you joined the community, the more you get to influence users' reputation. for instance, the last i've heard i can give/take away 8 points (6,300 posts when i checked - joined october 2001). one of the users with postcount above 11,000 can influence reputation for as much as 12-13 points. do the math if you're interested.
- you cannot graduate the amount of points you either give or take away by choosing a smaller quantity than your maximum.
if there's more, i don't remember right now. as far as i know reputation is either the object of a fun "race to the top", where ppl trade and exchange reputation points while being generally cool about it (see opeth off-topic section), or just ignored by most users. it's way too complex to start picking on someone - and then he might just turn it off - for many ppl to bother. as for me, i just give good rep and i always leave my name. it's not that i care much for the feature, but it's a way to pat someone on the shoulder without sending him/her a pm. quicker, and viable even with users you're not really familiar with. also, i find it helps particularly shy/scared newbies gain a bit of confidence.
rahvin.
