Profanity
The Post Master
Mark is the fairest/most reasonable/best Administrator I have ever had association with. Anything Mark does for the board is the right thing.
Thanks obsessive spammers!
- Thread starter xenophobe
- Start date
If I might state my opinion (already done so in another thread, but I'll do it again), I think that making the rep dots and postcounts invisible was not a good idea. This is not because I want to look cool in other people's eyes - I have a meager three dots and little more than 2,000 posts, all on a single forum bar a couple of exceptions, so I'm not going to look special. But I like to understand what makes some posters liked, as shown by their reputation score, while some other posters are welcome with little warmth. It gives great insight on online communication dynamics: for instance, I often wondered how come people like RealHazard of the DT board, who constantly come up with very funny threads in which almost everyone participates intensely, don't get one thousand dots. Moreover, the postcount/rep thingie also gives this little edge of competition that, while not being taken seriously by anyone (spammers are no exception: I guess they know that having just one dot is not the worst tragedy in the world, and that posting 20,000 one-liners doesn't solve their problems), can be fun. There are other solutions for spam; for example, if one ignores the people responsible for it they'll get bored and go away.
Another community I frequent, fictionalley.org, has a ban on all one-liners in order to discourage spam and it also allows users to show their signature only twice per thread, in order to save bandwidth. While the first rule might be unappropriate in the case of chat forums, the second sure would not hurt, although I'm not sure it can be implemented automatically and would hence require moderator activity. One further rule that I find very sensible is: threads are closed after 200 posts, so as to avoid chaotic superthreads, and new threads are then open with the same name and a roman numeral indicating the "issue" of the thread. Still, it seems to me that this idea would not be liked by other members, as per the previous discussion.
My two knuts,
hyena
Another community I frequent, fictionalley.org, has a ban on all one-liners in order to discourage spam and it also allows users to show their signature only twice per thread, in order to save bandwidth. While the first rule might be unappropriate in the case of chat forums, the second sure would not hurt, although I'm not sure it can be implemented automatically and would hence require moderator activity. One further rule that I find very sensible is: threads are closed after 200 posts, so as to avoid chaotic superthreads, and new threads are then open with the same name and a roman numeral indicating the "issue" of the thread. Still, it seems to me that this idea would not be liked by other members, as per the previous discussion.
My two knuts,
hyena
_Aragorth_
storm chaser
Reputation was no means by judging people's merits, even without Rep threads that existed here, or the little rep circles that existed on Off Topic.hyena said:
As for the post counts, it's nice to have, but when you have several users battling to see who can have "the highest post average", then the whole concept of showing how many replies you've posted is moot.
Until post counts are hidden even from user profiles, this will still continue anyways, so hiding it merely discourages some user, but others...
Anyways, it only takes a few to spoil it for the bunch... Most of the people that were mad at the so called "spam threads" being shut down generally don't post a whole lot either, and they were always good at attracting new users to participate.
Either way, reputation was probably going to be removed anyways. Post counts? Well, the easiest way to decide if someone is worth listening to (or in this case, reading), it's best to judge by the post itself.
Steve
New Metal Member
We need a new thread like who gets the last word in for general continued chatting without the name...
Ben_t
Member
That's so true...Why would someone with like 10 000 posts would be worth listening more then someone who has like 50? Both can have very interresting views on some subject. Anyway I don't care about rep or number of posts...I just want a forum that's fun to read and participate in.xenophobe said:
I agree with you on all counts!Ben_t said:That's so true...Why would someone with like 10 000 posts would be worth listening more then someone who has like 50? Both can have very interresting views on some subject. Anyway I don't care about rep or number of posts...I just want a forum that's fun to read and participate in.
I wasn't trying to say that the people with high post counts or big reputations are more worth listening to. I was just saying that the two variables give insight on relational dynamics on online forums. But go ahead, ignore me.
I think that on a board with mature people, hyena would be right. But with mature people, we wouldnt have this kind of problem in the first place. This is a board with several thousand users, and both post count and rep were being misused, so for the majority, hiding both post counts and rep is a good thing. I hope that with these changes, the chat board will return to normal soon
Steve
New Metal Member
I think this is step one, but we need another step. banning a certain user.
after 2 steps we can all be lazy and sit down and maybe stand up to take anotehr in a few years.
after 2 steps we can all be lazy and sit down and maybe stand up to take anotehr in a few years.
Profanity
The Post Master
_Aragorth_
storm chaser
steve
Profanity
The Post Master
Profanity
The Post Master
I don't think I do any harm to the board, some of my posts are spam but so are many other peoples. There are about 5 threads which are spam on the main board page.
Erik
New Metal Member
Just look at the user profile instead and see the dots and numbers. There is no problem.hyena said:I wasn't trying to say that the people with high post counts or big reputations are more worth listening to. I was just saying that the two variables give insight on relational dynamics on online forums. But go ahead, ignore me.
Ultimate_Symphony
Rusted Angel
- Jul 18, 2002
- 4,411
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Voice of God
Harmless Bum
Haven't really participated in this conversation, but very good move by mark. *claps hands furiously* I never really got the whole point with postcounts and rep points.
rahvin
keeper of the flame
i appreciate your curiosity, but i'm afraid it doesn't give the smallest insight on that.hyena said:
when reputation points were first introduced, everybody started playing around with them quite happily, giving some (...) to their friends and others of the negative sort to the people they didn't like or simply people they wanted to fuck around with. that's when most rep points have been gathered by the vast majority of users. it was a mere matter of exposure, so that everyone mentioning "reputation" instantly received points of many sorts. not to mention that since users with more posts were able to give in larger amounts every time, reputation points grew astonishingly among members with higher post count and those who interacted with them more often. now, the most intense congregation of frequent posters, and the most intense activity, is on what is now called the "seriously off-topic forum" (once the off-topic section of the opeth board), which is exactly where users with highest number of rep dots come from. a proof of this is that our good realhazard almost never posts there, while back then i used to do so almost daily, hence the reason for my rather high ranking in reputation points.
my theory is it never had any relation with popularity (for instance, profanity here is quite unpopular, yet he's got plenty of rep), just with how much you posted, where, and how much you wanted to "play the game", as in were willing to give and receive rep points. possibly a good tell-tale sign of someone's activeness on um, but definitely not of the degree of appreciation of users.
i do agree with all your comments about post count and thwarting spammers activity, though.
To the contrary, I gave you a bunch of reasons why I think that things weren't working as they were, and why this was a better alternative.hyena said:I wasn't trying to say that the people with high post counts or big reputations are more worth listening to. I was just saying that the two variables give insight on relational dynamics on online forums. But go ahead, ignore me.
As for the comments about closing "superthreads", if there is going to be a rule, if it should apply here, it should apply to all the other forums here. And all one needs to do is look around, there are plenty of them here. COB Off topic has nearly as many as there are here, DT has their fair share, and I'm sure you can find a few in Nevermore and other places.
I'd rather see a bunch of large threads that draw new people to them, instead of having to wade through 4 pages of new threads daily.
Many people don't post every day like it here, and being able to come back somewhere where they recognize threads is a good thing, and most of the people who are most happy about their return don't have high post counts or daily averages. Just normal users who like it the way it is here.
No real serious discussion, no race/religion/political issues, and a bunch of people who participate without needing to share how their balls itch or why their pee is green can be funny at times, but this forum is what I like best about UM.
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