# Rep Power Icons?  a new addition. i'm confused by it



## Lt Major Burns (May 4, 2005)

Whats all this new rep power stuff?  what does it all mean? i'm new to forums in general, so could someone explain it to me? what's the difference between grey and green? ScottW is 10 as he started the site.  what does my 4 mean?


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## markceltic (May 4, 2005)

Don't let it worry you, you're on a distinguished road just like me


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## adambyte (May 4, 2005)

... Rep Power? Sounds like something one would do in a gym... I wonder what it is...


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## cfleck (May 4, 2005)

I'm feeling like I got the shaft.

I bet I can bench more than you!


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## sinclair_tm (May 4, 2005)

saw it today too for the first time.  havn't been able to figure it out yet.  but my uneducated guess is that if someones post helped you, you click on the reputation puffy cloud icon next to the online indicator.  maybe i can up mine all by my self........


na, that would be no fun, just proof that i have a big ego.


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## HateEternal (May 4, 2005)

If you notice at the bottom of the poster info, there are 3 icons, the Active icon, an add reputation icon and a report bad post icon. I would believe the Rep Power reflects the number of good reputation responses you have gotten.

BTW adambyte owns us all.


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## Convert (May 4, 2005)

Ok, on another forum, we have a rep system too.

Basically, you can give your opinion on someone's post.

So, if I come in saying you all suck, you can click the little weird icon next to my Online/Offline status, and give me good/bad rep, and why.

The more rep, the more green blocks. Get too much bad rep, you get a red block.

It's a nice little system. On the other site, we have it so if you go to User CP, it shows what rep you have, who by, and what for.


Hope this helps.


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## JetwingX (May 4, 2005)

well, i can only see this as being beneficial in 2 ways 
1) Validity of a post (being able to trust someone with a high rep
2) Being able to filter out people who have a rep lower than 0 (like that AMD guy ><) and having an option to not see those posts.


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## Convert (May 4, 2005)

JetwingX said:
			
		

> well, i can only see this as being beneficial in 2 ways
> 1) Validity of a post (being able to trust someone with a high rep
> 2) Being able to filter out people who have a rep lower than 0 (like that AMD guy ><) and having an option to not see those posts.




Exactly. I just repped you, for a good post. Of course, the rep system is used mainly for help, so I expect to see bobw going into 4 figures soon hehe...


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## bigbadbill (May 6, 2005)

Wonder how my rep got so high then, I am usually unfriendly, uncooperative, and unhelpful  ... maybe it's the avatar!


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## elander (May 7, 2005)

bigbadbill said:
			
		

> Wonder how my rep got so high then, I am usually unfriendly, uncooperative, and unhelpful  ... maybe it's the avatar!



Yup. It's the avatar. No other possible expalanation.


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## JetwingX (May 7, 2005)

I have no idea why i am at 53 (but thanks for all you nice ppl out there)


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## ksv (May 7, 2005)

bigbadbill said:
			
		

> Wonder how my rep got so high then, I am usually unfriendly, uncooperative, and unhelpful  ... maybe it's the avatar!



I think your avatar is hypnotizing people to rate your posts high, and that you are a manipulator taken straight out of _The Usual Suspects_!


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## scruffy (May 7, 2005)

Yes, it would be helpful to know why your rep power is what it is - assuming that people actually want to improve their rep power, shouldn't they be able to know _why_ their reputation is what it is?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (May 7, 2005)

Rep power, as I understand it, is also based upon your post count and join date.  The more posts you have, and the longer you've been here, the higher the rep count (in addition to people "voting" for your posts).


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## MDLarson (May 7, 2005)

ElDiabloConCaca said:
			
		

> Rep power, as I understand it, is also based upon your post count and join date.  The more posts you have, and the longer you've been here, the higher the rep count (in addition to people "voting" for your posts).


Yeah, I'd also agree that we should see some visibility about why our rep count is what it is.  I was part of another forum at one time where they tried to enable a reputation gage, but when somebody voted a positive vote, it turned into a negative vote for some reason.  It caused great consternation at the time.

BTW, I believe the "puffy little icon" that one uses to vote is supposed to be a scale.  I'm sure that is incredibly valuable information to all, so I would appreciate it if everybody who reads this post could add to my rep count, please...


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## Lt Major Burns (May 7, 2005)

i've only got seven. but it was 4 the other day when it started. grrr. i want MORE! MORE!


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## Andrew Adamson (May 7, 2005)

On slashdot, they call people who do that 'karma whores'. Knowing what I do about karma, I'll just let it rise and fall organically. If I ever get kicked off this forum, I don't want to come back as an ant.

Edit: Oh, Good Gravy! Why do I have two green blocks!?! Man, I'm coming back as a dung beetle!


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## JetwingX (May 8, 2005)

And then.... They disappeared


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## bobw (May 8, 2005)

yep, been turned off


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## Qion (May 8, 2005)

What's the reason?


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## Zammy-Sam (May 9, 2005)

Qion said:
			
		

> What's the reason?


Bob only had a value of 10.


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## bobw (May 9, 2005)

Would only serve to create competition among our users, and we don't want that.


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## JetwingX (May 9, 2005)

thats the same reason that a few years ago, post counts were discontinued (but as you can see, they were eventually brought back)


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## Andrew Adamson (May 9, 2005)

But... but, I was _winning_. ::ha::


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## ScottW (May 9, 2005)

Post counts simply show the number of posts a individual posts. The only person that has control over this is the person who makes the post. Reputation is controlled by others and may not accurately reflect the users reputation.

It was done as a trial only.


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## JetwingX (May 9, 2005)

and what did you conclude?


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## mbveau (May 9, 2005)

I agree with the removal, I'd already talked to some people who were feeling somewhat excluded... not for anything particularly bad on their part. There's really no reason for them; people who come here looking for a quick fix will pretty quickly figure out who knows what they're talking about and who does not. Quantification is not necessary.


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## MDLarson (May 9, 2005)

It'd be a fun idea if it were used lightly (or was shown only in a member's profile maybe).  I remember when I first started posting here, I was sorta put off by the high post counts of others for some reason... don't remember rightly what the issue was...

Anyway, I'm up over a thousand posts myself now, and am glad to be a member.


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## sinclair_tm (May 9, 2005)

now there can be no proof of my inflated ego
hahahahahahahahahahahaha

oh wait i only had 2

no really, it was a cool idea, but i do see the reason they were taken off and agree with it.  we don't need rep power as long as those we help say thanks and then help others.  which is what this forum is all about.


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## JetwingX (May 10, 2005)

the whole profile idea is cool


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## riccbhard (May 10, 2005)

Well, looks like i'll be editing my sig again.  I liked that feature.


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## JetwingX (May 11, 2005)

why would you put it in your sig if it is right under your name?


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## riccbhard (May 11, 2005)

What I meant was I had this thing that said "Press that goofy looking icon next to my offline/online status if this post was helpful."


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## Cat (May 11, 2005)

Funny that you can still report bad posts, but cannot report the good ones ...


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## JetwingX (May 12, 2005)

bad posts has been there ever since i became a user (very good against people like that troll we had a while back)


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## MDLarson (May 12, 2005)

Cat said:
			
		

> Funny that you can still report bad posts, but cannot report the good ones ...


Are you serious?  I would think that the status quo would be good posts, and would be expected.


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## Cat (May 13, 2005)

> I would think that the status quo would be good posts, and would be expected.


 Then why do you need to report bad posts? If "rep power" can be abused, so can "report bad post". I liked the idea of balance between the two. It would be nice to have a feature where you can actually *compliment* someone for a excellent, insightful post. 

Look at it this way:
Bad members (trolls) get banned
Donating members get special features
But what do excellently contributing members get? 
Post count doesn't tell you anything about quality.


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## Lt Major Burns (May 13, 2005)

because... you rate the person by their current post.  that way, noobs have a chance to be helpful, and listened to, and the older posters can't rest on their laurels. i think i should be only assessed on the post you are reading now, forgiving me for any accidentally bad posts, or damning me, but assessing indepedently anyway


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## MDLarson (May 13, 2005)

Well, one way to identify a troll or trouble-maker *is* with the Report Bad Post function.  I've seen a few messages in my online history from admins pleading with people to USE the feature, maybe because they don't have the time to sift through each and every post.  If an admin is identifying a troll, my assumption is that they would take a look at the context and judge accordingly.

And if you want to compliment a good post, there's the handy Quote button on the bottom.  Just say "Good post!  It was helpful because...".  That's the way it's been done for a long time, and it's worked fine.  Plus, it is a more visible and open form of a compliment anyway.

I dunno, not a big deal.


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## lurk (May 13, 2005)

The report bad post button is also not a scoring thing like the power deal was.  Reporting a bad post does just that - reports it - so a moderator can look at it and see if it needs to be addressed.  It is there to let users help police the forums.


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