Earlier this week we enabled the user reputation system on the forum. This will allow members to gauge the reputation of fellow members and at the same time encourage users to be more helpful with each other.
NOTE: The reputation system is separate from the new 'Achievements' feature you may have noticed. More news about that to come soon.
About Reputation
User reputation in its simplest form is a ranking of how the community scores a user's benefit to the forum. Its basis comes from the opinions of all of the forum users that choose take part in it. Each member's current reputation level is displayed within each post, just below the avatar and other user information. Reputation appears as a series of small green cubes for positive reputation and red for negative reputation. Hovering a mouse cursor over a user's rep blocks will display a brief comment about the user's current reputation status. Users gain and lose reputation based on how their posts are scored by other forum participants. Users with the ability to affect reputation will either give or take away points by approving or disapproving with a post's content. To see the comments other users have left for you, visit your User CP.
Awarding Reputation
There are a few ways to award another user reputation points:
- Click on the Sheriff's badge icon at the bottom left of posts near the "Report" button and a menu will appear which allows you to select whether to award positive or negative reputation points. You can also leave a brief comment so the user knows why you awarded reputation.
- The Likes and Thumbs-up, thumbs-down system, which can be found below everyone else's posts for you to add and take away reputation. Each 'like' or 'thanks' is equal to 1 reputation point. A 'dislike' removes 2 reputation points.
The amount of reputation you can give or take away is called "rep power." Three factors determine the rep power for each user:
- Registered Date Factor (for every 365 days, the user gains 1 point of reputation-altering power).
- Post Count Factor (For every 2000 posts, the user gains 1 point of reputation-altering power).
- Reputation point Factor (For every 4000 points, the user gains 1 point of reputation-altering power).
- All new users start with 1 point of rep power by default, but reputation hits from new members do not count until they have a minimum of 10 posts. Also, while users with a total reputation score less than zero can still use the reputation system, their hits do not count against/for other users.
- User type will also affect rep power. Administrators' rep power is stronger than regular users
Limitations on Use
Each user may award reputation up to a maximum of 5 times per day. To help ensure reputation cannot be used as a weapon, users are limited on how often they can give/take reputation for the same user. Once reputation has been awarded, the user must give rep to a minimum of 20 other users prior to awarding rep to that same user again. Members that consistently use the rep system as a weapon against other members (i.e., awarding negative rep to the same user as often as the system will allow) risk losing their own rep privileges.
Any user can have their reputation modified at any time by a forum administrator.
Why allow users to award negative rep?
The reputation system is designed as an additional method for users to interact and have fun. It also serves as a means for users to express displeasure with a post without cluttering up the forum with comments that might lead to a disruptive exchange. Take reputation comments for what they are worth and have fun with it.
What if another user gave me negative rep that I feel I don't deserve?
Sometimes users will award positive rep and sometimes they will award negative rep. Members will not always agree with posts made by other users, and sometimes there will be disagreement over a rep comment as well. It happens. The mods cannot control how one member reacts to something posted by another member, so please don't contact the mods and ask them to take action against someone because you received some negative rep you disagree with. While you won't always agree with the rep you receive, you will generally find you will receive a lot more positive rep than negative rep as long as your posts are courteous and helpful. If you regularly engage in political debates or other heated issues on the forums, you can expect to receive some negative rep from time to time.
But what about the bars?
You'll notice that after 5 bars, the bars change shade of green/red, which you can see next to names of people with exceedingly high or low reputation on the forums.
The first bar is worth 1 point.
The 2nd to 6th bars are worth 100 points each
The bars beyond that are worth 200 points each
For example to have 8 bars:
Code:
Bars 1-6 means 500 points
Bar 7 is 700
Bar 8 is 900
Bar 9 would be 1100,
What about people with grey bars?
A grey bar means one of two things, either that that person has disabled reputation from General Settings on the User CP, or they have exactly 0 reputation points. All users start with 0 reputation points.
If you have any questions, please post them here.