Thankyou Lal and SpM
I would sure hope so, of course, :D .

Congratulations to ye, Boromir88! :D *gives gold stars and glitter to Boromir*

Interesting thing to find out, Heren. Who else is thinking that davem is going to be the first here to get to eleven? ;) :p

Nearly to my fourth jewel! *green*

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

Thank yee Saphy, woo I love glitter!
Seems like you just got to it ;) .

Well, I've been away for a few days & I have to respond to Lalwende & H-I for their kind words - particularly to the Fair Lalwende for making me get off my backside & post something today, which got me a bit more rep:) - i'm looking for a bigger place in which to keep it all;)

Of course, if the aforesaid Lalwende hadn't pestered me to post I'd probably have continued to daydream & done nothing & that would have given others more chance of catching up ....

So, if you want to blame anybody for me being so far ahead you can all give her a load of negative rep - & serve her right... :p

(She dared me to do that, so I did..she doesn't scare me!)

But if you do that then davem gets the spiders (or worse) and he'll run for the hills...

I do scare him, because I have my little arachnid friends...they got away when he went to stomp on them, and I feed them off all those rep points he thinks he's kept hidden secretly away. He really ought to find a bigger place because I've found them. :p

You're welcome. :D Glad you like the glitter.

So I did! *pokes the jewel* Thank you, person-whom-I-shall-not-name! :D

Lal, could I borrow one of those spiders? Shelob is getting very lonely...

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

Actually they're the fake poisoned ones - they'll kill all your spiders so NERRRR!

Good job I kept one back then, because it's going in your shoe... :p Oh, you meant rep points, didn't you? Hang on, fake poisoned rep points? :eek: Imagine the levels of rep sickness there could be...

I'm going to get done again now for going off topic because of you.

So you should be. This is supposed to be a serious discussions board:p

I should explain to everyone that Lalwende & I know each other, & that all the interesting stuff in her posts has been stolen off me & posted as her own work, & she doesn't deserve any rep points at all.

Hmmm. . .I thought I was the only one doing that. . .

Libel!

So, davem, what you are owning up to is that you gave me all my ideas about ninja biscuits and experiments involving custard and Rentaghost and stuff? Careful now, you will get another reputation you didn't ask for... ;)

And you never told me you were a civil servant, as seen here.

Now, now, now, I thought members of Aragorn's court were able to conduct themselves civilly? Are you sure you two aren't supposed to be on the negative side? "The fool of a Took," rep header, thingy? :p

Exactly, Boromir. Some of us, those-who-have-not-yet-ascended-to-the-pinnacle-that-is-Aragorn's-court, seem to act more mature than the courtiers at times! *gives davem and Lal a Mom Look* Really, you guys have to set a good example for the newbies.

Just kidding. ^_^ ;)

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

hmm... for a modest contribution (you call it bribe? I call it gift of respect!) to my purse (hey, I have to repair my car for my holidays...) I can arrange that... :rolleyes: mwa-ha-ha.

I reckon I'll loose my second in givers, though...

But, if you noticed, we are engaged in outright chatting.

Let us bring in some speculations (well, no data, just guesswork), but let it be on topic:

I don't remember it for sure, but I suppose Pilgrim's Progress up to now went along the following pattern:

10 points - 1 square
50 points - 1 square (different title)
100 points - 2 squares
200 points - 3 squares
300 points - 4 squares
400 points - 5 squares
500 points - 6 squares
700 points - 7 squares
900 points - 8 squares

Assuming that my previous 'spied upon' data is more or less true, and assuming that my speculations are based on sound reasoning, I may utter a guess as to what will follow:

1200 points - 9 squares
1500 points - 10 squares
2000 points - 11 squares

Having our leader past 900 points in 10 months since the introduction of the system, and allowing for holidays and mysterious dissapearences off the board for a while due to requirements of Real Life and other chances, I guess that somebody will get to 2000 points by next Christmas. During another year thence, the main bulk of the rest of us will get there two.

So, by Christmas 2006 everybody who is an actively posting member now (assuming they won't fall off posting) will have 2000 reputation points (gosh!)

What happens than? :D

cheers

The system collapses and we all get lost in the impending darkness...

Maybe.

But anyway, this reputation system has entered my dreams. Last night I had a wonderful dream that I received hundreds of approving comments for one particular caption. (It must have been pretty damn funny.) It pushed me up to third place in the reputation list.

Alas, even in my dreams there are some people I cannot beat. I am considering making accusations of dream-manipulation against a certain two people. Well, I think they may be clever enough...

:eek: Eomer, I had a similar dream a couple weeks ago - except it was an RPG post instead. And it wasn't hundreds, just a lot. Enough to make me very very happy. :D Someone here must be maniuplating dreams...

Maybe it's the spiders.

Now I'm just starting to get creeped out. Anyway, there's another thing that will fall under Lal's "Barrowdown's products." Ok, who bought the dream-manipulater simulater?

Well, if you're thinking of who I'm thinking of, he does have particular dark powers you know. :eek: But he won't be having anything to do with spiders; that's my job... ;)

Maybe the rep system will be like the universe? It can only expand so far before it all collapses again, and then it will grow again and so on. Maybe there are even wormholes in it? Maybe we could get rep points for future posts we don't even know we have written? Or rep systems could collapse in upon themselves causing Green Holes? What's that noise? It's just the men in white coats coming for me again...

You're going to have everyone thinking we have secrets......I mean, if i told them you like to walk around the house barefoot, what would they think then?

Um...they would assume I am a Hobbit? ;)

Or that I'm treading gently so as not to trample on your rep points? :p

It was a 'little' secret - bet they couldn't begin to guess what I could tell them about you :p

You're chatting again... :p

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

She is, isn't she? But that's Lalwende for you. i personally think its appalling! I'm going to give her a load of negative rep right now for turning this board into a chat room. I'd never do anything like that:p

to much fuss about it, I reckon...
 

If folks start dreaming about it, it's time to close the whole shady shop and give the goods away free :rolleyes:

Should we wait for 2000 limit?

Whatever the outcome, its only certain amount of squares beneath one's screenname. I won't stop loving So-and-So, even if he has [only?] 2 jewels, and if I'm not happy with somebody, eleven jewels won't help them win my respect.

'tis only a game, ladies and gentlemen, don't forget it. After all, we already came to the conclusion (I suppose, as beneath the layers of baby-talk of this thread lodes of thought are at times found) the system can not be objective (look at Squatter, per instance - the moment he stopped posting on regular basis, he rolled down the scale in reputations. Does it mean his thoughts now are of less value than they were before? I suppose, on the contrary - they are dearer as come by rarer!)

Should we care about it that much? It is very pleasing to get approval, graciously expressed in words and supported by statistical points, numbers and titles, but the point of the forum is sharing thoughts, not statistics. For honesty's sake, I do like getting reputation points, it tickles my vanity, but when push comes to shove, it's discussion and thence truth what matters, not points one gets for putting words around it.

And final grave note - If I were on the top, I would not dare to post this for the fear of being thought of as hypocrite, but I'm not on the top, and it has it's advantages - freedom! See how davem has only one spot to fool around - this very thread. On the discussion fora he has to live up to his repute ;). My very fear I just confessed of is a bad sign - One Rating To Rule Them All, One Tournament To Bind Them - do we really need that?

cheers

PS Now I've reread the post it sounds a bit dreary - the thing 'old cranky windbag' would say, to use the term Kalessin were fond of. Situation is not that bad, really, I just wanted to warn us all (myself included) against 'losing sight of the basics', to use term by Child of the Seventh Age this time

cheers :D

I agree with Heren. I've got to admit... getting a new little green box made my ego purr like a kitten this morning. Many thanks to everyone who appreciates at least a little of what I say.

It's funny how little I appreciate others' reputations though. Well... allow me to rephrase: the reputation system here reflects real life for me. In RL, I don't care what anybody says about anybody else. I appreciate everybody until they give me reason not to, regardless of what other people have said. Same here: I might see eight boxes, or I might see one, but if I don't like what you're saying, chances are, I'll gloss over your post in favour of the one below it. I prefer direct references; if somebody actually says "Hey Fea, you should read this post." I'll go and read it, but if it otherwise doesn't look interesting, I won't click it just because of who started the thread.

Fea

H-I,

Thank you. You have said much that I bit my own tongue over. I essentially took time off from giving reps because repping had become too much the in-thing to do.

Well-said.

To be honest, I hope I wear my rep lightly - mostly because even if I am in top position at the moment (currently at 984 points if anyone is interested) I certainly don't consider myself to be the best or most interesting poster on these boards - not by a long way.

Not to embarrass anyone who's currently around I have to say if anything I had posted was up to the standard of our much missed Squatterfor instance I would maybe feel my rep was deserved.

This is not to say that I'm not incredibly grateful for the rep I have been given - I am, & the real value it has for me is the indication of respect from other Downer's that it shows.

Dave, my previous was not directed at you at all, Eru forbid :) It was kind of, um, general lathspelling sort of forecast

I haven't stopped repping on that ground - to an extent I have given too much of it in the last 24 hours and have to try later. But the point is, what is it I rep for? - some post pleased me, one, and in return I want to please author of the post, two. What I wanted to stress upon is that to be pleased and to please are things good, but not the end in itself. One has to hold one's priorities firmly - it is repute for writing still, but let us be wary lest it becomes writing for repute soon, if you follow my meaning, kind sirs :)

On the other hand, perhaps I'm just a bit moody this evening, and nothing more...

cheers :D

Ah! It is just as I warned my English teacher. I told him that the purest way to write was to write what you feel, and to write only for yourself... he said to heck with purity and that I could write to please myself all I wanted, but if it didn't please him, he was going to fail me. He is rather liberal with the non-high grading. What I've had to do is learn to write what I want while still catering to his moods, and that is just no fun at all. ;)

So my highschool English class is rather like this reputation system... if I don't write what pleases you, you can all officially fail me. :D

Fea

I just write what I like to be honest - hence the slightly eccentric nature of my posts, one day thinking up mad ideas about the breaking of light and the next things to do with custard. Luckily, other Downers seem to appreciate my mad mind, and I have to be honest and say I like to get rep because it makes me feel, well, not quite so barmy as the rest of the world seems to think I am. :) But yes, always write what you feel/think; this is not a competition and free exchange of mad ideas is what makes this a great forum.

Oh, God, don't worry - I didn't take it badly. I do feel a bit undeserving of all the points. Mostly I just write whatever pops into my head at the time, so I feel a guilty about all the praise I get, that's all. I don;t think I've ever posted something in the hopes of getting any rep - though as we all know it is nice to be appreciated. Lalwende has just suggested (jokingly, I think!) that at 1000 points you should have to start again from scratch & I must admit the idea sort of appeals, if only to see if I could do it again. Maybe I'll re-register under a different name & see how far I get......

Heavens, Lal, your posts are eccentric? I never noticed. :eek: ;)

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

It was too narrow a criterion, come to think of it. It happens (quite often) I do not merely 'approve of' of something as peer the author, but am awestruck and admire the post I rate as something better than what I myself would have been able of contriving, as an admirer (or worshipper not in direct, but in a good sense of that word).

Both attitudes are lawful, I suppose, but the latter helps to uproot one's arrogance - not a critic, but an appreciative reader.

The whole alarm system went off the instant I caught myself on two things - growing tendency of rating 'like peer' and instances of logging on to the fora with the purpose of checking if I've been rated lately, not with the purpose of checking what wonderfully new ideas were posted on the threads I'm interested in, and I grew afraid. So the whole rant above was for more or less my own sake, to bring my own self to sense, and carry those of you back who may have been in danger of catching the same malady

And it is funny how my 'alarm rant' is gaining me repute :rolleyes: Not that I'm not pleased, but hence I'll try not to forget, and will remind myself now and again that the pleasure of approval is the secondary issue here, and the knowledge of truth (whatever that means) is what matters more.

The whole situation of having the posts debunking the system approved of by the system helps to clarify the issue - my most rated posts are precisely those in contriving which even the shade of thought about reputation haven't crossed my mind. And I suppose it follows the general pattern of all human activities. Can't help remembering C.S.Lewis here. My apologies for crumpled quote, I'm not sure it is exact, but it was something like:

I hope I haven't mutiliated the quote beyond recognition. It really seems governing imperative for all things transient.

Or let us (or me, in the first place), remember that Gloria mundi always tends to transit. What will be the sic in the process, is of no significant consequence

Thanks for the wake-up call...and just in time, too!

But I've been thinking about the initial query...what happens to the rep system when we're all "welcome at Aragorn's court," or maybe in the very presence of Eru himself? Maybe before that happens we would all relive the times when there was no reputation system - telling what we think of others' posts right in the forum and seeking to have meaningful discussions, not rep harvests - and the reps would be more of a luxury than an indulgence.

I don't have anything against the system, though. It's a great way to know you're appreciated. :)

'Ever does the system seek to corrupt the hearts of men, who above all else desire rep'

To the point, and funny at that. Thanks, ivo, good laugh is what I, at least, really needed - as I've started to look at the whole issue a bit too gravely. And welcome to the Downs, too, where you'll see that many trivial things become cornerstones of prolix discourses and moral clashes and things similar ;)

Neither do I. And of course, it is. I do against myself, though, as soon as I start to value rating more than thing rated :)

I wonder how that will look as a siggie... :)

Very well said, by the way.

I feel quite lucky in my current situation in that I am repped frequently enough to maintain confidence but am so far behind the leaders that it would be pointless to get competitive. As such I would say that I was greatly touched by the anonymous person who although their rep carried no points took the trouble to leave a kind comment. It really is the thought that counts sometimes .... ho ho ho.. Also it was reassuring..... I would say, that it is time to worry if your rep comes exclusively from your "friends" - even if one does not consciously "pay back" there may be at least a subconscious tendency to notice and rep those who have repped us. Therefore to attract the favour of an unbiased new corpse may be as much as a compliment as to receive a bucket of points from one of the mighty dead of the downs.....

Well, my good friend H-I has pushed me through the 'impossible' barrier, & I now stand, guilty & undeserving, at 1003points!

As you may see nothing spectacular has happened to me as a result:(

Nothing, davem, except that you are now deserving of a place at Elrond's Council.

Let me be the first to congratulate you on receiving the nifty new label. Nice work.

EDIT: You know... If I've got the wisdom of Gandalf, and Gandalf was seated in a nice important place at the Council of Elrond, than surely that means that I'm on the same level as davem. Go me! ;)

Fea