Reputations

[Mithalwen]

Woo-hoo!

The cardinals are still voting in their conclave and the UK is blissfully MP-free but no such power-vacuum exists at the Barrow Downs. We have a new leader - with a modest number of posts but clearly and deservedly well received Lalwende is the Downer with the highest reputation!!!! Laughter in the higher echelons of the barrow - superb .......

(And maybe davem will just have to get used to her having the upper hand )

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

(And maybe davem will just have to get used to her having the upper hand )

I spoke too soon methinks.. clearly there is a fine balance of power!

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

I spoke too soon methinks.. clearly there is a fine balance of power!

It certainly beats arguing over the remote control, anyway! Or the ironing.

But about getting a negative rep and it being 'signed' with a false name - surely if you got one you might want to PM the supposed giver and ask about it, especially if they were someone well-known? If so, then the culprit might soon be found out, as no doubt it would end up going to a mod or to The Barrow-Wight who must be able to trace such things?

[Boromir88]

I know that most of my reps come from the real deal Downers, because they have cute personal references and such, but how can you really tell?

Good question Fea, I think most downers do use some sort of stamp, or repeated sign to sort of show that that is them. For instance I use the §, thingy's....the one's I've gotten from Eomer says "sincerely," and others always use abbreviations. So if it's something that's sort of a way to tell if that's the real person or not, but of course it's not concrete.

Originally posted by Mith: I finally cracked and gave a negative rep for a post I felt was quite malicious. But I signed it...

Good girl.

Not that I mind bad reps. It's quite interesting to get them, because they became so rare. And a difference has to be made, or else we'd all be heading for the Straight Road sooner or later, and what would be the fun in that?

I see where you are coming from Evisse, and it's quite sad people don't have the "guts" to put down their name. But I would have to disagree with you on this, I am not one who likes to see bad reps, I find it troubling to give one, but the ones that I do give, I assure there is no remorse in it. Eventhough if we would all be heading for the "straight road," I don't see a reason for people to hand out more bad reps, I think blatent personal attacks against others, or a disobeyal of forum rules are just grounds for bad reputations, maybe just being ignorant...on top of some other bad qualities. Instead of giving more bad reps, I think we shouldn't be so "rep happy" anymore, and to rep them post that are absolutely fantastic/thoughtful/insightful. Or ones on the lighter side that just gets you to crack up laughing you choke on your tea and crumpets (or muffins whatever you prefer). I mean laughter is the biggest easer of stress, and I think should warrant a good reputation if someone gets you to bust up laughing.

[THE Ka]

This is just to bring once again to the attention a problem that has been brought many times since the rep system was made, but never, to my knowledge has it been eradicated: that of NOT signing negative reps. No one hesitates to sign positive reps, but most negative reps are left anonymous.

Ehk, I absolutely detest that... Especially when people make it a habit, or have special way of compiling information into a rep that gives it an obvious mark. I just feel like I wish I could track them down and say: " Look! If you're trying to be 'mysterious' add some variety! Don't be a square... "

But, there are sometimes when I find that after giving a positive comment, I forget my name... or, my personal mark of ~ ( incert mood or ideal here) Ka. Hopefully the person is able to tell. Sorry for those times, I was being a buckethead.

As for identity-theft used on reps... Identity-theft is for pickeled herring-bellied cowards... and for ANYONE with such a notion, THE Ka will track you down and eat you... Because fish are tasty twice boiled...

~ memorative Ka

[The Barrow-Wight]

Over the last 90 days....

New posts written: 14,449
Positive reputations given: 3446 (98.7%)
Negative Reputations given: 48 (1.3%)

This is a fantastic statistic! It shows that only a tiny fraction of what is written on the Downs is considered substandard by the community at large, and it is proof that our members can govern themselves into continued excellence. The reputation system is not responsible for our excellence, of course, but it is another testament to it.

However....

Negative reputations without signature: 25 (53%!!!!)
Negative reputations without comment: 6 (13%!!!!)

These numbers are terrible. Even though they represent only a miniscule amount of the total reps given, they are entirely unacceptable, more so in that several had values higher than -1, which means they weren't given by new members.

There is nothing wrong with giving a negative reputation as long as it has a valid, constructive comment and a clear, uncoded indication of who wrote it. If it's not worth signing, it's not worth writing.

[alatar]

Just wanted to note that the 'best' rep that I have received was exactly two characters in length - "OK". Probably thought more about that one rep than any of the others that I'd received. It was positive, so the sender wasn't saying "okay - enough already!" but was he/she agreeing with me, or was it something deeper...

And I wish that I could get rep points at work - it would definitely make me more productive.

[Mithalwen]

Very interesting stats. I assume that the no comments are in addition to the no sigs? IE that only 34% of neg rep is a signed comment?


** BW's answer **
Actually, the blanks are part of the no sigs group, thus 25 total without sigs, of which 6 were blank

[Encaitare]

It's not as though if you sign a negative rep the recipient is going to hate you forever and plot your downfall every time s/he turns on the computer... at least, I hope not.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

Instead of giving more bad reps, I think we shouldn't be so "rep happy" anymore, and to rep them post that are absolutely fantastic/thoughtful/insightful. Or ones on the lighter side that just gets you to crack up laughing you choke on your tea and crumpets (or muffins whatever you prefer). I mean laughter is the biggest easer of stress, and I think should warrant a good reputation if someone gets you to bust up laughing.

I have to disagree with this. I don't think it is a problem it lots of people end up bound for the straight road or even on Taniquetil (which I imagine is as far as it goes...) . While the weight of established downers may speed their passsage, by the time they get there, they should have still got the benefit of the system (you learn what sort of posts are appropriate and have become sufficiently established for your exact status to be less relevant [unless it has sparked a strong competitive streak as with some who shall remain nameless ] ). While I think there mightbe an argument for capping the rep-weight of downers, it smacks of "pulling the ladder up behind you" to change one's criteria for rep because you have more to give.

As someone who benefitted from the encouragement of some high rollers as a newcomer, I will not grudge the points I have to give to those who interest or amuse or provoke thought. I do try to rep a wide range of people though, while there are downers who deserve rep for more or less everything they post, I fegard it as a failure if I get the "spread it around message too often".

As for the anonymous, commentless neg rep - I guess it could be demonstrated by a Venn diagramme ( Barrow Downers who idle as well as cowardly ).

[THE Ka]

Negative reputations without comment: 6 (13%!!!!)

How did they do that?! Fall asleep at the keyboard? Total waste of time if you don't specifically state why that post was not approved... and of course it doesn't make sense at all...


That's sad... <--- proving it again in pixels...


~ Disappointed Ka

[elronds_daughter]

Those are frightening statistics. Though, I must admit, that I have left unsigned positive comments--but only because my pinkie finger has reached over and pushed the "Enter" button on the keyboard before I was finished!

[Mithalwen]

I left unsigned positive rep when I started since I didn't realise it was an anonymous system and assumed the sender would be identified - and sometimes I am just ham-fisted and hit the wrong key. But thereis a world of difference between anonymous positive rep and anonymous neg rep ( unless you are stalking someone of course!!!). It is the difference between the door bell ringing and opening the door to find noone and opening hte door to find a bunch of flowers on the step

[ElementFire]

Originally Posted by THE Ka

How did they do that?! Fall asleep at the keyboard? Total waste of time if you don't specifically state why that post was not approved... and of course it doesn't make sense at all...

I've had those too... *sniffles*
-EF