Reputation System Discontinued for now

[the phantom]

1.019692716

I was pretty even. Go me.

So, why the difference between males and females?

Maybe we have, by pure chance, a handful of rep-hoarders who just happen to be primarily male and a handful of rep-gushers who just happen to be primarily female.

But no one likes to hear that kind of explanation for data. It takes the fun out of it.

Okay, so a different explanation... Maybe the women just click on more threads than we guys do, and read more of the posts than us. I don't know about the rest of you gentlemen, but I generally skim new thread titles, and only click it if it grabs my attention. Then I read the first post, and I continue reading the thread only if the first post gets me interested. If the discussion stops entertaining me, then I'll stop reading right there.

If I make it to the end of the thread, then chances are I'm interested enough in the topic to have an opinion of my own, and so I post. (this isn't always the case, but generally)

And once you post in a thread, you keep up with it. Every time you hop onto the Downs, you make a point of checking the threads you're actively posting on. So, that essentially means that the only threads that exist are the ones you post on. And if that is the case, you will only give rep to people posting on those few threads. But they will be repping you as well, so the rep balances. But a rep surplus can be achieved by receiving rep from outsiders- members who aren't really involved in the back-and-forth on the thread, but who read it just the same.

Now, I have no scientific evidence for this, but it seems to me that a lady is more likely than a gentleman to read through every thread at least once. It's sort of like my group of friends and our relationship with restaurants. The girls are always suggesting places we haven't been before, or places that have recently opened. The guys, on the other hand, are more than happy to go the same familiar and comfortable place every week.

I've said all that to say this....

The male-female difference might just be a coincidence.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by the phantom

1.019692716

I was pretty even. Go me.

Go you, as you are better than the typical male (but we knew that ). But note that I based my analysis on the number of reps given/reps received, and not the points, so your number is 0.940366972. The male average is 0.89730108; female 1.048323817.

So, why the difference between males and females?

I still think that it's biological. My mother fills my childrens' pocketses with candy as I try to hustle them out her door while my stepfather complains that she shouldn't be giving the kids so many sweets.

My wife would paper our walls with every sheet of paper with any scribble of our children where I would keep just those things that are very special.

Dunno. As always, just asking questions.

[Finduilas]

Originally Posted by alatar

I still think that it's biological. My mother fills my childrens' pocketses with candy as I try to hustle them out her door while my stepfather complains that she shouldn't be giving the kids so many sweets.

My wife would paper our walls with every sheet of paper with any scribble of our children where I would keep just those things that are very special.

Dunno. As always, just asking questions.

Sounds like you are accusing us of being irrational.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Finduilas

Sounds like you are accusing us of being irrational.

Not sure what you mean, and regardless would not use the word 'accuse' as that assumes that (1) I have definitive proof (and even the Phantom hasn't clearly spoken on this one) and (2) there's some insult intended, which clearly (as least to me) I would never intend.

Assuming that we're not discussing values such as pi (infinite and nonrecurring), persons presumably act in a predictable fashion; is that irrational?

Maybe there's something to it; maybe not.

[Finduilas]

Oh dear. I believe you took it entirely different than I meant it. I will explain later though, because I must go work on dinner now. Just be sure I didn't take anything you said as an insult.

Be back later,
Finduilas

[Rikae]

It makes sense to me. I seem to recall seeing some reasearch about the way women and men differ in social behavior which claimed women were more likely to give (and look for) positive feedback. Apparently it's important in female friendships, but not so much in male - so I assume this is a similar phenomenon. The women are trying to bond and make others feel good, while the men - to put it bluntly - don't particularly care.

[Finduilas]

Alright. Let's see if I can do this.

With the examples you gave of your wife, and the fact that females have been giving out the most reps, it sounded as though, permit me to use the word again for want of an immediate better word, you accused women of exuberance. I meant irrational in a way as though we didn't know when enough was enough.

I don't know if I properly explained myself, but if I insulted or angered anyone, I most certainly didn't mean to, and if my explaination didn't make sense, than I probably just proved myself irrational.

[Lalaith]

But note that I based my analysis on the number of reps given/reps received, and not the points,

Ah, yes, that was worrying me, I´m glad you did it that way.
For example, I have a pretty good give and take record (229/222) but because those who repped me had more points to give than I did, I came out on the original list looking a very mingy, masculine 0.83...while using number of reps rather than points gives me an only-slightly-more-stingy-than-average female score of 1.03.
So, alatar, given that you had to do all these divisions for all of us..(gulp)...how long did this take you?