idea for stopping rep swapping/whoring

[Yojimbo]

I was thinking why not just make the users reps visible to all like users can see in theie own CP. If the rep and comments were visible, then people would be able to see they rep swap/whore to get free meaningless rep that means nothing. The user with the rep would know that and might be shamed into stopping it and giving rep some credibility again. Better than seeing a person's huge rep and not knowing if its really for good posts etc or just from begging/swapping rep.

[Halie Satanus]

A lot of rep amongst modders is given for a release rather than a specific post, especially true of team releases..

Say I wanted to rep the RTR team for TIC, I can find out who's on the team easily but many of them rarely post in public forums and, when they do it may be no more than one or two lines.

[Yojimbo]

A lot of rep amongst modders is given for a release rather than a specific post, especially true of team releases..

Say I wanted to rep the RTR team for TIC, I can find out who's on the team easily but many of them rarely post in public forums and, when they do it may be no more than one or two lines.

I see, but people can tell that sort of rep by the comments, or just rep a post relating to the mod and it would be easy to see that's what the rep is for.

[Viking Prince]

A lot of rep amongst modders is given for a release rather than a specific post, especially true of team releases..

Say I wanted to rep the RTR team for TIC, I can find out who's on the team easily but many of them rarely post in public forums and, when they do it may be no more than one or two lines.

I am not saying that I support Forlornhop3's idea, but how does your comment relate to the idea? Just making the rep log public changes nothing with the way you post rep.

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

There were several proposals to stop rep whoring, all failed. I don't see how this system would stop rep whoring either. Since you don't write your own rep messages, how could you be accounted for them?

Moreover rep messages are meant to be personal, not public.

The only way to stop rep whoring is to actually stop rep whoring and don't give a damn rep to those who ask for rep in their sigs.

[Hunter Makoy]

I was thinking why not just make the users reps visible to all like users can see in theie own CP. If the rep and comments were visible, then people would be able to see they rep swap/whore to get free meaningless rep that means nothing. The user with the rep would know that and might be shamed into stopping it and giving rep some credibility again. Better than seeing a person's huge rep and not knowing if its really for good posts etc or just from begging/swapping rep.

i don't know why this site should bother trying to change anything about something that doesn't affect anything. rep whoring doesn't adversly affect anyone. the amount of rep anyone has doesn't affect them, or anyone else.

there isn't even a legitimat reason to even bother combating rep whoring.

someone with 1000 rep is going to have no more access to this site then someone with 10 rep.

[Augustus Lucifer]

We can't do anything but discourage pointless rep-whoring between different users. Self-repping however is generally not condoned, despite the fact that as a site we have no conclusive policy on it. A user found self-repping recently got -80 rep that he received from his alternate accounts.

[Hunter Makoy]

self repping is a completely different animal then "rep-whoring". self-repping is something that could actually be controled, and is certainly more unethical.

[The Cobra]

Someone please self-rep me.

[Soulghast]

After recent proposals on this same matter failed, I concluded that no change to the rep system is possible to be implemented at this point, without causing an uproar, at least.

I would view rep as a tool to reward other users for contributions, useful posts, etc... I believe that was the original reason the rep system was established as well, though I am not sure.

The current system is far from perfect, and with all the rep-whoring, the abuse, and the "deification" of rep by some members, it has become completely and utterly useless. I do find rep whoring annoying, but then again, I don't really care. I would fully support any proposal to give rep an actual meaning, or even abolish it, but firstly, people need to realize how useless rep really is.

[Yojimbo]

i don't know why this site should bother trying to change anything about something that doesn't affect anything. rep whoring doesn't adversly affect anyone. the amount of rep anyone has doesn't affect them, or anyone else.

there isn't even a legitimat reason to even bother combating rep whoring.

someone with 1000 rep is going to have no more access to this site then someone with 10 rep.

why are you showing your rep then if it doesn't affect you? why not turn it off?

my rep is important to me because it was earned. rep would be a way to help gauge somebodies contributions etc if it wasn't abused. If that cant be done abolish it: its useless. profile comments can be used for telling a user you like something if rep is gone.

Saying rep means nothing because of its current state isn't fair because it orignaly was meant to mean something except for wannabes that want a huge rep to look important took all its meaning away.

At best rep now is a good way to steer new users into make good posts by repping them for good ones. They will know what's expected of them and might be motivated into making more good posts.

[Shaun]

Bloody hell it's only rep. It's meaningless. Does rep whoring really matter?

[The Cobra]

The only time I've felt that rep is irrelevant was after seeing Miraj's rep caravan. that's how I felt rep was "meaningless".

[Yojimbo]

Bloody hell it's only rep. It's meaningless. Does rep whoring really matter?

Look another person that says rep is meaningless but still shows it. Turn it off.

[The Cobra]

The only way to stop rep whoring would be by pulling a notice above your rep menu telling

"You can keep repwhoring for 20 more years, but you'll never be as awesome as this, n00b!"

[Shaun]

Look another person that says rep is meaningless but still shows it. Turn it off.

No point because it's meaningless.

[Yojimbo]

No point because it's meaningless.

uh huh.

[Hunter Makoy]

Someone please self-rep me.

well then that wouldn't be self repping would it? :

why are you showing your rep then if it doesn't affect you? why not turn it off?

i never said it had no affect on me, i said it has no affect on my ability to do anything on this site. its not like you reach a certain rep point and you have more privilages here.

my rep is important to me because it was earned. rep would be a way to help gauge somebodies contributions etc if it wasn't abused. If that cant be done abolish it: its useless. profile comments can be used for telling a user you like something if rep is gone.

rep is used to a limited extent to help gauge whether a user is worthy or passing the CDC for citizenship. but it also holds the least amount of ground compared to the other cirteria.

Saying rep means nothing because of its current state isn't fair because it orignaly was meant to mean something except for wannabes that want a huge rep to look important took all its meaning away.

rep was never ment to mean much more then a way for other users to say "hey great post", or "hey great mod"

At best rep now is a good way to steer new users into make good posts by repping them for good ones. They will know what's expected of them and might be motivated into making more good posts.

your right, it does, and the is the only real reason behind it. nothing has to change for that to be true. its in incentive to post well. rep-whoring has no affect on that.

The only time I've felt that rep is irrelevant was after seeing Miraj's rep caravan. that's how I felt rep was "meaningless".

well when you have over 1000 rep points each individual one does become rather meaningless :laughing:

[Lord Condormanius]

Look another person that says rep is meaningless but still shows it. Turn it off.

Rep is 100% meaningless. Turning it off or on does not change that fact.

Furthermore, while rep-whoring is pointless, I don't see that it is really a big deal. I don't see how it affects anyone. Furthermore, I am pretty sure that rep-whores account for a mere fraction of members. I just don't see how it is so pressing of a concern for the community that we need to figure out how to combat it. It really just seems like a waste of energy that will accomplish next to nothing.

The problem I have with the proposal in the OP is that if rep comments are made public, the commentary will change. People will now feel like they are in the spotlight and may not write something they would ordinarily write if they know that so many more eyes will be on it. I also think it might lead to more "repsulting." I don't have any scientific data to support this, but I think that one of the reasons that people insult others on the board is so that the rest of the community can see the insult. If rep comments were made public, another avenue for this sort of thing would open up.

[Hunter Makoy]

one of the falicies that the OP seems to have is that rep is a sort of competition. anything meaningful about rep soley applies to the individual person. if i were to try to qualitate someone's posting ability based on their rep, i would compare it to their post count, not to someone elses rep. the same thing if rep comes into play for citizenship. if they look at it, they look at it soley as it applies to that person. Someone like Miraj might have a lot of rep, but he is by no means some type of measuring stick for quality output on this site.