Is reputation system dying slowly?

[madnav]

@Madnav: Please don't conveniently ignore what you wish and address only those things that you feel like addressing or have a reasonable argument for/against.

My question still stands.

I have addressed most of them in the previous posts when you had made those posts.

I will still try to sum it up.

I have no issue with graying out of reps on the basis of 'activity' of the member on the forum.

I am not in support of expiration however.

as for unfair treatment.

generally, people trust and answer/solution that is precise and comprehensive.

People do not accept something just because it is coming from a reputed member.

If a member makes his 1st post as comprehensive, precise and backed with facts than assumptions then I believe that other members will be sane enough to judge the post on the basis of quality and not on the basis of reputation.

If people are judging on the basis of reputation and not the post quality then one can not expect anything to change in this regard.

Judging on the basis of reputation comes in to play with one liner responses. and I am yet to come across posts where people have suggested anything in one line just to act like they own the world because they have high reps. BUT we have come across many TROLLS who act in this regard.

Credibility and reputation...it all is for recognition. No body is misusing them to avoid posting proper responses when/where required. Really, can you find one post where a reputed member tried to make one liners to win an argument/debate?

If a point is to be conveyed then the correct way has always been to convey it logically and comprehensively...

Just ask yourself if you would trust someone's unjustified one liner opinion just because they are reputed?

If no, then I really do not understand the unfairness point.

Coming to the last point.. of consistency.

Reputation and credibility is universal representation as I understand so far.

Interest of an individual are bound to change over a period of time. A person gets repped when he shares something important, makes effort to educate others and or make thing simpler/understandable for others. It is the efforts and act that gets repped. Most of the information is already out there if we google so it surely is not just the information which is being repped.

A person with changed interest may again take time to gain things about his new interest. Which puts him in an inconsistent period with respect to posting material on he forum. Would you just render him useless because he has no interest in the same stuff anymore? Does he as a person change? (helpful, charitable etc etc)

How can loss of interest translate as 'less credible' ? Unless he is making stupid claims and using his reputation to walk over newbies...I do not see why his credibility would take a negative direction..

Reputation points do not increase on their own..so if he is not active then he is just not getting anymore reps.. at the same time, if just because he is not earning anymore reps should not mean his existing reps shall expire. It makes it very competitive and the whole forum activity starts feeling like a social obligation than a passionate pass-time.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I have no issue with graying out of reps on the basis of 'activity' of the member on the forum.

I am not in support of expiration however.

Graying out of reps after a certain period of time is what I'm saying, and this is nothing but expiration of reps.

You are basing everything on what has been happening (mostly) but you are not taking things which can happen. I never said all those things are happening currently, I'm just saying that those things might happen.

You said the reputation system is there:

1. To acknowledge a member's hard-work

Likes also do the same thing. But then you said :

imagine old reputable members going away for a while due to personal problems and returning back to realize that no one acknowledges their past. The people who knew the member would do but for the rest of the member..he is just another noob know joined a few years ago and never cared to earn any reputation

So, someone suggested rather than the rep bars disappearing completely, they could over time become gray. Thus, satisfying this argument of yours.

2. A high rep count MAY mean that the person is knowledgeable and/or has made efforts to earn those reps over time. This Translates to High rep = High probability of his post being correct.

Like I had said before, rep bars being permanent have a negative effect in this context. And that will be taken care of by the expiring-rep system.

People do not accept something just because it is coming from a reputed member.

Judging on the basis of reputation comes in to play with one liner responses. and I am yet to come across posts where people have suggested anything in one line just to act like they own the world because they have high reps. BUT we have come across many TROLLS who act in this regard.

Then what part does the rep system play? Acknowledgement? Well the like-system also has a similar function.

Would you just render him useless because he has no interest in the same stuff anymore?

If a person does not have reps anymore does that mean he is useless? :S

And anyways like I said reps need not disappear completely.

How can loss of interest translate as 'less credible' ? Unless he is making stupid claims and using his reputation to walk over newbies...I do not see why his credibility would take a negative direction..

Reputation points do not increase on their own..so if he is not active then he is just not getting anymore reps.. at the same time, if just because he is not earning anymore reps should not mean his existing reps shall expire. It makes it very competitive and the whole forum activity starts feeling like a social obligation than a passionate pass-time.

Loss of interest? :S

I had said that if a member has not been active for a long time, there is a probability that his knowledge might not be updated anymore thus making him less credible than before.

Reputation points do not increase but currently do not decrease either. If a person used to be very active and up-to-date regarding technology some time back but isn't so much now, we can say that the 'probability of his post being right', as expressed by his rep bar has fallen comparatively, but his rep bar being static does not take into account that and a non-informed person may take that (i.e his rep) as a measure to determine the probability of his post being right.

Also, like you had recently reported someone who had repped you just because he liked your avatar, reps can also be given on snide remarks etc. etc. and there is no way to ensure this does not happen. This is fine until such a thing is private like-system but once such a thing is public and permanent, issues similar to those I've pointed out emerge. The point is that lets not have something just to show-off, but make sure that it efficient enough to be credible for the things it represents.

 

[madnav]

'probability of his post being right', as expressed by his rep bar has fallen comparatively

I do not think rep bar represents the probability of being right.

nobody needs to put right and wrong to probability. Be rational, logical when you judge. That is why I carefully included MAY in that statement. It meant that the person maybe credible enough to post right information (backed with facts) more than one who is new. But this is not from a POV of judging posts. Alway verify the facts in posts and decide right or wrong if it seems logical.

make rep worthy posts, get reps, feel good, be happy... But in the mean time, why shall someone who has not done this feel jealous and unhappy about the former?

It may be even a show off factor for some but how does that affect one being right or wrong?

I am not going to discriminate someone's post just because the member is not credible. A post which is convincing enough to convey what it intends then it doesn't even matter whether and who posted it...be it person with 1post count.

and about like system, it is kind of intended to filter good content in a thread from the rest.

making it faster to get the summery..

But if people are using Like in place of reps then that is just being lazy.

 

[Mephistopheles]

make rep worthy posts, get reps, feel good, be happy... But in the mean time, why shall someone who has not done this feel jealous and unhappy about the former?

What do you mean by that? Be a bit more careful while posting such dialogue's.

'

nobody needs to put right and wrong to probability. Be rational, logical when you judge. That is why I carefully included MAY in that statement.

I think you do not understand the term 'probability'. By making use of 'may' an event automatically has a probability of happening or not happening.

I am not going to discriminate someone's post just because the member is not credible. A post which is convincing enough to convey what it intends then it doesn't even matter whether and who posted it...be it person with 1post count.

You may not, but someone who does not know what is right or wrong (As he is the person who has asked a question to which he does not know the answer to) won't know which post to act upon.

Also, then what is the function of the rep system?

 

[madnav]

regarding probability.. You can not define it for a random event, human nature being one. Right and wrong are matter of perspective and if people are basing right and wrong upon the rep levels instead of the content being posted then it indirectly makes such people are followers. (if fanbois is not the correct word)

We can not debate upon that, it is simply insane to follow someone just because he has high rep points...as much as it is to ridicule someone just because he has close to zero post count.

Please judge by the content.

as for the jealous part.

It was meant at people who have close to none tech posts and still debating this issue. It is certain that they have not been on the other side of the argument neither can I expect them to be considerate about it. Me being on the other side when i was young to the forum..have been participating in the debate.

I feel ridiculed by admin not taking any initiative to make a stand here in a long running thread/issue. A matter that belongs to feedback section but has been conveniently left in the GT.

Please close the system if it is failing.

Please make a differentiation for the masses to draw a line between what kind of content to rep and what kind to like; that is, if the system is to be in place.

But letting it hang this way is certainly upsetting some members and I would really appreciate if the matter closes in either way.

over and out of the thread.

 

[Crazy_Eddy]

Admins haven't checked the thread and if they have time they have a lot of other pending work first. Their official stand is how the system currently is.

Either way, 9 pages of debating shows there's no consensus.

Barely a few months back there was huge fuss about how the Like system was going to fail.

Now that its found its place, there's a huge fuss about how the rep system is failing.

There's no issue, only a perceived issue. Makes sense to wait a couple of months to see how things are working.

Also its impossible to advise members 'how' to use reps/likes. It should be intuitive.