forum respect system

[Hayaikawa]

one of the things that truly bugs me about forums is the way respect is given out, it's not how long you've been there, and not how intelligent your posts are, or even really how much you know, but the one thing that people put respect into even if they don't mean to is the post count.

you have people like me that have a rather large post count but the majority of that post count isn't like decent respectable posts, i have something like 700 or so legitimate posts, and the rest is just word games... And the new people will look at the post count of mine and other who have high post counts and compare them to people who have been here longer and more than likely are more experienced and knowledgeable about the fandom than me.

So what I was thinking is that i've seen some other forums use some sort of respect system, where people who constantly make inelegant posts and who know what there talking about and have been there longer rank higher than those who have higher post counts.

Since respect will always be a part of forums I think we should just get it to flow to those who truly deserve it.

[Timberwuff]

So how would this rank system be distributed? Would it be based upon what other users think of your posts? If they think highly of it they may give you a higher "score" and the higher your score the better rank you have. Then again, that system could be used to flame out against other members by purposefully giving members "bad" scores to lower their average.

Or would it just be decided upon mods and staff to say that after you've been here for so long, we decided to give you this rank to represent the upper qualities we think are present in most of your posts?

It's a good idea, but I think it'll be hard to nail down a flawless system.. Even still, what respect people give to members seems to be more based about their experiences of seeing them around on the forums after awhile, and sometimes not their post count.

[Hayaikawa]

well I like the idea of a multi tiered ranking system, having it be able to be manipulated be anyone could pose a problem in the flaming and purposefully getting a higher rank.

Maybe the mods could have something to do with it.
getting their input would be very help full.

I need some thoughts on this, weather or not people would like the change.
this sounds like a job for the poling booth.
*walks of to the poling booth to check peoples opinions*

[Kobuk]

So if I understand correctly, you're thinking of some sort of "karma" system? I've seen this type of system on other forums but am not very experienced with it. So if a person has a good post/thread or is respectable, then they get "good karma" and maybe they get a number that goes up or something. But if they have a bad post or whatever, then their karma goes down, right?
I'll pass your suggestion to the other staff for review.
Also, one reason we keep post counts here at Furtopia is that we need to keep track of how many posts a person has before they can have access to the Adult sections.

[Baako]

I really like this idea

Thumbs up from me

[Hayaikawa]

So if I understand correctly, you're thinking of some sort of "karma" system? I've seen this type of system on other forums but am not very experienced with it. So if a person has a good post/thread or is respectable, then they get "good karma" and maybe they get a number that goes up or something. But if they have a bad post or whatever, then their karma goes down, right?
I'll pass your suggestion to the other staff for review.
Also, one reason we keep post counts here at Furtopia is that we need to keep track of how many posts a person has before they can have access to the Adult sections.

Ya, I suppose it would be alot like a karma system.

And as for the post count thing to get access to the adult forums, since the posts needed is only 50 and the forum system will still be keeping track of the total post count, it shouldnt make any large change to the way these forums work in that respect.

the main post count will just be hidden from the main view and the mods will stilll be able to see it just fine.

[Yip]

So... you mean something along the lines of the system to Board Game Geek.  There, you can give a post a "thumbs up" to indicate you like it.  There are some cases where I could see something like that beneficial, particularly in section such as the artwork section where it could act as a way to say "I like it" without posting a reply.  Sometimes when I make a post, particularly for artwork, I am left wondering if others really like it. 

I do, however, agree with their choice to not allow a thumbs down, as that's pretty much begging to be abused. They also allow you to look at a post's thumbs to see who gave them.  On the one I can see how this could help against misuse of the system (for example, it'll be obvious if you give yourself thumbs), but I'm still not sure about it.

A different take on such a system is comment system on youtube. This allows any comment to be given thumbs up and thumbs down. However, given the large number of...  well... "unintelligent" posts on youtube, I'm not sure that's a good system to look to.

If you are talking about a system where mods rank or something, I'm not sure...  don't they have enough to do already?

So, I'm not really sure what I think about the idea. I think it could be useful depending on how it's implemented and if it's done well, but care would need to be given to make sure it cannot be abused. EDIT: On second though, I don't see any need for such a system.


Oh... and why would you need to hide the post count? I still see that a useful even if different ranking system is employed.

[Furlong]

I'm not really a fan of this idea.  Most members here are mature enough that I don't really see a need for it, although Vararam makes a good point about the artwork section. 

Also, I mentioned this in the polling booth thread about this topic, but if a seniority system is needed, why not simply display a user's join date?   

[Hayaikawa]

I'm not really a fan of this idea.  Most members here are mature enough that I don't really see a need for it, although Vararam makes a good point about the artwork section. 

Also, I mentioned this in the polling booth thread about this topic, but if a seniority system is needed, why not simply display a user's join date?   

the more i think about this the more I think just saying to heck with the respect system and just having the join date be added.

but heck, I'm not sure on this idea anymore.

I got a ton of different viewpoints on this and a lot of good info.

[Arbutus]

The join date was something the old Furtopia used to have before it got hacked. We could see if it's possible to put it back in.

[Prince Karo]

The problem with any reputation/karma system is that people end up making vote trading alliances to boost their score to the top, or to start ganging up on people they don't like.

[Hayaikawa]

one thing alot of people are talking about is, just flaming and hating on other members.

I've never seen any of that happen before cept for the extremely rare time it did.
but even then people had to be pushed really for before it started going both ways.

I dont really see furtopia as a place where much hating can ever happen between people.

[KiyoshiAkita]

The thought of just an add-point selection is entertaining. It seems no hating can come of this. Instead of quoting a person and replying to a post with only a comment like "good point", one could simply click the add-point button. Perhaps some of the more helpful posts, which have been thumbed-up a specified number of times, could stand out against the rest. A thumbs-up icon seems appropriate for this, or, to make it cute, the points could even be considered "wags" using an icon resembling a tail. This seems very appropriate, if just, for the arts sections... but then it seems there must be a scaled system, like 1-5 stars (or paw-prints). It doesn't seem fair to judge art on a "love-it or hate-it" scale. I have often wished there was a star-rating system for the arts.

However, this all seems like so much work involved for what might end up tacky, like a wannabe YouTube-ish feature. Do we need to search posts based on rating? Is the number of replies to a topic not enough to rate its popularity? Is there reason for ranking users based on "likes" enough to warrant such an undertaking? Is it not already obvious who contributes most, speaks (writes) intelligently, or who to ask questions or report problems to?

I understand seniority and number of posts do not necessarily stand for intelligence-factor or level of contribution, but is it really necessary to introduce an open rating system to an already content community. "If it's not broke, don't fix it," might apply here.

I have thought about the user's join-date and think it would be helpful to display this with their display information next to posts.

Blah, I've lost my train of thought. Anyhow, as neat as this would be, it might just be unnecessary.

[Kada-Ru]

The main problem I can see with these types of rating systems is it is mainly by popularity.  We don't really need that on Furtopia I wouldn't think.  *will recheck with staff/mods*

[Wild_Wolf]

well i think im a little late to the party but, im part of a team for gaming and we have a ranking system, so if your active for (blank) amount of days you get a new rank.

we start with recruit and work our way up using military ranks. but a ranking system to me would work, by amount of time active on the forums, but a karma system seems a bit difficult.

[Kobuk]

Hayaikawa: After much staff discussion and voting, I'm afraid a Respect/Karma system will not be implemented on Furtopia. The staff have reviewed all posts in this thread and your other thread here:
http://forums.furtopia.org/index.php/topic,36055.0.html
......and we have decided that this type of system is nothing more than about popularity and could create ill will among members, and such a system could be abused.