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Old 2009.06.08, 05:45 PM   #14
Glathannus
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Originally Posted by ShinjiPG View Post
If I click on the rep button on a Ringo~Bingo post, it says "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Bingo again". But if I click on, for example, justriingo's rep button, it only gives me one option and that is to Approve the comment, even tho I never gave her any positive or negative rep (ever). And this applies for every other user.
It's not like you can Disapprove some people, while others can only be Approved. You may only Disapprove anyone you could also Approve (if you currently have the Disapprove option at all), and this is assuming you haven't already touched their Reputation too recently.

Originally Posted by ShinjiPG View Post
Orenji said he only (ever) received one negative reputation, so that makes me wonder if receiving one negative reputation is enough to not be able to give it to other people. But that wouldn't make any sense.
Unless negative Reputation can get you into the red (you'd have to be a very consistent jackass), the amount of negative Reputation you have received, doesn't mandate whether you can or can't Disapprove. If and when the system cares about your Reputation at all, the system only cares about your total score - not how much of your score specifically originates from Disapprovals.

Originally Posted by ShinjiPG View Post
The way I see it, the current system is so perfect or so random that I can't possibly guess how it works or it can make me feel that "some users can, and some users can't".
It's near-perfect in a way that's meant to trick people into thinking it's random if they try to profile it too much.

Originally Posted by ShinjiPG View Post
I also feel that if I need to spread enough positive rep around before I can give negative rep again, I'll be forced to either bear with posts that get on my nerves or simply put the poster in the ignore list.
When you don't have to spread Reputation around, I gain too much of it. Other people should be acknowledged too. I'm sure if you really looked around, you could find posts you like from at least a dozen different people.

Originally Posted by ShinjiPG View Post
And more importantly, if people don't understand how the system works, how can they understand the numbers? If I don't understand that "+" means sum, what value or significance can "1+1=2" have to me, other than formal?
If you have 4 Rep Power, you will boost someone else's Reputation by 4 points with an Approval, and -2 points with a Disapproval. When someone has at least 100 Reputation Points (this is separate from whatever their Rep Power might be), they get another green dot.

Additional green dots are an acknowledgment of respect more than anything else, but anything contributing toward any of your green dots (primary or additional) can loosely influence your Rep Power, as well as play a role (but not the role) in unlocking additional forum features for you. Different people get the same features (like Disapprovals) auto-unlocked by the system for different/alternate criteria, as you might be able to notice from the wide variety of people asking "Woah, how the hell did this happen?" when they find themselves with more privileges than they had before.

So yes, Reputation is more important than as just an e-penis, but at the same time it doesn't make or break anyone's privileges in this community. Reputation is a possible influence - it is not the influence, and neither are postcount or jointime. There is no one criteria where it's like if you don't have any of it, you won't get anywhere in this community.

Similarly there is no one criteria where if that's all you have, then nothing else matters. Yes, I'm talking about Reputation, and yes, I'm also talking about postcount. You can be an old member who posts a lot, or you can be an old member with a lot of Reputation, or you could be an old member with medium amounts of both. But if all you are is an old member with no posts and no Reputation, you won't get anywhere. If all you are is a new member with lots of posts and no Reputation, you won't get anywhere. If you are a new member with postcount and Reputation, you might get somewhere. Nothing is based purely in postcount, nothing is based purely on Reputation, nothing is based purely on jointime, and nothing mandates that you have to have all three - though admittedly I don't see how you could gain any Reputation without having at least one post.

Originally Posted by ShinjiPG View Post
To me, the increasing (or decreasing) numbers known as "postcount" or "rep power" only serve the purpose of promoting differences of status and keeping a record of who is the "most reliable", for future reference. And even then, it may not work, because I can make the rep power grow super-fast (as has been proven by at least two members) and then act like a total jerk and no one will be able to neg rep me because they first need to "spread the Reputation around".
No, you can't. How much of your Rep Power do you really think you've gained from postcount alone? Trust me, most of the high-postcount people with high Rep Power are getting their Rep Power mainly from being rep'd more often than people who post less often (because sooner or later you will see something you like from the person with the highest postcount). How long you've been a member for, also has an impact on your Rep Power, and there's no way to speed that part up.

It should also be noted that "Rep Power" can never unlock anything for you. It's a reflection of other criteria you have met, and this other criteria could be simultaneously responsible for your privileges in this community at a sometimes-correlating rate. You could be gaining new privileges at the same rate you gain "Rep Power" but that is a coincidence. The system never measures your worth according to "Rep Power". Someone could actually be valuable member of the community with only 1 or 2 Rep Power, and still get additional features unlocked (like Disapprovals). Nothing can ever be based on "Rep Power" itself except the amount you shift someone else's Reputation when you do an Approval or a Disapproval. Ask any admin of any other vBulletin community.

Originally Posted by ShinjiPG View Post
PS - And hey, even now, my rep changed from 5 to 4. This is completely random, I love it <3
Originally Posted by ShinjiPG View Post
Ok, I understand that, really.
But I, for one, wasn't informed of that matter, so the numbers I see are completely random and of little value.
That's simply a recent change in requirements for how much jointime/reputation/postcount it takes to attain Rep Power - a judgment call based on the current size of our community. There is nothing personal or random about it. It's best you not know how much jointime/reputation/postcount equals how much Rep Power, except that borderline spamming will not get you very far if the Rep Power you lose from Disapprovals is greater than the Rep Power you gain from posting.

Is that the answer you wanted? Because that's about as honest as I can be without disclosing the actual numbers.
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