Ratings, Reputation, and Jail

Some new features have been deployed to get a better handle on internal member relations and member status.

In the near future a member's status and extra privileges (certain features and moderators) will be determined by a number of options. Some of those options have already been activated and are explained below.

They are:

• Thread Ratings

• Infractions and Jail time

• Reputation points

 

Thread Ratings

One of the features that will be used to determine a member's status will be thread ratings. At the top of every thread there is an option called "Rate Thread" where you can rate a thread:

Excellent
Good
Average
Bad
Terrible

It takes three members to rate a thread before stars are displayed.

* Any member gaming the system by rating threads under multiple handles, etc., will receive negative reputation points from the admin or moderators.

 

Infractions and Jail time

Infractions may be giving by the admin or moderators to registered members who break the rules or disrupt the forum. Infractions give points to members that will determine a member's status. Points are given based on severity.

1 Point = warning (10 days)
2 Points = jail (typically 10 days)
3 Points = banned (typically 10 days or permanent)

Infractions/points may be given for:

Inappropriate language
Insulting Other members
Signature violations
Spammed Advertisements

A member who is jailed will be restricted to posting in the Internal Affairs section for the length of their jail term. Jail bars will appear on their avatar and their membership status will display "Jailed." Jailed members cannot hide their online status.

Once their jail term expires they will be automatically transferred back to their former status.

 

Reputation

What is reputation?

Rep, is short for Reputation. Members can give rep, both negative and positive, to any other forum member. You start with 10 reputation points, and can gain or lose them based on what others think of your posts. You can also give or take points away from other members. You can leave 3 reps every 24 hours and cannot give it to the same member more than once without spreading it to about 21 others first.

What's the point of it?

This system was designed to reward users for good posts/threads they make. This way they have an incentive to make good posts rather than spamming up the boards. It will also be used to determine a member's status and privileges.

How do I give +/- reputation?

To give rep to another forum user, click the scale icon under the user's avatar to whom you would like to give rep to. () A menu will come up and you can choose whether or not you Approve or Disapprove of the post/thread. If you select Approve then you are giving the user + rep. If you select Disapprove then you're giving - rep or taking away from that person's reputation. How many points you can give or take away is determined by the "Rep Power" displayed in your profile.

What are those green, red, and blue boxes?

When you start off in the forums, you start with 10 points and a dark green box. Once you reach 100 points, you will gain another dark green box. Once you reach 200 points, you will obtain a third box and so forth up to 400 points. Once you reach 500 points, you gain a light green box. Every 100 points after that, you will gain another light green box until 1000.

If someone gives you negative reputation your reputation will drop. If you reach a reputation of -1 point, then you will get a red box in replacement of your green box. This box basically shows that people might not like your opinions, how you post, etc.

Blue boxes are + or - reputation attempts that failed. They failed because the member handing out reputation has no more reputation points in the "bank" to give out, so handing out further reputation results in no increase or decrease in rep, hence the blue box. This can also happen when a person does not meet the requirements to hand out rep--that is to say, if a member does not meet or exceed a certain level of reputation or number of posts, s/he is unable to affect someone else's reputation level.

Box Values

- 100 points
- 500 points
- -1 or less points
- 0 points

What determines how much rep I give to other users?

Based on your join date, number of posts you have, the amount of reputation you give out (+/-), and the amount of reputation you have; the amount of reputation you give out can vary. There is no exact formula for this, but think of it like this. The later the join date, the more posts you have, the more reputation you give out and the more reputation you have will make you give out more reputation. Also, the amount of + reputation you give out is double of how much - reputation you give out. For example:

If I have a rep power of 10:

I give out 10 points when I give someone + reputation.
I give out 5 points when I give someone - reputation.

.5 is rounded up. So a rep power of 1 will give out + and - reputation of 1 point.

How can I check how much reputation I have?

Go to your User CP by clicking on the User CP button at the top left hand side of every page on the forums. Scroll down and you can see under Latest Reputation Received how much rep you have and what post you got it for.

Why can't I see who gave me rep?

It is simply because it would result in retaliation and turn this forum into a very angry place. When people are given neg rep, they tend to get angry and want to fight back in some way. This could result in threats, threads getting out of hand with arguments, and useless bickering, which would basically result in warning points, bans, and other bad things.

How do I decide whether to give +/- reputation?

Positive reputation is usually given for being helpful, funny or making truthful and poignant posts. Negative rep is often given for making uninformed and/or arrogant posts, along with needless spam or flaming. Ideally, rep should not be given for simple disagreements, but you do have the power to leave rep for any post you like. Soliciting reputation from other members is a warnable offense.

Why are people saying my rep doesn't count?

You may be wondering if you are new to the forums, why people are saying "The rep you gave me didn't count" or "You just gave me a grey box". This is because you don't have enough reputation to be eligible to give out reputation to other users. In order for the reputation you give out to count you must have 10 points and 50 forum posts.

Negative Reputation

How to avoid getting negative reputation:

- Don't spam.
- Don't be arrogant or rude in your posts.
- Don't give "-" reputation for reasons not relating to the post.
- Don't ask for rep.

What do I do if someone is trying to sabotage my reputation?

If someone is attempting to mess up your reputation by getting more than one person to neg rep you or if someone leaves a comment in your reputation that is offensive, vulgar, racist, etc., then make sure you contact a moderator or administrator.

* Parameters that may affect reputation points and Rep Power may be adjusted from time to time.

 

Rep Power is how many points you can give someone towards their reputation. If you have a Rep Power of 5 then you can give someone 5 positive reputation points or 2.5 negative ones.

Under Rep Power a green square is displayed for every 100 positive reputation points. If your reputation is negative then a red square is displayed. Zero points will display a dark blue square.

 

Yes, everyone starts out with 10. Once you're given points by another member you'll be able to see your total points in your user profile along with links to the posts they rated you on - but you will not be able to see who gave you the positive or negative points.

 

I checked and it showed that you gave +1 point of rep to ****** (name withheld) at 02:00 on Nov. 22nd with the comment "Good for you!!"

 

You're only allowed to give 3 every 24 hours. Do you know what date(s) this happened and the error that you received? If this happens again can you take a screen shot? (Using the print screen or shift-print screen buttons on your keyboard)

 

If it happens again try logging out and back in to see if that corrects the problem.

 

This is more what I had in mind ...

 

This pretty much explains it:

Based on your join date, number of posts you have, the amount of reputation you give out (+/-), and the amount of reputation you have; the amount of reputation you give out can vary. There is no exact formula for this, but think of it like this. The earlier the join date, the more posts you have, the more reputation you give out, and the total reputation you have, will allow you to give out more reputation. Also, the amount of + reputation you give out is double of how much - reputation you give out. For example:

If I have a rep power of 10:

I give out 10 points when I give someone + reputation.
I give out 5 points when I give someone - reputation.

.5 is rounded up. So a rep power of 1 will give out + and - reputation of 1 point.