User Reputation Manager

[pete]

... is now on. The Admins and Mods have talked about it for awhile.

Here's the essential justification for it being on:

Say that you just casually browse here. How do you know if someone's advice is any good? Well, you could browse all of that person's posts, but that takes time. Why not just look at his Reputation meter? If it's high, chances are the poster is a respected member of the community. If it's low, he's either new (i.e., an unknown quantity) or doesn't give good advice.

Now, I've also mentioned that the WF is currently small enough that I could go through the user list and just set people's titles to things like, "Hoopy Frood" or something like that because I know the experience of some of the folks and the quality of their advice, but this will be more difficult to do as we get more members.

In any event, we're just testing. I'm going to put up a poll so y'all can tell us whether you like it or not. And I'm brave enough to currently show my reputation level :).

[pete]

How to use:

Click on the scales of justice icon (http://www.woodwindforum.com/forums/images/buttons/reputation.gif) and then click the appropriate entry.

Notes:
* Moderators/CEs and Admins can turn off the reputation manager for themselves.
* Admins can set your reputation level to whatever we want.

(Seriously, if you need to ding a Moderator/CE or Admin, you should contact Jim, Ed or me.)

[pete]

... and Merlin, I can skew the polls, too :).

[Carl H.]

Do we need to be honest about how big an idiot we are?:???: Can we even vote on our own reputation?

(At first glance I couldn't figure out what use a user repetition would be.)

[pete]

Do we need to be honest about how big an idiot we are?:???: Can we even vote on our own reputation?

(At first glance I couldn't figure out what use a user repetition would be.)
No, you can't up your own reputation with the scales o' justice. The only ways YOU can change it are:

* Post more. You get a point every 25 posts (at the moment).
* Stick around. You get a point every 100 days (at teh moment).
* Bribe an Admin. You'd be surprised how cheap I am.
* Become a CE/Mod.

[Gandalfe]

To turn on your Rep: USER CP --> Edit Options --> check Rep in second box from the top.

[pete]

Psst! Gandalfe! It's set to ON globally for users. Only Admins/Mods have the other options. I said this in our super-secret private forum.

[tictactux]

Well, actually I missed the CowboyNeal (http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/02/12/1617256&tid=124&tid=11) choice.

[pete]

Well, actually I missed the CowboyNeal (http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/02/12/1617256&tid=124&tid=11) choice.
For the rep manager to have separate selections on "funny", "worthwhile" and "trollish behavior"? Well, those aren't really available in this version of the rep manager -- I also don't really want to have a system that's that difficult: click the button. Good or bad? Leave a comment. That's it. Simple.

Unless I missed your point, in which case I beg forgiveness and ask that you elucidate me.

[tictactux]

Unless I missed your point, in which case I beg forgiveness and ask that you elucidate me.
No, I meant the poll options as such. CowboyNeal is something like a running gag in Slashdot polls. He'll always show up there as an option. And in every poll I'm somewhat prepared to be offered that option. ;-)
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1310897

[pete]

Ah.

The "Pete shouldn't post polls" option is the "Cowboy Neal" option from another forum I visit, suitably modified to have some meaning here.

I have some running gags with various admins and moderators, but I try not to let that seep out onto the general forum. Too much :P. So that might become a new polling option.

[pete]

Back partially on topic, I do request that if you use the User Reputation thingy, please post a comment with your praise/complaint. The Admins/Mods can see these.

[Connical]

Trumpetmaster has turned on this option in the not too distant past. I like it, and the only problem I've seen, is the lack of people using it. You may want to occasionally promote this function until it becomes a commonly used feature. At TM, it has fallen by the way side for the most part.

*************Insert random remarks regarding brass players here*********************************

[pete]

Well, what happened on *ahem* another well known saxophone forum that I'll leave nameless is that when this was turned on for a brief time, people that were getting significant hits to their reputation complained. Loudly. While this was a minority, they were vocal enough for me to say, "This is NOT worth it."

As said above, the other option is for us -- and "us" could just be WF "staff" or a combination of staff and members -- to say something like, "$Member has written articles for five different publications. He has played backup for John Coltrane and Paul Desmond. He's really kewl. Let's give him the title of 'Probably Knows What He's Talking About' and continue on." Kind of like "Content Expert" without the additional Mod functions.

I dunno if that will happen. I'd like it to because I really want this forum to be inclusive and a community, but I've gotta tell you that I rarely have the time to look up the resumes of each poster.

[WoodwindDoubler]

Alas, I have not formed an opinion so option C it is HAHA

[saxmanglen]

So, it looks like my reputation may precede myself? :grin:

[pete]

Gandalfe and Ed like you, according to the comments they posted.

[SteveSklar]

so far people either Love It or think Pete shouldn't Post Polls :)

[saxmanglen]

Gandalfe and Ed like you, according to the comments they posted.


I guess I better behave then, huh? :???:

[SteveSklar]

Gandalfe and Ed like you, according to the comments they posted.

a squirrel playing a sax .. what's not to like ..

[Ed Svoboda]

We have a great bunch of folks here and I'm enjoying the quality of the company.

[saxmanglen]

We have a great bunch of folks here and I'm enjoying the quality of the company.


It seems we have a more "seasoned" (I didn't want to say older) bunch of people here that enjoy playing their wind instruments. I see a lot of potential as the community grows.

[WoodwindDoubler]

It seems we have a more "seasoned" (I didn't want to say older) bunch of people here that enjoy playing their wind instruments. I see a lot of potential as the community grows.


I think I'm the baby of the group from what I can tell, so far :o).

[pete]

Back on topic ...

SOTW has a topic about the value of posters' posts (http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?t=85716) -- well, at least it morphed into a discussion of that topic.

The WF is much smaller than SOTW, but that's one place where I'd like to make a real difference: I don't want there to be a doubt that the advice you get from someone here is really, really good. That's one of the reasons for a system like this -- and one of the reasons we have lotsa Content Experts.

[pete]

It's been tempo-permanently turned off. We're investigating a couple other avenues.

FWIW, I happen to think that you have to implement this feature with the command that people should only give or take away Rep Points for specific reasons, i.e., your post contained no real content and/or could actually cause damage. I'll take away points. Your post was a credit to the community and you made everyone's life a little better by posting it. I'll give you points.

(Although I did enjoy trying to take away points from Ed and Gandalfe for not reading my longish posts :))

[saxmanglen]

Look at that! My reputation? It's gone......just like the wind. :cry:

[pete]

Just like reputation in real life: it's ephemeral.