Reputations

[Beck]

Hey Richard,

Just wondering if this new forum has the ability for 'reputations'? That would be a nice addition to the forum, I like using them when I'm not interested in commenting with in a thread, but found a comment that I liked.

[Richard Amiel McGough]

Hey Richard,

Just wondering if this new forum has the ability for 'reputations'? That would be a nice addition to the forum, I like using them when I'm not interested in commenting with in a thread, but found a comment that I liked.

Yes, I could turn on the Reputation system. But I'm a little ambivalent about it. The documentation warns that it can be very divisive. But I agree it might be useful and fun. I'd like to know what other folks think.

[David M]

Yes, I could turn on the Reputation system. But I'm a little ambivalent about it. The documentation warns that it can be very divisive. But I agree it might be useful and fun. I'd like to know what other folks think.

I think you have to explain what it is first. It is not something I have come across. Please give example of what it would look like and the information it would contain.

David

[Richard Amiel McGough]

I think you have to explain what it is first. It is not something I have come across. Please give example of what it would look like and the information it would contain.

David

Here is how vBulletin describes the user reputation system:

User Reputation in its simplest form is a ranking of your user's benefit to your forum. Its basis comes from the opinions of all of your forum users that choose take part in it.

Users gain and lose reputation based on how their posts are scored by other forum participants. Users with the ability to affect reputation, will either give or take aways points by approving or disapproving with a post's content.

User reputation can be a divisive element of your forum so great care should be taken before a decision is made to enable it.

Each user gets a little set of green bars below their avatar that shows their reputation level. Here's an example:



I'm still undecided about it.

[David M]

Thanks Richard. I am running a private forum for owners of holiday apartments and it has been a headache at times with hosting providers shutting down without notice and not helping when the forum software crashed and needed to be reinstalled. I did have a similar system in action where members could award Karma points. Members could add an applaud or a smite which would result in the Karma count. It was fairly inoxuous and did indicate whether readers of posts found liked them or not or found then of value. The software I am using only shows a Karma count, it does not let you view the posts which earned the points. Does your software enable users to see which posts earned the points? For example, if you had 50 reputation points, I could see what posts gave you those points. This would help visitors to the forum find posts of valuable without trawling through long threads.

David