Post Counts Return, eh?

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503f86]I would much rather just read people's posts to get my impression of them than go by an arbitrary star count. It seems a little extraneous to me. And if someone's posted something I don't like I'll either respond appropriately, or report it, if it's really bad. The commuity generally has a way of silently excluding people who aren't liked or of decent quality anyway, so...

Eh, or maybe not. I guess I'm not really active enough to judge. I miss talking about Digimon.
[/COLOR]

[Japan]

[quote name='Shy'][size=1]I don't see the point of a rep system. It just seems like another popularity contest to me.

-Shy[/size][/QUOTE]

Shy's way of thinking is Seconded.

[Rachmaninoff]

[quote name='Petie][COLOR=Blue']Finally, since there seems to be some actual interest in this plan, would anyone object to my adding a poll to this thread so we can take a more formal vote on enabling reputation?[/COLOR][/quote]I certainly don't object. I wouldn't object if you went ahead and just enabled it. If anything, it could simply be a trial run to see how it goes.

I'm still going to get my impression of people off of how they post anyway so it won't make any difference in that respect. =P

[Petie]

[quote name='Rachmaninoff']I'm still going to get my impression of people off of how they post anyway so it won't make any difference in that respect. =P[/quote]
[COLOR=Blue]I agree here. I've never really been one to pay much attention to reputation on other forums. However, I don't speak for everyone and see no reason not to give it a shot if there's an actual interest in it.

So, on that note, I'm off to add a poll here to see just how much interest there really is.[/COLOR]

[Raiha]

[quote name='Boo'][size=1]Now I feel bad for being the only [b]No[/b] vote so far. :([/size][/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]But then Raiha appeared in a shimmery glow of fiery evil light to add her voice to the [size=5]NO[/size] category.

Hugs will inevitably end up the same thing as stars, hearts, cuddles, skulls and crossbones, kudos, props, you name some arbitrary noun here.

A rep system is another popularity contest wherein people tell other people they either love their pants off or think they're a complete moron and should go drown in their own vomit.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Shy]

[quote name='Boo'][size=1]Now I feel bad for being the only [b]No[/b] vote so far. :([/size][/QUOTE][size=1]I also said no. I'll say it again if you'd like, Boo.

No. It certainly won't ruin the boards or anything, but I certainly don't see what benefit post counts or a rep system have. The only one here who should have any gold stars is Lady Asphyxia.

-Shy[/size]

[Japan]

[quote name='Boo'][size=1]Now I feel bad for being the only [b]No[/b] vote so far. :([/size][/QUOTE]

Saying I agreed with Shy, means I also said no. Do we really need more popularity contests here?

[Lady Asphyxia]

[quote name='Shy'][SIZE=1]I also said no. I'll say it again if you'd like, Boo.

No. It certainly won't ruin the boards or anything, but I certainly don't see what benefit post counts or a rep system have. The only one here who should have any gold stars is Lady Asphyxia.

-Shy[/SIZE][/quote]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Is it selfish to agree?

Also, rep system? Is it like a "Pimp My Post" Thing? Ignoring the fun play on words, I think it's a little unnecessary.And my vote = yes for post counts. [/SIZE][/FONT]

[Japan]

Sorry I wasn't aware that the there was a poll till now >_<

[Magus]

[color=green]I voted no. I never saw a point in the reputation stuff. Even though I always seemed to get mashed with negative reps for not liking ______ . Kinda got on my nerves, but at the same time I laughed at it... "shrugs".[/color]

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I also voted no.

While this was something I was happy to consider, I don't think we can [i]ever[/i] really judge the quality of posts via a reputation system.

The only way it'd really ever work is via a similar method to theOtaku, where staff nominate high quality posters. But I think we have so many other things to look at in the near term that this isn't a priority anyway.[/font]

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]*Is also a no voter*

As Josh said a rep system would just lead to popularity contests on a mass scale which is pretty undesirable on OB in my opinion. We're a small enough community with only a few dozen active members where everyone pretty much knows everyone else after a while so in that regard I don't even see the necessity of a rep system.[/SIZE]

[Rachmaninoff]

I honestly do not care if it's used or not. However since I think we don't need it, I voted no on it. The others have said it already, quality is not only hard to determine, but very subjective so it wouldn't be all that accurate anyway. Popularity contests never are.

[Aaryanna]

[FONT="Tahoma"][COLOR="Sienna"]If we have it fine, if we don't fine. Either way, like Rach I'll still form my impression of people by reading their posts instead of a rating system like this.

So since I think we don't need it. I voted no. =P[/COLOR][/FONT]

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[quote name='chibi-master']Personally, I like the post counts! What's the big deal anyway, they're optional, after all. And I can't wait to become a Senior Member someday! How many posts are required for that anyway?:confused:[/QUOTE]

[color=#9933ff]Less than three thousand and more than what you have.

Personally I miss the old member titles. No Life- I think I got that before they changed the version.

And no I don't want rep points. It;d be too much like 4Kids and if you said something someone else didn't like they could just de-rep you.[/color]

[Sabrina]

[FONT="Tahoma"]Well I do think the post count and titles are fun, but the reputation system seems unnecessary to me. I think it's a bit arbitrary to attempt to put a label of quality on someone's post.

As presented, that seems more like a popularity thing than a true indicator of quality. So I'm going to vote against adding that feature. [/FONT]

[chibi-master]

I voted no. It [I]sounds[/I] interesting. But it also sounds like to much trouble. :animesigh

[TheShinje]

I also voted no. I'd rather form an opinion of someone based on the quality of their posts rather than what some star icon says. Those things are tacky and easily abused, anyway.

Thread ratings however, well, that is another story. :D

[Horendithas]

[FONT="Arial"][COLOR="Indigo"]Post count being visible... I don't really care since you can turn it off. Member titles, why not? We'll get Shy back in chains if that's the case. :D

But ratings on posts? Popularity contests are something we don't really need. I vote no.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Aaryanna_Mom]

I definitely think voting on people's posts in terms of quality is not a good thing. That seems more like some popularity contest than a true indicator of whether or not someone's post is of a high quality.

Many of you certainly don't need any votes to have a reputation. I think you earn that by your actions more than anything. So yes, this is my long winded way of saying I voted against a rating system for posts.

[Nathan]

[FONT="Arial"]I don't need others voting on posts to tell me if it's good quality or rather contributing to the discussion. I can figure that out by simply reading it. So like others have said, that seems like a silly popularity contest more than anything.

I say no. [/FONT]

[Sangome]

[SIZE="1"]I can easily see the feature being abused and someone would vote negatively on a post they simply don't agree with. Or, if negativity was removed, it's still a bad idea, because some people could get an ego from it.

So, nein.[/SIZE]

[Vicky]

[size=1]I clicked yes by accident but I meant no >_<;;.

People already have reputations on here so I don't think we need a system for it. The system would, like everyone already said, make it a popularity contest. I'm very bad at popularity contests so I don't want one =p.[/size]

[Nerdsy]

[color=deeppink]How am I suppopsed to know who to like if I don't have the proper statistics?

My vote is yes.[/color]

[Dagger]

Again, I don't really care either way about enabling reputation at OB--the prospect of it didn't even occur to me until it came up in this thread. That said, I voted yes because I still have trouble seeing the harm in giving it a try--at worst, it would be an experiment with boring results (i.e. nobody notices or cares). No harm done.

But as someone who frequents a couple of nice forums where the reputation system does get used regularly, I guess I feel somewhat obliged to defend it. Using reputation doesn't mean anyone judges people solely based on the amount of rep they have--by that logic, we should erase post counts again immediately. Saying so is the equivalent of arguing that people judge artwork at theO solely by the number of hugs it gets, which is obviously pretty silly. It's the same sort of thing.

Rep is not really an indicator of the person's intelligence or how much you should value their posts or whatever, and I have never come across someone who views it that way, any more than I've come across people who truly judge others solely by their post counts. Obviously the content of a member's post always says a whole lot more about them than the window dressing in their postbit or signature.

Like post counts, rep shows the level of a person's participation. That's all. If someone has a lot of rep, you might think, "Wow, they're really helpful," or "Hey, they're really involved in this community." Not, "Whoa, man, this must mean every single thing they post is OB's holy writ." If anything, it's a much [I]better[/I] indicator of positive participation than post count or join date.

Besides, in the same way that individual posters here can toggle their own post count on and off, you usually get the option to disable reputation for yourself.

In addition to rep, vB has a similar feature where you can click a button to "Thank" the OP of a thread (or sometimes an individual post in any thread). This is almost exactly like theO hugs, since it's a super-easy, one-click thing and doesn't have a negative equivalent. But anyway, I'm not necessarily advocating that rep or Thanking be added to OB--I just think that a lot of the objections here show either a basic misunderstanding of how rep actually functions in a decent community, or else are coming from a "We're better than that" angle, which is kind of irritating.

~Dagger~