Karma system incoming!

Graal said:
I still think people worry too much about the rep system. Getting angry because someone neg-repped you is the same as getting angry because some high-schooler tells you you're a doofus. :P
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Pretty much how I feel about it.

I've been thinking that a less-antagonistic way to make use of the Karma system would be a lot like it's done on Steam: people can +rep but not -rep. Your reputation is also shown in numerical form (as well as with the graphical stars/bars) so that your epeen can be pampered.

At least that way people who can't handle the butthurt of being neg-repped better spend their time fussing over why no-one's +repping them and there's no "Karma Wars" to be had.
 
The system is broken because people can add snide comments or personal attacks without their name being visible. Most other forums, personal attacks are frowned upon and we even had some threads here where people were attacked and a whole bunch of people felt that that was wrong so why allow it in a different way? This is a gaming forum and people have massively differing opinions which is what makes a gaming community cool but calling people a fucking idiot for not liking X/Y/Z or whatever, well, that makes it childish.

Like I've said before, this is what pisses me off, not getting 4 million neg rep.
 
Mephisto_Helix said:
The system is broken because people can add snide comments or personal attacks without their name being visible. Most other forums, personal attacks are frowned upon and we even had some threads here where people were attacked and a whole bunch of people felt that that was wrong so why allow it in a different way? This is a gaming forum and people have massively differing opinions which is what makes a gaming community cool but calling people a fucking idiot for not liking X/Y/Z or whatever, well, that makes it childish.

Like I've said before, this is what pisses me off, not getting 4 million neg rep.
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So... just to put this into perspective: you're upset because someone called you a "fucking idiot" or whatever in a -rep, because you said that a game they might play and/or be fond of is "shyte."

I think it's kind of ironic. You provoke a fan-base of a specific genre by calling that genre "shyte" and act surprised when there's backlash?

Think about it: had that backlash simply remained in the Karma system, that thread would probably never have been derailed. Had you simply ignored commenting about a genre you couldn't care less about, you would never have received negative rep and again, that thread would probably never have been derailed.

While I agree, asinine, antagonistic and hostile comments should be left out of the Karma system (perhaps those comments should be moderated the same as ordinary forum posts/PMs) I can't help but feel the response you received was adequate. It's a pity that thread went south before it even had a chance to begin but whatever. Some people can't help themselves (and this goes both ways).

I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's the internet. You learn to take things with a bucket of salt; you learn to never take anything personally and you get on with your life.

If you feel a particular rep comment was downright hostile then briing it to the mods' attention and see what they have to say about it. Maybe they can have a chat with whomever it was or proffer a rule to perhaps shy people away from risking the banhammer in that way.

For the record, I didn't neg-rep you for your comment in that thread, but I did neg rep you for post #6 (the -1) for feeling the need to beat your chest about something so fucking petty.

If you have a problem with something someone said/did/whatever, report it to the mods. Why take down an entire thread because your ego took a dent after someone called you an idiot? If there's no truth to it, why take it to heart? Do you do that every single time someone says something to hurt your feelings?

Perhaps I've just grown too thick-skinned about this sort of shit, but you went through high-school, right? Got called names, had your feelings hurt, etc? Didn't you ever grow some balls to ignore that shit?

And the same goes to everyone who's been trolled on this forum. Grow some bloody balls and ignore it. Report it to a mod but don't take the damn bait every single fucking time.
 
Lycanthrope said:
So... just to put this into perspective: you're upset because someone called you a "fucking idiot" or whatever in a -rep, because you said that a game they might play and/or be fond of is "shyte."

I think it's kind of ironic. You provoke a fan-base of a specific genre by calling that genre "shyte" atnd act surprised when there's backlash?
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Zigzactly. If I were to go into a review thread for BF3 and ask 'how do people play this shyte?', I'd get at least 10 neg-reps telling me what an idiot or d00s I am. Yes, that really happened once. In a thread where I was stating my stance on piracy, somebody neg-repped me with 'd00s' as the reason.

In fact, three quarters of my neg-rep is often BF3 related. Either because I said I'm not quite as interested in it, or because I show dismay at the thought of Origin being a requirement for BF3. You don't see me crying over neg-rep all day long, even though much of what I get neg-repped for is simply over a difference in opinion.
 
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Graal said:
Zigzactly. If I were to go into a review thread for BF3 and ask 'how do people play this shyte?', I'd get a least 10 neg-reps telling me what an idiot or d00s I am. Yes, that really happened once. In a thread where I was stating my stance on piracy, somebody neg-repped me with 'd00s' as the reason.

In fact, three quarters of my neg-rep is often BF3 related. Either because I said I'm not quite as interested in it, or because I show dismay at the thought of Origin being a requirement for BF3. You don't see me crying over neg-rep all day long, even though much of what I get neg-repped for is simply over a difference in opinion.
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You do, however, fall prey to the trolls, like our dear Anonymous ;)

/runs
 
You don't have much room to talk Ly, not at all, but we'll keep it out of here.

If it's ok by you to just random spiteful comment instead of stating a reason for a disagreement, well it's obvious the level of maturity that is supported.
 
Lycanthrope said:
You do, however, fall prey to the trolls, like our dear Anonymous ;)

/runs
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Argh, trolls! My one weakness!

:p

Mephisto_Helix said:
You don't have much room to talk Ly, not at all, but we'll keep it out of here.

If it's ok by you to just random spiteful comment instead of stating a reason for a disagreement, well it's obvious the level of maturity that is supported.
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Dude, no offense, but right now you're officially no longer one to talk about maturity. Somebody called you an idiot in the totally private rep system, which has absolutely no bearing on your forum presence (it's not like your rep is red), and you let it bother you so much that not only do you feel the need to go on about it in a public thread, but you simply cannot let it go and just keep going on and on about 'immaturity'.

Seriously, there's nothing mature about being unable to shrug off something as petty as a negative comment in a private rep system. :/

As has been pointed out to me before, I might not be a big one to talk concerning matters like these, but honestly. Get over it already.
 
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Mephisto_Helix said:
You don't have much room to talk Ly, not at all, but we'll keep it out of here.
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I have nothing to hide, Mephi. I've taken things to heart I shouldn't have, I've been baited when I should have ignored it; and there have been stages in my life where I've been absolutely pitiful. That's part of life.

However, you need to learn to deal with stuff like that and grow from it. You need to learn to remember who it comes from and whether or not you would, in a million years, take them as seriously as you would when you're emotional.

Let me know if there's something you're thinking of specifically. We've all been guilty at some stage, I'd just prefer if we learn to recognise it and try stop it before it begins. To me, that's basically where, if you have zero interest in something, why say something to provoke those who are interested in it?

If it's ok by you to just random spiteful comment instead of stating a reason for a disagreement, well it's obvious the level of maturity that is supported.
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I never said it was okay. I said if you consider it blatantly hostile and antagonistic, report it and have the mods deal with it otherwise you sink to their level and perpetuate the same cycle of events and do little more than just make an uncomfortable situation for everyone.

Like that thread, seriously, who the hell would comment in it now?
 
Hi chaps; I've been reading all of your concerns. There are a couple of options we can perhaps use to address concerns - these work for all registered users, either on or off.


Can See Who Left User Ratings

Can Leave Negative Reputation


Unfortunately I cannot disable the leaving of comments.

So, we could disable neg repping, and that means people can only move up in the world. You'll still be able to leave a comment, but at least if you are getting called an idiot, your karma went up in some sort of twisted forum-karma justice.

We could remove the anonymity of the karma system so people can't hide. It might make people consider more carefully the message they send.

I think this makes sense - the number 1 forum rule should still apply to the karma system:

1. Aggressive or unnecessarily offensive behaviour will not be tolerated.
- IE, no personal attacks, insults, bigotry, misogyny, hate-speech or condescending language.

IMO, calling someone an 'idiot' is not the worst example of an insult, as long as the person casting aspersions has the balls to put their name to it. It should preferably be backed up with a forum post detailing just why they think said user in an idiot.

I notice Tinman never posted the mechanics of the Karma system, so I can revise those and post them here so everyone knows how the points system works.

The third option is to simply turn the damn thing off altogether.
 
James said:
Hi chaps; I've been reading all of your concerns. There are a couple of options we can perhaps use to address concerns - these work for all registered users, either on or off.


Can See Who Left User Ratings

Can Leave Negative Reputation


Unfortunately I cannot disable the leaving of comments.

So, we could disable neg repping, and that means people can only move up in the world. You'll still be able to leave a comment, but at least if you are getting called an idiot, your karma went up in some sort of twisted forum-karma justice.

We could remove the anonymity of the karma system so people can't hide. It might make people consider more carefully the message they send.

I think this makes sense - the number 1 forum rule should still apply to the karma system:

1. Aggressive or unnecessarily offensive behaviour will not be tolerated.
- IE, no personal attacks, insults, bigotry, misogyny, hate-speech or condescending language.

IMO, calling someone an 'idiot' is not the worst example of an insult, as long as the person casting aspersions has the balls to put their name to it. It should preferably be backed up with a forum post detailing just why they think said user in an idiot.

I notice Tinman never posted the mechanics of the Karma system, so I can revise those and post them here so everyone knows how the points system works.

The third option is to simply turn the damn thing off altogether.
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I'd think that the best option would be to remove the ability to neg-rep someone since this seems to breed animosity one way or the other and just allow +rep. Your twisted forum-karma justice is apt :p

I've also been speaking to Mephisto and I think we both agree that the Karma system seems to take a lot out of "discussion." In other words, it becomes easier to just give/take rep than to actually engage with someone.

One way or the other, I agree that anonymity should be removed (in fact, I think we can all agree on this). Worst case scenario, there's a bit of tension that will soon finally be put to ease.

GO, GO, GO!

czc said:
I was tempted to tell you all to get back on topic. :p
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Whatchoo talkin' about? I never took part in that thread at all >.>
 
I'll give it a day or two for other concerned parties to respond and then I'll make a decision. I'm leaning toward both disabling the negative karma and removing anonymity.
 
James said:
I'll give it a day or two for other concerned parties to respond and then I'll make a decision. I'm leaning toward both disabling the negative karma and removing anonymity.
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Yay! \o/

Things are definitely going to get interesting in these parts :3
 
I vote for having it removed altogether. My experience shows it's always just been one way of promoting e-penisry. If removing it entirely doesn't work, I think the ability to neg-rep should be removed and every user's points should count the same. One user shouldn't be able to add 14 rep to another user's score simply because he has a higher rep.

Still, by removing the neg-rep, we're going to end up with all members sitting on full rep pretty soon, so it might be equally pointless. For that, I'd also suggest wiping everybody's slates clean so everybody starts out on the same page.

For that matter, I vote we remove the Karma system entirely for a month or so, see how things go, and if people want it back after that, reconsider bringing it back.
 
here is something interesting


vdcq5e.jpg



split the post id and user id


then all you need is this link...

http://mygaming.co.za/forum/member.php


...not so anonymous any more. i wonder if this was by design, if so it was really bad on vbulletin's part ;)
 
lol; hacked.

I was considering resetting the whole thing and we all start from scratch.

I like the idea of having all rep at the same value, no perks for accumulating lots of karma etc.

I can revise the hovering messages and level increments to accommodate that new system.

In my experience, removing a feature will mean there is an immediate outcry and people will all act like they want it back, so a testing phase would just be pointless.
 
Graal said:
I vote for having it removed altogether. My experience shows it's always just been one way of promoting e-penisry. If removing it entirely doesn't work, I think the ability to neg-rep should be removed and every user's points should count the same. One user shouldn't be able to add 14 rep to another user's score simply because he has a higher rep.

Still, by removing the neg-rep, we're going to end up with all members sitting on full rep pretty soon, so it might be equally pointless. For that, I'd also suggest wiping everybody's slates clean so everybody starts out on the same page.

For that matter, I vote we remove the Karma system entirely for a month or so, see how things go, and if people want it back after that, reconsider bringing it back.
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I kinda agree with Graal here - taking the neg rep away removes the reason it was put there in the first place; to make people think before speaking. Obviously this hasn't worked. The flaw in the system is that it pre-supposes that everyone taking part are adults ... mentally or physically - take your pick. I've seen the karma system used to great effect on some professional forums - again, the fact that most of the participants were professionals probably had something to do with it.

I just vote for removing it entirely - I'm sure we can put something else in place that will hopefully promote people's ability to be valuable contributing members of the forum. Even if we remove it, I doubt a lot of people would notice, just look how long we had it before people actually started using it.
 
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