New Site Should Have Like/dislike Buttons.

[Kwinten]

How about a rep(utation) system like most forums have?

 

I personally think it would be a neat little addition. Say, each member can give 5 or so reps a week to other, individual posts on the forum.

 

Highest repped posts would then appear somewhere on the main page of the forum. It would most definitely increase activity because it gives people a reason to post, and to make quality posts.

[djpailo]

I don't like the idea of reps. People get too involved about trying to get reps. At the moment, we are free to say as we please (within the rules) and not have to worry about getting negative rep when someone doesn't understand what you are saying. Reputation systems always sound great, but to be honest they never really work in my view.

[Kwinten]

I don't like the idea of reps. People get too involved about trying to get reps. At the moment, we are free to say as we please (within the rules) and not have to worry about getting negative rep when someone doesn't understand what you are saying. Reputation systems always sound great, but to be honest they never really work in my view.

That's why you shouldn't be able to give others negative reps. It's a system to encourage people to make thought out, educated posts and to actually actively post as well!

 

Negative reps don't work, that's correct. If you have a slightly different opinion than the majority you'd get too many negative reps simply for expressing it. What you could also do, is to also just give people a limited amount of negative reps to give away each week. Or only people with, say, 100+ total positive reps can give out negative reps to others.

 

The reputation system works very well on just about any forum I've been to that has them.

 

I think the admins would at least consider this idea. I guarantee you, activity and general post quality will increase! But, not at the cost of quality, like YouTube for example. Where everybody goes "I hate Justin Bieber. Thumb up if you agree!" Those posts should not be allowed, and people only have 5 thumbs to give out every week. So hopefully things like that wouldn't happen.

 

It's like when people say "+1" if they strongly agree with something. Except now, they give give those people they agree with a rep. People with many reps would be easily recognizable as quality posters and generally well respected. It's a nice system to make the good members stand out and persuade other members to make quality posts too.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Kwinten

[heb0]

One of my biggest concerns is that it would turn into a popularity contest and really wouldn't reflect how reliable or trustworthy a user was as a poster. Of course, I suppose we already have warn levels for that.

 

I think a ratings system for users would be great in areas like RS Questions and Tech Support, so long as we were able to disable it for posts made in, say, the 'Scape lounge, and people weren't able to indiscriminately go around giving people pluses or minuses for no reason whatsoever.

 

Likewise, I think a "like" system would work in certain forums better than others. RS Suggestions, Forum Suggestions, Entertainment, the Debate Room, and the Story Mat are all areas where I think it would be helpful. And, really, I don't think it would be all that harmful in areas like the 'Scape Lounge, so long as people didn't abandon posting for just hitting the "like" button.

 

However, there are issues like how to moderate it. If someone flames another user, and then a bunch of people "like" the post, do we warn everyone involved who hit "like" as well, or just the flamer?

[Samsara]

Kwinten and heb0 have both brought up excellent points. I really like the idea of being able to +rep people's posts if they make quality posts.

 

For starters, I think positive reps should be anonymous. That eliminates heb0's issue of people +'ing rule-breaking posts. Don't ask, don't tell! The post will get deleted and any positive reps along with it.

 

Secondly, we should not be able to +rep the opening post of a topic. The first posts of topics are meant to initiate discussions, not to be a big play in the discussion themselves.

 

Lastly, I think this system should be applied to only certain forums.

 

Where This System Could Work:

 

Forum & Site Feedback

Forum & Website Help

Website Updates

RuneScape Discussion

PvP: Skills, Tips & Kills (the main forum but not the subforum within)

RuneWise

General Chat

Breaking News

Entertainment

Debate Chamber

Homework Helpline

Other Games

Tech Talk

 

Particular Places Where This System Wouldn't Work:

 

Website Announcements - It's just a "congratulations!" forum for the most part so no need for it here.

Website Content Submissions - To be honest, if you're not gonna make a quality post in this forum (helping with or submitting content) then you should not be posting here in the first place.

The 'Scape Lounge - Adam would get like ten thousand positive reps from DSZ. :D

RuneScape Suggestions - The point in these forums is to get constructive criticism and opinions on suggestions that people make. If people just had the option to "+1" a post without actually posting their thoughts, then that would take a lot out of the forum.

RuneScape Events - Not really a need for this here (and Bob would get like ten thousand positive reps for his lottery :()

RuneScape Media - Most of the topics in here are personal topics (i.e. my skill log, my 99 in whatever, my fake) so the rep system wouldn't be utilized properly

RuneScape Marketplace

Clan Headquarters - We don't want people in the same clan to upboat their topic.

PvP: Kills and Galleries subforum - Again, these are personal topics like in RuneScape Media.

Polls & Surveys - Personal opinions.

The Graphics Place and The Story Mat - We want constructive criticism and thoughts in here, not people to just +rep and not explain why.

Edited May 1, 2011 by Samsara

[Kwinten]

Reps should be anonymous to regular members but visible to moderators and above. Just so two buddies don't just continuously give each other +reps on each other's posts for no apparent reason.

 

Of course something like that would be difficult to keep track of though.

 

I still stand by my previous suggestions. I sincerely hope it won't turn into a popularity contest, but we all know how it goes, right? You'll probably need to implement some extra restrictions and rules to prevent everybody only caring about their reputation rank. Or things like people moaning when they don't get a +rep on what they feel is a really good post.

 

I'm sure you can make it work though.