There's another forum where I post and it uses the reputation system to good effect. I think it'll be good here. A way to thank members for posting usefully and it'll also be fun to sometimes give negative reps to deliberate trolls and so on.

Nothing to be taken seriously of course, but it'll be nice to build up reputation points over a period of time. And it might encourage good posting.

I know there will be a dozen or more objections to this, but instead of debating endlessly, why not give it a trial run? We could also have member of the month based on this... but that's only a secondary thought.

I think we also need a bit of fun around here.

I dunno. . . I've never yet encountered an effective rep system. The best-known one is, of course, slashdot - where you can get "Good karma" very easily by just posting a few pro-Nix, anti-MS comments. And that's speaking from experience

Another forum I (used to) frequent has a "Good post/bad post" voting scheme. Nobody ever liked to rate a post "bad" and you got rated "good" every time you posted something funny. Most members therefore had superb ratings, regardless of how useful their posts were.

That's not to say that a good system can't be done - just that it's not easy to get one that's genuinely useful.

Well, we could discard it if it's not useful. But I thought with all those feature additions we've seen recently this might also be a good one, if not as useful as tagging, but at least fun...

As for people not voting bad on a post, I'll believe that when I see it... just wait for a flame war

Upper-right hand corner: Rate thread. Is that what you're looking for? Maybe put it to use (ie: display the thread's rating on the forum by the subject or something)?

Seconded. 9 times out of 10 it becomes useless pretty darn quickly, with people giving positive reputation points for posts with no technical value.

Posts containing political views can gain immense support and a lot of positive reputation points for the poster, while doing nothing to help anybody's situation.

IMO, such a system is not needed here.

What's the harm in trying it out? It might or might not work on this forum... but I think it can work.

The problem with a reputation system is that it's almost guaranteed to create unfair prejudice and bias. Consider the scenario where you have a *very* knowledgable person who just registered with LQ last week vs. a long time member with average or mediocre knowledge. The expert (meaning the LQ newbie who signed up a few days ago) by definition will have zero rep, simply because his/her total post count is minimal, and thus his/her posts would probably be ignored. In contrast, the long time member, who has accumulated a decent rep simply as a byproduct of frequent posting, will appear as being the better, more reliable source of information. How is this beneficial?

My view is that all LQ'ers should be treated equally. A reputation system by definition creates divisions in the membership, by designating some members as being elite and others as being useless, and as a result, I fail to see what benefits would be achieved by implementing a rep system here at LQ. Overall, if someone wishes to thank a fellow LQ'er, the best way to do so is publicly, in the forums, by posting a simple "Thank You -- you helped me solve the issue" type of post.

Strictly my own 2 cents......

A reps system should not be taken so seriously in any case. I hope we can have it here. We could do with a bit of fun and it's always nice to know when somebody rates your post high...

The reps system should never be used as a judge of ability but merely as a sign of popularity. I don't see what's wrong with that... I never meant that it should be used only for judging technical merit or knowledge. It might be a nice side effect, but overall it's a community thing and not something that people would rely solely upon to judge another member's knowledge or technical know-how. I also think it'll discourage blatant attempts at trolling or provocation...

Anyway, what's the use of this debate unless we really try it out and see? Most of the objections raised are quite ok theoritically, but why not put it to the test?

As I said in my first post, I really do like the reps system used on another forum and it works quite well...

Well, what's the point of test unless specific outcomes can be evaluated? Keep in mind that reps are a double edged sword -- for any given person, everything's great if their posts are rated highly, but obviously there will be some people whose posts will be rated poorly, and their feelings will be hurt and/or they'll be insulted. Again, I really fail to see what would be gained by attempting to separate "good" LQ'ers from "bad" LQ'ers.

As you say yourself, "The reps system should never be used as a judge of ability but merely as a sign of popularity."

What difference does it make how popular a particular member is? What counts is the accuracy of their technical advice.

But again, what's wrong in giving it a trial and seeing how people respond to it?

Let's look at this way: Suppose you needed medical advice. Would you rather speak with a doctor who is well liked by his peers, but whose skills are marginal, or would you rather speak to a doctor who had excellent skills, but was abrasive and was considered to be 'difficult' to deal with?

I hate to keep repeating myself but popularity != value. If someone is looking for help with (for example) configuring a new video card, or in getting wireless to work on their laptop, how exactly is a popularity rating going to assist them in solving the problem? It won't, and it's totally irrelevant. I don't mean to argue with you, but other than adding complexity to the backend code, I just don't see what specific benefits would be gained by the creation of a reputation system.

I'll shut up now......

You already have my response.

This is meant to be a place to come for technical support & discussion. What does it matter how "popular" a particular person is?

Well, I cannot see any serious objections except that people don't think it will work or it won't be suitable here etcetera...

In my belief it's worth a try because:

1. It won't do any harm if it doesn't work out. It can always be removed.
2. It's too easy to implement. If I'm right, it's already built in vBulletin.
3. It will be non-intrusive and won't take up too many forum resources.
4. It can easily be ignored by those who don't want it.

I mean, these objections always annoy me... without trying a new system, how on earth are you going to be sure it won't work? I say it works, because I've experienced it on another forum. It doesn't take anything away from other aspects or the value of this site...

Come on Jeremy! I'd be interested to know where you stand on this

That's only a response to my suggestion. Not a response to the system of reputation I suggested... And of course, it depends not on one or two users' opinions, but a majority of users...

The assumption that a majority will abuse it always seem a little bit cynical to me. I think our members are mature enough to understand its implications or lack of it in any case.

In case others didn't understand, I just wanted a bit more "fun" factor in this forum. I seriously enjoy other forums because of little things like this. Of course this is a technical forum with support as the emphasis. But that doesn't imply that people here cannot enjoy the "community" aspect. A little feature like this will only help, not hinder the "community" aspect as I see it...

Why can't people lighten up a little and see my suggestion in a more positive light rather than keep emphasizing its negatives? I mean only at Linuxquestions.org do I see such a negative attitude towards almost any suggestion. I am not sure why... it's the feeling I get almost every time I enter this area of the forum

If you got the idea that I'm a bit miffed at the responses here, you're damn right I am. It's so annoying to have 99% of suggestions turned down on without understanding the idea or the spirit in which the suggestion was made.

This section should be renamed:

Website suggestions and feedback 99% of which will be shot down in flames.

Oops... unintended irony in the above suggestion.

One word: Experience.

The reputation system does not work properly on any of the forums I've seen. In the words of Remo Gaggi, "Why take the chance?"
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.