Based on this thread I think it's clear that some kind of reputation system would be extremely beneficial to LQ. It will help members gauge the potential validity of answers from members they do not personally know and will also help members better understand how helpful they are to other LQ members. With this in mind I'd like to outline some of the rules, features and potential pitfalls I potentially see in such a system. This will allow for proper discussion to happen before such a system is enabled.

* Any member (except for mods and admins) will be able to opt out of the reputation system.
* Members in the "New Member" group will not be able to use the reputation system. Once a member makes a single post and is in the "Member" group, they will be able to leave positive reputation. A member in the "Senior Member" group or higher will be able to leave positive or negative reputation. All negative reputation will require a comment.
* A member will need to have a certain amount of reputation before they can give reputation and the amount of reputation you'll be able to give will depend on how much you get.
* There will be some kind of "spread" system, where $x amount of members will need to give a member reputation before the same member can use the system on the same member.
* How many days a member has been registered and number of posts will likely play a small role.
* There will likely be a tie-in with "Did you find this post helpful".
* Reputation will be displayed in your UserCP and in some way in individual posts.
* Phase 2 of the system will probably include some forum specific component, where you have an LQ-wide reputation which can be broken down by on a per forum basis.

I'd like some additional thought and feedback on this. From there we can look into rolling the system out and making additional tweaks. Thanks.

--jeremy

Hi,

Definitely looks like a better system then the one we have atm

I have to think about this one a bit longer before I can give any feedback.

One thing will come up sooner or later: Are we all going to start at "0" or will you give current members a starting reputation based on their current statistics (however that may be calculated)?

Keep up the good work Jeremy!

4 members found this post helpful.

I've been away from LQ for a few days and the place has turned upside down, LOL


I personally like the reputation system presented above. It seems somewhat complicated but it makes sense. I like the fact that in order to give reputation you'll have to have a certain amount of reputation first. This looks like a more reliable 'expertise' indicator than the thanks count.

My understanding of it is that at the beginning only mods and eg. gurus will be able to give reputation. Gradually people with mid-range post counts will get more and more reputation from 'the above' and in time (once they've earned enough reputation) will be able to give reputation to others.

I think it makes sense as very senior members are probably going to use their powers wisely.

1 members found this post helpful.

@jeremy: Can you explain "There will be some kind of "spread" system, where $x amount of members will need to give a member reputation before the same member can use the system on the same member."?

the way i see that being is that you have to wait for so many other users to give rep to a given user before giving more rep, that way nobody can simply spam the reputation system because they simply like or dislike someone

in short it's to prevent the reputation system from being abused and is imho more practical then a simple time limit between giving rep, that way you can't simply hand free positive rep to a friend or give too much negative rep to someone you or your friend doesn't like

this is a technical forum not a popularity contest

4 members found this post helpful.

frieza is correct.

--jeremy

Hi Jeremy,

After reading your post twice I think this will be better then the 'Thanks' system for the obvious reasons as stipulated in 'the other thread'. I believe that a reputation system like this in time will provide a more adequate profile of a user. Since it would be based on, as explained by frieza, the opinion given by several users instead of only one or, as mentioned in the other thread by one of the mods, only by the mods, I think this will be a pretty neat feature for LQ to have.

I don't think enabling the Thanks system again will be useful since, as you said, the 'reputation system' will not be based on it or include its data.

Also, if you don't enable the Thanks system again, please take it out of the Stats also if you don't mind. Just to keep things on track.

It also would be helpful to include some form of statistics for the reputation system. Something like the Top Thanked although for the reputation system it will be more complicated I imagine.

If something crosses my mind, I'll post it. Yesterday I also created an account on LinuxExchange.org which has its own reputation system. Are you thinking of doing something similar for LQ? Although it seems complicated, I can see the use of it and also the impact it has.

One last thing Jeremy: Keep up the good work!

Kind regards,

Eric

Excellent,a choice!.
I'm really pleased you are not making the reputation system mandatory.
Thanks.

3 members found this post helpful.

And thanks to frieza for it but it was more an explanation of the purpose than the mechanism and I'm still confuzzled.

Sorry if I am being dense (and sounding like lines from a Marx Brothers' movie) but is the first same member the same as the second same member? (That cannot be! Thus we have a member giving rep to themselves; that way lies blindness) If not which member is it?

Now you got me confused too catkin

If member foo uses the reputation system on member bar, then member foo cannot use the reputation system again on member bar until $n other members have done so.

--jeremy

It's taken me over 60 years to build up a bad reputation. I hope nobody at LQ ruins all that hard work.

3 members found this post helpful.

You already have a cast iron reputation as a troublemaker. This new system will allow that to be grandfathered in.

Glad to hear it. That's a weight off my mind.

I'll set a tentative date for starting to roll this feature out as 08/29. I'd appreciate as much feedback on this topic as possible before then.

--jeremy