Reputation

From ADISC Answers Wiki

The Reputation System is a feature of the ADISC forums that will at some stage affect your status on the boards. Whilst not crucial, it is recommended that you understand the basics of the system and how it will affect your time on the site.

What is Reputation?

Reputation points (or rep, for short) are an integral part of, and sometimes controversial feature of the ADISC community. All users are able to give and receive both positive and negative reputation, which thereby increases or decrease a user's "ranking" or "status" on the forums, respectively. However, these terms are insufficient to describe the differences in how people perceive the purpose of reputation points.

Giving Rep

Reputation points are given on a per-post basis, meaning that you can only give one user reputation points for only one of their posts at any given instance. In general, positive rep should be given for helpful/informative, funny, wise, kind, politely said or otherwise "positive" posts made by someone. Conversely, negative rep should be given for inciting drama, flaming, spam, or otherwise "negative" posts.

It should be made clear that there is no guideline as to what is considered to belong in each category as reputation is given on a personal opinion basis. For example, what one persons views as offensive ranting another could see as making a good statement. Therefore, both positive and negative rep can be received for the one post.

In giving rep, a reason is required as to why it is being given. Something as simple as "You made a good point!" or "Offensive and unacceptable language!" are substantial enough as to not get deleted when the admins review the given reputation. Examples of poor excuses are "<3 <3!", "asgfhjashlrtkhwktjhqjkwehruietyaioewuioryqweiur133 7" or "...*facepalm*".

Giving reputation is anonymous and your name will not appear to the person you are giving the reputation to. This is to avoid users from purposely targeting other users so they can hoard rep, or to discourage users only giving rep to the same people all the time.

The following are others reasons why giving reputation is anonymous.

• People who gave out positive rep would get positive rep back, even if they didn't deserve the positive rep they got back.
• People might try to increase their rep by giving out lots of positive rep for not-very-good reasons, and counting on others to give them positive rep back even if they don't deserve it.
• People might stop giving out negative rep, even when it was justified, because they feared the other person's response.
• People who do give out negative rep might unintentionally (or intentionally?) cause a fight with the person they gave the rep to. This could lead to neg-rep wars and drama.
• Making rep non-anonymous would result in more rep being given, meaning more rep for admins to check.
• What about the people who gave rep in the expectation it would be anonymous? Is it fair to change the rules on them now?

Rep Power

Rep Power is the amount of reputation (positive or negative) that you can give someone at any one time.

(Note: this is at least how it used to be, it could very well be that it's changed by now)

You get a Rep Power of one if you:

• are registered and logged in
• have a neutral or positive rep count
• have 3 or more posts

How much rep power do you have?

• Admins: 5 points
• Forum Mods: 4 points
• Chat Mods: 3 points
• VIPs: 2 points
• Everyone else in good standing: 1 points
• People who give lots of invalid rep: 0 points

How Rep Affects You

It should be noted that reputation does not give you any authority over other users on the forum and in no way should it be used to intimidate people with lower rep. Conversely, if you have a lower rep than another user, do not feel intimidated by them. It may simply be a matter that they've been on the forum longer and have had the time to make many posts.

As aforementioned, receiving rep will change your rank on the forum. Generally, the more positive rep you receive, the more features you gain access to, like special boards, extra galleries, status (Newbie, Regular, VIP, etc...) and user notes. The more negative rep you receive, the more attention the mods and admins pay to you - not in a good way. More than likely, receiving noticeable amounts of negative rep will put your account under review, and in some instances, suspended or banned from the site. Reputation does help to discriminate between those users who genuinely want to be a constructive and well-mannered person, and those who wish to sabotage or destroy the the sensible nature of the community.

On a more personal, inter-user basis, those with higher reputation are sometimes seen to be role-models for the community. Through their words (or actions), they have demonstrated how users can gain positive reputation. However, no one likes a copy-cat and individualism is greatly encouraged when posting on the forum. Don't be afraid to show some personality and don't feel disheartened if someone doesn't take to you too well. After all, if someone doesn't like something, then there's no way to forcibly change their opinion.

Remember that even if somebody does not react well to your comments and gives you negative rep, that it is not a big deal. No one is going to hate you because a little number under your name went down a little. However, this does not mean that it should not mean anything. Try to see what upset the person who negative-repped you, and try to improve on that area in the future.

Those with higher rep than most other users may not see it, nor believe it, but their words can influence how other users act and what they say on the forums. Unfortunately, some may be swayed on an opinion just because a high-rep user said so. Again, be your own person, give your own opinion (with justification, if possible) and truly mean what you say. This kind of behavior is well-accepted and respected.

Adding to that, some users make it very clear that they simply post in a particular way in order to gain rep. Do not worry about receiving reputation as, more than likely, if you are a good member, positive reputation will come in due time. No one looks down upon you for having a lower rep, so don't go out of your way to post purely for the purpose of gaining rep. More often than you probably think, users can differentiate between a "rep" post (or even a post simply made to boost your post count) and a "genuine" post. If you post what you truly mean and believe in, then you will be noticed as an individual, rather than "just another user".