The Return of Reputation (or something similar)

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
18,431
Location
Castle Rock, CO
Display Name
Display name:
Everything Offends Me
Its been about 8 years, IIRC, since we had reputation. It was a feature ahead of its time - these days, most places allow you to +1 comments, or "like" them, or "share" them, whatever. We had the same functionality in the reputation system where we could vote up/down posts, at least a few years before it became popular.

Now we are behind the times...our closest thing to "state of the art" on this site is a tag cloud feature that is rarely used, and fell out of internet grace at the turn of the decade anyway in favor of more robust search options instead.

I think we need to get reputation back, not because it hurt to lose, but because we need it back. One "modification" of the reputation system that seems to work very well is the "Thanks/Groan" option available at another forum I use. It keeps you from trolling for reputation, but also allows people to give kudos for a thoughtful post or a quick "ugh" when someone says/does something dumb.

An example of it in use:
http://thelobolair.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50299
 
Unless the votes affect posting ability why bother?
 
ClimbnSink said:
Unless the votes affect posting ability why bother?
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I'm guessing you are 40+ years old? No slam, just a guess.

The youth, these days (aka, sub 30 year old) like having the option to "like" things.
 
SkyHog said:
I'm guessing you are 40+ years old? No slam, just a guess.

The youth, these days (aka, sub 30 year old) like having the option to "like" things.
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So? I remember reputation and why it went away, fine by me.
 
SkyHog said:
I'm guessing you are 40+ years old? No slam, just a guess.

The youth, these days (aka, sub 30 year old) like having the option to "like" things.
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Yup 44. I guess having a like button amps up the internet dopamine hit a bit.
 
The MC has been discussing upgrades to a newer version of the software that allows for some of those additional features. There would be a cost to do so, however, so "how to fund" is part of the discussion. A question I have is this: if we implemented things like reputation or other similar user-driven ratings, how do we avoid abuse of the feature. Reputation was eliminated after it was abused to harass some folks on the forum.

I'm not opposed to such features, but given that there is some level of anonymity here, how do we avoid abuse of the features (and an increase in workload for the volunteers on the MC/moderation group)?
 
SkyHog said:
The youth, these days (aka, sub 30 year old) like having the option to "like" things.
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The ability to "like" things is different than the ability to "like" people. It was abused last time as Bill mentioned, and it seemed very highschoolish to me, which is probably why it appeals to the sub-30 set. :D
 
If we have a "like" button then we need a "don't like" button for us grumpy bastards.
 
What's the value/point of a reputation system?
 
Bob Noel said:
What's the value/point of a reputation system?
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Good question, on the surface it was to allow new people to rate the value of the replies given by the 'reputation' of the poster. In reality it served no such thing and just turned into a cliquish 'popularity contest' thing. IMO it should stay dead.

If a feature were to be added, I prefer it would be the one that automatically resizes pictures to keep them from blowing out the pages.
 
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POA already has a nifty feature called 'ignore'. I just wished it worked better, to keep me from seeing any thread started by someone on my ignore list and eliminating the little stubs of their posts if they contribute their drivel to a thread.
 
Trying to understand the reputation function.can someone explain how it worked ?
 
My vote would be to leave it dead. I don't know what purpose it would serve other than anonymous harrassment. There's too many personal attacks on here already. If there's a problem with someone's posts then contact the MC.
 
I think Nick made a political mistake here - I don't think reputation is really what he wants, and I doubt the problems it had would be different now.

But, in this age of Facebook, we like to "Like" things. It's positive. It's a chance to say "Me too!" or "Nice!" without having to make another post and make the thread go long.

But as long as we're lobbing political bombs, I'd like to request a forum that's only visible to people who have a few (5?) posts, and not Google, so that we may freely discuss accidents, and other things that we don't want to be quite so obvious or accessible to a reporter fishing for aviation-hating fodder.
 
wsuffa said:
Reputation was eliminated after it was abused to harass some folks on the forum.
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I'm not familiar with past PoA feature history - it would be helpful to understand the mechanism that made it possible to use it to harass.

I'm not opposed to such features, but given that there is some level of anonymity here, how do we avoid abuse of the features (and an increase in workload for the volunteers on the MC/moderation group)?
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Seems to me the mere ability to post can and is abused, so perhaps a more pragmatic goal would be minimizing and containing any abuse of the feature, rather than total avoidance of abuse.

That presumes there is a problem that the system is intended to help solve. Whether it serves a viable function, as Henning notes.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I'd like to request a forum that's only visible to people who have a few (5?) posts, and not Google, so that we may freely discuss accidents, and other things that we don't want to be quite so obvious or accessible to a reporter fishing for aviation-hating fodder.
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But has that been a problem?
 
Jim Logajan said:
But has that been a problem?
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Family members have shown up. Tasteless the way we slam the dead. Funny how threads that start off with my friend went in after 'insert stupid pilot trick here' get a different response then just posting the news link. Would be interesting to drop the same story on different forums one with this was a friend bit and watch the different tone.
 
Geico266 said:
You would have received 30 "bad" votes for asking the question. ;)
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and how many bad votes for questioning the first 30 bad votes?

would bad votes be a badge of honor?
 
A simple "like" function would be neat, no need for a dislike. There are plenty of times I want to let someone know their post is appreciated without making another post to do so.
 
I don' need help from a committee to figure out who's posts I regard as usually worth reading and who's posts aren't.
 
I'm clicking "Don't Like", "WGAF", "I'm a curmudgeon - take a hike" and "Shove off, hoser!" all at once. :D
 
Jim Logajan said:
But has that been a problem?
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Yes. Family members of deceased have shown up looking for answers and found us calling their loved ones stupid and much worse. "Journalists" have used things we say to talk about needing to shut airports down in their articles. I'm sure there's many other instances we don't know about...

I see it as a safer place to discuss and learn from accidents as well as tell stories that we don't want to shout to the world.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Yes. Family members of deceased have shown up looking for answers and found us calling their loved ones stupid and much worse. "Journalists" have used things we say to talk about needing to shut airports down in their articles. I'm sure there's many other instances we don't know about...

I see it as a safer place to discuss and learn from accidents as well as tell stories that we don't want to shout to the world.
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+1,000,000
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Yes. Family members of deceased have shown up looking for answers and found us calling their loved ones stupid and much worse.
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Does the proposal stop those kinds of posts, or merely hide them from search engines? If those family members still showed up here and created an account, what would have been accomplished?

My modest opinion is that publicly voiced honest opinions are preferable to remaining ignorant of what other people are thinking, but fear saying, of the deceased.
"Journalists" have used things we say to talk about needing to shut airports down in their articles. I'm sure there's many other instances we don't know about...

I see it as a safer place to discuss and learn from accidents as well as tell stories that we don't want to shout to the world.
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You are proposing to turn back the tide with a thimble. There is more than enough material on public pilot-written blogs for "journalists" to use and quote from than public forums that boil down to quoting anonymous opinions of "some guys on the Internet."
 
Jim Logajan said:
Does the proposal stop those kinds of posts, or merely hide them from search engines? If those family members still showed up here and created an account, what would have been accomplished?
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They're not going to show up and create an account if they don't find anything about it here already. I also suggested that the forum wouldn't appear until a person has 5 posts, so that it wouldn't appear immediately even when they do create an account.

So yes, it'll generally solve the problem. There's no way to completely solve the problem unless you have an invite-only board, which is not what we want.

You are proposing to turn back the tide with a thimble. There is more than enough material on public pilot-written blogs for "journalists" to use and quote from than public forums that boil down to quoting anonymous opinions of "some guys on the Internet."
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Yeah, well, I'd like to be able to speak freely here without worrying about things that might be used against us by them. Obviously, there's plenty of material out there, but I'd like us to not contribute to it.

There are other reasons as well... And what's the downside?
 
flyingcheesehead said:
They're not going to show up and create an account if they don't find anything about it here already. I also suggested that the forum wouldn't appear until a person has 5 posts, so that it wouldn't appear immediately even when they do create an account.

So yes, it'll generally solve the problem. There's no way to completely solve the problem unless you have an invite-only board, which is not what we want.
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You want things I want no part of.

"Think of the children!" becomes "Think of the survivors!"?

Yeah, well, I'd like to be able to speak freely here without worrying about things that might be used against us by them. Obviously, there's plenty of material out there, but I'd like us to not contribute to it.

There are other reasons as well... And what's the downside?
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It's currently a public forum. If you want to propose making it a private forum, fine. But you are proposing an improbable mixture of both. All so you and others can post speculation and pass judgment without suffering any demons of conscience or hurt anyone's feelings. I say bah - those consequences have to come with the territory. Besides, it's not as if you can't use private messages or email.

But I suspect the thing you are trying to accomplish - but probably don't realize or wish to articulate - is to somehow make public statements that get widely read, yet somehow magically don't get seen by anyone who may feel hurt or offended by them.
 
Jim Logajan said:
It's currently a public forum. If you want to propose making it a private forum, fine. But you are proposing an improbable mixture of both.
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Beechtalk has a crash-talk section that is not harvested by the google bot. Of course, that does not stop a journalist or family member from signing up, but most journalists are lazy bums and if it doesn't show up on a google search or twiddle (what they call 'research') it doesn't exist.
 
Jim Logajan said:
You want things I want no part of.
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You have yet to provide a concrete downside to it, though.

"Think of the children!" becomes "Think of the survivors!"?
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That's only one example of what it could be useful for.

It's currently a public forum. If you want to propose making it a private forum, fine.
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I'm not proposing any such thing. We get lots of new members via Google, I'm sure. We get the opportunity to help newbie and would-be pilots along, and that's an important function of this board. We also get lots of veteran pilots who find us and contribute. So, don't for a minute think that I'm proposing to make the whole thing private, because I'm not.

But you are proposing an improbable mixture of both.
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Improbable why? More like "best of both worlds".

All so you and others can post speculation and pass judgment without suffering any demons of conscience or hurt anyone's feelings.
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No, that's merely one reason for it - There are countless reasons why someone might want to post a thread in a forum that's not public. Everyone knows I pee, but I still prefer to do it in the bathroom instead of the town square, legalities notwithstanding. ;)

Besides, it's not as if you can't use private messages or email.
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So you think I should PM everyone on the board to talk about a crash? I call that spamming and I would not tolerate it, nor would I do it. A forum is a different animal than email, PMs and other forms of private communications.

But I suspect the thing you are trying to accomplish - but probably don't realize or wish to articulate - is to somehow make public statements that get widely read, yet somehow magically don't get seen by anyone who may feel hurt or offended by them.
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You suspect wrong... Like I said, crashes are only one reason for such a forum.
 
It would be great to have a "like" button so I could show my wife how popular I am on an internet forum.
:lol:
 
Henning said:
Good question, on the surface it was to allow new people to rate the value of the replies given by the 'reputation' of the poster. In reality it served no such thing and just turned into a cliquish 'popularity contest' thing. IMO it should stay dead...
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That's what I would be concerned about.
 
Purple Board posts are not visible to people who aren't registered, and I have a feeling that it reduces the number of participants quite a lot. Message traffic seems a lot lower there.
 
Palmpilot said:
Purple Board posts are not visible to people who aren't registered, and I have a feeling that it reduces the number of participants quite a lot. Message traffic seems a lot lower there.
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How would someone find the place? Why would they stay?
 
rbridges said:
It would be great to have a "like" button so I could show my wife how popular I am on an internet forum.
:lol:
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A 'like' button without a 'drivel' button makes no sense.

The best guard against abuse is transparency. A local interest forum that I monitor has such a feature, if you 'like' a post, your name gets affixed with a small logo. The cliques become pretty clear after a while.
 
ClimbnSink said:
How would someone find the place?
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I think the usual route is by hearing about it on another aviation forum. That's hit or miss, and I think that's why there is less message traffic there.

Why would they stay?
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I can only speak for myself, but it's not a big deal to click on that bookmark when I am making the rounds of aviation boards. However, there don't seem to be as many threads that I'm interested in as on the red board and the blue board.
 
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