[TB4life]

Originally Posted by Chester

Work.?????????????????? It was a few dozen keystrokes.

Haha! What can I say? No excuses, no excuses.

[meljean]

Well thank heavens I read this, never even noticed this forum was down here. All along I have been thinking the scale thing was a feather duster, so now that I know something new, I can go to bed refreshed and excited to see the new day.

And yes, it did occur to me to wonder what a feather duster had to do with giving someone a reputation, but who was I to question???

[TB4life]

Originally Posted by meljean

Well thank heavens I read this, never even noticed this forum was down here. All along I have been thinking the scale thing was a feather duster, so now that I know something new, I can go to bed refreshed and excited to see the new day.

And yes, it did occur to me to wonder what a feather duster had to do with giving someone a reputation, but who was I to question???

That is simply hilarious. I thought that's what it was for the longest time, too! Then someone mentioned it was scales, and I was like "Duhhhhhhh!".

[Mufussa]

bahahahahahaha!.....oh well, at least i don't feel so silly now! lol!.... classic!

[TB4life]

Originally Posted by Mufussa

bahahahahahaha!.....oh well, at least i don't feel so silly now! lol!.... classic!

You thought that's what it was, too?? We're such d0rks!

[vxf111]

I can't quite figure out... what are the point of the reputation comments?!

[Berlunz]

Originally Posted by vxf111

I can't quite figure out... what are the point of the reputation comments?!

Its kind of like a reputation in real life. People get good reputation by word of mouth in real life (Like a business that does a good job will get more customers etc). Kind of like a food critic rating a restaurant. Lol enough examples. When you give someone a GOOD rep its letting them know that their post was excellently constructed/stated and helpful/kind. The bars under your name are what is created when you give someone a good reputation. The more reputation someone has the more credible their advice in general on this board is. It shows a history of someone with good advice to give who gives it well or someone who is very helpful.

Things like that come in great handy in things like breeding/health/training more than Horse chat or off topic. This way it also helps avoid people who are trolling or who may not know what they are talking about. Someone with a lot of good rep is usually someone that its a good idea to take advice from (not always but no system is perfect). So if you post in horse health about getting a shinier horse and someone with one green dot says to feed your horse candy bars and spray them with a ton of show sheen and another with two gold stars says to change their diet to include certain vitamins and minerals so the shine is natural, by this example its obvious which is the correct choice but not everyone is horse savvy enough to tell the difference.

Bad rep is generally given for someone who is being excessively rude in a post (usually attacking other members) or who is giving extremely dangerous advice. If it boils down to just not agreeing with someones advice then no rep is given.

Rep is also a way that we, as members, can hold other members accountable for their actions. The internet is a big pool of anonymity, we usually get no punishments for actions here that would normally get us in big trouble in real life. Rep is a way to let the members help keep other members in line (like when in a thread someone starts in on personal attacks).

Rep is not to be used as a retaliation or to give to someone who starts arguing methods with you (as long as they stay civil).

[vxf111]

Does someone actually monitor the reputation to ensure it's correct? If it's self-policed, then I guess I don't see a ton of value in it (like on Craig's List where often the mob is wrong, but they are the majority so what they say goes). But it's good to know what it's there for. I was curious!

[Berlunz]

Originally Posted by vxf111

Does someone actually monitor the reputation to ensure it's correct? If it's self-policed, then I guess I don't see a ton of value in it (like on Craig's List where often the mob is wrong, but they are the majority so what they say goes). But it's good to know what it's there for. I was curious!

Nothing wrong with asking good questions . Yes its monitored in many ways. First being that the mods have a big list of the reputation recently given (both good and bad). They check the bad reps every so often and read the comments to make sure its not being obviously abused. So if they see a bad rep given with the comment "You are stupid" then obviously they look into it. They may even negate it before the person given the rep sees the dot. When you see a grey dot it means the reputation did nothing positive or negative. Sometimes this is because a mod has altered a badly given rep point.

Another way its controlled is that newer members cannot give rep for a certain time period. This prevents people from just coming in and going nuts with rep. Members have to earn their ability to give rep by proving they can be responsible (by behaving in general for a certain period of time/number of posts). So sometimes when you see a grey dot, its grey because that person is not yet capable of giving reputation.

The last pretty much fail proof method is the indepth mod review. So if you get a bad rep that you think was wrongly given and the comment was not suspicious enough for a mod to catch it off the bat, then you can PM a mod with the information asking that the bad reputation be altered. The mod will look into the situation more fully (checking out the posts and mods can see who gave the reputation). Then alter it based on an unbiased opinion as outsiders. They sometimes will reduce the bad rep, other times they will negate it completely or they will leave it be and inform you that your actions were deserving of the reputation given.

Luckily rep can be left anonymous so you dont need to fear someone giving you back bad rep just for giving them one. When you leave a rep the only thing a person will see is what you type. So many members get into the habit of leaving their name or nickname at the end of a rep comment. For instance when I give rep I would type in the box "Great post, very excellently stated with wonderful sources-Berlunz". So people know why the rep was given and who it was from. But if you dont leave your name the people have no way of finding out. So often times you will find that bad rep is annonymous. Rep is made this way for a reason, to prevent massive bad rep wars of people trying to "get back at each other".

[Maisie]

Berlunz

I think you deserve a Rep for explaining all that so well !
Unfortunately, I've temporarily used up all my powers to give you one !!!!!!!!!!!!