New green blobs?

[vis781]

Sorry, i know this isn't about vb, but i was wondering if my screen was on the blink? it seems a green blob has appeared below my location and such on the threads i've posted in. Can anyone tell what that means?

 

[TechGnome]

I believe (if it's what I think it is) that it is an indicator of your reputaion...I think ... I see the scales have appeared as well, which, when clicked will add to that person's reputation based on some formula the admins have picked.
It's a way to tell a user that they have been helpful or not (you can also detract from someone's rep as well)
-tg

 

[vis781]

Ahh, cheers TG

 

[Administrator]

Yep, it's the vBulletin reputation system, we'll give it a shot, this is the perfect place to use it!

 

[TechGnome]

Just so peopl know, Reps are anonymous... so unless you sign it, the recipient won't know who gave the rep. Just so there's no question, I will always sign mine. \

-tg

 

[cjard]

we have them on codeguru, and they're okay.. a bit like ebay feedback, but there's some bits missing from the implementation, we felt - basically, they could do with a bitterness rating too, next to the reputation, a percentage score of the number of times a person rates positive or negative. people who consistently rate negative would have an increasing bitterness rating and their ratings would have less of an impact

persons with high reputation cast a heavier vote, and on CG at least, you cant repeatedly rate a person - you have to spread some love

we have had problems where people rate each other as a matter of course, or write software to repeatedly rate a small handful of nicknames to distort the ratings, but the admin can see this...

 

[TechGnome]

Yeah, we've got them over at VBF as well.... it was a bit rocky at first, but things have smoothed out a bit since and work (for the most part) reasonably well.

-tg

 

[cjard]

i never actually saw a huge value in them - i can generally tell whether a post is well informed and written with care etc. maybe i missed the point of them a little, but i think there's a significant vanity factor and i'm not sure how whatever else they bring, guides and provides for the community

 

[vis781]

I don't see anything wrong with a little bit of healthy competition. Also if you've helped someone and they are feel that you should be rewarded then a system like this can only be a good thing, rating isn't obligatory so frankly, whats the problem?

 

[cjard]

why not just thank them publicly?

what i mean is - it doesnt seem to bring to the community what e.g. Ebay Feedback brings for ebayers

 

[vis781]

I suppose at the end of the day, it's a way for people to interpret the 'usefulness' of an answer. The system is supposed to be saying....

'I have a great reating so therefore chances are what i have said is probably going to be usefull'

 

[Administrator]

The reputation system is not a measure of ONE reply. It is a measure of the replier. For example, there are people on here that contributed quite a bit in replies. Some may be helpful, some may not be, although all replies are beneficial. The reputation system allows you to help "grade" the person and over time it will show who is providing more quality replies.

So again, the system is NOT on a per thread/per post basis, but a measure of the actual person and their contributions.