SNOWEST: What are these New Reputation Bars???

I had to post just so I could see my new rainbow rep...

Well, that was dissapointing.

christopher said:

Give me a couple weeks before you put my neck in the Guillotine and drop the blade on everything I am trying to do here.

Is that really asking too much???

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OK. You asked. So I'm going to be blunt. Yeah, it might be asking too much.

You took our perfectly functional and comfortable SnoWest forum and started dismantling it in the name of making it better without so much as asking the users how WE thought it was working.

We didn't ask you to come in and help us out. You've said in other posts that you WANTED to come in and make a bunch of changes; and that you had to convince the site owners that you could do it better. Yeah, I understand you have a lot on the line here. But, you ASKED for it.

When it's all said and done, all these changes may make SnoWest the best site on the 'Net. But right now it's unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and clunky. The problems that most users had in the past haven't yet been fixed. New problems have cropped up. There doesn't seem to be any end to the changes, and many of the changes don't make sense to the regular users.

The bottom line is, this transition is painful.

Forum users aren't the most patient people on the planet. If something isn't working like they expect, they either complain LOUDLY about it, or they look somewhere else for something that does work, or both. Of course, with all the experience you have managing forums, I'm sure you know this.

The clock is ticking.

One more thing. There are those who have somehow gotten the impression that I have something against this site making money. I do not. I am a business owner myself, and certainly recognize the need for a business to make money. However, it has been my experience that telling the customers what they want instead of asking them what they want is rarely a profitable business model. In this case, although we don't pay directly for the services provided, the forum users are the customers. It is our use of the forum that is parlayed into advertizing dollars. I wish my customers would be as vocal about what they want as the SnoWest forum users are. And if they were, I certainly wouldn't be so brazen as to ignore them simply because I think I know what they want better than they do. That would be corporate suicide.

Now, if I thought I could make a significant change that would result in a net gain of customers, even at the risk of losing some regulars, I might be willing to take that risk. Or I might not, depending on the risk/reward ratio. Obviously, this has all been calculated by the site owners and the prospect of drawing in new users by revamping the site outweighs the risk of losing some of the old users, even though many of them have been vocal about not wanting these changes (myself included). If all goes perfectly, the losses will be minimal and the gains large. Or, everything could go down the toilet. Probably, though, it will be somewhere in between. I hope the forum thrives, either because of or in spite of the changes. I have no ill will toward the forum or the Admins. I just don't care for what I've seen so far.

In any case, I'm going to hang out for a while longer and see what transpires. And, I will probably continue to be a pain in Christopher's backside during the site transformation. Because, if I don't say anything about changes I don't like, I have no one to blame for them but me. Heck, I might even come up with a good idea that gets built into the site. Like ... listing a threads sub-forum location in the Browse All sections so I have a better idea what the thread is about before I waste bandwidth and server resources by clicking on something I'm probably not interested in and probably won't be responding to.

I put that last part in there just to see how far Christopher reads this post...

ROTFLMGDFAO. Keep the "best bootlicker" ratings private please

just checkin

I wanted to see what my bars looked like.
Probably room for improvement.
I like a challenge.

Mutt

Which coloured bar did you say was the "post whore indicator"?

christopher said:

Reputation, in one form or another, is for the benefit of other members.

It allows the new member, or the casual member to gain some estimation of another person's value on the site.

Most of the people that come onto SnoWest never post a thing. They come SEARCHING for answers to problems.

So, when they come across a post that is discussing the topic of interest to them, and they don't have a CLUE who is talking, whether the guy knows anything about what he is saying, or can be trusted in his opinion, they have to look at what "WE" offer them to make an evaluation.

What we have to offer them is the THANKS ratings and the overall EXPERIENCE ratings.

The THANKS lets them know that other members of the forum think this person has posted VALUABLE-USEFUL information in the past.

The EXPERIENCE rating lets them know he/she is real participant on the forums.

The ACTIVITY rating lets them know how often he/she participates.

Much of what we are trying to do on the forums is squarely aimed at the 32,000 members that are semi-active or inactive in posting.

Remember, 50% of all the registered members on Snowest have either Never posted at all, or only posted once or twice.

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But in the end it is still a popularity contest and not a VALID method of determining the value of a given post. The popular posters will still receive more thanks (a.k.a. rep points) than those who post less or just log on from time to time. As we all know, the volume of posts and activity are not always an indicator of knowledge.
If anything, the new system makes it harder to determine the value of a post. A new or ocassional member must first figure out the complex rating system. Something that has, so far, proven hard for even the more savy users.
Just like our current political situation, change for change sake is often ill-advised and harmful.

christopher said:

he he he.
You laugh.
I have something SPECIAL in mind for our loyal and commited post whores!

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I thought it was a can of spam:face-icon-small-hap

christopher said:

he he he.
You laugh.
I have something SPECIAL in mind for our loyal and commited post whores!

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could it be a picture of Brittney Spears?

christopher said:

You are incorrect sir.
REP points are NOT calculated into this equation, and THANKS are only ONE OF TWENTY different inputs.

Thus they have a MINIMAL IMPACT on the total scrore!

The EXPERIENCE system rates the TOTAL PARTICIPATION of a SnoWest user looking at ALL aspects of his/her membership.

it is a VAST improvement over the highly abused REP system.

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That is, of course, your opinion. One, it seems, that is not shared by many experienced, high participation members on this site.
You still maintain that experience and participation ponts are a VALID and RELIABLE way to judge the worth of a post. It has been shown all too many times that they do NOT.

The bottom line is that you are trying to quantify data that is qualitative. Your equation still includes totally subjective opinions. Manipulate all the equation all you want but it still relies on a fair amount of speculative data. Rendering any conclusions, mute. Regardless the number of "inputs". If any of them are subjective, the end result is subjective and therefore any conclusions are qualitative. Basic statistics.
Your basic premise is flawed. Experience and participation do not necessarily equate quality.

The only way to determine if a poster is informative or full of B.S. is to spend time on the forum. We all have people we agree with on here as well as those with which we do not. No one will ever convince me that a Tapex is a great mountain sled but that does not invalidate their opinions. I just don't share the same ideas. No flashy bars or point system will change that.

Save the bandwidth for more useful stuff. Like spellcheck. (ie..scrore)

We do, however, agree on one point. The old rep system was abused.
Heck, even I was maxed out. Go figure.

ski-doober said:

see ya over at dootalk

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how about sledjunkie.com