I enabled the reputation system a short while ago, but didn't really configure it until just now, and didn't really explain it to anyone either. So I figured everyone should know how it works and what it does.
Basically, the reputation system is a community-driven user rating system. So if you think a user is a really awesome poster, you would give them a positive reputation hit, or if you think they're the worst thing to happen to the forums, you'd give them a negative rep hit.
You'll have more or less impact based on how your own reputation, your post count, and how long you've been a forum member.
Basically, what all this means is that older, better posters will have more impact than newer, worse ones. At least, if the system works.
The green (or black, or red) boxes in a poster's name indicate their reputation visually, which might be handy.
- For every half-year you've been a member, you get 1 rep power point.
- For every 150 posts you've made, you get 1 rep power point
- For every 50 points of reputation you have, you get 1 rep power point.
- If your reputation is below -20, your rep hits don't count.
- If your post count is below 25, your rep hits don't count.
- As an added incentive to use the system, if you accumulate over 5000 reputation points, you'll be able to give yourself a custom title
Some guidelines:
- Try to give out more positive reputation hits than negative ones.
- No soliciting rep hits.
- Don't take it too seriously.
- Leave comments with your rep hits.
Your feedback is anonymous to the recipient, but admins and mods can see who left it. Don't use reputation as an opportunity to flame people anonymously, or we'll have to lay the smack down on you.
To prevent abuse, you have to rep 15 other people before you can hit the same person again. This should prevent people from giving the same person too much grief or negatively repping them too much.
I'll be fine-tuning the reputation system as I see how well it works, so settings may change.
Feel free to post any questions or problems with the system in this thread.