Your feedback on features affected by the upgrade

Sure, easy for you to ask, with your buttload of green bars and your contributor's badge! What about the poor and needy?

 

I wouldn't call it an obsession. Simply pointing out inconsistencies between the old system and the new one. I for one don't care if things change, but it would be nice to understand up front how and why they are changing.

 

You're right. I guess I'm in the 1%.

 

Hi,

Again this is what I see now.

Cheers, Greg.

 

Sorry,

Now I can't even upload the file. It just tells me there's a security error.

Cheers, Greg.

 

testing to see if i got mine back..................




so, how come you and a couple of others got theirs, ed?... huh?... HUH?
[who'd you pay and how much'll it cost me? ]

 

Relax people, they are only green bars. Daniel will get it sorted, nothing to fret over.

 

Hi Daniel,

Security error at least seems to have gone. This is what I see now. Can you fix it again?

Thanks Greg.

 

Care to explain why? I like giving likes. It's a quick way to say I agree and/or someone made me laugh, and I've been giving likes to new members if they take the time to write a nice intro. I think it says, welcome.

I don't mind that reps and likes are two different things. And frankly, I don't care if I do or don't have any. That would be up to the person who feels they want to give you some. But why the discouragement for giving likes? That's mean.

How about giving reps for good critiques, or time invested in critiquing in the workshop? And reps for those blogs or sticky entries like Cog's pages on plots and characters? Something connected to writing advice?

It makes sense that likes and reps are different. But it doesn't equal anything out to punish people for giving likes.

 

So, I have been handing out "likes" like Halloween treats and then wondering where have all my reputations gone! ....nay

 

It makes no sense. Having them mean different things makes sense, but your rational sounds more like you want them to mean the same thing. If you want likes given out more selectively, that's like saying you want them to be more like reps.

I say, vive la différence.

 

So, increase the number of 'likes' required to convert it into a rep point.

 

I don't think it should diminish someone's reputation if they give out likes. Reputation is earned, not something you can give away.

@Daniel: How about a system in which, once a week (for example), everyone receives a certain number of "likes" they can give away? These likes don't appear on their own "likes received" count - they're, in effect, a salary, and are just for giving away. They can then give away that many likes over the course of the week. If they run out of them, they can't give any more likes until the next week comes along and they receive their next "paycheck" of likes. This would discourage people from giving away likes willy-nilly, but would not adversely affect their own reputations.

Maybe the number of "likes" a member receives in each paycheck can be proportional to their own reputation - the number of likes they've received from other members. Or there could be a formula involving seniority (time since joining the forum), likes received, resources added, etc. So a member can get a "raise" if he or she contributes resources, etc. to the forum.

If you want, you could make it so that these paycheck likes do not accumulate; a member couldn't hoard likes for a year and then suddenly give away ten thousand likes in one go, so to speak.

Once again, in this system I'm proposing, only the likes received from other members appear below your avatar on your posts. The likes you receive in each paycheck do not - they're just for giving away.

 

That would explain why I have so many rep bars.

I do like @minstrel's idea. It sounds reasonable, and that way people won't abuse the likes system. minstrel, I'm going to go ahead and like your post. This better not take away any of my bars or else...

 

I've still not heard a rational explanation for why there's any impact.

How about a different approach: give people clear guidelines for what earns reps then give them the option of giving either a rep or a like, but not both. I could give a 'like' for making me laugh and a rep for some key writing advice or a great suggestion like the one I'm making here.

Then you could either connect the green bars to reps and leave the likes as is, or you could do that and perhaps add a green bar for some large quantity of likes, say 2 or 3 times as many reps.

So for example 100 reps = 1 bar and 300 likes = one bar.

 

I'd be happy just to have a cohesive, readily available statement of policy on rep (and likes), including what rep points and/or likes mean and what my current status is on each. Taking a black box approach, like we have now, renders the entire system meaningless.

 

I agree with ed...

I also think it's kind of um... ridiculous that we loose out LGBs (little green bars ) when we like posts. I have grown very accustomed to just being able to click 'like' for a post that I like, and don't particularly like the idea of likes being limited. I would give up the little green bars if it meant that I could keep doling out likes... I like liking things...

 

It appears we've both given up our green bars because we like giving likes. Kind of makes it a badge of honor not to have any.

 

It does kinda...

(It also kinda streamlines the look of the badges too)

 

I was thinking the same thing when I first saw that Daniel was docking people rep for liking posts. Having no rep would indicate generosity and selflessness in that case, and being rep-free would pretty much make a member Buddha.

Of course, the problem with being able to give out unlimited likes is that it makes likes meaningless. Everyone will quickly get a bazillion likes and who cares?

 

Likes should be meaningless, IMO. They are a small gesture saying that you agree with something, or like how it was written.

It would be awesome if there was also a 'rep' option that could be reserved for things that you really like a lot... But that seems like it would be really hard to do with the current software.