I don't really get how this works (and didn't realize it existed until now)... Why does it 'cost' me to like posts???
It's probably because you shouldn't "spam" likes, liking every post you see. Instead you will be urged to only like the posts that you truly believe are gems in order to keep your rep (called credits in the new system).
I don't. I like posts that I like or agree with. The whole system seems rather pointless to me. I'm certainly not going to stop liking posts just because I lost all my little green dots. Oh the horror!
As the credits system goes way beyond just liking/unliking maybe there is some other reasons that have more impact than loosing those exquisite green dots. I do however not know particularly much about it, so I can be wrong. Something I do know is that Daniel is still working on the system and I hope we'll get some official announcement of how it works when he has it set up.
So ...if you 'like' posts, it serves to 'unlike' your own 'likes'? At what point do you start to accumulate RED dots? Is is just me, or is this tipping into loony territory?
Not sure what you mean here, but as far as I know getting a like earns you 2 credits, and liking one removes 0.01 credit, so it's not much of a deal anyway.
These kinds of forum rep systems always have some sort of governor on them. On our old platform the governor was dictatorial and went something like this: You can only give rep to a given person once in ever X number of reps given. Meaning if I gave you rep today, I would have to give rep to X number of other people over X amount of time before I could give you rep again. There is a maximum number of reps you can give within an allotted time, regardless of to whom they are given. Hit that max and you can't give rep to anyone again until X amount of time has expired. That was the old platform. The governance on the new platform is an economic one. A member can like all the posts they want, but there is a cost associated with it. That's the governance. Plus the new platform allows the garnering of rep for other activities that support and grow the venue. The old platform did not. That's neither ridiculous nor arbitrary (You didn't say, that. Someone else did in a different thread on this same topic.) It makes very good sense. It gives incentive for activities that increase forum dynamism. It's very forward thinking.
Just being curious, do you know if there will be some kind of limit (like 0 credits), so that you can't like every post you see? (Right now you will end with something like several thousand credits below zero eventually, but it wont hurt you in any way)
It's a good question and makes good sense. If the paradigm is to be an economic one, then the paradigm is broken when extreme debt is meaningless. In any real economic system, being allowed to fall into an endless hole of debt and still somehow acquiring goods devalues the fiat currency utterly. One should only be able to spend what one has, not what one hasn't.
Based on my list of transactions, I actually gained $0.01 for liking a post. So apparently liking a post now gives you credits. I'm confused.
I believe that is a mistake done on Daniels part (no accusation, just a guess) so that instead of charging you for $0.01 it earns you the same amount. Earlier you lost $1 each time you liked a post, and I think it was supposed to just be lowered to $0.01, maybe a minus-sign is missing somewhere.
www.writingforums.org/credits Sadly though there is no way to see your current amount, only the "transactions".
Sorry to bring this thread back to life, but I'm curious about something. What happens if someone likes a post that then gets deleted? Does the poster still get the like? If the mods want, they can like this post and then delete it to see what happens.
Try not to pay much attention to the credits section. This will be overhauled soon. In fact, I may do away with the credit system entirely and have reputation rely solely on likes until a new system can be purchased, coded, and implemented. I'm unsure. I think most likely the like would be deleted as well, but I can't say for sure. I wouldn't worry about it.
