How does the repuation system work on forum profiles?
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I was surfing around in the forums and found that there is a reputation number on the profile page of forum users and wondered how this number is computed.I looked around and didn't find an explanation on those. The old forums had rankings and there was a "what is this" link that showed what those are and how people achieve those rankings.I have to say that ranks like "mad scientist" and "area 51 Engineer" sounded really cool ;-) .Would any one care to explain how the reputation system works?
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Hi @musimbate,
It's still evolving, but here's some info: https://forum.qt.io/topic/51922/
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For me, personally, I think the option to down vote should be completely removed.
If you doubt or wonder why just take a look at StackOverflow. That place has become a haven for reputation seekers and people that get some sad satisfaction when they can swoop in and cast a down vote.
Yes you can still find valuable information there and often answers are good but when people are given the ability to down vote something it often turns really bad. I've run a number of forums in my life and usually when people get control of reputation as in the form of up/down voting it goes bad pretty quickly.
My case in point:
I found a post on StackOverflow about Delphi and having some issues with manifest inclusion into the compiled project. I happened to be having the exact same issue. So I read the post with interest and tried the suggestions. They almost worked but due to a few compiler changes some of the steps changed.
So I posted a reply. I stated that I was using Delphi XE2 and that following the steps did not work however if I changed step X, and Y that it would work. So any one using XE2 you can do this ... to get past this issue.
My post got down voted three times for adding to a very old post (2 years).
To me, any contribution should be rewarded. I mean I could have just read their steps, figured out my own fix and went on with my life but I took the time to post a reply just in case someone else out there was suffering the same issue.
I don't care if the post is 18 years old. A contribution that could potentially help someone in the same situation should NEVER be down voted.
I then made the mistake of adding a comment to one of the recent replies that was stating this was a really old thread. I commented, sure it's old but the issue is pertinent and my addition helps someone with this specific problem. Down voting it is just wrong.
Well that did it. My post went about as negative as the system would allow. I didn't insult anyone, I simply stated that I thought the ability to down vote was wrong. It sealed my fate on StackOverflow. I won't post there again.
It seemed like there were people that had never used Delphi in their life visiting that thread just to cast their down vote. It felt like a lynching mob.
So far Qt forums have been nothing but good and very helpful. But if down votes start happening then I'll be out of here too. I'm human, I make mistakes, I don't always know the best way to do something, but I try to help. If my attempt to help is off base or wrong, then either ignore it or let me know as some of you have done in the past so I too can learn. I respond well to this and I think most people will. If you cruise through and hit the down vote button then be forewarned... It becomes habit forming. Soon you will be down voting things to get your fill for the day just like the people over at StackOverflow.
If you don't have a positive thing to add, perhaps you shouldn't add anything at all.
Here is an interesting post on StackOverflow that sort of sums it up:
http://michael.richter.name/blogs/why-i-no-longer-contribute-to-stackoverflowMy father was a physicist, the old kind with a Doctorate of Philosophy, specializing in physics. His dissertation defense was 8+ hours long sitting in front of 12 Brown University staff. He was asked questions not only in physics, but world economics, Latin grammer, chemistry and just about every other subject area possible. The idea was to create thinkers and this panel wanted to make sure the PhD behind his name meant he could think.
My father used to say (and we've all heard it before), there is no such thing as a stupid question.
The ability to down vote ANY post promotes the very idea that someone thinks what someone else says is stupid.
-
For me, personally, I think the option to down vote should be completely removed.
If you doubt or wonder why just take a look at StackOverflow. That place has become a haven for reputation seekers and people that get some sad satisfaction when they can swoop in and cast a down vote.
Yes you can still find valuable information there and often answers are good but when people are given the ability to down vote something it often turns really bad. I've run a number of forums in my life and usually when people get control of reputation as in the form of up/down voting it goes bad pretty quickly.
My case in point:
I found a post on StackOverflow about Delphi and having some issues with manifest inclusion into the compiled project. I happened to be having the exact same issue. So I read the post with interest and tried the suggestions. They almost worked but due to a few compiler changes some of the steps changed.
So I posted a reply. I stated that I was using Delphi XE2 and that following the steps did not work however if I changed step X, and Y that it would work. So any one using XE2 you can do this ... to get past this issue.
My post got down voted three times for adding to a very old post (2 years).
To me, any contribution should be rewarded. I mean I could have just read their steps, figured out my own fix and went on with my life but I took the time to post a reply just in case someone else out there was suffering the same issue.
I don't care if the post is 18 years old. A contribution that could potentially help someone in the same situation should NEVER be down voted.
I then made the mistake of adding a comment to one of the recent replies that was stating this was a really old thread. I commented, sure it's old but the issue is pertinent and my addition helps someone with this specific problem. Down voting it is just wrong.
Well that did it. My post went about as negative as the system would allow. I didn't insult anyone, I simply stated that I thought the ability to down vote was wrong. It sealed my fate on StackOverflow. I won't post there again.
It seemed like there were people that had never used Delphi in their life visiting that thread just to cast their down vote. It felt like a lynching mob.
So far Qt forums have been nothing but good and very helpful. But if down votes start happening then I'll be out of here too. I'm human, I make mistakes, I don't always know the best way to do something, but I try to help. If my attempt to help is off base or wrong, then either ignore it or let me know as some of you have done in the past so I too can learn. I respond well to this and I think most people will. If you cruise through and hit the down vote button then be forewarned... It becomes habit forming. Soon you will be down voting things to get your fill for the day just like the people over at StackOverflow.
If you don't have a positive thing to add, perhaps you shouldn't add anything at all.
Here is an interesting post on StackOverflow that sort of sums it up:
http://michael.richter.name/blogs/why-i-no-longer-contribute-to-stackoverflowMy father was a physicist, the old kind with a Doctorate of Philosophy, specializing in physics. His dissertation defense was 8+ hours long sitting in front of 12 Brown University staff. He was asked questions not only in physics, but world economics, Latin grammer, chemistry and just about every other subject area possible. The idea was to create thinkers and this panel wanted to make sure the PhD behind his name meant he could think.
My father used to say (and we've all heard it before), there is no such thing as a stupid question.
The ability to down vote ANY post promotes the very idea that someone thinks what someone else says is stupid.
@SysTech yes, I am aware of the possible downsides of downvoting. And if things get ugly, I will definitely take out the possibility to downvote.
And in case you see that kind of activity, please ping me on chat, I try to follow the forum closely, but due to the amount of activity here and all the other things I look after, I don't see everything. So if you could act as a canary in a coalmine, I would appreciate it.
However thus far I have not seen this negative activity in the Qt community. I believe it is a mix of people having valid technical reasons to ask questions, the focal point that Qt itself provides, and the positive attitude of the really active posters here.
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@SysTech yes, I am aware of the possible downsides of downvoting. And if things get ugly, I will definitely take out the possibility to downvote.
And in case you see that kind of activity, please ping me on chat, I try to follow the forum closely, but due to the amount of activity here and all the other things I look after, I don't see everything. So if you could act as a canary in a coalmine, I would appreciate it.
However thus far I have not seen this negative activity in the Qt community. I believe it is a mix of people having valid technical reasons to ask questions, the focal point that Qt itself provides, and the positive attitude of the really active posters here.
Thanks for all you do. I will let you know if it starts to happen. So far it has not and I hope it doesn't.
As I mentioned this place has been one of the most helpful places I've visited in a very long time. I'd like to see it stay that way!
Some really great people here and it actually makes learning Qt fun!
