Thread: Reputation in Forums

I have found a few very good posts here on the forums and I would like to give some people reputation. I am a player of over a year now, but just recently got involved in the forum stuff, so I'm still learning it. I read the FAQ on reputation and the way it describes how to give reputation is that I should see a symbol that looks like a little scale and if I click it, I can give someone reputation. Unfortunately, I see no little symbol that looks like a scale. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right place; I would really appreciate any help someone might be able to give on this subject. Thanks!

It is not a scale. It is a little dark gray six pointed star on the lower left of a post just to the left of the gold Reputation text.

Click the little reputation link at the bottom of each post. You have two options, to approve or disapprove.

You can't disapprove a post until you have a bunch of reputation.

Each little green reputation rectangle represents 100 reputation points.

You can see all the posts of yours that have received reptutation, by hovering the mouse over My Preferences (at the top of the screen) and choosing My Forum Settings.

You can also see what people wrote or did not write when giving reputation to you, by click the same Reputation link at the bottom of your post.

The scale icon was with the old forums. The new forums have the star now. From what you said, it looks like the FAQ was never updated.

Forum reputation is useless, and little more than a in-crowd popularity contest.

I can gain reputation at a pretty decent rate in the forums, but everytime that happens, there's always someone that gives negative reputation which subtracts 20 somewhat reputation points from my total.

I can see subtracting points for giving inaccurate information, but subtracting points for having an opposing opinion is sad and discourages people from giving honest input on forum subjects.

Originally Posted by LadyVix

Forum reputation is useless, and little more than a in-crowd popularity contest.

I can gain reputation at a pretty decent rate in the forums, but everytime that happens, there's always someone that gives negative reputation which subtracts 20 somewhat reputation points from my total.

I can see subtracting points for giving inaccurate information, but subtracting points for having an opposing opinion is sad and discourages people from giving honest input on forum subjects.

Apparently you find reputation important enough to be peeved off by the negative reputation you've received.

The negative reputation I've received has been amusing. I have caused keyboard rage in someone somewhere.

I was wondering about this too, and I only saw a reputation thing on my own posts, and when I clicked on it, nothing happened.

Same, i cant see any star icon for rep on any other posts exept on my posts

Originally Posted by Dankanthegood

Same, i cant see any star icon for rep on any other posts exept on my posts

It could be a forum setting somewhere. Dunno. I don't believe I did anything to activate them.

The same thing appears to be happening to me, too. I can only see the Reputation icon on my own post. Strange. I appreciate all the comments, although it does raise this new question lol.

I think the design of it is to cause posters to want to watch what they say and therefore earn the respect of the community by being a "thoughtful/courteous etc." poster but I've seen the opposite also. There are some here with a very high rating that have pulled off some pretty lousy comments imo and you wonder how they got the high rating.

All it takes is for a person to post a comment that many others agree with such as "Turbine stinks blah blah"...and all those who are having a bad day may chime in and throw some rep that person's way just because.

In theory it's an okay idea...in practice...not entirely.

Originally Posted by WarDad71

There are some here with a very high rating that have pulled off some pretty lousy comments imo and you wonder how they got the high rating.

Because we're hilarious most of the time and d-bags only some of the time. Most of my rep is due to me causing someone somewhere to LOL.

Originally Posted by LadyVix

Forum reputation is useless, and little more than a in-crowd popularity contest.

I can gain reputation at a pretty decent rate in the forums, but everytime that happens, there's always someone that gives negative reputation which subtracts 20 somewhat reputation points from my total.

I can see subtracting points for giving inaccurate information, but subtracting points for having an opposing opinion is sad and discourages people from giving honest input on forum subjects.

I have to agree with you, though not everyone uses it that way. I, personally, tend to ignore my own rep because at the end of the day ... who cares who likes who? So long as something I say changes just one mind per topic, I could have -1mil rep and it wouldnt bug me one bit.

It's nice to be able to commend someone for writing something insightful, providing a great tip, or even just cracking you up, without having to quote them and say "that is AWESOME" and sound like you're being sarcastic or a suck up. As for how much someone has? Occasionally you can tell they're well rounded and someone you should listen to, but usually you can tell that just by following their posts.

Ultimately, click the little (hard to see) thingy by the word "reputation" in a post if you feel like giving them a gold star for the day. Sure, it could be used to rep any post at all, but in the long run it shouldn't matter enough to worry about.


(It can also make someone feel good about something they wrote, which honestly isn't a bad feeling to have.)

But that's just my opinion anyway, it'll affect everyone to a different extent.

The icon is almost invisible on my screen, but if I hover the mouse pointer over the word reputation in the lower left corner of the post box, it changes color and shows up. There is a setting somewhere that allows you to turn off reputation for yourself. Not sure what the default setting is.

Originally Posted by Chiot

You can't disapprove a post until you have a bunch of reputation.

Do you happen to know what that amount is? (Curious about the single instance of negative rep I've gotten.)

Originally Posted by Crell_1

Do you happen to know what that amount is? (Curious about the single instance of negative rep I've gotten.)

There are a very small number of people in the forum who can give negative rep. I don't have enough rep to do it personally.

Originally Posted by Crell_1

Do you happen to know what that amount is? (Curious about the single instance of negative rep I've gotten.)

Probably >1000 rep, which is 10 of those little green rectangles. So if you're getting negative rep, it's not going to be hard to guess who gave it to you.

Here's an easy way to test it. Try clicking mine ;-)

Originally Posted by Chiot

Probably >1000 rep, which is 10 of those little green rectangles. So if you're getting negative rep, it's not going to be hard to guess who gave it to you.

If its really only >1k rep, its a decently wide range of people and I'll probably have no idea who did it. if its something like 10k rep.. I'd be able to spot you from a mile off...

Originally Posted by Crell_1

If its really only >1k rep, its a decently wide range of people and I'll probably have no idea who did it. if its something like 10k rep.. I'd be able to spot you from a mile off...

I'm not sure when I gained the ability to give negative rep. I wish the rep system would go away. It never stopped me from getting infractions, never stopped the manner of how I post and I get negative rep for disagreeing with people.

IMHO it's useless. I keep my little boxes up because I enjoy seeing progression.

Originally Posted by Nymphonic

I'm not sure when I gained the ability to give negative rep. I wish the rep system would go away. It never stopped me from getting infractions, never stopped the manner of how I post and I get negative rep for disagreeing with people.

IMHO it's useless. I keep my little boxes up because I enjoy seeing progression.

You have 11 squares (>1100 rep), and a dude who has 9 squares (>900 but <1000) cannot ... so it is most likely 1000 rep when you can start giving neg rep.

Originally Posted by Chiot

You have 11 squares (>1100 rep), and a dude who has 9 squares (>900 but <1000) cannot ... so it is most likely 1000 rep when you can start giving neg rep.

Your'e probably correct.

It's more than 1000, 1500 iirc. Once you reach the threshhold, you can remove rep from anyone regardless of their rep. I've recieved something like 3k now, but I post a lot. If you're interested in farming forum rep, I suggest posting appropriate and amusing images. I've posted hundreds of extremely useful responses, but I get the bulk of my rep from these.

Originally Posted by geoboy

It's more than 1000, 1500 iirc. Once you reach the threshhold, you can remove rep from anyone regardless of their rep. I've recieved something like 3k now, but I post a lot. If you're interested in farming forum rep, I suggest posting appropriate and amusing images. I've posted hundreds of extremely useful responses, but I get the bulk of my rep from these.

...my wife totally does not quote that to me when I am having .. "conversations" with people who are wrong on forums

nope
nevah
not her...
...

Ice cream anyone?

Originally Posted by Chiot

You have 11 squares (>1100 rep), and a dude who has 9 squares (>900 but <1000) cannot ... so it is most likely 1000 rep when you can start giving neg rep.

Um, not a dude. You can call me dudette if you like though. Now returning the thread to your regularly scheduled conversation.

Originally Posted by geoboy

It's more than 1000, 1500 iirc. Once you reach the threshhold, you can remove rep from anyone regardless of their rep. I've recieved something like 3k now, but I post a lot. If you're interested in farming forum rep, I suggest posting appropriate and amusing images. I've posted hundreds of extremely useful responses, but I get the bulk of my rep from these.

You're right. I just felt compelled to give you +rep.

Originally Posted by Kyrra_T

There are a very small number of people in the forum who can give negative rep. I don't have enough rep to do it personally.

It's not a small number anymore. Sapience commented awhile back that there were plenty of people above the 1500 rep mark now.

ETA: Hmm.. is it only 1000? /shrug I removed my display back when they made the decision that it was ok to display positive rep, but not when people had negative rep. I don't care for double standards. I still participate, but don't care to display my own.

Originally Posted by Ayrolen

It's not a small number anymore. Sapience commented awhile back that there were plenty of people above the 1500 rep mark now.

ETA: Hmm.. is it only 1000? /shrug I removed my display back when they made the decision that it was ok to display positive rep, but not when people had negative rep. I don't care for double standards. I still participate, but don't care to display my own.

I believe the reason for that was because some players purposely provoked people so they could have the negative rep mark, kinda like they wanted to be the bad boys of the forums.

Originally Posted by Nymphonic

I believe the reason for that was because some players purposely provoked people so they could have the negative rep mark, kinda like they wanted to be the bad boys of the forums.

So? Trolls will be trolls. Those cases could have been taken care of individually. That's not to say that they weren't...just sayin'. But anyway, lest I get into trouble, too, I'm done.

Originally Posted by Ayrolen

So? Trolls will be trolls. Those cases could have been taken care of individually. That's not to say that they weren't...just sayin'. But anyway, lest I get into trouble, too, I'm done.

I agree, they could have been dealt with on an individual basis. I could be wrong though, it's quite possible that there was another reason for removing the display for negative rep.

Originally Posted by WarDad71

All it takes is for a person to post a comment that many others agree with such as "Turbine stinks blah blah"...and all those who are having a bad day may chime in and throw some rep that person's way just because.

In theory it's an okay idea...in practice...not entirely.

Reply #3 is a good example:
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...rbine-thinking

I give out positive rep when I read something that improves my brain function and let the chips fall where they may.

Originally Posted by MummyLord

I give out positive rep when I read something that improves my brain function and let the chips fall where they may.

Your post improved my brain function so I gave ya a rep point! But I controlled where the chips fell!

If more people come here looking for this reputation thing, it should be noted that anyone playing for free cannot give reputation. At least, in my experience of playing for free I never saw the Reputation button on anyone's post but my own, and then when I paid some money to become premium it suddenly appeared in the lower left corner of everyone's post. I assume this is part of what Turbine meant by "Community Features: Limited" in their account type comparisons.

Originally Posted by Crell_1

Do you happen to know what that amount is? (Curious about the single instance of negative rep I've gotten.)

I'll confirm that it's 1500 rep in order to give out negative rep.

And yes, there are a few idiots with that much rep that like to give negative rep to someone they don't agree with. Stupid reason to give out negative. The few times I've given out negative rep it was to people who were acting borderline trollish, but hadn't quite hit the point of being reportable. But I've given positive rep to people I disagree with a rather large number of times- especially when they post up a well thought out, reasoned post.

Elinnea- that makes sense why some people can't see the rep link on the posts. Hadn't occurred to me that f2p players might not have it.

Originally Posted by sirwillow

Elinnea- that makes sense why some people can't see the rep link on the posts. Hadn't occurred to me that f2p players might not have it.

It may be a result of some other product tokens in my account (Like the ones enabling me to participate in the F2P beta early on) but I could give rep before I ever gave turbine a dime.

There are occasions where I give rep to people I disagree with, just because I appreciate the manner in which they expressed it. It's not 'i agree/disagree' its, 'Positive contribution to the dialogue' or 'Negative contribution to the dialogue'

Originally Posted by Yula_the_Mighty

It is not a scale. It is a little dark gray six pointed star on the lower left of a post just to the left of the gold Reputation text.

Depending on what you have your colors set to, that star can be very hard to see. It's entirely invisible on my screen.



I wouldn't even have been able to find it if you hadn't described where it was.

Originally Posted by LadyVix

Forum reputation is useless, and little more than a in-crowd popularity contest.

Yeah, it is. Some people go in for that stuff, I guess.

Originally Posted by CWood

Depending on what you have your colors set to, that star can be very hard to see. It's entirely invisible on my screen.



I wouldn't even have been able to find it if you hadn't described where it was.

Keep in mind, you don't have to click on the star to give rep. You can actually click on the word "Reputation" and that works just as well. At least for me in Firefox 4 it does.

Originally Posted by Nymphonic

IMHO it's useless. I keep my little boxes up because I enjoy seeing progression.

In threads where there is a lot of conflicting information being presented, it helps lend credence to players who probably have a good handle on what's actually accurate. When I think a poster is conveying wrong information, I can count on my hands the number of non +Turbine employees I'll think twice before posting messages in reply to the effect of 'You're wrong, this is how it works'. There's a similar number whos posts I make a point to read because of the contributions they make to the community, even if its not something I'm informed on, because its a good way to learn, and because they have a lot of perspective/experience to bring to the table.