Reputation / Comment System

[ryan]

ABD,

Thanks for your input and i've personally took the time to go through such a reputation system before implementation. I understand your concerns and yes, it is part and parcel of the "cons" which come together with such a system.

Nonetheless, systems which are based on social and collaborative initatives will also have their fair share of abuse and get-arounds. I expect that certain individuals will want to abuse the system, or rather a minor percentile will do whatever it takes to get their rankings artifically inflated. In good faith, i believe the attitude of the majority users in here use it properly and that good quality content contributors will get rewarded based on the stuff they post.

As with all new implementations, me and the other admins will monitor and track the system for the time being, i believe we got the right people and community culture in place so far.

Originally Posted by Ahbengdriver

This type of rep system had been used on many other forums which I frequent, and let me share my cts for admin's consideration.

I have seen examples where things get out of hand, because:
1. People gang up to up/down the rep pts of others who they deem 'friend' or 'enemy'. Childish n silly.
2. There are people who engage in u-scratch-my-back-and-i'll scratch yours kind of practice. ie A up B, B up C, Cup D..and so on. or 'heh can u up the rep pts of my friend XXX, and I will up yrs in return in future.
3. Some people wanted their pts level to be attained and maintained at certain levels, eg. 33, 88, 69[huh],66[sxx sxx]. In doing so they ask buddies to up/down their pts or silicit from other readers.
4. people mark the pts down, w/o leaving a reason/comment why the post had been disagreed. becomes like a stab in the back thing. No value adding n also creates resentment, n discourages people from speaking their mind.

There are more examples I ve seen. I personally dont like this type of rep system but since the admins had chosen to go with this route, I can respect the good intensions but I just want to say it could potentially get out of hand. I hope BMW forum will not end up like some other forums where such a system had created a lot of unhappiness.

to me the rep points are not important at all n I wouldnt use it as a guage to judge the person making post.

[Kenzo]

Mr Ahbeng, you sound like you're a regular at arofanatics.com!

Originally Posted by Ahbengdriver

This type of rep system had been used on many other forums which I frequent, and let me share my cts for admin's consideration.

I have seen examples where things get out of hand, because:
1. People gang up to up/down the rep pts of others who they deem 'friend' or 'enemy'. Childish n silly.
2. There are people who engage in u-scratch-my-back-and-i'll scratch yours kind of practice. ie A up B, B up C, Cup D..and so on. or 'heh can u up the rep pts of my friend XXX, and I will up yrs in return in future.
3. Some people wanted their pts level to be attained and maintained at certain levels, eg. 33, 88, 69[huh],66[sxx sxx]. In doing so they ask buddies to up/down their pts or silicit from other readers.
4. people mark the pts down, w/o leaving a reason/comment why the post had been disagreed. becomes like a stab in the back thing. No value adding n also creates resentment, n discourages people from speaking their mind.

There are more examples I ve seen. I personally dont like this type of rep system but since the admins had chosen to go with this route, I can respect the good intensions but I just want to say it could potentially get out of hand. I hope BMW forum will not end up like some other forums where such a system had created a lot of unhappiness.

to me the rep points are not important at all n I wouldnt use it as a guage to judge the person making post.

[Ahbengdriver]

Originally Posted by Kenzo

Mr Ahbeng, you sound like you're a regular at arofanatics.com!

its sammyboy.com of cos u wont find me there as 'ah beng'. I use diff nicks there like "mockngbird', 'ryan', 'puny'

[ryan]

Okay guys, please keep this topic straight on.

Any future OT postings will be deleted on the spot.

Cheers and have a great monday (post - WC)

[hitmee]

now i have to think multiple times before i post. scared scared

[kenntona]

What exactly is the objective of the implementation? If it is truly to enhance quality contributions, then the influential factors like post count factors and reputation count factors appeared to contradict the objective, especially given the sub-alliances in the forum. Take for instance, if a group of active forumers with high post count factors and reputation count factors dominate a particular thread, even though it could be deemed "bo liao" by many others, the active forumers rule the post. For instance, if Orh Lu Lu or rex7_vtec posted some juicy pix in an OT format within a post, many of their cliques might not wanna antagonise them by posting a negative feedback. The Sharkies might choose to support Orh Lu Lu, and the admin might choose to supportb rex7_vtec (hypothetically). If the same post is OTed by someone less popular (say MT), the negative sentiment will soar. So it does not really help in improving the quality of postings and contributions owing to the underlying socio political current in the forum. Those who are more popular will be seemed to be having a stronger influence over the agreements of the postings, and inevitably it will lead to a deeper segregation of sub-groups within the forum, or fortifying the existence of many sub-groups. Another instance will be those who are vested commercially in the forum - the sponsors. Now if no one wanna antagonise rex7_vtec because he is the distributor lead to many products, does it reflect a fair system to improve the postings at all?

Think about it, it is not just the quality of contributions we are talking about here, it is also the spread and breadth of forumers the admin wanna see in this forum. A ranking system will means that the groups will simply congregate themselves further from the unagreeable forumers, individually. One instance is someone who contribute numerous useful articles on mods and technical stuffs, but is deemed to be high-handed to a popular group. You will see more disagreements than merits. Things will get personally driven (as seen in many cases). In cases like that, it would still be fruitful for the admin to step in and mediate the ranking platform, which is exactly status quo. Might as well leave it to admin to gauge what is desirable, and what is not......

[Ahbengdriver]

Originally Posted by hitmee

now i have to think multiple times before i post. scared scared

Thats what I meant. On forums sometimes u get carried away saying things without any bad intentions but bcos readers can't see your face, it can be interpretated as hostile. Then u get a few chaps marking yr pts down, so it can potentiallu result in a much quieter forum.

However, one loop hole I ve seen elswehere is for eg. If AH BENG kena 'grounded' n can no longer post, then the same person can create a new ID as AH SENG and still make postings

So please reserve AHSENGDRIVER for me in case kena XXXXXXX

[Ahbengdriver]

Originally Posted by ryan

ABD,

Thanks for your input and i've personally took the time to go through such a reputation system before implementation. I understand your concerns and yes, it is part and parcel of the "cons" which come together with such a system.

Nonetheless, systems which are based on social and collaborative initatives will also have their fair share of abuse and get-arounds. I expect that certain individuals will want to abuse the system, or rather a minor percentile will do whatever it takes to get their rankings artifically inflated. In good faith, i believe the attitude of the majority users in here use it properly and that good quality content contributors will get rewarded based on the stuff they post.

As with all new implementations, me and the other admins will monitor and track the system for the time being, i believe we got the right people and community culture in place so far.

You are welcome. errr... please up my rep points

[Ahbengdriver]

Originally Posted by kenntona

What exactly is the objective of the implementation? If it is truly to enhance quality contributions, then the influential factors like post count factors and reputation count factors appeared to contradict the objective, especially given the sub-alliances in the forum. Take for instance, if a group of active forumers with high post count factors and reputation count factors dominate a particular thread, even though it could be deemed "bo liao" by many others, the active forumers rule the post. For instance, if Orh Lu Lu or rex7_vtec posted some juicy pix in an OT format within a post, many of their cliques might not wanna antagonise them by posting a negative feedback. The Sharkies might choose to support Orh Lu Lu, and the admin might choose to supportb rex7_vtec (hypothetically). If the same post is OTed by someone less popular (say MT), the negative sentiment will soar. So it does not really help in improving the quality of postings and contributions owing to the underlying socio political current in the forum. Those who are more popular will be seemed to be having a stronger influence over the agreements of the postings, and inevitably it will lead to a deeper segregation of sub-groups within the forum, or fortifying the existence of many sub-groups. Another instance will be those who are vested commercially in the forum - the sponsors. Now if no one wanna antagonise rex7_vtec because he is the distributor lead to many products, does it reflect a fair system to improve the postings at all?

Think about it, it is not just the quality of contributions we are talking about here, it is also the spread and breadth of forumers the admin wanna see in this forum. A ranking system will means that the groups will simply congregate themselves further from the unagreeable forumers, individually. One instance is someone who contribute numerous useful articles on mods and technical stuffs, but is deemed to be high-handed to a popular group. You will see more disagreements than merits. Things will get personally driven (as seen in many cases). In cases like that, it would still be fruitful for the admin to step in and mediate the ranking platform, which is exactly status quo. Might as well leave it to admin to gauge what is desirable, and what is not......

Just to add to yours. I once marked someone's rep pts down bcos I think his comments are personal/racial. I left a comment and signed off in CLEAR my name telling him I am in disagreement with his remarks. Next thing I received 10 persons[all must be his gang gang friends] marking my points down. And all these assholes didnt sign off. Why? bcos they dont me to know who they are so I cant retaliate so to speak. They all left same comments, somethg like " why u mark my friend's pts down?" and they all came in matter of within 1 hour, which also makes me wonder if some of them belong to same persons who are using multiple nicknames.

In car forums like ours, this can potentially possible. As we all know, there are SEs and commercial people, and owners of other marques ard besides bimmer fans. I hope ther wont be some LEXUS vs Bimmer, or JAP vs CONTI all out 'war'.

[SMYUEN]

Sorry........

From a pure administrative standpoint, forgive my bluntedness.

But this is a silly system.

Do re-think please my dear admin friends.