Thread: Mis-Use of the Reputation System

Members, I am seeing far too much misuse of the rep system. Please see the rules on giving rep and thanks, found here: Rules for Site Reputation and Thanks

You are not to thank people for making a request. That is a ridiculous reason to inflate someone's rep. Give them thanks for good posts, for making a nice giveaway, for helping you in the help section, for filling a request, or for working in the Intro section frequently. Do not thank them for asking for an invite, that is ridiculous. Similarly, do not groan them for making a request just because you think the request wasn't well thought out enough.

Additionally, do not thank people for bumping your thread! The only person allowed to bump a thread is the thread creator. If you thank someone for breaking the rules, you could face an infraction.

This is not the first time I've had to make an announcement about this and it probably won't be the last but be forewarned - from now on, I will not stop with simply removing the improper rep. If I am forced to hand out infractions for rep mis-use I will, so please do not force my hand. Use common sense and rep posts that are useful to the community.

Thanks everyone

--JJ

I knew this was about to happen if everyone got the power to rep!!anyway thanks jenna for this...really an intelligent move

What if a user puts a lot of their time and effort into applying for an invite or giveaway? Most people just say "Hi, I want XXX invite. Here are ratio proofs and speedtest. Invite me.", while few really show that they want the invite, and its very clear they spend their time, the most precious limited resource in the world, to apply for an invite. I'm not allowed to thank them for spending so much time on their post? Why should they only receive credit on posts when others benefit from it?

I don't agree with you on that JJ, but your're the boss. If you say that I can't thank my invitees for being good members, showing me they want an invite, showing that they will use the invite, and they arn't just a collector, then I won't. I will feel empty inside though because I like giving thanks and rep to users who earn it, and receiving an infraction for thanking a user for their time spent is outrageous.

This is in regard to Engineer 's comment.People put time on their invite coz they really want the invite but i dont think that there is a need to thank them.If someone wants something they ask for it.That is personal gain.So personally i dont feel there is any need.If a person's request is not good their chances of getting invite is less.
But the reputation thing is very important in our forum.It cant be just given away coz someone wants something and requests for it.
I saw there was a sheep thanksgiving in one of the vip member's request.Personally i think the thanks and the groan button should be removed from the request section.There is no need to thank the inviter in the request section also as the inviter will anyway get 20 rep points for fulfilling a request.
I accept Justjenna's point

so does thanking give power, i though it was only the rep system

Originally Posted by luhar

This is in regard to Engineer 's comment.People put time on their invite coz they really want the invite but i dont think that there is a need to thank them.If someone wants something they ask for it.That is personal gain.So personally i dont feel there is any need.If a person's request is not good their chances of getting invite is less.
But the reputation thing is very important in our forum.It cant be just given away coz someone wants something and requests for it.
I saw there was a sheep thanksgiving in one of the vip member's request.Personally i think the thanks and the groan button should be removed from the request section.There is no need to thank the inviter in the request section also as the inviter will anyway get 20 rep points for fulfilling a request.
I accept Justjenna's point

I totally agree with this. Putting time and effort into a request is purely for self-benefit. It is not really contributing. Thanks should be for helping others, not helping yourself.

Originally Posted by luhar

This is in regard to Engineer 's comment.People put time on their invite coz they really want the invite but i dont think that there is a need to thank them.If someone wants something they ask for it.That is personal gain.So personally i dont feel there is any need.If a person's request is not good their chances of getting invite is less.
But the reputation thing is very important in our forum.It cant be just given away coz someone wants something and requests for it.
I saw there was a sheep thanksgiving in one of the vip member's request.Personally i think the thanks and the groan button should be removed from the request section.There is no need to thank the inviter in the request section also as the inviter will anyway get 20 rep points for fulfilling a request.
I accept Justjenna's point

Originally Posted by mtguy8787

I totally agree with this. Putting time and effort into a request is purely for self-benefit. It is not really contributing. Thanks should be for helping others, not helping yourself.

I feel as if it is hard to explain my position on this. Once you have been around on T-I for as long as I have, you'll know what I mean. Just ask el2em, theLetterZ, Buckyshort and other VIP/Exalted members who have been here longer than me. They thank users who put effort into their posts. By effort, I dont mean "I spent 20 minutes making ratio proofs" because they think that adding more ratio proofs will guarantee them an invite. I am sure that when they thank someone's post, they dont think "hmmm, does this post help anyone else? if not, im not giving them rep even if it is a good post".

The only example I can think of right now is a restaurant(pretty stupid example, yea i know). Say you go into a restaurant, and you order your food and wait for the waiters to serve the food. This is like applying for the application. The more they order(The more effort they put into their post), the owners and waiters of the restaurant know to pay attention to them more because they know that those users really like their food(They really want the invite). Once you get the food, and pay(receiving the invite, and returning iGiver), the owners and waiters WILL thank you for choosing their restaurant.

While you may say that they have to thank everyone, that is not necessarily true. When you leave the restaurant, they might just nod(saying Thanks, but not actually communicating it, so they don't really mean it) or they will say Thanks, shake your hand, and try to accommodate you in anyway possible. Its not like those people who get nods didnt get served food(aka didnt get the invite. They still did, but since they didnt spend their time on their application, the inviter does not know whether the user deserved the invite or not, but they are thankful for the iGiver).
If you get a Thanks, it means the inviter believes that you will be a very good user, will obey the rules, and will do anything to avoid doing anything that might risk that account. The inviter is thanking them for being a good user.

I'm not sure if that restaurant example helped my argument at all, but it kinda works. Again, its hard to explain, so you don't have to side with me on this; im just saying that thanking users who spend their time acknowledging you, the tracker, and how much it is worth is less likely to do anything bad than another user because they will actually read the rules, the faq, and use the account to the fullest should be allowed.

But since Jenna said no, I wont be doing this because I don't want infractions... Sorry future potential invitees. I guess my only choice would be to return a positive iGiver, even though I believe that iGivers should only be used to determine how many invites a user has given out, not whether they have been a good user or not. Rep determines that easily here, but now we can't rep users for being good members. Whatever, rules are rules >.>

I would like to apologise first to Engineer if he feels i am against his ideas.
To his restaurant example
request section = restaurant
member requesting invite = person who goes to eat at restaurant
Member who gives the invite = owner and waiter of restaurant
Other members = passerby
In this condition the people who walk outside the restaurant dont go inside the restaurant and thank the member for eating well or coz the member has ordered well.It sounds ok if the owner {inviter} thanks the requesting member.This is exactly same like other members going into the request section and thanking the member for requesting well

I don't think you're against my ideas, I just feel that you don't fully understand my point of view.
I could try to explain it further, but I think that Im just going to give up. The rules won't change with my whining here, so I won't bother. Rules are rules, so I'll just have to change my point of view so that I don't get infractions for something as minor as this.