One of the most interesting features on the new forums is the "reputation" system that is built-in. In many ways, this replaces the arcane use of post count as a means of determining someone's reliability and contribution to the forums. I thought I'd take a moment to explain how it works.
How do I see my reputation?
On each post, there is a reputation meter below your username. It shows up as a series of green or red squares, indicating positive or negative reputation. The more green squares you have, the higher your rep. The more red squares you have, the worse your rep. You can also roll your move over the rep meter to get a cute description of your current rep.
How do I contribute to someone's rep?
If you come across a post that you find to be particularly useful, or particularly un-helpful, then you may want to assign it positive or negative rep. To do so, click the reputation icon in the upper right of the post. It's next to the post number, and looks like a document with a green plus sign on it.
How is my rep calculated?
There is quite a complex algorithm in place for rep calculation, which takes into account many factors. The core concept you need to understand is that you not only have a reputation level, but you also have a "reputation-giving power," as well. Your reputation-giving power increases as you prove yourself to be a solid contributor to the forum community. So, if a brand new member gives me rep points, it won't add a very significant amount of rep to my status. But, if a member who has a great deal of posts, a high reputation him/herself, and has been a member for a long time gives me rep points, then this will affect me more greatly, as that person will have achieved a higher reputation-giving power.
But won't people just...
In short, no. People can't get their friends to just willy-nilly give them rep. People can't abuse the system very easily at all. There are many, many hooks in place to prevent abuse of the reputation system. i won't detail them here, but I assure you, they're there.
Finally...
The system is complex and there's no need to understand it fully. What you need to know is that if you make quality posts that people find useful, funny, informative, or otherwise happy, they will give you positive rep points and both your reputation and reputation-giving power will grow. Compared to post counts, this means that you are not only judged based on the number of posts you make, but also on the quality of those posts. We hope this will cut down on the "post-whoring" (obvious attempts at raising post count for no good reason). Because reputation is so much better a judge of a person's contributions, we have decided to display it on each person's post, rather than post count. If you wish to see someone's post count, it still appears on their profile -- just not on every single post.
How do I see my reputation?
On each post, there is a reputation meter below your username. It shows up as a series of green or red squares, indicating positive or negative reputation. The more green squares you have, the higher your rep. The more red squares you have, the worse your rep. You can also roll your move over the rep meter to get a cute description of your current rep.
How do I contribute to someone's rep?
If you come across a post that you find to be particularly useful, or particularly un-helpful, then you may want to assign it positive or negative rep. To do so, click the reputation icon in the upper right of the post. It's next to the post number, and looks like a document with a green plus sign on it.
How is my rep calculated?
There is quite a complex algorithm in place for rep calculation, which takes into account many factors. The core concept you need to understand is that you not only have a reputation level, but you also have a "reputation-giving power," as well. Your reputation-giving power increases as you prove yourself to be a solid contributor to the forum community. So, if a brand new member gives me rep points, it won't add a very significant amount of rep to my status. But, if a member who has a great deal of posts, a high reputation him/herself, and has been a member for a long time gives me rep points, then this will affect me more greatly, as that person will have achieved a higher reputation-giving power.
But won't people just...
In short, no. People can't get their friends to just willy-nilly give them rep. People can't abuse the system very easily at all. There are many, many hooks in place to prevent abuse of the reputation system. i won't detail them here, but I assure you, they're there.
Finally...
The system is complex and there's no need to understand it fully. What you need to know is that if you make quality posts that people find useful, funny, informative, or otherwise happy, they will give you positive rep points and both your reputation and reputation-giving power will grow. Compared to post counts, this means that you are not only judged based on the number of posts you make, but also on the quality of those posts. We hope this will cut down on the "post-whoring" (obvious attempts at raising post count for no good reason). Because reputation is so much better a judge of a person's contributions, we have decided to display it on each person's post, rather than post count. If you wish to see someone's post count, it still appears on their profile -- just not on every single post.
