Reputation and Thanks

[Rob]

Ok folks, as forum communities such as The Talkingreef continue to grow larger, using methods such as post count becomes less useful to determine someone's ability to help answer a question or the value of their advice.

Because of this i have enabled the reputation system.

What is the reputation system
The reputation system is designed to award reputation points to those that earn them and take them away from those that don't.
Let me explain a bit further, if someone answers your question well, you should do your part and award them reputation points for their time and effort.
If someone posts asking for more details or gives a starter answer, they should not be given points until/unless they fully answer the question or give good advice (in your opinion.)
Now if someone is just wasting time and space with their post (doesn't happen much here) then they should be given negative points, this is to discourage people simply "boosting their post count."

How to give points
Simple, just click image you now see on each post (under the person's avatar)
then select "Post was helpful" or "Post was NOT helpful"
thats it

Please use good judgment, give positive and negative points when they are deserved. This should be used as a system to promote proper etiquette and good community building.

Determine person's reputation
To determine a persons reputation for giving good advice look under their post count and
look at the number of green blocks ( ) the more blocks the higher the reputation

Details
Here are some of the more technical details some are interested in, I wont break down the exacts here, but basically,
- the more points you have the more you can give.
- the more posts you have the more points you can give. (this is minimal so no post boosting)
- the longer you are an active member the more points you can give
- you can not give the same person points all the time, you must spread the love..

and in closing I'd just like to add, please use this system, use it well and don't abuse it (it will be monitored). At the end it will help our community grow and be more solid.

Disabling Reputation
While in the long run i believe the reputation system (if used correctly) will help the community, I understand that some people will not like the idea. If you do not believe in this system and do not want to participate, you can do two things.
1.) do not give anyone positive or negative reputation points
2.) in your user options you can select to "hide your reputation points"

[CarmieJo]

There has been some confusion about the purpose of giving someone Reputation vs Thanks. As outlined above if someone has given you valuable advice that has answered your you can click the symbol under the person's name for that post and add to their reputation.

The thanks button is for instances where someone has partially answered your question, given you a compliment or made a general post that does not reflect on their ability to give advice, for instance, if someone wishes you happy birthday or starts a non reef related discussion that you are enjoying.