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[berry120]

I'm partial to the cause of removing rep from the Social Lounge. There are a ton of very good discussions there! Within those, there are many insightful comments that--regardless of whether it involves computers or not--deserve rep.

I was under the impression (perhaps wrongly, forgive me if this is the case) that rep was meant more of a rough measure of someone's ability to help out in technical cases and situations though, not for their ethical standing or witty replies or whatever reason in the social lounge. I could post a brilliant essay about the fall of communism for example that might knock the socks of what anyone's written before on the subject, and a hundred people could give me rep for it because it's well done and easy to understand - but for someone trying to use rep as a guide for my technical ability, that really wouldn't be very helpful.

If this isn't what it's meant to be used for and I'm getting the wrong end of the stick somehow then fair enough - I'm just going along with my understanding of it

 

[JogaBonito1502]

^

That's what I thought of rep at first. The community here is very close and the Social Lounge is such a big part of this forum that I think rep evolved to something broader. Now, rep simply indicates the significance of someone's comments. At least to me, that's what I believe rep means. But you're right...ideally, it should mean whether a person's technical skills are sound or not.

If the whole push for a forum rearrengement comes through, I think it would be a good idea to disable the reputation system in the "General" section*** and also reset everyone's reputation back to 0. I mean...if you had a lot of rep and if it was well deserved, you will be getting it back...

***If you will look at the proposed design, there will be 4 major sections: Hardware, Software, Networking/Internet, General.

 

[David Lindon]

I was under the impression (perhaps wrongly, forgive me if this is the case) that rep was meant more of a rough measure of someone's ability to help out in technical cases and situations though, not for their ethical standing or witty replies or whatever reason in the social lounge. I could post a brilliant essay about the fall of communism for example that might knock the socks of what anyone's written before on the subject, and a hundred people could give me rep for it because it's well done and easy to understand - but for someone trying to use rep as a guide for my technical ability, that really wouldn't be very helpful.

If this isn't what it's meant to be used for and I'm getting the wrong end of the stick somehow then fair enough - I'm just going along with my understanding of it

Yeah rep can be awarded for any reason, unfortunately there isn't anyway to limit it. For example someone could still give someone rep in a technical thread for making a funny comment etc. And the flip side is how would negative rep be awarded? If their post is incorrect? Surely that would discourage new people from participating.

Rep is only for social purposes, the same way post count is not a direct indication of how knowledgeable someone is

 

[~NeonFire372~]

I'm partial to the cause of removing rep from the Social Lounge. There are a ton of very good discussions there! Within those, there are many insightful comments that--whether it involves computers or not--deserve rep.

I agree.