Reputation Threads Discontinued

[Whambulance]

In response to your post dudeafool, Mike is at full cooperation with you guys. Present him with a solid idea and one that is reliable, and he will do it. He addressed the change in forum skin because people wanted it. To be quite honest, he could've saved a lot of time by just ignoring the community's petition, but he put in the effort and got it done.

What I think the issue is with your argument is that who do you believe is the community? Is it the users who post actively five times a day and contribute to Rants & Raves, the Watering Hole, etc? Is it the users who do business here? Or those that want to discuss gaming in general? To me, the community embodies every one of those 136,000 plus registered users on these forums, minus the scammers. And as sad as it is, many of those newly registered are being scammed lately because of the deceptive practices that rep threads are vulnerable to. I personally HATE the idea of "community punishment." I always have. It's just in my blood to not want to pay a price for the mistake or the actions of an individual. But I feel that, in this case, the sacrifice, while it is a very hard one to implement, is going to prevent a fraction - and it doesn't matter how small - of the scammers from succeeding. That is the whole point. I liked the idea of rep threads. I didn't like the consequences that resulted from them, and I feel that they have become problematic and for the benefit of the entire community, the removal will allow users to have a better experience on the boards.

I can also tell you right now you won't be banned for stating your opinion. No one has, nor will anyone. There is a major difference between disrespectful violation of the rules and speech on the forums. Feel free to criticize and to disagree, we ask that you do so in a constructive manner, but you will not be banned for it.

I liked the idea's of rep thread upon conception as well. I even personally had one even though I'm TWV but after seeing the flip side of what it's doing to the community as a whole I understand the change. Is the change a perfect solution? NO, but it can be ironed out to work. Like i stated earlier, and got called what basically amounted to a liar, other changes to the rep system are being looked into and tried out. They will not be immediate as they take time to implement but they can and will happen. As far as the post's about our mod community not doing anything but sitting idle and picking on people that is completely false. Since the switch from MD the current admin team including Btraill and Mask as they were a part of it has closed well over 300 scamming accounts and prior scammers trying to get back in the community. We dont just wait till they strike we actively persue them in an attempt to minimize their impact. TJP has been a very influential member of the mod team and has caught a great many of these users and continues to make a great impact here.

 

[Whambulance]

Im just brainstorming but what if we found a way to take your old rep thread rep and put it into your itrader rep. Would that be satisfactory to some of you?

 

[dudedafool]

Im just brainstorming but what if we found a way to take your old rep thread rep and put it into your itrader rep. Would that be satisfactory to some of you?

Rep threads were not moderated, so we do not consider those to be legit reputations. Plus reputations can only be from TWV users, so I'm afraid we can't.

Nope from the man up top.

 

[Whambulance]

Nope from the man up top.

And Mike is willing to hear idea's so that isn't final. I'm offering ideas. I asked for an opinion if that would be acceptable to the community then the staff can take it under consideration and talk it over. Dont post about staff views on something when you dont know the process we follow as we discuss everything like i've said several times.

 

[dudedafool]

And Mike is willing to hear idea's so that isn't final. I'm offering ideas. I asked for an opinion if that would be acceptable to the community then the staff can take it under consideration and talk it over. Dont post about staff views on something when you dont know the process we follow as we discuss everything like i've said several times.

Dark asked your same idea on the first page, exactly as you stated it, mike said no, that would seem like a staff view.
I'm not trying to argue but it's sad to see something that was once so great go on a downward spiral, why was there a need to change something which wasn't perfect in any means but something great and give it all these pointless and negative changes?
I've been here to long and it saddens me, and I think it's time I finally step out.
Thanks.

 

[Whambulance]

Dark asked your same idea on the first page, exactly as you stated it, mike said no, that would seem like a staff view.
I'm not trying to argue but it's sad to see something that was once so great go on a downward spiral, why was there a need to change something which wasn't perfect in any means but something great and give it all these pointless and negative changes?
I've been here to long and it saddens me, and I think it's time I finally step out.
Thanks.

If thats your decision then so be it but I wish you guys would give things a chance to work themselves out. Things needed to change and they are being done but you can't expect to like everything that happens. Alternatives to the rep threads ARE being looked into, it jsut takes time and all we've asked for is patience.

 

[Whambulance]

If thats your decision then so be it but I wish you guys would give things a chance to work themselves out. Things needed to change and they are being done but you can't expect to like everything that happens. Alternatives to the rep threads ARE being looked into, it jsut takes time and all we've asked for is patience.

And as far as what Mike said being a staff view, yes at the time it was but like I said things are always up for discussion thats what seems to not be getting across here. You all seem to think that all the changes are final and done. Thats not the case these are just lets say rough drafts that can be expanded upon and improved but not without the help and cooperation of the community as a whole not just a few that say they hate it all and everyone should leave. So from here on out folks squash the BS and bickering as I'm going to remove any of those post's from here on out and lets get our heads together and figure out compromises. Lets see how much you all really care about the community you claim to love so much because I've showed how much I care and I'll continue to support and help improve the place I've called my online home for almost 5 years.

 

[TJP]

About the idea of "change." While many may not agree with the recent changes, no one can argue that what Mike has done here in the past month-and-a-half has been more than MD has gone through in three whole years. I personally applaud his goals and the changes that have been made. Nothing will ever be perfect, and there will always be disagreement, but some of these aspects were much-needed changes that are helping to improve the community. However, the community itself needs to absorb some of these ideas, and take the disagreement into constructive form and produce better, more effective ways, to make this a better place. One man alone will never make the society, the society contributes to its own existence. What we cannot have is people who will post a rant thread one hour after a change is implemented. Some of you have shown true maturity in posting your arguments and creating constructive ways to possibly work out a compromise that is better for everyone. Let's see some more of that and less intolerance.

We welcome anyone who wishes to state their opinion. We won't allow those who will just go around flaming and disrespecting the opinion of another.

 

[Whambulance]

One man alone will never make the society, the society contributes to its own existence.

Your papers a philosophical paper isn't it btw thats now my new quote.

 

[DarkDeserter]

Dark what are you having probs with bud? I'll see if i can assist you.

I don't see any button that says "add to reputation" or anything like that anywhere.

 

[Whambulance]

Oh go to their user profile and look under Feedback Score tab and it says Submit feedback for "user name here" and it'll let you add feedback.

 

[MaskedArmory]

If thats your decision then so be it but I wish you guys would give things a chance to work themselves out. Things needed to change and they are being done but you can't expect to like everything that happens. Alternatives to the rep threads ARE being looked into, it jsut takes time and all we've asked for is patience.

Just have to address a flaw in the logic here. It seems that you guys are backing yourselves into "reacting" scenarios. Things are done and if something goes wrong, you guys are searching out a "reaction plan" to appease people. Why not have a solution already compiled and ready to go IF things do not turn out the way you guys intend? People are not going to be very receptive to being "patient" when it was the staff that should have been patient in the decision and looked to alternative solutions.

Again, not trying to be negative or argumentative. I am just stating a "look before you leap" approach may be a better suitor for all of these changes that you all are so eager to make.

 

[DarkDeserter]

Oh go to their user profile and look under Feedback Score tab and it says Submit feedback for "user name here" and it'll let you add feedback.

Can you explain how this is less exploitable than rep threads?

 

[rpgresellers]

Limiting to TWV only feedback isn't so bad. Here's some details on the pros and cons you can expect.

Recap on the concerns:

• Old businesses can point to old feedback threads (they're locked, but have huge feedback, and won't really suffer from this very much.)
• New businesses will find it nearly impossible to start a business reputation because less than 1% of buyers bother to get TWV. (They don't need it, they just want sellers to have it.)

That means that for every 100 or so trader, you can expect about 1 feedback.
Recap complete.

Here's the solution to locked feedback threads:

Host your feedback threads at a different community such as rpgreseller, egamingsupply, etc.​

Benefits:

• The vast majority of users can now leave feedback for you, thus providing vital business development, as well as a reputation of trust that will help you make money.

Benefit of TWV only feedback at mmobay:

You know every point was hard won, and is legit. Faking TWV isn't as easy as a feedback thread. In the long run, people will trust you MORE than from any regular feedback thread.​

 

[EpicNPC]

iTrader will eventually be implemented in such a way where anyone can leave reputation, after they have received X amount of positive reputations.

For example, your new and don't want to use TWV. Once you received 3 positive reps, you will be able to leave other users rep. This solves the issues of having to spend $10 on TWV. This also solves the issue of scammers creating new accounts just to rep themselves. Win Win situation.