Why are all my posts Awesome now?

[Than_Bogan]

Hey, I don't mind tooting my own horn if the occasion calls for it, but I'm sensing a bug in this new rating system, because it seems like a ton of my posts, including some really boring ones, are marked with exactly one Awesome.

 

(At first I thought it was ALL of them, but I've found some that aren't marked as Awesome since posting this.)

 

Also, what's the point/goal of the new system? Did I miss a thread introducing this? My experience with this sort of tagging has been generally negative. (Not horrible, but still overall negative.)

[skidawg]

Maybe u have a fan/stalker!

[Horton]

I will write something this week about the tags. You were awesome until you bashed the tagging.

[Than_Bogan]

@Brent But now I'm so confused. Do I "Like" your post because you complimented me? Do I "Dislike" it because I disagree about the value of a rating system? (Or do I "Like" it for that because one of the reasons I come here is intelligent disagreement!?) Do I "Awesome" it as late payment for all the awesome video's you've posted? Do I "Off Topic" it because whether I am an awesome dude or not is not waterski related?

 

It's too much pressure, man!!!!

 

:-)

[crashman]

why does the "awesome" tag have a heart beside it- shouldn't it have something more awesome than a love symbol?

[Than_Bogan]

And now I'm in second place all time in Awesomeness points.

 

So we KNOW this system doesn't provide meaningful information... :)

[Than_Bogan]

OB, by a mile.

 

Can see it off to the right from:

 

http://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/activity

[Horton]

@Than Bogan I gave you a dislike for posting in the wrong category.

 

If you guys really care, here is what the developers were thinking and I agree

http://vanillaforums.com/blog/news/introducing-vanilla-reactions-and-badges/

 

If you don't like it I will not ban you but I may abuse you.

 

[Than_Bogan]

I can handle abuse!

 

I really appreciate that you are always striving to improve the site. Because of that, you may (or may not!) find my perspective interesting.

 

For some time I was very active on the Dungeons and Dragons Online forum. They eventually introduced a "rep" system, and at first I was kind of excited about it. There was a lot of crap there (MUCH worse than here) and I thought maybe posts from "reputable" posters would be more likely to be worth reading.

 

Nope.

 

What I learned was that the key to getting rep was, in order:

1) post a LOT. (But people who post a LOT are actually more likely to make low-value posts, just because there's only so much one can say that is worthwhile. And yes, I am aware that I do that.)

2) humor. I posted some really lame jokes about Warforged pick-up lines and garnered rep like it was going out of style.

3) extreme stance. Unless you manage to offend, extreme statements usually fire up the Believers much more so than the non-Believers.

 

None of those were correlated with post usefulness (or at least usefulness to me), and #1 and #3 were anti-correlated.

 

I don't view it as a serious problem as long as nobody takes it too seriously. But personally I think we're better off without it.

 

Ok, I've said my piece. I'll drop it now unless I see specific problems arising from it here.

 

And now my quest to overtake OB can begin!!!!! :)

 

P.S. I never use the categories. I apologize that I so often forget to set one on a new thread.

[Horton]

Points are ridiculous and I admit it and don't really care.

 

What I do care about is that posts with a number of dislikes go gray and are semi-hidden from the other users. This helps me with moderation. If a user has a lot of dislikes it is heads up to me to look at what they are doing. Little secret for you guys, I do not read every thread. I can not read every post. The buttons known as "Reactions" making easier for me to see what's going on. For you the awesomes and the likes should help you pick and choose a little what you read.

 

With these new buttons we also get “best of…” If you go to the top the page in the blue bar and click on “Best of…” You will see the recent posts that other users like the best. It's a shortcut to see what's going on.

 

If you guys really want I will see if I can hide the points. Or you could just ignore them and use the darn website.

 

[Texas6]

@Than, uhhh did you say Dungeons and Dragons Forum? jk

[Texas6]

@Than, I'm only messing with you for the record. I alwas find your posts very informative and well thought out, even if they are insipred by your former Dungeons and Dragons days.

[Than_Bogan]

Yeah I can undertand that waterskiers are jealous of the vastly larger audience that D&D and DDO have compared to our niche sport. :)

[Than_Bogan]

@Horton Excellent explanation.

 

If you happen to add a feature to turn off the display of those things, I'll use it. But that's very low priority.

[Horton]

Just don't look at the points and we can get back to talking about skiing

[TylerR]

@horton lies... I thought your day job was reading and moderating my every word.

[Than_Bogan]

Well, Horton has been looking for a new subtitle.

 

"The forum where everything is made up and the points don't matter."

 

?

[crashman]

crap my previous comment got disliked- and I was hoping to be well liked. I hope I am still welcomed here even if I am not well liked.

 

To rephrase- I did not mean to imply that love is not awesome- because it can be but sometimes it is not. I just think the icon for awesome should be TOTALLY AWESOME! And what that is should be the subject of the next poll!

 

[Horton]

I can not grasp why anyone cares about points. Does it really screw up anyone's day? Is it just cold outside so you are picking on me?

[Than_Bogan]

Ah, well the problem is that certain Weak Minded Fools (and I am the weakest!) cannot help but try to maximize any number or other measurement that they can see.

 

Thus it becomes a little bit of a distraction.

 

As I've said many times above: Not a big deal. Just a distraction.

 

AM I AHEAD OF OB YET?? (Shut up Evil Than. Go away.)

[skier2788]

I think slalom skiers by nature are type A personalities. Everything is a competition to us. We are just curious as to what's at stake and who is winning.