The Stars are gone

[Horton]

The roles are now:

New Baller

Baller

Long Time Baller

Baller 4 Life

Mega Baller

 

100 points needed to move up from one to the other

 

 

These are not based on points

Open or 55K Rated Skier

Water Ski Industry Professional

USAWS Bureaucrat

 

For the last freaking time this is not a contest. Don’t take this stuff so darn serious. It is a freaking water ski forum.

 

Can we please get back to skiing now?

 

[Horton]

I might tweak Long Time Baller and Baller 4 Life.

[Than_Bogan]

I'd say the only title that doesn't quite work is "New Baller," because someone could have been here a very long time, but not post a lot and not have tons of points.

 

Of course, I've always thought Baller was a really strange name for this whole thing, but I lost that battle a lonnng time ago.

[Horton]

Yes but the title is only for the first 10 points. If you have more benign titles I am all ears. Very sick of all the crying.

 

"Long time" and "4 life" are really place holders until something better strikes me

[Than_Bogan]

@Horton I'm guessing you don't have kids? We're annoying, but there are whole other levels of crying for no reason and being unappreciative of what you've done...

 

Quiet Baller for the low-pointed?

 

Nerd with No Life would work pretty well for me...

[ski4xtc]

@Horton, if staying with this system, what about giving more points per year being member? Like maybe 50 per year? Other thoughts would be points per USA Water Ski level of skier and we each put our own level in? What about points for rated judges, drivers and scores and the level of rating. Again, we put our own ratings in our profile so that you do not have to maintain.

 

I have followed your site from the beginning but did not join until I felt compelled to post something 2.5 years ago yet a "new baller". I like to read useful information. If ballers are encouraged to frequently post for points, the information will become less useful or too many posts to read everything. Just my thoughts this afternoon when I realized I was considered new to the website. Thank you for what you do and the website you have provided for us.

[FrankS]

Is there a group of people that have been members since the site started? Maybe they should get a special name.

[Nick Sullivan]

You guys are really trying open a can of worms. I think Horton would rather just let this thing drop off so we can go back to skiing.

[Horton]

@Sully YES PLEASE

 

@scotchipman most users will be simply Ballers.

 

Users with less than 10 points will be "New Ballers". 10 points is not a lot. If you do not have 10 points you have not really posted more than a few times.

 

Guys who post a lot and get a lot positive feedback will be know as ... SomeOther Kind of Baller. It is not Rocket Science.

 

I am going to the lake now. You guys fight among yourselves.

[DooSPX]

Either way you choose @Horton, you run a great water ski forum. I am happy to be a member here. Thanks for all the hard work and long hours.

[Chef23]

@Sully I would love to go back to skiing but I just pulled my boat for the winter.

[TylerR]

@horton rabble rabble rabble... We should all ski more and argue less type of comment.

[Nick Sullivan]

@Chef23 Come ski with us, bring a dry suit. We are on the water just about every day.

[jipster43]

I'm a Baller! That's all I've ever wanted.

[Horton]

Now you guys are going to be confused.

I changed "Long Time Baller" to "Solid Baller" and "Baller for Life" to "Crazy Baller"

[thager]

I like that last one!!

[6balls]

Uber baller :)

[Horton]

I might just keep changing them to annoy everyone

[luckyone]

fun while it lasted.

[jlittle]

Guess I better get posting to grow my points. Is that how you increase them?

[RichardDoane]

I'm hoping to ski Sunday, might be video involved, that way my term can be "video baller"

[Ed_Obermeier]

"Guess I better get posting to grow my points. Is that how you increase them?

"

 

The Malibu Crew forum has a points setup like that. Seems there are a number of individuals who post over there all the time just for the sake of "points" whether their posts have any value or not. Stuff like that dilutes the content IMO and makes it almost ridiculous at times. Probably one reason most of the skiers who used to be over there are all on BOS now. John, I know you're a busy guy. Is any of this really worth it, is their really any serious benefit to some sort of points system for this site? Gotta be more trouble than it's worth.

[DanE]

This ranking system of members status as far as credibility seems dubious at best.

Points are based on number of "good" posts?

Who decides what a "good" post is?

Is a "good" post a post that get a "like" or an "awesome" attached to it?

Am I supposed to feel bad if I don´t "like" or "awesome" every post I read that I find worthwile reading?

Many times I just skim through the posts (especially if I´m at work) and just don´t have time to sit down and reflect on every post I read if it deserves to be liked, awesomed, flagged or whatever.

I´ve been around long enough so I have a pretty good idea who to listen to and who not, but for a newbie looking for information what does "open rated or 55k skier" really mean?

Jm2c

[sunvalleylaw]

I think this works fine. Nothing is perfect, enough time has been spent on it. Horton made the call, and it seems simple and fair enough, and provides info as to who is behind a post. Let's move on and talk skiing.

[Skoot1123]

@sunvalleylaw - agreed. I think @Horton has hit the mark with the current names/tags. Now let's get to spring!

[Horton]

How do points work? is now the last post in the FAQ

[6balls]

@horton the stars system seemed to have caused you and many members some grief. I don't sense the same with what you have here, and thus feel it is yet another evolution that makes this sight different/better, and more responsive to membership than other sites. Pretty cool.

 

[Horton]

@6balls I know and it is funny. It is exactly the same thing but it is names not stars. I am still just trying to encourage better content.

[Nick Sullivan]

No its not, the way the names/stars are awarded is also different.

[Horton]

MmmHmmm

[Chef23]

@Sully where do you live?

[Nick Sullivan]

Woodland Washington, Just north of Portland Oregon.

[ThePantsManCan]

More importantly, and with the utmost seriousness, could I perhaps be FreeBaller!

[tfriess]

Wish there was a smaller gap between Baller and Solid Baller. 10-300 seems like a lot, but that's just my 2 cents.

[Triplett]

@horton, I had my pro skier title for a few days, now it is gone! That sucks haha.

[MattP]

@Triplett the @hairball has been messing with the settings again.. I lost my moderator status as well.

[Horton]

@Triplett yes some setting is wrong. Working on it

[andjules]

@Horton, I'm sure you've looked at the breakdown of users, but it sure seems from here - as @tfriess said - that the 'baller' range is huge: 10-299 points (and I'm not sure why it's useful to have a 'solid baller' range of only 300-399). I haven't been contributing for very long, but if the point of these titles is encouraging the community - including the newbies - to contribute, 300 points seems a long, long way away.

[liquid d]

I would like a free hat.

[Inboardfix]

I agree w/@liquid D. Hats are cool! Free hats are cooler!! I don't know for sure but I have a feeling a free Baller Hat would be the coolest!!!

 

As for Stars, labels or titles I don't really care. Once you've followed the forum for a while (I lurked for years) it's clear who's opinion has value.

[FrankS]

I agree with @liquid d

[tfriess]

Me and @liquid_d are on the same page

[wwk87]

I'm going to go ski while you guys figure this out...