Well, we should be aware, that there a numerous users out there who earn definitely more a star than e.g. I do. I do not intend to hide my light under a bushel, but what about the programmers of useful tools, translations, skins etc.? We should award them with many positive feedbacks when they appear in this forums, because they have already demonstrated their good reputation! 

Quoting chibul:

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The only problem with that is that you're opening up Pandora's box by judging people based on what they did in the past. I've pissed some people off here before - does that mean this post should get negative remarks? Of course not...the same would go for them.

Yes Ross, but you don't continually piss people off. 

I am however continually using some of the plug-ins and add-ons that other members have made available FOC, so I would agree with Thorsten about being able to positively thank them

Quoting kahless:

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Quoting richierich:

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Quoting chibul:

Quote:
The only problem with that is that you're opening up Pandora's box by judging people based on what they did in the past. I've pissed some people off here before - does that mean this post should get negative remarks? Of course not...the same would go for them.

Yes Ross, but you don't continually piss people off. 

I am however continually using some of the plug-ins and add-ons that other members have made available FOC, so I would agree with Thorsten about being able to positively thank them

Yes, richierich - you can start HERE

I wanted to give him a good vote, but I've run out for the day.

I like seeing all the gold stars!

I'll probably be buried in negatives for this, but I need to get it of my chest:

As some of you may remember (as I mentioned it in another thread), I got a negative vote for a comment to a yes vote on a profile (Yeah, that'll teach me - never comment on yes votes. No comment = no voting-ability for the contributor). In short, the contribution added a lot of good, new data, except the SRP, which is wrong (SRP's in Denmark have dropped 10% about six months ago, but still about 90% of the stores pretends it didn't to increase their revenue). So, I voted yes with a comment stating "Okay, we'll take it, even if the SRP is wrong..."

To be honest, that vote really is bugging me - I find it unfair, and I don't see anything offensive about it! Now, if you would find such a comment offensive and give a negative point for it, don't read any further in this post - just hit reply now and tell me that it is offensive and that I am too sensitive!

If not, read on: As mentioned, I'm puzzled about this vote, and I have been thinking like crazy about why I got it. Then today, sitting on the train, it hit me: Maybe the user is just clueless about the reputation system! I mean, if I never came to the forum and suddenly saw those red and green arrows at a comment for a profile I submitted, I would probably think they meant "I agree/disagree with this!"

So, when I got home, the first thing I did was to check the submitters User Profile. While it states that the user has almost 2000 forum post, clicking the "Find posts by" link finds nothing. Also, searching the entire forum for the users nick comes up blank...

So, I'll allow myself to believe that the user is not a regular forum user, and judging from his contribution comment, I believe it would be fair to suspect that the user lacks the english skills to benefit from the forums in the first place.

Now, I could of course PM the user, but I'm not exactly sure how to state my case. Directing him to this thread or theKnowledge Base entry about the voting system, I don't think it would help, the users english skills considered.

So, what else can I do? Or should I say, what else can we/Invelos do? Well, I do have a few ideas...

If a user gives negative feedback on Yes-votes and the contribution is accepted or the user gives negative feedback on No-votes and the contribution is declined, the negative votes should be automatically removed, possibly followed by a mail to the contributor/voter with a warning for improper use of the voting system. Obviously, if the user does not understand english to well, it wouldn't help - but I am sure that if Ken posts a template for such a warning, we (the forum users) will gladly provide him with translations in our native languages. The mail could then contain the same text in both english and the users native language. Yes, I know many users have not entered their CoO in their user profile, but I think it would be safe to go by the language of the contributions locality (or maybe do a quick scan of the users online collection to find the "prime locality") and go with that - I think that it'll hit the users native language in 99% of the cases...

Another approach could be to restrict voting for users who have made at least X number of actual forum posts (EDIT: This should of course be "made LESS then X number of actual forum posts.") - an appropriate number could be 10 or 15. In my mind, this amount of posts would make it safe to believe that the user has a basic understanding of the english language. The first (few) time(s) a user "issues" a vote, it could probably be a good idea to send a mail to the user containing the knowledge base answer about how to use the system, and then include a confirmation link to be clicked before the vote is actually submitted. This would provide a reasonable knowledge that the user does in fact know what he/she is doing...

Some people may think I'm making to big a deal of this. Well, maybe I am. But in my mind, if one user can "misunderstand" the system like this (I hope that is in fact the reason for the vote), then others can too - so I'm probably not the only user to find himself in this situation - if not now, then sometime in the future...

There, I said it! Now start telling me what an idiot I am for spending so much time thinking about one negative vote! I promise, I will not give you negative points for it! After it, I did just ask for it, right? 

Rander ...

I personally do not think you were out of line in your post. We have to be able to speak our minds in the forums and I think you did a very nice job of it. The things I liked about your post is that you did not expose the person who gave you the negative (something that should not be done as it does not help the situation) and that you exlained what was bothering you in a very diplomatic way ... meaning no screaming ... no calling anyone out ... just getting off your chest things that bothered you about receiving the vote.

I am like you and try to be constructive in the forums. I do not want to have to worry about getting a negative vote just because I want to express my opinion. The original poster may not agree with my comments, but I do not feel that it should justify getting a negative vote because of that. If someone gets ignorant about something in a post ... then yes .. that in my eyes would warrant a negative ... but opinions do not.

God knows if I gave out negatives for every person who voted NO to a scan I uploaded ... there would be many people running around with negatives. But I do not look at that as a bad thing. Sure ... I may get upset that they do not see it the way I do ... but this is America (at least where I am) and we have freedom of speech here. I am not saying I would not give a negative if someone said something out of line ... but alll I have been getting are people who do not think that my colors are right or the scans are blurry .. whatever the reason .. these do NOT justify negative votes.

It is a new system and I hope that Ken is kind of looking at negatives and weighing them out . It is just like anything new ... it takes time to iron out the bugs. It will get better.

As far as your comment about the arrows ... I honestly did not know why they started showing up. I asked in one of the forums to clarify them. What I think maybe should happen when something like this is introduced is maybe a blanket email out to the members to direct them to the new feature. I try to stay abreast of all the new stuff going on, but it can be tough sometimes. No excuses on my part ... just thought this might help keep everyone abreast of changes.

You thoughts about different languages was not a bad thought either. We have to look at it this way ... what if this were an all Spanish (no hate mail ... just using it as an example) and I was a member and they started doing things like this ... I know I would not understand what was going on and might possibly make a bad jusdgement because of that.

In closing ... like everyone tells me in here when I get a scan declined ... let it roll off your shoulders and continue on. When one does get accepted I feel good about myself.

Just continue doing what you are doing and do it in a civil manner and you will reap the rewards.

Feel better now you cry baby ???!!!  (just kidding dude    )

Mark

Quoting mwkirchner:

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Feel better now you cry baby ???!!!

Much better! I may not even cry myself to sleep... 

Quoting mwkirchner:

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What I think maybe should happen when something like this is introduced is maybe a blanket email out to the members to direct them to the new feature.

I agree. I think each time, Ken opens a new thread in the Announcement forum, the opening post should be sent out via email to all users. And those who do not want to receive such mail just have to disable the "Keep me up to date with Invelos news and software updates." under MyProfiler->Subscriptions.