What do you think?
I hsve had an idea about this website cplusplus.com. I recon you could make this site more interesting by adding a point system to the forum, like yahoo answers. Maybe, 15 points for an answer to someones question and -10 for asking a question. I recon this would be a great little battle between programmers to see who comes out on top! What do you think?
Lets hope admin is listening!
Lets hope admin is listening!
Honestly, I'd have to go against this. Generally like/dislike or points stuff just ends up sucking IMO.
And it sounds like asking a question would be considered a negative thing. I think post counts are probably enough.
This has been suggested more than a few times here in the past. From what I gather the general consensus of the members here is post ranking systems are a no go.
closed account (zb0S216C)
I like the reputation system on Stack Overflow. It lets users know if your post was helpful or not. I'd fully support the idea if it was introduced.
Wazzak
Wazzak
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Rating answers might not be so bad, but I think deducting points for asking questions on a specialist forum would not be a great idea. New users need to ask lots of questions, so (like on Yahoo answers),they'd end up posting lots of useless answers in order to muster enough points to ask their own questions.
Just my 0.0120897056 British pounds...
Just my 0.0120897056 British pounds...
If asking a question is "bad", then no one will ask questions. With no questions to be answered, this point system, and possibly the forum as a whole would flop. Besides, I was always told that asking a question if you were unsure of something was a good thing (as opposed to pretending to know what you were doing). Maybe if the question is obvious, a negative number, but that would be for extreme cases.
I think Framework has the right idea, a reputation system where a user posts a reply, and others click a little '+' or '-' button and the user can tell that their reply was benificial or not. In a music forum I frequent, they have a similar thing, but it doesn't get used very often. It's actually been asked what was meant by "reputation" on someone's profile. So if such a thing was to be used, there would have to be sufficient notices to all users about it.
Only my opinion though.
I think Framework has the right idea, a reputation system where a user posts a reply, and others click a little '+' or '-' button and the user can tell that their reply was benificial or not. In a music forum I frequent, they have a similar thing, but it doesn't get used very often. It's actually been asked what was meant by "reputation" on someone's profile. So if such a thing was to be used, there would have to be sufficient notices to all users about it.
Only my opinion though.
I think rating answers would be a good idea if it's used to sort threads, like Stack Overflow does. However, I don't think it should be used in conjunction with a reputation system. It's not hard to imagine it turning into a pissing contest.
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Defnitely not, just look at Yahoo! Answers. The same +/- points thing you suggested is in place there (plus you get an extra 10 points if your answer is selected as the best answer). On YA people just write irrelevant answers (usually something like "I wish I could help") or or relevant, but unhelpful, ones (next-to-no information or it doesn't actually answer the question) on as many questions as they can, for the points. Very few people actually help and those that do (a lot-)more-often-than-not get things slightly or even completely wrong (even the "Top Contributors", who probably got that title by giving deliberately poor answers on lots of questions). A lot of the time they fall into various common-(mis)knowledge urban legends or things that are facts, but are poorly understood or poorly explained. And one of the most irritating habbits of Yahoo! Answers is upvoting their own posts. If the person who asked a question doesn't select a best answer (happened to me alot when I used to use YA), after a while it goes to a voting mode wherein other people can select the best answer. The problem here is that you can vote for your own answer, and people would always select their own, and it was usually the people giving some of the worst answers that would wait until it went to voting and immediately vote for their own answer, for the points. Oh, and people that ask questions would often choose a best answer that barely answered the question, was of poor quality, or lacked detail, versus mine which were always pretty long and detailed. That really got on my nerves, since I'd put a fair amount of effort into my answers. Eventually I just gave up and left.
Wiki Answers is nearly as bad, except it doesn't have a points system. My guess is that both are a product of anyone being able to sign up to answer questions (no sign up in Wiki Answers' case), excessive Internet exposure (which this forum thankfully lacks), in Yahoo! Answers' case, a severely flawed points system, and worst of all, no moderation (luckily this forum has moderate moderation).
</rant>
Defnitely not, just look at Yahoo! Answers. The same +/- points thing you suggested is in place there (plus you get an extra 10 points if your answer is selected as the best answer). On YA people just write irrelevant answers (usually something like "I wish I could help") or or relevant, but unhelpful, ones (next-to-no information or it doesn't actually answer the question) on as many questions as they can, for the points. Very few people actually help and those that do (a lot-)more-often-than-not get things slightly or even completely wrong (even the "Top Contributors", who probably got that title by giving deliberately poor answers on lots of questions). A lot of the time they fall into various common-(mis)knowledge urban legends or things that are facts, but are poorly understood or poorly explained. And one of the most irritating habbits of Yahoo! Answers is upvoting their own posts. If the person who asked a question doesn't select a best answer (happened to me alot when I used to use YA), after a while it goes to a voting mode wherein other people can select the best answer. The problem here is that you can vote for your own answer, and people would always select their own, and it was usually the people giving some of the worst answers that would wait until it went to voting and immediately vote for their own answer, for the points. Oh, and people that ask questions would often choose a best answer that barely answered the question, was of poor quality, or lacked detail, versus mine which were always pretty long and detailed. That really got on my nerves, since I'd put a fair amount of effort into my answers. Eventually I just gave up and left.
Wiki Answers is nearly as bad, except it doesn't have a points system. My guess is that both are a product of anyone being able to sign up to answer questions (no sign up in Wiki Answers' case), excessive Internet exposure (which this forum thankfully lacks), in Yahoo! Answers' case, a severely flawed points system, and worst of all, no moderation (luckily this forum has moderate moderation).
</rant>
^^^That would be a "+1" in my opinion^^^
The important thing we should address is that sometimes it works, other times it fails. In the cases you mentioned, the problem is a multitude of problems: over exposure to the website, crappy point system and no moderation. As you also mentioned, this site is not over exposed, so there are only really a few people who post useless replies, this site is (almost) moderated. If a proper point system is put in place, maintain the moderate moderation, there shouldn't be any issues. People worthy of a +1 will get a vote, all those unworthy won't get votes and those who fail on every level will get a -1.
The important thing we should address is that sometimes it works, other times it fails. In the cases you mentioned, the problem is a multitude of problems: over exposure to the website, crappy point system and no moderation. As you also mentioned, this site is not over exposed, so there are only really a few people who post useless replies, this site is (almost) moderated. If a proper point system is put in place, maintain the moderate moderation, there shouldn't be any issues. People worthy of a +1 will get a vote, all those unworthy won't get votes and those who fail on every level will get a -1.
Why? As CodeMonkey said we are here to help each other. Not to see who has the most brains. I think you should answer a question only if you truly want to help the other guy. If you answer to prove that you are smart then you shouldn't post at all.
The purpose isn't boosting ego. The purpose is a) letting the poster know whether or not his/ her post was useful or not which should in turn help everyone make more helpful posts and b) letting new users know who to trust as opposed to the post count which has no real reflection of a user's computer/ programming background (quality over quantity kind of thing).
Important side note:
I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with the forum to make it need such a thing, it's just that everything can be improved on and sooned or later, it will in some way or another. That's the only reason I think that this reputation system or whatever the hell you want to call it should be given consideration.
Important side note:
I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with the forum to make it need such a thing, it's just that everything can be improved on and sooned or later, it will in some way or another. That's the only reason I think that this reputation system or whatever the hell you want to call it should be given consideration.
As I've said before:
http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/lounge/1433/2/#msg10372 wrote:
I don't like the idea of random point systems. I don't know if I would mind having specific posts flagged as useful (but that can also be misused)...
http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/lounge/1433/2/#msg10372 wrote:
| Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the "karma" idea. I know that there are some forums where it seems to work very well (like over at DaniWeb). There are also forums where I think it produces some abuses (forums left unnamed). But in any case, all it means to me is extra buttons to twiddle with. The two things that initially attracted me to this forum (and that continue to please me) are: 1 - it is simple and elegant, and blazingly fast 2 - everyone has the same voice -- it is much less intimidating to new users than forums where people have 30+billion points and all kinds of little decorations next to their names. |
I don't like the idea of random point systems. I don't know if I would mind having specific posts flagged as useful (but that can also be misused)...
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