If you’ve spent much time in this forum (news, Help & Feedback), you’ll know that the rep system receives a lot of discussion, especially neg rep, which is one of the least popular features of TSR.
The risk of receiving neg rep can put people off asking questions or sharing their views, it can make certain forums uninviting to people who have built up positive reputation with helpful and well thought out posts, it can prevent people from voicing what they feel may be an unpopular opinion, it upsets people, and worst of all it’s been cited as a tool for bullying.
So we switched it off. Your existing rep won’t be affected, and you can still give and receive positive rep as usual. Over the next three months, with your help, we’ll assess the impact of this change. If it’s not proven to be positive, we’ll look at this again and consider alternatives.
TSR is the biggest educational website in the UK, and the biggest online student community, and has helped countless students and young people make important choices in their lives. We’re proud of you all for playing a part in that, and we hope that you’ll help TSR continue to go from strength to strength. So if you see a post you disagree with, instead of giving neg rep you can voice your disagreement in a constructive way. If you want the good posts to stand out from the not-so-good, give positive rep to great posts. If you see a post that breaks the rules, hit the report button and we’ll deal with it.
Thanks for your help, and we hope you enjoy a new, more positive TSR
Neg rep is a badge of honour to a troll. They don't see it as a negative. Therefore the rep system in its previous incarnation was fundamentally flawed.
Well this will certainly be more interesting. I just hope that trolls don't take this as a reason to be more scandalous. At least this means I can post more freely. I generally only pos rep anyway, so shouldn't make mush a difference to me
As ever, if you see members trolling or making abusive or other rule-breaking posts, please report them to the moderation team by using the report button.