Has the removal of neg rep improved TSR?

In principle the idea of neg rep is fine but I don't think it ever worked properly in practice.

It was meant to be there to stop trolls and to show posters who make either factually incorrect posts or purposely rude or offensive posts for the sake of being rude/offensive.

However, trolls don't care about getting neg rep. So that purpose is void. And personally, having seen TSR before post rep, during and since the changes, I have not noticed any change in the number of troll posts. There always have been and always will be troll posts.

And someone's post having a negative reputation, or indeed the poster having an overall negative reputation, is no indication of any of the above (troll, incorrect or purposely rude). I found neg rep was more often used for simple disagreement with the opinion of the poster. For example, anyone who posted anything positive about the Twilight books or films was immediately massively neg repped. How is that a useful system?! Oh this person likes different literature to me, everyone should ignore everything they say on any topic. And the vast majority of opinions which were negged were of this vein, rather than anything really extreme or offensive. It is quite clear that being negged for posting an opinion is going to put some people off posting - particularly those who think their opinions are contrary to the most common views on TSR.

Due to the kind of rep described above neg rep couldn't be used as an indicator anyway, as you never know if the person is just a fan of Twilight, or posted an innocent thread asking about the rep system, and just got a neg storm. You have to take the post on face value anyway, so the neg rep contributed nothing.

As a prime example, this thread would look very different if neg rep was still here. Many people wouldn't want to post their opinions because those on the opposite side of the argument may neg them simply for disagreeing. It's completely contrary to the whole point of a discussion such as this.

xxx

Maybe giving new accounts an inability to accrue negative rep points for the first 2 weeks of joining, though their posts can still be negatively repped. This allows us to neg-and-forget trolls without scaring new users as much and immediately putting them into the red, since that's the most volatile moment for users. It allows them, however, to get an idea of what behaviour is and isn't accepted on the forums.

Straw poll

Oh no I understand that. I'm talking about those who put it in line with bullying. If people get so offended by a little thumbs down, then frankly I don't think they're fit to use the internet. God forbid they get confronted on youtube or something.

I actually originally posted it in chat I think a mod or someone must have moved it!

I understand your points, but I'm curious as to why seeing that someone disliked what you said would induce anxiety? In real life people tell you whether you're talking **** or not! Everyone doesn't just give you a thumbs up and a pat on the back and say "Good talk bro" everytime you speak

Also, I think neg rep was a nice perk of TSR and made it a bit different; it's getting a bit too vanilla now

Oh no I understand that. I'm talking about those who put it in line with bullying. If people get so offended by a little thumbs down, then frankly I don't think they're fit to use the internet. God forbid they get confronted on youtube or something.

In principle the idea of neg rep is fine but I don't think it ever worked properly in practice.

It was meant to be there to stop trolls and to show posters who make either factually incorrect posts or purposely rude or offensive posts for the sake of being rude/offensive.

However, trolls don't care about getting neg rep. So that purpose is void. And personally, having seen TSR before post rep, during and since the changes, I have not noticed any change in the number of troll posts. There always have been and always will be troll posts.

And someone's post having a negative reputation, or indeed the poster having an overall negative reputation, is no indication of any of the above (troll, incorrect or purposely rude). I found neg rep was more often used for simple disagreement with the opinion of the poster. For example, anyone who posted anything positive about the Twilight books or films was immediately massively neg repped. How is that a useful system?! Oh this person likes different literature to me, everyone should ignore everything they say on any topic. And the vast majority of opinions which were negged were of this vein, rather than anything really extreme or offensive. It is quite clear that being negged for posting an opinion is going to put some people off posting - particularly those who think their opinions are contrary to the most common views on TSR.

Due to the kind of rep described above neg rep couldn't be used as an indicator anyway, as you never know if the person is just a fan of Twilight, or posted an innocent thread asking about the rep system, and just got a neg storm. You have to take the post on face value anyway, so the neg rep contributed nothing.

As a prime example, this thread would look very different if neg rep was still here. Many people wouldn't want to post their opinions because those on the opposite side of the argument may neg them simply for disagreeing. It's completely contrary to the whole point of a discussion such as this.

xxx

In real life, I get a whole bunch of anxiety when people tell me I'm talking ****, I mainly keep quiet irl for this reason! I hate thinking people are angry with me for various reasons, if it's friendly disagreement though I'm fine. Neg reps are ambiguous in the intent of the neg repper, so I always felt nervous with them.

Fair enough! Would a system where feedback on the neg was given change your opinion? Or are you completely against its return?

I'd be happy with a system where you'd be forced to give feedback with negs.


Posted from TSR Mobile

I'm a troll and when the nep rep went, I'm now having a field day. I got -56 once on a single thread post.

I quite like it without negs but tbh I think we've just changed between two different flawed systems. Ultimately I'd like to see it just changed to "like" and "dislike" buttons on posts or something of that nature rather than "pos" and "neg", and scrap rep power, rep score, and gems. It's that visible indicator of your overall rep stamped on every post you make that I think spoils it.

Although I think that's a great idea, people will whine about that too for the sake of whining.

I kind of see where you are coming from actually, when I first made an account (not this one), I made a really naive post asking if my GCSE's were good enough for a certain university and got about 60 negs haha! However, I still think the positives of neg rep far outweigh the negatives

I also agree that their should be some kind of feedback system in place! (I believe there used to be something like this )

You can never please everyone.

Might as well please 66% of users then.