Why I miss old clickies: a lament...

[McIvan]

Interesting points Monsewer Le Coil. I do agree that it had its uses as an aggregate indicator on how board members view the reputation of a person as expressed through their collective posts.

The "good post encouragement" theory has a lot of merit and it is quite true that the present system does not achieve that (nor, I guess, was it intended to do so).

Coil is also spot on that some members have unattainable "reputation" based on the old system....it should all be calculated with the new system if thats how we are going. I know that would gut my rep points but so be it....I shouldn't actually have them if we are being consistent.

The rep point change was a bit of a bombshell in terms of forewarning....the hack of the server I guess giving rise to the opportunity to change a few things on the way back from disaster. Having nibbled around the new system's edges for a while, I personally feel that the blunt instrument of green OR red OR neutral fails at giving a satisfactory vehicle for opinion on a member, because it is always in the present and of necessity obscures historical conduct each time you change it. If someone has been a pain in the backside for a long time, but do something worthy, you are stuck with the dilemma that you can't give them a small pat on the back...you either ignore their worthy act OR give them a rep point that indicates your complete satisfaction with their conduct. The point was that multiple clickies gave a cumulative shading of opinion that allowed more nuance and accuracy, as well as allowing a "pat on the back" without that amounting to unqualified approval. Sure it could be used for people giving each other clickies for fun. I don't know that that was much of a problem. The people getting higher and higer reps seemed to be the ones contributing by far the most to the day to day posting on the Forum, especially in terms of AARs....it looked like it was pretty much spot on from where I was sitting.

I would hate to lose you two from the boards as your energetic postings were and are great value, and you always manage three paras where one would normally do :) And I note that Col T has basically been absent as well.....for the same reason?

The reputation system is not, btw, within my control, and it is a forum wide system, so the collective opinion of this board is only one element. We are however probably the only board with some members that actually care one way or the other! So perhaps that will count for something.