Thumbsup/Vote feature

[davepl]

I'm not sure if vBulletin supports it, but it would be really nice to have a "vote up" or "Helpful" button beside topic posts.

It'd take a while to provide value, but soon enough you'd see the helpful members being rewarded (and for some people, that'll drive them to compete and be even more helpful and valuable).

Right now you just have post count, which really only tells you the quantity, not the quality, of someone's posts.

This is how Amazon deals with their reviews and its made them very valuable. It'd also add organizational value as you'd own the rankings of all of the posts, just as Amazon does its star-rankings for products.

Thanks,
Dave

[powerdriver 1958]

At one time there was a Reputation points system here , It ended up being abused . it was turned in to a measure of popularity more than post quality and was shut down . It is not likely to return in it's past form .

[Liz]

exactly they do have one, but that is why we do not.

[davepl]

OK, but the existence of a crappy version doesn't suffice as a reason not to have a good one.

There are technical challenges to it, like each person has a certain amount of 'juice' to give. A vote up from a highly rated user counts a lot. A vote up from a new or lowly rated user counts a little. The more votes you get helps, but unless you're getting -useful- votes, which are a rare currency held mostly by the best users, it's very hard to game the system or abuse it.

You couldn't pay me enough to work in PHP, but someone would, and if vBulletin supports extensions I would be very surprised that no one else has written one.

[too much stuff]

Originally Posted by powerdriver 1958

At one time there was a Reputation points system here , It ended up being abused . it was turned in to a measure of popularity more than post quality and was shut down . It is not likely to return in it's past form .

I remember when that was around. Seemed like there were certain circles that got alot of rep points just for responding to threads. I didn't see alot of good out of it. There are alot of members that are very helpful and answer alot of questions that should be recognized, but i don't know how that would work. If you check out the post count or length of time on the board(or both), you know who contributes. If they are new to the board you will know before long...

[Cash3481]

Maybe getting a vote should take you 1. time and 2. certain # of posts to count. That will assist on EARNING THE VOTE! It should be something that's coveted and respected (both earning and giving) You'd be less opt to throw them around. Just a thought!
How about a vote per thousand and 6 months per vote. there is no way to rush through that many posts. They will be earned (I hope), or at least not abused very easily.

[Liz]

Originally Posted by davepl

OK, but the existence of a crappy version doesn't suffice as a reason not to have a good one.

There are technical challenges to it, like each person has a certain amount of 'juice' to give. A vote up from a highly rated user counts a lot. A vote up from a new or lowly rated user counts a little. The more votes you get helps, but unless you're getting -useful- votes, which are a rare currency held mostly by the best users, it's very hard to game the system or abuse it.

You couldn't pay me enough to work in PHP, but someone would, and if vBulletin supports extensions I would be very surprised that no one else has written one.

The version is not the issue, the users abusing it are. We have some talented coders on staff.

[Liz]

Originally Posted by too much stuff

I remember when that was around. Seemed like there were certain circles that got alot of rep points just for responding to threads. I didn't see alot of good out of it. There are alot of members that are very helpful and answer alot of questions that should be recognized, but i don't know how that would work. If you check out the post count or length of time on the board(or both), you know who contributes. If they are new to the board you will know before long...

Bingo! Thats why we have a review forum. Post a thread stating they help etc

[davepl]

Originally Posted by Liz

The version is not the issue, the users abusing it are. We have some talented coders on staff.

My point was that it is not difficult to write a user reputation plugin that is resistant to user abuse. Amazon does it with their review system, for example. I'm not saying you absolutely must do this, of course. But I reject the notion that it's hard. And I'm not going to get into why or if I've done it before, but I do speak with some authority on it.

It's not rocket-science. It might be single-engine aircraft science though.

Just FYI by "version" I do not mean the next incremental version of the one you don't like, I meant a good one.

And no, I do not want to write one to prove I'm right.

[Liz]

I know what you meant. There is no way aside from manual checking to see if a review, thumbs up etc is valid. You talk like we are beneath you and have no clue. That is fine if that is what you wish to believe. However, spewing stuff the average user won't understand doesn't make you an authority. I honestly don't have the energy, or want to debate site coding, plug ins, server loads etc with you. It has nothing to do with you, and unless it is a helpful reply, is not really even warranted by you. After 17 years of doing our job on this site.. I think we have an idea of what works and what does not.

[Josh]

I'm sure the amazon system is abused also. There is no fool proof method even with anti abuse measures in place. It comes down to being a smallish community and all it does it push certain popular ones higher than others. It's not a matter of it existing or not or anti abuse methods they are in place in the one we had, however, it simply doesn't work for anything but a popularity contest.