How does "Reputation" Work?

[The Spirit]

Hey gang, im relatively new and was wondering how reputation works. just curious. thanks for ur time friends!
~The Spirit

[7thson]

Post smart, witty, funny, informative, etc... things. 'Nuff said.

:)

[Yoda]

It's pretty straightforward: if you like or approve of a post, hit the thumbs up (:up:) icon above it. If you dislike a post, click the thumbs down (:down:) icon.

Each person can rate each post once. Each thumbs up gives that person +1 rep. Each thumbs down, -1. You can see see your total on the Reputation Tracker (http://www.movieforums.com/community/rep.php), linked to on the top left corner of the My Profile (http://www.movieforums.com/community/usercp.php) page. Each person can see the rep totals on their own posts as they browse threads.

At the moment, post ratings only have a few tangible effects. Mainly, they determine what goes under your user title; for every 50+ rep you achieve, you get a green dot under your name. Once you reach 500+, you get a solid green bar (which most members call a "lightsaber"). If you have negative rep, the dots are red. It's basically just a shorthand way of knowing whether or not a given member is in good standing with the community.

You can view a breakdown of rep points on the Post Ratings (http://www.movieforums.com/community/ratings.php?) page, which you can find under the Quick Links menu.

Each member gets to choose how they disperse rep, though I strongly encourage people to give rep to thoughtful or insightful posts, and take it for rude or poorly reasoned ones, rather than simply use it to be nice, or to convey simple agreement/disagreement.

There are a few other places where rep comes into play, such as in ranking the comments on the Movie Club (http://www.movieforums.com/movieclub) page. There are a lot of plans down the line to enhance the role reputation plays on the site in a variety of ways, as well. :)

[The Spirit]

thanks guys. *forum five*

[Yoda]

Should I take that to mean that you're a fellow Scrubs fan?

[linespalsy]

Hey Yoda, this doesn't have to do with rep per se, but I'm not sure where else to ask: is there a word/character limit for comments that you attach to other peoples' posts?

[The Spirit]

hahaha you know it yoda!

[gummo]

I need 98 more + rep for a green bar.

[Silas]

now you need one less!

[Ðèstîñy]

Hey Yoda, this doesn't have to do with rep per se, but I'm not sure where else to ask: is there a word/character limit for comments that you attach to other peoples' posts?

That's a good question, because I know there is one, but I am curious how many characters are allowed. I received one once, that stopped mid sentence.

[mark f]

And I got one the other day which was at least 275 words. It was nice though, in at least two meanings of that word. :cool:

[undrbite]

lessay you have a lightsaber. if people give you thumbs down's until your total rep < 500, would you go back to being green dots? or are you once a lightsaber always a lightsaber

[Yoda]

Hey Yoda, this doesn't have to do with rep per se, but I'm not sure where else to ask: is there a word/character limit for comments that you attach to other peoples' posts?
I think there's one imposed by the database field itself. I'll see if this is the case, and if so, I'll change it. I think it's good to have some kind of restriction, however, but I'll at least double it.

lessay you have a lightsaber. if people give you thumbs down's until your total rep < 500, would you go back to being green dots? or are you once a lightsaber always a lightsaber
Yep, you go back to green dots. You can lose the lightsaber if your rep drops below the threshold. However, I'm not sure if this has ever happened for more than a short period of time, as the kind of member who amasses that amount of rep obviously isn't likely to alienate enough people to drag their rep down again.

[Ðèstîñy]

And I got one the other day which was at least 275 words. It was nice though, in at least two meanings of that word. :cool:

Two hundred and seventy five words? Words? I stress that because mine was nowhere near that. Hmmm, weird again.

[Yoda]

Have you guys had this character limit lately? I checked the database, and the file displaying the comments, and haven't found anything yet which would be restricting the number of characters in the comments. I do think there was a restriction sometime in the past, though I think I removed it back then. Does anyone have any recent examples of a comment bumping up against a limit?

[Ðèstîñy]

No. Mine has been awhile.

[Used Future]

I have over 50+ rep but still have only one green dot. Is that right?

[mark f]

Yes. You need to get to 100 to add a second one. Then you get one more for each 50. 500 = light saber. You go your first dot after your first +, so you got paid in advance instead of having to get to 50. :)

[Used Future]

Yes. You need to get to 100 to add a second one. Then you get one more for each 50. 500 = light saber. You go your first dot after your first +, so you got paid in advance instead of having to get to 50. :)

Aaaah I see,

muchas gracias:)

[n3wt]

Ah cheers guys this is helpfull and the 2nd one is 100 ok cool!

Fair play the reputation bar is a cracking idea!!

[These Filthy Hands]

What happens if you some disagree's with your opinion on a movie and decides to go on a negative repping spree for no reason other than to piss you off?

[Yoda]

We judge those sorts of things on a case-by-case basis, but generally speaking that would be considered an abuse of the system, and we would likely remove the negative rep.

People are free to rep as their conscience dictates, and we're loathe to intervene, but if it's clear someone has a vendetta, or a specific user is targetted, we will make an exception. If this sort of thing happens to you, just drop me a private message and I'll be glad to have a look.