And it wouldn't matter because the people reading the posts could decide for themselves rather than rely upon the downvoting results. In other words, the reputation number would be nullified, hence why I also said the reputation number could likely be removed. The posts a member makes speak for themselves better than any numerical value can.

Absolutely.

The only reputation system I'd support would be a reputation system based on "answered questions". Basically whenever someone posts in a thread flagged as a question and another poster posts a solution that's then flagged as solving the question, the latter gets a rep boost. It means someone with a high rep goes out of his way to help others and be productive and I have no issue with such a member earning some cred for it.

Even then though, cred earned in one forum may not say much in another and it's possible someone's very productive in one particular forum and then posts nonsensical stuff in another. So it's not a perfect solution.

Posts in the non-game related forums such as the general shouldn't earn one cred.

Overall, I'd still support removing the voting system with the possible exception of the ability to flag extremely informative posts positively so they stand out. Threadcrap posts should just have the option of being reported to the moderators rather than downvoted.

So someone answering a question about "hey I don't know how to do this quest in game xy" should get credit and someone helping figuring a user out why his downloads are generally not working or why games don't update etc should not get credit because those questions are normally posted in the general forum? ;-)

Threads in the general can be flagged as a question too.

Not to sound flippant, but what if you're an idiot?

I like to think I have a comfy place here and some good friends and am a somewhat respected member of the community, but what do I know about fixes and walkthoughs?

Well, that's the thing. I see reputation (in a forum system where it's implemented fairly well) as less of an E-penis and more of a "are the tips I'm getting from this person reliable / does he know what he's talking about?" In a more chit-chatty environment like the general forum, the reputation thing is more of a non-factor anyway since your friends know who you are.

In other words, reputation the way I'm describing it would be useful for casual visitors when dealing with advice from people they don't know, but it'd be an arbitrary number between friends, as it should be.

I love the irony here.

The people who were trashing the forum are feeling victimized by the clean up going on and are striking back by trashing the forum thus only proving why this place needs to be cleaned up. :P

THEY ARE PROVING this place needs an overhaul by freaking out about the overhaul.

Keep derepping us, it only proves our point.

NOOOOOOO KEEP THE REPUTATION SYSTEM HOW AM
I GOING TO SUPPRESS OTHER PEOPLE'S FREE SPEECH
OTHERWISE WHILE AGGRESSIVELY DEMANDING IT


...the dereppers seem to have trouble with longer posts. Write longer posts folks. It confuses them.

There isn't going a lot of thought into this wave of downvotes and squeaks.

There is one problem with the question and answer system, one that I have been on two sides of. Consider the following sequence:

1. User A posts a question
2. User B posts a solution, but not the ideal one
3. User A marks B's post as the solution
4. User C posts a better solution
5. Because you can't mark multiple posts as a solution, user C gets no credit for answering the question.

I'm at a loss to understand the obsession with moderation?

If you want a moderated forum, there are literally dozens to choose from.

If a person or their post offends or upsets you, don't read it.

And as long as a person isn't spamming or outright promoting violence or harm to people, they should be allowed to say what they like.

Don't like it, that's fine, don't read it.

This place is unique in that the mods are hands off, and this fits with GoG's and CD Project's DRM-free approach, leave it alone.

All it needs is to get rid of the rep system and provide more features like flagging a post and ignoring a user.

Until rep is removed, everything else is meaningless.

When a user, or a number of them, can dictate what is posted and who can post, this place has far more issues than moderation.

Ironically, when a script was released by a member here to allow ignoring people, the author and thread was trashed by the very same individuals now whining about moderation.

They don't really want moderation, they just want a place where they are in control.

What a hypocrite you are, you've trashed people's rep and repeatedly boasted about it.

And you have a number of alt accounts.

By the time a post offends or upsets me, it is too late to not read it.

deleted

Yeah, it's unfortunately far from a perfect solution.