His trying to catch me.

Tauto says thanks to everyone for their useful posts.

The following user Kleetus says thank you for this useful post.

The following,follower Tauto says thanks for the useful and intriguing post.

Yeah. That's one way to put it. Another is that it was yet another ridiculing meme used as a direct and personal attack on a single member using terminology usually reserved to describe some effects of PTSD that has found its way into, here it comes, stereotypical alt-right flamebaiting.

It's an escalation strategy.

Which, ahem, isn't something a person who "gets along with just about everyone" does, OK? That just... that just doesn't... fit together. Interlock. That's just different realitites. That's not just "not even trying". That's actively provoking the exact opposite.

But, hey, if he can't cope with receiving a polite moderator request to modify one of his posts – and the single most polite request of this sort that I have ever seen in my whole life at that – and if he in fact ragequits the forum over that... that is a ... unique ... inner conflict that doesn't quite make the hero of our story credible or even accessible to the audience or something.

I'm ready to protest and I have my placards, what do you think of these quips:

Make love, not meme.

Memes kill.

Don't do meme.

Meme, what it is you're good for?

Memes not welcome here.

That's a perfectly valid subjective opinion, and I'll respect and fight for your right to have it.

For me, the reputation rating system is simply decoration on the page. Game reviews, movie reviews, music reviews, restaurant reviews, and I dare say any rating or review system is inherently unreliable in matching my personal tastes, regardless of how authoritative the participants on the subject matter itself. Obviously that's because ratings and reviews by other people are other people's opinions and thoughts, not mine.

I myself have mentioned replacements for this system of rating members (indirectly by rating their posts) only because it seemed like many others also thought it wasn't worth the space on the webpages, therefore maybe there could be something else that I wouldn't ignore. (For example, listings of posts by members so individuals can decide for themselves by reading a member's posts rather than an arbitrary score.)

As for abuse, my perspective as a member is that the reputation system is not being abused at all by anybody. Well, maybe the unrelated "spam report" button that's integrated within it, but not the reputation system itself. From the support link on the original post of this thread there is a menu on the leftside of its page with further explanation of forum guidelines. Specifically there is the link for What is this “rep” thing on the forums? which describes the reputation system and states: Earning points or stars to show others "how respected and well-known you are in the community" clearly makes the reputation system competitive. There's the implication of being better than someone else, or less than someone else. Of being deserving of a bonus. Of not being deserving of anything. In particular, it discourages being yourself and encourages role-playing in order to succeed within the system.

It seems to me the reputation system shares many of the same characteristics as games, and is simply being played like a game by its participants, even if unknowingly. It seems like some members go for high scores, some go for low scores, and sometimes some members form ad hoc teams to help or hinder other members or teams of members. Participation isn't mandatory so much as it is simply happenstance by being present, that is, whenever posting. It doesn't happen by only reading or viewing the webpages.

There's no abuse of the reputation system, it's obviously just gaming. It seems like it happens with reviews of products, people, and everything in all rating systems, and I would think people in a gaming forum would be least likely to not realize the same.

OTOH, there may be misuse of the reputation system. As I have admitted, I was using the buttons for "always hide"/"always show". Or for hiding long posts, which has the side-effect of causing the length of the page to retract thereby simulating scrolling upward without having to scroll. IOW, I was using the buttons and their visual effect functionally. (I think I may have thought of the words "rate this post" as being a separate item, not a description of the buttons. Perhaps because to me ratings are usually 1–5 stars, not minus/plus.) I am trying to not do that anymore, to not use the minus/plus buttons in a functional manner.

Anyway, it doesn't matter to me. The score is just a decoration on the webpage, like advertisements or other nonfunctional noise. I use Safari with a personalized CSS (cascading style sheet) file to hide whatever detritus on various webpages, and sometimes reshape the content for more comfortable perusal for myself. I haven't hidden the reputation score in this forum as of yet as I still find its presence quite the novelty, considering it's a gaming forum.

Spot on, Erpy. Goes to show, I think, that we're a lot more alike than most of us are willing to acknowledge.

We *all* need to grow up.

Later, bro! Was nice to see you.
Now we are censored. We can't say truth. We must tolerate intolerable. You decided not to and i respect that.

edit: Never mind, the post in question got nuked anyway.

Ah, even more "not drama queens" :D

Bye, bye! Don't forget to not write! Go till the men speak Italian and continue until they speak something else!

Help, help, I'm being repressed!

FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA----

BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You going or what?