Ok, NOT REALLY, but we've had a lot of questions posted and I've had a lot of questions PMed, so I will do my best to consolidate what I know into one little place. Here. This information is a combination of VB FAQs, information from other VB admins, and my limited knowledge.

As we learn more and get more information, I will update this to add the new findings in. Enjoy!

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What is the reputation system?

A system that allows board members to "self-regulate" themselves, based on Reputation points which they allocate to others.

How Does It Work?

Members start with 0 reputation.

You can award every post/poster with positive or negative reputation points, and provide a comment about why the reputation was given. Over time, "good" members will likely build up positive reputation while "bad" members will build up negative reputation. Good reputation is generally an indication that people appreciate the poster's contributions, agree with their posts, etc. Bad reputation is generally an indication that people disagree with the person's posts, "don't like" the person, etc.

By checking someone's reputation level against their number of posts, you can get a baseline idea of how trustworthy/reliable their information has been, whether or not their opinion has been popular, and even how many "friends" they have on the board.

Some boards make the reputation comments publically visible. I don't believe this board does. When comments are visible, you can read the reasons why others were given bad or good reputation. This can help offset the "stigma" of positive/negative rep points (e.g. when a negative reputation comment reads something like, "We have different opinions", or a positive comment reads something like, “You’re pretty!”)

How Do I Check For A Member's Reputation?

Reputation points are listed under your user CP, at the very bottom. If you see a title bar for it but no rep info, you can expand it by clicking the arrow.

How Do I Give Reputation Points?

Click on the scales icon located in the bottom left corner of the posters info field. (the bottom of the section where join date, age, posts, etc. appear). Once you lcick on the scales, you will get a pop-up allowing you to “approve” or “disapprove” of the post, and leave comments.

Can I Control How Many Reputation Points To Give?

No, you cannot.

Based on a range of criteria, like seniority, rank and reputation, some members will have a higher rep power than others. I don’t know if it’s true for LBT, but on many boards, the higher your rep power, the more reputation points you can give. (In other words, it keeps someone who just joined today and has no reputation from giving 500 negative reps in a day).

What Is Rep Power?

Rep Power is not the member’s reputation. It's an indication of how many Reputation points they can give to others, or deduct from them. If a member has a Rep Power of 3, that means he gives other members 3 Reputation points or deducts 3 Reputation points from them, everytime he comments on their post.

How Do I Get More Rep Power?

I don’t know about LBT specifically, but generally speaking there are three ways to get more Rep Power.

Seniority

The longer you stick around the forums, the more influential you become. Every 365 days, members increase their Rep Power by 1 point.

Activity

For every 1000 posts, members increase their Rep Power by 1 point.

Reputation

For every 100 points of reputation, members increase their Rep Power by 1 point.

How Many Times Can I Give / Deduct Reputation In A Day?

I don’t the answer to this for our board, it’s something set (afaik) by the admin. Often it's limited to 10.

How Often Can I Give / Deduct Reputation From The Same Member?

You can give / deduct reputation from the same member as many times as you like. In most cases (I don’t know about LBT, but this is a common practice) you have to give reputation to 10 other members before you can give to the same member again.

What are the Pros and Cons of Reputation?

This could easily be the biggest answer in the post, so I'll give short versions. Reputation doesn't really mean anything, but it can be an ego boost or blow, and it can also be used to "get back at" someone. (If you're familiar with ebay, think of the buyers who leave negative feedback, so the sellers do too - even if the seller had a good experience).

Pros: Reputation can be a way to help new users discriminate the "good" from the "bad"... e.g. avoid trolls, known troublemakers, people who spread misinformation, etc. Reputation can also let someone know when they've posted something valuable, and give a nice "pat on the back" for their effort.

Cons: Reputation is, essentially, a way of saying "I agree" or "I disagree". Because of this, people often use it to disagree with your posts in a private way, because - for whatever reason - they don't want to disagree publically. This can result in a "good" poster having negative reputation. It can also result in harsh feelings toward other members, or "pack behavior" being used to drive down someone's reputation.

Summary

To sum it all up, here is the gist of the Member Reputation System.

Default Reputation

Every member starts with a reputation level of 0.

Rep Power

It's an indication of how many Reputation points a member can give to others, or deduct from them.

Seniority

The longer you stick around the forums, the more influential you become. Every 365 days, members increase their Rep Power by 1 point.

Activity

For every 1000 posts, members increase their Rep Power by 1 point.

Reputation

For every 100 points of reputation, members increase their Rep Power by 1 point.

I'm struggling with the reasoning behind this functionality. It makes sense if someone wants to give kudos to a particular poster, but making available yet another way to send barbs or negative remarks to one another personally just doesn't seem like trying build unity to me.

I have to say, I agree with this. I can't think of a single positive effect this function is likely to have. The rationale that it will help people on the forum know who to believe is not very persuasive. And besides, the people here don't have any special knowledge about "who to believe." It's best if all ideas are given equal footing in the "marketplace," and let the best ones rise to the top naturally.

A forum like this is for people to express themselves and ask questions. We can police the forum any way we want by not reading posts from people that annoy us. And anyone who believes medical advice from people on this forum without confirming it with a medical professional deserves whatever happens to them.

I bet if we took a poll most people would be against having this function. But I may be wrong.

In any event, I'm certainly not in favor of it. It's just another way for people to be mean to each other privately. And if someone has something nice to say, it can be done publicly. That's how I see it.

I'd just like to say that I posted some things while trying to explore this function that I am honestly sorry I posted.

At the time that I was testing this function, there were no user names to identify who posted and I was even unsure as to where the posts went. Over the past 24 hrs, there has been a change to show who the poster was and I keep hearing that others are getting announcements that they have new reputation posts to their account. I have yet to get any announcements, but I have had some other users share with me some of the posts that are being posted. After experimenting with this and seeing those other posts, I'm struggling with the reasoning behind this functionality.

It makes sense if someone wants to give kudos to a particular poster, but making available yet another way to send barbs or negative remarks to one another personally just doesn't seem like trying build unity to me. I'm really thankful that I didn't make long dissertations about how awful a person was, but I am truly sorry that I made any negative remark at all. To those who may have received them, please know that I am sorry and I will no longer be a part of sending daggers indirectly. I'll be glad to send positives, however.

Well, I did the same thing to some people, so I'd be a fool and an idiot not to accept your apology. Look on the bright side, though, I was actually blaming someone else for what you wrote to me. The way I reacted in turn is embarassing, because I usually don't act like that. So, like you, I apologize to everyone I sent an overly hateful message to.

I for one don't plan on giving any negative reputation remarks, because I don't think it's fair to affect someone's reputation on the board just because I happen to disagree with their opinion. I think opinions and reputation should be separate.

There are several people here who I vehemently disagree with on a number of topics, and yet I still feel that they deserve a good reputation on the board. In fact, there's no one here who I feel deserves a bad reputation, except maybe spammers.

That's just my two cents.

I for one don't plan on giving any negative reputation remarks, because I don't think it's fair to affect someone's reputation on the board just because I happen to disagree with their opinion. I think opinions and reputation should be separate.

There are several people here who I vehemently disagree with on a number of topics, and yet I still feel that they deserve a good reputation on the board. In fact, there's no one here who I feel deserves a bad reputation, except maybe spammers.

That's just my two cents.

Exactly. Well said. Consider these comments to be an enhancement to your reputation.

Click on "User CP" and scroll down to the last box you see. It shoudl appear after your list of subscribed threads, and right before the "forum jump" drop-down. It will read "Latest Reputation Received" and display the last 5 reps. This may not show if you haven't received any - I'm still trying to figure that out.

Well, let me confirm it then. If you don't have rep, you don't see anything about rep in the control panel, lol.

Thanks for telling me where it is!

I have to say, I agree with this. I can't think of a single positive effect this function is likely to have. The rationale that it will help people on the forum know who to believe is not very persuasive. And besides, the people here don't have any special knowledge about "who to believe." It's best if all ideas are given equal footing in the "marketplace," and let the best ones rise to the top naturally.

On another board I visit the rep function is only positive--or, I guess, neutral. It's not a way of getting "points," just a way that people can leave little comments for one another. Personally, I like that part, because it's just a private message one sends to another that can lighten a day, and it's a lot easier than sending a PM. I know it's something I use a lot because I don't like to post messages just to say "I agree with so-and-so." Getting those messages is great; it's always nice to hear that someone wants to respond to what you have said, even if no one else knows it. That list of comments is always there, too; it's not like PMs which have to be opened one by one to be read, and need to be managed since there's limited space for them.

So if we could change the functionality to something like that, how would y'all feel about it?

When I was on here 2 days ago, I could see everyone's rep points as well as my own. Now they've completely disappeared. Are you all seeing them right now? Since the new changes, I seem to have a different technical problem every time I log in.

Anyway, I agree with Sunta and Marjon9. And anyone who spends more than a day in this forum will easily figure out who knows what they are talking about and who doesn't.

On another board I visit the rep function is only positive--or, I guess, neutral. It's not a way of getting "points," just a way that people can leave little comments for one another. Personally, I like that part, because it's just a private message one sends to another that can lighten a day, and it's a lot easier than sending a PM. I know it's something I use a lot because I don't like to post messages just to say "I agree with so-and-so." Getting those messages is great; it's always nice to hear that someone wants to respond to what you have said, even if no one else knows it. That list of comments is always there, too; it's not like PMs which have to be opened one by one to be read, and need to be managed since there's limited space for them.

So if we could change the functionality to something like that, how would y'all feel about it?

What you describe could be good. I was just put off by the fact that I found a bunch of nasty personal comments on my profile page from people who disagreed with the political views I expressed in a rants and raves column. These people appeared to by trying to damage my "reputation" on the forum because they disagreed with my political views. My thought was "gee, I sure need this."

But the way you describe could be good. I would probably not be inclined to leave a lot of private messages for people but I would not object if people like the idea. I'm obviously just one vote but as far as I'm concerned if people want that system it would be fine with me.

What you describe could be good. I was just put off by the fact that I found a bunch of nasty personal comments on my profile page from people who disagreed with the political views I expressed in a rants and raves column. These people appeared to by trying to damage my "reputation" on the forum because they disagreed with my political views. My thought was "gee, I sure need this."

But the way you describe could be good. I would probably not be inclined to leave a lot of private messages for people but I would not object if people like the idea. I'm obviously just one vote but as far as I'm concerned if people want that system it would be fine with me.

I agree. Positive comments being allowed, if they were anonymous, would still be great. Like Mark, though, I experienced several people giving me nasty, hurtful comments because they didn't like my views and were apparently trying to harm my reputation. The positive notes are a really good pick-me-up, though, especially when yo don't know who they are coming from. So, if you do bring it back, I think you should make it anonymous again. The anonymous messages (the good ones, at least) were like getting a secret admirer's note. It was nice.

I agree. Positive comments being allowed, if they were anonymous, would still be great. Like Mark, though, I experienced several people giving me nasty, hurtful comments because they didn't like my views and were apparently trying to harm my reputation. The positive notes are a really good pick-me-up, though, especially when yo don't know who they are coming from. So, if you do bring it back, I think you should make it anonymous again. The anonymous messages (the good ones, at least) were like getting a secret admirer's note. It was nice.

Well, there's no way to police the comments, in the same way we can't police private messages. No one knows what's in them except the sender and the recipient. But what I'm describing removes the positive/negative aspect to it--there's no "I approve/disagree" button, just a place to leave a comment.

I don't even know if that's possible, and now I see the whole thing has been disabled. So this discussion is now moot.

Thanks anyway!