some musichnins are total internet noobs … ?
Might be a good idea if we knew who was going to do the ratings. You?
Or me?
Ratings, like any statistics can be doctored in so many ways. For instance: Any troll could zip around rating or downrating whoever he feels like rating. And we wouldn’t even know he’d be doing it. And then there’d be a thread calling for posters below a “Helpfulness threshhold” to be banned? Oh, no?
Would I want that to be you? Or you, me?
You would then all be calling for a rating history of who has rated whom, what and where. And I strongly suspect that were any of the proposers & supporters of this motion affected in such a way there would be some monitor meltdowns out there.
Mussolini was not a pussycat but with the right statistics I’ll bet he could purr along nicely. Apparently the trains ran on time so everyone gave him a “helpfulness” point for that.
I know who will and will not “understand” the last statement.
Probably the ones with not enough work to do outside of forum control freakery.
@Conman - the large majority of internet forums have rep systems and I’ve never seen any of the things you mentioned happen. Just sayin’.
Rev.
That’s my point. You don’t know.
Anyhow would be simpler if post count just went up to 100 or so just to let users know that there was a possible newby online. After that I don’t think any grownups care that much about postcount.
I don’t know how many I have or Hippo or Vic France. All I do know is they are the names to recommend for various subjects and, as someone else pointed out, it’s enough to have my ratings system in my head and I don’t particularly want to share my information on “Ratebook”. (hatebook?) 
Yes, as Mark Twain says, “there are lies, damnable lies and statistics.” But then people who know math have a right to an opinion, too.
You would then all be calling for a rating history of who has rated whom, what and where. And I strongly suspect that were any of the proposers & supporters of this motion affected in such a way there would be some monitor meltdowns out there.
Sounds like you should be appointed to the Consumer Advocate Chair on the Rating Committee. Committees cannot function well absent solid contrarian scepticism.
Mussolini was not a pussycat but with the right statistics I’ll bet he could purr along nicely. Apparently the trains ran on time so everyone gave him a “helpfulness” point for that.
I know who will and will not “understand” the last statement.
Probably the ones with not enough work to do outside of forum control freakery.
Apparently the “Probably” above … according to your grammatic structure … refers to both “those who will and will not “understand.”” 
OK, I’m now fully prepared to end my campaign and join Savadicious and Howling Ulf in hijacking this thread.
+1 for rating posts, not posters.
Como
Hijacking??? 
I’ve seen worse … 
I once saw a half-elf do just that 
Fortunately a Rep/karma addon can be limited to +1 per day to minimize the “trolling”.
At the same time +1 per day will allow those to simply give thanks when they have been helped in a major issue.
If they have more than 1 major issue per day… then… umm…
GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOULS !
Some features of one of MANY mods out there to plug-in to a forum
Features:
•Guests/bots can’t karma
•User can’t rate same post multiple times
•Karma will be enabled after x posts (x configurable via ACP)
•User can disable karma for himself
•Configurable time between karmas via ACP
Funny how any sign of an opposing view is called “hijacking” in these sort of posts. We’re not all nodding dogs and it makes the post look tedious.
However, as Savadious has thought it thru for us, if the features he mentions were applied I wouldn’t find any hardship there. Just seems like a lot of effort for the forum builders for not much extra in the way of functionality for us or them.
It actually intrigues me as to why this was brought up in the first place.
Rating some members moaning and delusions of owning the forum might be more appropriate.
There’s fewer of them.
“Hijacking” used malevolently or innocuously … the latter my use, of course … means changing the content/ focus of a post, not opposing a view expressed in a post.
So, agreeably abandoning the original concept in the bespoke post, I’d call changing the focus to rating posts themselves as ‘hijacking.’
Coupled with a way to retrieve highly rated posts, this would be really useful. I always hate to see some of the great tutorials Chris B. prepares sink further and further into the deeper pages of the forum, effectively near undiscoverable by those who didn’t catch it when it was on page 1 or page 2.
Now, Conman’s last point of “intrigue” is something that has befuddled philosphers and todays neuroscientest since Hector’s pup was a gleam in his daddy’s eye.
Why thoughts pop into anyone’s head will surely be an intriguing subject for the venturesome. But I think that’s another thread.
Como
I personally like the idea. Bredo has a point though, with someone trying to be the “first onboard to help” and failing, but getting a good rating for trying anyway… after too much of that builds up, it could be misleading.
If I had a forum like this, and if it did not have a plugin for something like this, I would implement a user rating system with a simple vote (you see it on webstore product ratings quite a bit).
“Was this post helpful?” and have a 5 tier rating ( Yes / Sort of / neutral / kind of not / No )
Then what I would do is have a much larger star or icon set which calculates each of the above ratings against the users total post count.
Then some more math to average each in the 5 tier rating against the other, and the result would post the larger set of icons (or star set).
This would be bluntly revealing, because users could actually get a “bad” rating. A lot of internet forums would shy away from this method. I wouldn’t. 
All the posts up to the time of implementation would have to be discounted altogether though, to keep it fair.
I kind like it, I think? Nothing is perfect, but this sort of would let the garbage sink and the manure float … or should I rephrase that? … 
If you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem 
Hi all — I don’t know about you but I can tell you anytime I needed help it was alway’s available from a
number of you. I’m not one for giving advise since I’m not as knowledgable as you guys. I don’t seek out an
individual for a solution to a problem, anyone can give it to me. To rate people for their accuracy is not
needed for me. At least people respond to the problem which is most appreciated. If their solution is correct
then I’m happy – very happy. If they are wrong I’ve still learned something. We should all be more concerned
with creating our music, no matter how much others like or dislike it. We can each open new frontiers in
our own creativity. Lets leave it at that. We can all help each other.
A rating system is not needed in my opinion (whatever thats worth )
If we post a bad response or even just totally wrong someone is always there to point out the corrections.
On the other hand I really wouldn’t mind if one was implemented.
haha!
You’ve got a point there! I’ve just learned enought PHP/mySQL to be dangerous, so I ought stay out of this!
Someone said “If all you had was a hammer all the problems start to look like nails …” 
Right. I don’t like the idea, either. After a bit of time here, you learn who the knowledgeable people are anyway
Exactly. Nobody has all the answers, and even some of the more knowledgeable folks may be uninformed on a particular issue. Rating schemes obfuscate that.
BTW – I’ve seen mashed help a lot of people out
I must admit that EVERYONE here has a potential to be helpful. In fact - with well over 2 decades of Steinberg product ownership I was not even a member of the forums until a few years ago because…
I ALWAYS FOUND MY ANSWERS IN THE FORUMS … even before asking…
We do have a lot of information here to share between members. Helpfulness/karma/rep whatever you call it…
Its just a number… just like ‘post count’.
If we really want to level the playing field - maybe just ignore it… and ALSO get rid of even showing total post count to be fair…
Or … just add that 1 more number to suppliment post count.
I think rating the usefulness of a message is more useful than rating the person who posted it.
Here’s a prime example of a “helpful” user posting an answer that is completely useless to the original poster:
Seems simple enough to me… do your research first, so that you wont get the RTFM comments, you ask the question, then read on… if someone posts inaccurate information, someone else will most likely correct them, and then you have your answer.
You will of course have to endure the “bedside manner” of some of the “doctors” here, but c’mon, this is the Internet, not John Hopkins or DisneyWorld … Put on your best teflon suit and read on! This gives the place some character.
I doubt anyone reaches thousands of posts by simply typing +1 over and over … have a little faith.
my 2 cents.