So, I'm not generally one for making my opinions about Issues known, and I don't think I can rep at this point, and I don't know if I can get it either, but that doesn't really matter. For me, turking is not necessary. I'm a stay-at-home-mom, and I'm doing this for a few hundred a month to spend on completely nonessential things. But that isn't how it is for everyone, and I can imagine that this issue is becoming much bigger than it has to be. I found mturk through Reddit, and this forum through Reddit, too. I lurked for a bit, then registered and lurked, then eventually started posting. I'm not at all at the point where I can find kickass HITs on my own, though I did okay the first few days, I guess. I love the steady stream of HITs, even though I always seem to be a second too late and a qualification short. But I've made a lot more money because of this forum than I would have without it. So the rep thing? It's not going to make me look elsewhere yet, but it could. Yes, the internet is anonymous to an extent, so bullying and such can happen anywhere. But anonymous rep on a forum designed to be a sort of "work gathering place" - water cooler if you will - seems completely out of place. If an adult cannot say what they need to without their username/avatar that is usually not even a picture of them, then they really don't need to be saying it. Anonymous rep allows people to be abusive and completely detracts from what I thought was the point of this place. Who cares about it anyhow? It's that green bar, right? I don't notice it at all. It contributes nothing. It might be nice to get little messages, but again, why do adults feel like they need to be completely anonymous on here. Doesn't the ability to separate our real selves from our username/avatar give us enough? I don't know, maybe my opinion doesn't mean anything. And I'm new so it probably doesn't/shouldn't count for much. But I'm getting annoyed at the continued discussions, the calling out in the forum, the childish behavior and everything. It's not necessary. It invites petty drama that improves no one's lives. It isn't helpful. I could lose the forum and be okay, at least at this point. I don't think that's necessarily true for some people, so they'll stay, even though people are being complete douchecanoes anonymously. I just don't really get it. /soapbox
I get the theory of the rep, but it's failing miserably. Too much talk/drama over stupid remarks and people being hurt by faceless people. Just get rid of it, or in my case, have it deactivated.
I agree with mostly all of what you said, and I particularly loved your post for "douchcanoes". Also, your Hyperbole and a Half avatar gets a thumbs up. For me, I'm fine with just having a 'Thanks' button.
My thoughts exactly! If someone wants to give you a special thanks for a certain HIT, they can either post it on the board or pm them if they want to keep it more private. Too much going on with reps, the thanks button, reading on the board about people thanking for a good HIT and PMs. I vote to narrow it down by removing the rep button.
The thanks was great but then the rep appeared and that got weird. It got abused. People not only left rude things, they left nasty things. Some on the receiving end seem ok with that. If it was actually real life, I wonder if they would be so ok with it. It might be time to consider doing away with it.
If I were to delete all the rep, and provide a clean slate, w/ no more anonymity, who would be down? I would also consider getting rid of negative rep entirely.
I'd still say no to that. What is going to keep me from hitting Pos rep and putting a negative comment? Why not just have happy messages be positive replies or PMs?
I love rep so hard, Andy. You can't do this to me. I didn't even get a second bar yet. I have accomplished nothing in the rep world. But seriously, what if it was still anon but no neg rep? Just an idea. Really though there is an option to not have it. Maybe everyone who doesn't want it should just ask to not have it. Then no problem for them and the people who do want it can keep it.
Nothing but with no anonymity like Andy suggested, you'd know who the hater was. The worst part of it (at least for me) is not knowing who is leaving hateful comments so I don't know who to put on "ignore".
But my four green bars??? Why cruel world?? Why?????!!!!!!!! No really, I would give it up for it to no longer be anonymous. No that wouldnt work at all. Even with a green square instead of a red, people can still say hateful shit anonymously. Its the anonymity that has to go, not the red or green.
Aye all those gifs and puns to get this rep! But yes, I'd give up my rep to get rid of anonymity. Make the douches come outta the woodwork.
While I agree that the really creepy ones that some of the women have posted they have gotten have no place on a civilized forum, I have to say that the people that complain the loudest seem to be the ones that post and then immediately check their rep. Half the time its because they know they are posting things that are going to earn them neg rep. Granted sometimes its unwarranted but the problem with the system is the people that post stuff just to see what neg rep that can get so they can complain about it. You say that you don't care and it doesn't bother you but you certainly seem to catch it within a couple minutes of it happening, then you post it and complain and then you get more neg rep. Its a vicious cycle and 75% of you seem to enjoy it as you complain.
This is the point of rep though. Otherwise I'd say get rid of it completely. I enjoy checking my rep throughout the day, as I've said before it's entertaining. But I still think the whole anonymous thing is bull. And that's not only for neg reps.
I would argue that the point of it is to see if you bring anything worthwhile to the table and for people to be able at a glance to see if your contributions are worthwhile. It is not to make a post and immediately check your rep, which frankly is exactly what many people do. Then they take it to heart and post it into the great hits thread and then from that there ends up being 20 BS posts that are completely off topic. My point is if it bothers you that much to make a post about it then you are probably better off not checking it. Some of the comments are actually correct, if you are constantly posting off topic crap and someone calls you out on it they are right. Its common sense but many people seem not to have it on the internet. I agree that much of it is out of line, but when you start posting it into the threads you are just asking for more. If it really bothers you that much then send it to a mod. A good example is Cowfin suspended Alex today and no one knew why and turned out it was for neg repping. There was no reason for it to become a major issue and generate 40 posts and it did not. Had it been someone else and they had posted about it it would have wasted 40 posts for nothing.