Ranks/Membergroups

I wanted to set up something like we had on TRoU, where we had people make ranks with custom icons, names and colours and then vote on maybe 15 or so that we liked. Then people could request whatever rank they wanted.

That's my idea, but maybe somebody else has a better one. Discuss?

I belong to another forum with a different take on the rep system.

-rank is dependent on the amount of rep you have been awarded by other users of the community
-you can only add rep to another user, you cannot subtract it

they also made it so that every time you push the 'great post' button, the amount of rep you give that person might be more than 1, someone of a very high rank might award 4 point every time he/she presses the button.

this kind of ranking system may breed an elitist mentality though, which is something a lot of you say you would like to avoid.

I'm not too keen on a reputation system of any kind after seeing what it does on NS2. I don't like that it has a tendency to suggest which posts you should side with and which you shouldn't, as well as the fact that people like to use rep as an excuse not to post or as a way to disagree with somebody without speaking up about it.

That, and I think it's much nicer if people are able to choose their ranks. I personally think we can avoid them getting stale if we just switch them out every so often and get rid of ranks that people get bored with.

I'm not too keen on a reputation system of any kind after seeing what it does on NS2. I don't like that it has a tendency to suggest which posts you should side with and which you shouldn't, as well as the fact that people like to use rep as an excuse not to post or as a way to disagree with somebody without speaking up about it.

That, and I think it's much nicer if people are able to choose their ranks. I personally think we can avoid them getting stale if we just switch them out every so often and get rid of ranks that people get bored with.

the beauty of this rep system though is that you don't see who is getting rep for what posts, only that they are getting it. what killed rep on nsider2 was it being used as a sage in a sense. we would see people going back, finding older posts of users they didn't like and neg. repping it until they maxed out.

ranks embody the ideas of seniority, reputation, respect and prestige. while the membergroups idea is interesting, i see it simply as a way to divide a community. how do you envision it working exactly?

I hate reputation. I like the idea of it, but it's always implemented abysmally.

In a forum environment you shouldn't be discouraging people to disagree with each other since that's something that spurs discussion. Hiveminds are boring. I like to encourage different viewpoints even if I don't agree with them at all.

Look at reddit if you want to see the worst example of a reputation system.

I hate reputation. I like the idea of it, but it's always implemented abysmally.

In a forum environment you shouldn't be discouraging people to disagree with each other since that's something that spurs discussion. Hiveminds are boring. I like to encourage different viewpoints even if I don't agree with them at all.

Look at reddit if you want to see the worst example of a reputation system.

If we had a rep system, I'd totally upvote this.

ranks embody the ideas of seniority, reputation, respect and prestige. while the membergroups idea is interesting, i see it simply as a way to divide a community. how do you envision it working exactly?

Not sure what you're getting at by saying "a way to divide a community." It's not like they'll have different permissions or something like that, they'll just have different pictures and colours and names and junk. You don't remember how it was on TRoU or Outsider?

Maybe somebody else can explain what I'm trying to say a little better.

ranks embody the ideas of seniority, reputation, respect and prestige. while the membergroups idea is interesting, i see it simply as a way to divide a community. how do you envision it working exactly?

Not sure what you're getting at by saying "a way to divide a community." It's not like they'll have different permissions or something like that, they'll just have different pictures and colours and names and junk. You don't remember how it was on TRoU or Outsider?

Maybe somebody else can explain what I'm trying to say a little better.

it still sounds like a way for people to make exclusive cliques to me. maybe im not seeing the whole picture here.

it still sounds like a way for people to make exclusive cliques to me. maybe im not seeing the whole picture here.

Are you thinking that people with a certain membergroup will only talk to people with the same membergroup or something like that? People are just going to choose based on their personal preference for rank colour or something like that. It'll mean about as much as ranks on NS2 do, without the distinction of being based on post count.

i don't really understand what you think would happen if we were to adopt that kind of system

it still sounds like a way for people to make exclusive cliques to me. maybe im not seeing the whole picture here.

Are you thinking that people with a certain membergroup will only talk to people with the same membergroup or something like that? People are just going to choose based on their personal preference for rank colour or something like that. It'll mean about as much as ranks on NS2 do, without the distinction of being based on post count.

i don't really understand what you think would happen if we were to adopt that kind of system

i see certain groups of people all picking the same group or whatever and talking amongst themselves. it just sounds a lot like high school to me is all. again, maybe im just not getting it.

Yeah, I don't think you are. That isn't the way it's been anywhere I've ever seen this done. A few people might pick the same membergroup or something like that, sure, but we're all friends here. Nobody is going to use it as an excuse to ignore anybody else. The only purpose of the system is to get a little colour going on and let people be creative with creating new ranks and stuff.

Though if people don't like this idea, I'd really like to see some more suggestions.

i see certain groups of people all picking the same group or whatever and talking amongst themselves. it just sounds a lot like high school to me is all. again, maybe im just not getting it.

Jeez, don't try so hard to live up to your namesake.

i see certain groups of people all picking the same group or whatever and talking amongst themselves. it just sounds a lot like high school to me is all. again, maybe im just not getting it.

Jeez, don't try so hard to live up to your namesake.

im not trying to, i just didn't exactly understand the concept

i see certain groups of people all picking the same group or whatever and talking amongst themselves. it just sounds a lot like high school to me is all. again, maybe im just not getting it.

Jeez, don't try so hard to live up to your namesake.

im not trying to, i just didn't exactly understand the concept

There's not much to understand. Everyone picks whatever usergroup you want, whichever you think is the coolest or has the nicest colors or whatever. It's not a hierarchy or anything, it's just based on what you like.

It works on many, many forums. Every go on ATLF at all?

no i've never been there, but after having people try and explain this to me i'm actually really curious to see it in action