Reputations

[Bêthberry]

I notice that davem is now the bearer of two glowing jewels, out of seven. And congratulations to Sauce for moving up to third place with his own jewel.

I wonder if this means that 200 points are now needed to gain a new jewel? I'm assuming that davem has topped 700 points.

[Lhunardawen]

So is davem now in the "Holy of Holies" of Aragorn's court? Or is he trying to usurp the throne from Aragorn himself? :D

[davem]

So is davem now in the "Holy of Holies" of Aragorn's court? Or is he trying to usurp the throne from Aragorn himself?

Whatcha mean 'Aragorn's throne'? Its MINE....My Precioussss!

[Lhunardawen]

So that's what an additional shiny jewel does to people...creepy... :eek: :D

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Greetings and welcome to Aragorn's court HerenIstarion and Mark 12_30. As you can see there's a variety of entertainments available to you. That figure smugly puffing away behind the cloud of pipesmoke is davem -- I believe that he is ready to engage you in conversation of a most learned manner.

Somewhere hereabouts Saucey is getting a dart board ready, and I believe that Bethberry has just stepped out to make us all a lovely pot of tea.

Your dressing gowns are there upon the rack and your slippers are before the fire. I'm off to plunder the cellar for a new cask of ale (SpM and Bb got into our last one yesterday afternoon. . .)

[Mithalwen]

I take it then that the court of Aragorn is designated as a private members club or else you will be in contravention of the new anti-smoking legislation... ;) lol ... *imagines Agargorn, Gandalf, Gimli and the hobbits huddled under a porch in Minas Tirith puffing away*

And has HI elevation to this rank anythinf to do with the change in his avatar? Has he quite literally become a faceless bureaucrat? The rep. hierachy suddenly gets sinister..;)

[Lalwendë]

Mith's back!

Ah, the ban doesn't come in for some years yet, and if an establishment does not serve food then it can be exempt. Which is good because my local is one of those real ale pubs which disdains the very notion of food . *she says, merrily puffing away like Denise Royle and spilling ash across the computer*

Is that how you spell bureaucrat? I will have call myself a 'pen-pusher' no longer. ;)

[The Saucepan Man]

I take it then that the court of Aragorn is designated as a private members club or else you will be in contravention of the new anti-smoking legislation... I would surmise that, since it is a virtual court, the "arguments" used to justify that particular (ill-thought out and illiberal) piece of proposed legislation do not apply. :smokin:

Congrats and welcome to Helen and HI - and to davem for your second jewel. :)

[Mithalwen]

[QUOTE=Lalwendë]Mith's back!

QUOTE]

You "mith'd" me? I am turning into an Igor..and I may have to stop fighting that abbreviation . :( though I might hold out for the full 3 syllables to avoid confusion with the longer serving and more illustrious Mithadan. Besides, I imagine it with a very welsh accent in which the stress goes on the second like Myfanwy .. but NVM


So does that mean no hunt ban either :p

[Lalwendë]

Sorry, Mith, um.....Mithalwen! :) I suppose it's like when people assume my first name is really longer than it is and automatically write it down, hence me having to snatch the paper off them before my wages get signed over to someone else...

Hunt Ban? Careful, or it's going to get like one of those pubs which has to have a sign on the wall saying "No religion or politics to be discussed in this establishment". ;)



EDIT:

I apologise for wittering (see below). *mortified* :o

[The Barrow-Wight]

Perhaps we could continue this conversation in the chat room? Honestly, how did you all find the time to earn those good reputations? :rolleyes:

[HerenIstarion]

Thanks for warm welcome :)

Has he quite literally become a faceless bureaucrat

What's wrong with my avatar? I can see it allright :eek:

BW, sorry - just curiousity (which, as we know, killed a cat. On the other hand, though I do own cats, (or they own me, rather), I'm not one myself

cheers :)

[Bêthberry]

Ah! More to mingle with in Aragorn's court. In addition to the recently arrived Helen/Mark and HerenIstarion, we also now have Kransha and two very esteemed and esteemable mods, Child of the Seventh Age and Estelyn.

Ladies, I welcome more company from the distaff side! Congratulations all.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Thanks for the welcome - tea time, gals!! (Sure, we can lace it, but let's make the guys think we're prim and proper! ;) )

Estelyn wanders about her ancestral halls, studying the tapestries and planning a new one of her own...

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Welcome Kransha, Child and Esty -- it's getting positively crowded in here.

Ah davem, remember the days we could lounge around here in our bathrobes? *wistful sigh*

Hmm. . .not so sure about Kransha however. . .are orcs allowed in Minas Tirith, even well-dressed orcs? ;)

[Sapphire_Flame]

Wow! :eek: Aragorn's court is getting very crowded all of a sudden. Congratulations to mark, Estelyn, Child, Kransha and Heren! *sends gold stars*

Anyone want to place bets about who ascends to the Court next? ;)

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[mark12_30]

Like Esty, I also thank you for the welcome and the congratulations. Thanks for the tea. Interesting scent it has.

Er, where are the mushrooms grown hereabouts? You do have mushrooms, yes? And seed-cake? Ale perhaps?

My goodness, davem, that's a big fancy chair you're sitting on.

H-I, let's go up to the top of the tower, and have a look around at the lay of the land-- all those twists and turns made my head spin a bit.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Congratulations to all you luminous personages! I find myself trying to add to your reps frequently, but unable to since I have so enjoyed your former posts. I suppose that is a very good sign and I should not grumble about lowering the 're-rep' limits! ;)

[Bêthberry]

I suppose Fordim will be expecting another round of port and cigars, for he has now earned his seventh jewel. Two sparkley ones!

Wonderful work, Fordim, particularly on your Rohan game, Shadow of the West. Each post is a gem itself.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Yes, it's good to be once again at davem's heights.

(Gimme that chair!)

For this I think I'd be willing to break out the champagne and the really good cheese and chocolates, however.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Many thanks to all for the kind wishes. With so many beginning to crowd into Elessar's court, the place is getting a bit cramped, to say nothing of the strain on the kitchen and scullery staff who are trying to keep you all fed and clean. (Some folk seem to have prodigious appetites!)

As a humble Hobbit, Cami naturally feels more comfortable "under the stairs" so I am slinking down to the kitchen where I can whip up a table full of hearty fare both for residents of the court and those friends who are visiting....

[The Saucepan Man]

Welcome one and all. :)


... to say nothing of the strain on the kitchen and scullery staff who are trying to keep you all fed and clean. Er, isn't that why all you girls are here? :p

*Crashes, clangs and general clamour as various kitchen implements bounce off Saucepan's pots and pans*

;)

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Aragorn likes to have his women embroidering, not cooking and cleaning, Saucy!

[Rimbaud]

Great. Me socks are in the basket.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

You darn, darnit! I'll embroider.

[mark12_30]

Sheesh. I'll go for a walk in the woods above the city, and look for mushrooms. I thought the war was over. Guess not!

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

It's also nice to have the women around to serve the drinks. Cf. Galadriel and Eowyn.

*Fordim scrambles for the closed door of the library amid another hail of domestic weaponry*

[The Barrow-Wight]

I, being an admin, have the wonderful ability to drag people down from their Super Star status, especially if they are chatting in this forum about that very topic. Not that I'd ever have to do such a thing, considering how quickly such folks take a hint.

[Legolas]

Amen, sir. Amen. Some people... :rolleyes:

[HerenIstarion]

Well, we do take hints, Messrs. ;)

So question about reputations in general:

We are not likely to see a development in other direction - the only person not to have green sqaure has a blue one and is merely 'slipping'. It's good to have it so - for one, it shows we do not have particularly bad posters (i.e. 'trolls') around. Secondly, it shows we ourselves are not that wicked - we tend to give positive rating or nothing rather than rate someone down. But, with dying cats swinging to and fro inside my mind, I, showing my purely scholastic curiosity, would be glad to learn what titles go in opposite direction. Suppose we had someone with seven red squares, what would be his titulage? So and so is Morgoth's buddy? I'm asking for that kind of knowledge only as I hope (and I'm almost 100% sure) we have no chance of ever seeing it happening with our own eyes. So, what's there in store for those going in other direction?

thanks and cheers :D

[davem]

Yes, it's good to be once again at davem's heights.

(Gimme that chair!)

P'raps it has a competition with us, Precious.....

(Though I admit having this thing on a chain round my neck is a bit tiring).

[The Barrow-Wight]

Since it seems that no one plans to earn those dastardly negative titles (and would we really allow anyone to sink that low?), I guess I can go ahead and reveal what I chose for each one. But first I will remark how the designers of the reputation system must have been aware that few people would end up on the disreputable side of the line, because in the default titles that came with vBulletin, there were only a few levels beneath 0 and several on the positive side. Assuming the software developers had chosen these setting intentionally, I decided I would not add any levels. I did change the number of posts needed to ascend (or descend) a notch, and, of course, I changed the titles. The original titles were all non-Middle-earthish and terribly uninteresting.

Here are the realms of rottenness that none of our member have managed to fall to.

10 This is where everyone "has started the path to adventure."
0 This person "is slipping."
-10 This guy "has been acting like Ted Sandyman."
-50 This girl "is as unpopular as Bill Ferny."
-150 This creep "makes more trouble than Gollum."
-500 This loser "ruins every discussion like Wormtongue."

And now you know the rest of the story.

P.S. Please don't ask how many positive levels there are or what their titles are. You'll have to find out when you get there :)

[The Saucepan Man]

There were a few Ted Sandymans (Sandymen?) around at one time.

Anyone care to speculate as to the next levels up from Aragorn's Court? Do we move to Numenor? Beleriand? Gondolin perhaps? And thence over the Sundering Sea to the Undying Land?

Perhaps we should open a book on who will reach the next level next - Doctor Davem or Professor Hedgethistle ... ? :D

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

There were a few Ted Sandymans (Sandymen?) around at one time.

Anyone care to speculate as to the next levels up from Aragorn's Court? Do we move to Numenor? Beleriand? Gondolin perhaps? And thence over the Sundering Sea to the Undying Land?

Perhaps we should open a book on who will reach the next level next - Doctor Davem or Professor Hedgethistle ... ? :D

Put me down for 5 quid on davem.

I think we might have to wait a while to find out the next level, though, as those brighter jewelly thing-gummies require an additional 200 points to get rather than 100. I can only assume that this means the next level is a ways off (perhaps as high as 1000 points!).

I'm pretty sure, however, that the next level will have something to do with the Elves -- either "an Elf-friend of Rivendell/Elrond" or "worthy of a gift from Galadriel."

[HerenIstarion]

Actually, Bill Ferny (http://69.51.5.41/member.php?u=857) is No Fool of a Took at this very moment. He does not show up for a while, that'd be a pity.

But back to the topic:

For one, thanks, BW.

For two - are there any news of further development of the software? I mean the option of seeing not only what repute one got, but also what one has given out. It's not that important, but would be helpful (to help eliminate occassional occurences of the 'you can't give reputation to the same post twice' kind)

cheers

[The Saucepan Man]

Today I was awarded rep points for a post which was no more than three lines, comprising six words (and symbols), and which did nothing more than clarify a query which had been asked by another Downer.

"Why on earth has ***** given me points for that nothing post?" I thought to myself. "It only took me a few seconds to knock up, compared to the hour or more that I normally take carefully crafting a detailed post on one of the Chapter-by-Chapter threads or similar."

Then, after thinking about it for a while, it hit me: why shouldn't it deserve rep points? Perhaps I have got myself into a mind-set that others have not but, recently, I have been tending to award rep points only to those posts which I find incredibly witty or highly insightful. Why should I be so restrictive in my criteria? A post can surely contribute to the forum in a manner deserving of recognition without having to be lengthy and/or highly complex and/or astoundingly intelligent. My post was none of these. It was simply helpful, and that of itself was of value (to one member, at least). And there are, I am sure, other ways in which posts can be of value without being any of these things.

This ties in with another point that occurred to me some time ago in consequence of the earlier discussion on whether rep points are appropriate to RPGs. Although I am not (with one exception) an RPG'er myself, my view is that they are. Surely creative writing should be rewarded just as much as witty and insightful posts. And why should the rep point system not apply to other areas of the board? It is rare, I should imagine, for rep points to be awarded in response to posts in the Quiz and Quotes Rooms. But it is an active area of the forum in which many members spend a lot of their time. Why should they not receive appreciation when they come up with a particularly good question, or solve a particularly difficult clue? Of course, this should apply only to those posts which are in some way 'above average', and since the standard in the Quiz and Quotes Rooms is high, these will be rare. But there are, I think, occasionally times when it will be appropriate. I have myself awarded rep points to Quiz/Quotes posts on a few occasions, but probably not consistently enough - perhaps because I am not in the habit of considering such posts in terms of whether they are deserving of reputation.

Maybe I am wrong in suspecting that the criteria generally applied by people in awarding rep is unduly restrictive. But I tend to think not (and this is where I have to choose my wording very carefully). The majority of those on the first page of the Reputation List, and certainly all in the current top 10, are the older members of the Downs. And us 'oldies' tend to have greater experience of putting forward structured arguments and to have accumulated more knowledge and 'life experience'. I appreciate and acknowledge that this is a generalisation and it is not meant to denigrate anyone here in any way. The general intellience of this forum's membership, of whatever age, impresses me on a regular basis. But it is, I think, true on balance simply by virtue of the fact that we have been around longer. And this suggests to me that posts which are written with the benefit of greater experience and accumulated knowledge (although not necessarily greater intelligence) are seen to be more deserving in the reputation stakes. There is also an element, I think, of those who write these types of posts appreciating and responding more readily to posts of a similar nature. And as this group accumulates a greater number of reputation points and awards 'higher value' rep those to others within the group on a regular basis, they will tend to 'pull away' from the chasing pack. This has, in fact, been occuring for some time now - just look at the current top ten.

My concern is that this risks making the system exclusive rather than inclusive. There is a danger that those lower down the rep table will look to the top of the table, see the seemingly insurmountable levels of rep being accumulated there, and simply opt out of the system, thus perpetuating the effect.

Which takes me back to my initial point. Perhaps we should be thinking of awarding rep in a greater number of situations than seems currently to be the case, and therefore rewarding more readily those who are not (yet, at least) in the habit of making complex philosophical or analytical posts. Would that not even up the field a bit more? And perhaps, for similar reasons, we should be taking into account (as far as we are able) the relative age and/or inexeperience of the individual poster when considering his or her posts. That is not meant to be patronising at all, but simply a product of my thoughts above concerning age, experience and accumulated knowledge. I am not suggesting rewarding posts which are undeserving. Nor am I recommending any kind of positive discrimination (something to which I am very much opposed). I am merely proposing that we take into account all of the relevant factors, and perhaps widen our criteria, when awarding rep posts.

Perhaps you think my concerns are groundless, or that the rep system is working perfectly well as it is thank you very much. Or perhaps you already approach the rep system on the basis that I am suggesting. If so, please feel free to say so. I am simply raising a issue which I thought might merit some consideration, with a view to ensuring that we have a rep system which is (as far as it can be) fair, just and inclusive, and one with which we can all feel comfortable.

[mark12_30]

And perhaps, for similar reasons, we should be taking into account (as far as we are able) the relative age and/or inexeperience of the individual poster when considering his or her posts.

Standard Ops for me, Saucie. I also mark for perceptive observations, and demonstrated improvement. If I *only* marked sophisticated and erudite posts, I'd mark a lot less.

[Bêthberry]

Just so you know, Sauce, I repped this post the other day. I'm sure you recognise it.



Aragorn likes to have his women embroidering, not cooking and cleaning, Saucy!


Brief, witty, on-Tolkien-topic. It doesn't get any better than that.

[HerenIstarion]

"Why on earth has ***** given me points for that nothing post?"

Probably because the post in question, though short, was, as you yourself observed, helpful. Besides, it might have been counted by the rater as courteous, maybe promptness of reaction deserved commending as well. Or maybe, the rater thought that it might have came out more along 'for dorks who don't know' lines and, surprised at friendly return in place s/he expected scorn for his/her ignorance felt happy and wanted to share happiness ;)

Also it is possible the rater simply wanted to please you. If s/he were after some 'worked an hour on it' post of yours, the choice would have been hard, as many posts of yours do deserve positive feedback, and it is impossible for one person to hunt them all down. Sort of general acknowledgement of good deserts, if you follow my meaning, kind sir.

As for criteria stated in your post whence original qutation came is already in operation down our way ;) + we, my precious, tend to rate humorous posts as well.

Sometimes I rate newbies for their first post - without merit, of course - the idea behind it is just to show that board they came to is a friendly place. Disclaimer - under this category fall newbie posts which are, in general, better than average (i.e. - sort of hey dudes i came here tis a happy hour 4 u ol stands no chance of getting a 'welcome rating' from yours truly)

Sometimes I go seek old posts I remember with the purpose to rate them (by members no longer frequenting the board). Grounds - old posts are good, even if they are old. + if ever the author comes back, it would please him/her to know s/he was remembered, even if absent.

RPGs is a one big black hole in my rating pattern, alas - but that due to lack of time - the posts there are too time-consuming to read and appreciate on regular basis.

'Quotes'n'quizzes' get rated for following qualities:

1. Promptness in guessing (in proportion to hardness of the question)
2. Hardness of the question (and wit in contriving it, o'course)


I will stand corrected, if I missed anything

[The Saucepan Man]

Well perhaps I am the only one who rates too restrictively. Although I still suspect not, as I believe that the disparities in the rep table still bear my analysis out.

Nevertheless, thank you to mark12_30 and HerenIstarion for some very helpful 'repping guidelines', which are, I think, of general application.


I also mark for perceptive observations, and demonstrated improvement.Positively rating clear improvement in a member's posts seems to me to be a thoroughly worthy approach.

And HI's suggestions are eminently sensible. My only reservation would be rating 'Newbie' posts simply because they are 'Newbie' posts, although HI's qualification is well made. Certainly, I would advocate not negatively repping a Newbie's first few posts, simply because they are clumsily expressed (unless they are offensive or some such). Everyone deserves a bit of time to settle down and take on board the 'Barrow Downs approach', which I believe differs markedly from the approaches adopted on many other forums (and is one of the things that makes the Downs such a great place).


Brief, witty, on-Tolkien-topic. It doesn't get any better than that.I thoroughly agree, Bb, but then Estelyn Telcontar is one of the 'oldies' (and before Esty clobbers me, I should make clear that, by this, I mean that she is older than the average age here, rather than that she is old). My original comments were not so much concerned with the length of posts (and perhaps I wasn't sufficiently clear on that), but the content. I think that it is relatively common for people to rep 'one-liners' if they are particularly erudite or witty. I have been rated for humourous one-liners and rated them myself, in the 'Crazy Captions' thread for example. My central point on this is that we should not necessarily judge all posts by the same standard.

Thanks for the responses, and further thoughts on the approach to adopt when awarding reputation would, I think, be most hepful. :)

[Lalwendë]

What SpM is saying can indeed be a danger when you get 'points' systems - you may spend many hours/brain cells in crafting a post which makes you sit back with satisfaction, and yet it does not get points. If you start thinking about the reasons then you could drive yourself up the wall! But, it isn't about points, it's about the simple joy of just making your point or telling your tale as well as you can! Of course, points are a good thing to get (and I always go 'ooh' in dleight when I get them), but you can't have them all of the time.

I just give them out when I like what someone has said, and as I write in the RPGs, give them out whenever I can there (sometimes the 'limit' thingie stops me giving them out as often as I'd like), as I know how much effort it takes to write those pieces. If someone makes me laugh aloud they'll often get a virtual 'pat on the back' too. I don't set parameters for where I give points, as for me it would defeat the object; sometimes, 'brevity is the soul of wit'. :)

[The Saucepan Man]

But, it isn't about points, it's about the simple joy of just making your point or telling your tale as well as you can! Most true. But, since we have the system, it seems to me worthwhile giving some consideration as to how it might be applied in as consistent, fair and inclusive manner as is possible. Also, there is value in people striving to make the kinds of posts that others will find worth reading.


I don't set parameters for where I give points, as for me it would defeat the object;Oh, I'm not talking about setting 'hard and fast' rules. I just thought that it might be helpful to share our thoughts on what types of posts we find to be deserving of rep, other than those which are clearly (and justifiably) repped because they are very funny or highly educational and/or insightful.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Honest to goodness, my only criteria for repping posts has become the "out loud" test. If I make a noise in response to a post, it deserves repping.

For example, if a post is so funny that I laugh out loud. . .rep it.

If it's making so interesting a point that I hmmmmm thoughtfully. . .rep it.

If it's making a bizarre point, but doing so in such a compelling manner that I make an audible see-saw noise -- hmmmm-mummmmm . . .rep it.

Finally, if it's just so well written that I give a satisfied grunt -- hunmph (this happens primarily in RPGs). . .rep it.

The one exception is posts that make me click my tongue in disapproval. . .those I ignore.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Saucie,

I especially appreciate the dilemma you're facing in terms of the quiz room. Many of those responses, though only a few words, show a great deal of effort in searching out information or, alternately, in having an impressive amount of Middle-earth data stored away in someone's brain. My personal feeling is that, when a poster demonstrates real effort or expertise, it should be acknowledged, even though the particular post doesn't meet the exact "criteria" you might have set up in your mind for a typical post in Books.

Some time back, I brought up the problem of adapting the rep system to RPGs. So often, a person's contribution depends not on a single, scintillating post but a pattern of involvement: reliability, care with grammar, close attention to the story line. I try to acknowledge that with my rep points. And this certainly includes recognizing improvements by newbies or those just getting started with RPGs. This, to me, seems just as important for the quality of the site as well thought out posts in Books or relevent, one-line quips in other settings.

This type of thing is easier to do when you know a particular forum well. It would be difficult for me to recognize "improvement" in the quiz forums because I don't spend a lot of time there. In the Shire, I have a much better idea about people's writing and can see if someone's putting forth real effort and showing improvement.

Like you, I'm concerned that the system be inclusive and consciously try to think in those terms when I rep a post.

EDIT: BW - I'm certainly glad we have no one like Wormtongue. And I will definitely keep in mind Fordim's "out-loud" test when deciding what to rep!

[Legolas]

Brief, witty, on-Tolkien-topic. It doesn't get any better than that.

Hm...is it really on-topic? It's a joke about the topic, but I wouldn't call it "on-topic." It gets plenty better than that. :cool:

[Lhunardawen]

Ah, but Sauce, some posts may seem nothing to us, but a lot to other people. I recall three examples from my experience, all from The Books, two from CbC. One has something to do with the Black Breath. Another was pointing out the similarity in the colors of the hairs of Galadriel and Celeborn to those of the Two Trees. Last is mentioning that Aragorn died on his birthday. These were either things I thought everyone knew, or were senseless to point out. But apparently I was wrong...most of the BDers involved in my examples were "big-timers"!

[Imladris]

Thanks for the responses, and further thoughts on the approach to adopt when awarding reputation would, I think, be most hepful.

Repping postitively, I look for a well written "thesis." If they present their case well, they get a rep. If they present their case in an interesting way they get a rep. If the person has a point and people disagree with them yet the person sticks to his point and tries to make the others understand his point of view he gets a positive repping (if the person is just being pig headed I scoff at him) -- now, I'm not saying that this has happened...but if it happened, that's what I'd do. At the end of an RPG I give rep to people who have had good character developement, to those who have noticeably improved, and to those who have stuck through to the bitter end.

Now, for negative repping. Who deserves negative rep in my opinion? Well, people who have been on the boards a while and still act like a "newbie" and by the use of the word "newbie" I mean it in a...well, the other meaning of the word. The "insulting" meaning. The meaning that means incorrect grammar, chat speak, and other barbarous slaying of the English language (if they're from a non-English speaking language I will be duly impressed that they can write English like a native). The "veterans" who act "newbieish" I will rep negatively, and if they continue to do so I will continue to rep negatively. If someone is rude to another member I will rep them negatively. If someone is grievously off topic I will rep them negatively. If someone insults another person or thing they know in real life I will rep them negatively for rude behaviour.

I will immediately admit that I am much more liable to give out bad rep than I am good rep. Why? Because I don't want good rep to become inflated as it were. I like good rep and I want to keep it good rep. I want to squee everytime someone gives me good rep, instead of saying "Pfft, what does it matter? Who cares if I have four squares? Everybody else has over three anyway." (note, I'm not saying this is the case but I'm just trying to make a point.) But that is just my thinking.

Am I saying that we have a bunch of lousy people on the site? No...I am not. We have a lot of people on this site that are really great. If I would have to compare, I'd have to say that I nod to the semi-precious gems, neg-rep the rocks, and pos-rep the rubies and sapphires and diamonds.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

My repping criteria is this: the post must fit into one or more of the following categories:

*concisely, politely, and interestingly answer a question*
*promote discussion of a new question that I have interest in*
*make me laugh out loud and share it with a friend*
*show good understanding and research of the topic at hand*
*be well-written (with thought paid to native language and age of poster)*


Although I have yet to negative-rep anyone, I would for any post that threatened the family-friendly nature of this website. If my mother wouldn't like it, than it probably shouldn't be here. (Understand that I have great respect for my mother's opinions, since she has proven time and time again that she is usually right. :rolleyes: )


I do rather like Fordie and Saucepan's ideas of the Out-Loud test, and the General Helpfulness qualifications. I'll take those into consideration.


Fea

[Sapphire_Flame]

There is a danger that those lower down the rep table will look to the top of the table, see the seemingly insurmountable levels of rep being accumulated there, and simply opt out of the system, thus perpetuating the effect.
Except for us unquenchable ladder-climbers. :D *patpats her shiny rep points*


I do rather like Fordie and Saucepan's ideas of the Out-Loud test
Ditto that. ^_^ If a post makes me laugh out loud, or just make a thoughtful sort of sound, it usually gets repped.

I also try to rep posts for newer members, on the same principle as Heren. We're a friendly board, aren't we? :p

~ Saphy ~

[Mithalwen]

Having examined my control panel and my conscience, it occurs that should I reach such exalted levels, the designation should read that "Mithalwen would be jester at the court of Aragorn". While it may be extreme that 60% of the comments currently displayed relate to crazy captions, I feel rather a fraud because I am getting repped for entertainment value rather than erudition - especially in the light of some of the comments above. To much artistic impression and not enough technical merit?

[Boromir88]

Anyone care to speculate as to the next levels up from Aragorn's Court? Do we move to Numenor? Beleriand? Gondolin perhaps? And thence over the Sundering Sea to the Undying Land?

I must say, whoever thought up of the idea that Davem will supplant Aragorn's throne (sorry I can't find the person who thought that up), was a good idea. I don't know where to go after that, but as a "final" repuatation title the person can be Eru's right hand man.
PRAISE ERU!
You can't get any higher in status then Eru himself, hmmm...does he/she then supplant Eru? Anway once we reach Eru I would have to say the reputations names/status/fame has to stop, lol.

[mark12_30]

but as a "final" repuatation title the person can be Eru's right hand man.

That would raise some eyebrows.

[The Saucepan Man]

While it may be extreme that 60% of the comments currently displayed relate to crazy captions, I feel rather a fraud because I am getting repped for entertainment value rather than erudition - especially in the light of some of the comments above. Well it seems clear to me from the comments above (as well as from my own User CP) that people value being given the opportunity to laugh as much as they value being given the opportunity to think. Which is as it should be. It would be a very dry and crusty old board indeed were it not for the sparkling wit that permeates the forum.

And Tolkien himself was most certainly not averse to a sprinkling of humour amongst his many weighty words ... :)

I could ramble on here at length about the importance of humour but I won't because these people put it much better than I could:


Humour is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit. ~Aristotle~

Total absence of humour renders life impossible. ~Colette~

A sense of humour is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done. ~Dwight D Eisenhower~

Humour is by far the most significant activity of the human brain. ~Edward de Bono~

Humour is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place. ~Mark Twain~So I think you have good reason to hold your head high, Mithalwen, and regard your rep points as rightfully earned. :)

[Bêthberry]

Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.

---Feste, Twelfth Night

:D :cool: :smokin:

[Rimbaud]

Better a fitting woof, than a woofing fit.

~Rimbunctious

[Nurumaiel]

Imladris posted
I want to squee everytime someone gives me good rep, instead of saying "Pfft, what does it matter? Who cares if I have four squares? Everybody else has over three anyway."

The reaction to receiving positive rep would highly depend on what you thought its value is. If I looked at positive rep as simply accumulating points, I'd say, "Pfft," too, because I'm not even close to 'gaining the lead.' But I look upon positive rep as a positive reaction to something I wrote, so my own reaction is not: "Ah! more points!" but rather, "Ah! someone appreciated my writing," or, "Ah! I wrote something worthy of appreciation," when someone gives me a good rep. The points don't really matter very much to me. Even if I was given a rep that was worth over ten points, I'd still feel some disappointment if the comment field was blank.

I'll confess I'm very liberal giving out reputation. I don't overdo it, and I only give someone a positive rep where the one seems deserving, but I do give out a lot of rep. I don't know if I've ever repped anything besides a post in an RPG, and if I have it was only once or twice, for I hardly go anywhere besides the RPing forums (what am I doing here?). Like others have mentioned, RPing depends very much on the commitment of the players, their ability to plough on even when things get a little dry, and make a wholesome contribution to the game as a player, so I try to remember to hand out a 'Thank you and good work' rep at the end of each game. But I feel that just because commitment is an important factor, it doesn't mean that one can't write an excellent individual post. When I read a post in an RPG I ask myself questions, such as: "Is it overall grammatically correct? Is the spelling correct aside from typos? Does it move the plot along? Is it interesting to read, and not a bog of weighty description? Does it present a scene and a mood, and not just give worthless, space-consuming dialogue between characters?" and other such questions. If most of the questions can be answered with a 'Yes,' then I'll give it a good rep.

I, too, give the 'confidence booster' rep out to newbies, when I'm prowling about the Green Dragon. If some character comes striding in and the writer has only a few posts, I'll be much more likely to rep them good, even if they're not all the way 'there' yet. If the writing is really rotten (grammatical and spelling errors; the character everyone turns to look at, so great is the beauty of her red hair and silver eyes), then I won't give any sort of rep, for I've made it a policy of mine to never give a newbie a bad rep (and most oldsters don't deserve one). But, aside from really horrible writing, most newbies trying out the Dragon get a good rep from me, with an encouraging comment.

My 'negative rep rule' is very much like Fea's. I, too, have yet to give out a bad rep, but I would if the family friendly atmosphere of the forum was threatened. I'd really hate to give a negative rep for bad spelling and grammar, because, for one thing, I don't know if English is the first or second language of the one at hand, and I don't know how old he is, and bad spelling and grammar does not, in my mind, deserve a bad rep. Ah, I remember back in the days when I couldn't spell worth tuppence, and my grammar was awful. My 'writing mentors' never said anything unkind to me because of these faults, because I wasn't doing anything wicked, even if it was bad writing. I got straightened out to good spelling and grammar because of kindly encouragement and advice, and, being the shy little creature I was, if someone had given to me in words the equivalent of a negative rep here, I would have been intimidated, sure they I couldn't write and sure that I never could, and I would have given up. Keeping in mind my near escapes of early childhood, I try not to even consider repping negatively for bad spelling and grammar. I don't, and never would, rep positively, but I certainly shouldn't give a negative rep. I prefer to give out bad rep for someone who is being bad and wicked, and not to discourage one who might be struggling very hard to improve their spelling and grammar.

Chat speak, on the other hand, I wouldn't be against negative repping, but only if it was one who should know better, like Imladris said. Newbies I excuse, for who knows where they've come from and what kind of rules about writing they had there.

[Mithalwen]

That would raise some eyebrows.


Eru's ambidextrous perchild being the pc version? But surely that would be Manwe?

[Boromir88]

The points don't really matter

Just like Whose Line is it anyway...anyway...I see the reppings as an oppurtunity to get closer to being welcome in Aragorn's court....or even supplanting him...da da da da.

[mark12_30]

Though sorely tempted more than once, I have yet to give a negative rep. I think if I did, it would be for rudeness, meanness, cruelty or outright arrogance. In my opinion these things disrupt the Downs' atmosphere of respectful discussion more than anything else.

[Boromir88]

Same here mark, I've been tempted a couple time, maybe more so for revenge. And I think you are right, the rudeness....etc does have an effect on the forums.

I've recieved two negative reps (one probably deserved, the other just stupid) but that's another story.

[HerenIstarion]

and plagiarism - could not stand it - it was obvious the person in question either haven't read any of the posts of the thread, or was merely parroting what was said just three posts prior to his/her. And almost word for word, presenting it as original thinking. brr!

[Lush]

I've been tempted to give a negative rep to people that repeatedly spam a thread with silly and/or uninteresting off-topic commentary, and refuse to cease and desist after having been requested to do so nicely. That pretty much makes steam come out of my ears (and, if I'm at a computer cluster instead of my room, makes people around me give me weird looks). Not only is this a waste of space, it also shows a blatant disregard for those who are actually trying to have a discussion, and allows decent threads to disintegrate into... well, insert your choice words here.

But then again, the minute I point my cursor at the little scale, I start having second thoughts. I feel bad. I convince myself that they didn't mean it. That they won't do it again. That I've done this sort of thing too and am being a hypocrite.

So I don't do it.

I would make the worst dictator. I'm completely incapable of the whole iron fist thing.

[the phantom]

You must give reputation to 20 different people before coming back to the same person
This has really been a problem for me. It seems like all the threads I read are posted on by the same people so every time a try to rep someone the little thingummy pops up and tells me to spread the wealth (if I've ever repped you, chances are I've tried to do it many times but couldn't).

I guess I'm going to have to skim some other threads and go on a repping binge pretty soon.

[Son of Númenor]

You now have to rep only ten people before you rep the same person again.

[the phantom]

Well, that's a little easier.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

The only posts that I've considered giving a negative rating to have been posts by 'newbies' who disappear after a couple of days, so I'm not sure about the effect it would have. Especially the post that Fea knows all too well. :rolleyes: That guy disappeared immediately.

As for my new and wonderful third green block, I must say I am rather delighted. :D I have been helped greatly in this feat by HerenIstarion (who apparently finds me highly amusing). Strange guy.... ;)

And much like Mithalwen, most of them have been for Crazy Captions. That has the potential to be an extremely high quality thread, if it was cut down by about 60,000 posts.

Peace, and thanks to everyone who has made me so happy. *snuffle*

[Sapphire_Flame]

Congrats to ye, Eomer! *shakes Eomer's hand and gives a gold star*

I personally don't care if many of my rep points come from Crazy Captions or "Make Your Own Crazy Scene With Pics". I value a sense of humour as much as I value intelligence, so I take these reps as a great compliment.

But I look upon positive rep as a positive reaction to something I wrote, so my own reaction is not: "Ah! more points!" but rather, "Ah! someone appreciated my writing," or, "Ah! I wrote something worthy of appreciation," when someone gives me a good rep.
Ditto that, Nurumaiel. :D

~ Saphy ~

[THE Ka]

eh... I sort of hate this reputation system but, i'm not one to complain too much. I haven't commented or given out reputation until recently so, I don't feel too bad. Even though they might not count for anything to the person's rep. , I still do because basically, I'm a nice person to those who deserve it. So, even though it won't help you to becoming any closer to a "super greener", at least you know you're opinion or knowledge, compassion and insight is noticed (hopefully positive in a way! :( ). I don't think i've given out a 'bad' rep. yet... I don't know or remember, those who do know will have to remind me ;) ...

But, that's only my opinion... i'm not here to judge. Too much...


~Ka~

[The Only Real Estel]

I value a sense of humour as much as I value intelligence

That's the same with me...fortunately for me. ;)

Btw, is there a way you can view all of the reps given you, not just the 'latest reputations received'? Somehow I have the feeling that's its been touched on before somewhere in this thread, but I've run out of time tonight.

[The Saucepan Man]

I value a sense of humour as much as I value intelligenceI value intelligent humour.

[Lhunardawen]

Though sorely tempted more than once, I have yet to give a negative rep. I think if I did, it would be for rudeness, meanness, cruelty or outright arrogance. In my opinion these things disrupt the Downs' atmosphere of respectful discussion more than anything else.
Preach it, luke10_27...er, mark12_30! :D

[Sapphire_Flame]

*snicker* :D Cute, Lhun.

*runs around, giving glitter and rep points to passers-by* I am the new Top Rep Giver! Poor Heren no longer bears that mantle, sadly; but now he can go on being munificent. ;) *gives Heren a deputy badge*

And I now have a new jewel! *grins and gives gold stars to the nice people*

EDIT: Ah! Lalwendë has ascended to Aragorn's Court as well! Congratulations to ye! http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de//party/biggrinparty.gif *shakes Lalwendë's hand and gives a gold star*

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Interesting. . .

This post (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?p=363592#post363592) is now the most highly rated one I have ever written. Apparently, Downers prefer to "LOL" than "hmmmm" thoughtfully. . .

*Fordim notes that davem never posts to Crazy Captions. Fordim rubs hands.*

[Mithalwen]

Not so much LOL perhaps as WOW that you knew and pastiched the "surpressed second verse" of GSQueenie....... :rolleyes:

[Lalwendë]

I think what did it for me was the fact that I have pass by a picture of Her Madge every time I leave the office, she owns all the copyright on my darned work and I'm supposed to be her 'servant'. So any disrespectful behaviour is always welcome. :p

How did you work out that it was your most highly rated one?

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

How did you work out that it was your most highly rated one?

If you click on the little reppie-scales for one of your own posts you get a window that shows the comments for that post alone, along with a summation of its reception. In this case, the response for the post in question is "Extremely Positive". Previous to this the best I've ever had was "Very Positive".

I once worked it out that I am also, technically, servant to the Crown insofar as my salary is paid, ultimately, by the taxes levied by the Crown from Her Loyal Canadian subjects.

Does this mean I should get a portrait of the Queen for my wall. . .?

(At least I get to retain the copyright on my work -- for what it's worth -- not much.)

[Mithalwen]

And Lal.. these days we don't even get nice passports that say (more or less) that HM will send a fleet of battleships in to help us if Johnny Foreigner gives us any trouble on our travels.. :rolleyes: My new one is a hideous shade of orange (and that isn't just my hair in the photo).

Fordim - I think that makes you a self employed civil servant ... bet that you have got your pension stitched up a treat ..... *ducks to avoid Lal throwing things at me*

I sense I am testing the BW's tolerance here so I will leave you high falluting court types to your debates and get back to the scullery where I belong.....

[Bêthberry]

Well, I've learnt something this week.

Here is my "extremely positive boroughhobbit post (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=363961&postcount=490) . Three words. Over 35 rep points. Twelve plus points per word. Really, Crazy Captions is looking very good, as are other Mirth threads. :eek:

Is this good-bye to RPGs and Books? :p ;)

[Sapphire_Flame]

Is this good-bye to RPGs and Books? :p ;)
I should hope not! A fair chunk of my reps are from Books, so I don't think it's quite fair to assume no one reps in that section. As for RPGs... I wouldn't know. I haven't been there in ages! *feels guilty* That's rather bad, considering I'm trying to become an author. ^^;

Although, for the Mirth threads, many of the posters are very clever; maybe we're repping the cleverness as much as we're repping the humour. Besides, what's wrong with having a renouned sense of humour? :D

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

*Fordim notes that davem never posts to Crazy Captions. . . . * (Fordim)
Ah, so you notice a puzzle in my mind.

I do major repping in two forums: Mirth (majority of it in the aforementioned CC) and Books. By the time I switch to the other realm I usually have given enough reps to others so I can rep someone in the other field again.

But you, Prof. Hedgethistle, Sauce, Mithalwen, Rimbaud, and lately, Lalwendë, trouble this scheme of mine. You make excellent posts on both realms.

With this in mind, I wonder: how could davem still be on top? (not that I'm against it, of course.) Is it because his posts manage to make most of the top rep givers click that scale button? Has he created a program to double the points given? Do spiders rep him?

Hmmm . . . maybe those spiders (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=10968#post364190) are his minions, which also allows him to find excellent references on the Web. ;)

EDIT: I forgot. Not all in ME Mirth give reps, or give relatively lower points.

Plus see the last sentence on his latest CBC post (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=364239&postcount=46). So I guess that throws the spider theory out the window. :(

[HerenIstarion]

Is this good-bye to RPGs and Books?

Nope. As ocassional scent of flower from a corn field may make us happier, so the ocassional humour embedded into the fabric of those sombre halls does. But you would not burn the corn field in order to plant flowers there - you'll get a lot of scent, yes, but there would be no daily bread to sustain you to enjoy it long enough.

:)

[mark12_30]

Nope. As ocassional scent of flower from a corn field may make us happier, so the ocassional humour embedded into the fabric of those sombre halls does. But you would not burn the corn field in order to plant flowers there - you'll get a lot of scent, yes, but there would be no daily bread to sustain you to enjoy it long enough.

:)

Now if THAT wasn't swoon-worthy, I don't know what is. Rimbaud, time to share the glory. :cool: Fangirls, line up & take a number-- he's here & he's hot. :eek:

[davem]

With this in mind, I wonder: how could davem still be on top? (not that I'm against it, of course.) Is it because his posts manage to make most of the top rep givers click that scale button? Has he created a program to double the points given? Do spiders rep him?

Hmmm . . . maybe those spiders are his minions, which also allows him to find excellent references on the Web.

He doesn't post on Mirth because he's,sadly,too busy writing serious posts which get all those high reps - if they appear. :mad: :mad:

And he has other business which he cannot mention here - dark business:eek: which does involve spiders but which cannot be spoken of openly for fear of rulers......

(No, I won't explain that - you'll just have to ask Lalwende)

[Boromir88]

Fordhim, yes I think most of my reps have come from the things I posted in Middle-Earth mirth :p .

Either my computer is still screwed up in a way, or people just aren't repping me with a reply. I've been randomly going up 10 points but there is no reply, just blank. This puzzles me whether I still got gigs to work out in the computer, or that person(s) just doesn't give a reply (not that I'm complaining lol).

[The Saucepan Man]

I have recently (within the space of a few days) received two reps (on the same thread) without a message, which is unusual since all my previous rep points for some months have included messages. What's more, one of the posts repped was not (in my view) particularly rep-worthy.

Have others been experiencing the same thing? If so, I suspect that some random and indiscriminatory rep-awarding may be going on ...

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it. :rolleyes:

[HerenIstarion]

I've got two negative anonymous ratings and one positive (quite a weighty one too).

To be anonymous is rater's choice = random and indiscriminatory rep-awarding. No problem there, I reckon :)

[Boromir88]

The loose random repper must be fairly influential. I am getting 10 pts each time I get repped. Unless someone has found a way to cheat the system..... :eek:

[The Saucepan Man]

rater's choice = random and indiscriminatory rep-awarding.True. But the motives might nevertheless be frowned on.

Say that two people were randomly repping just so that they could rep each other more frequently - or one person was doing so to climb up the 'generosity' table. Or say that I consistently repped Fordim and davem negatively to try to get to the top of the table (now there's a thought ;) ). We would all be within our rights, but the motives would be frowned on and the integrity of the system prejudiced.

Having said that, the weighty nature of the messageless reps (including one of mine) would suggest that foulplay is unlikely to be afoot.

[Lindolirian]

Such a case would be rather unfortunate, but the chances of an abuser that you describe, Saucepan, being a member with a heavy weight (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=363535&postcount=85) are slim. I can hardly see anyone on that list doing something like that, so the system has be engineered to be very difficult to abuse because these random reppers won't have much effect on anything.
Perhaps your anonymous reps were from people who enjoyed your post, but couldn't think of how to put their feelings into words and consequently forgot to sign it since they wrote nothing else.
At the worst case, I have a feeling that these abusers will disappear like BW's "wizard" (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=318757&postcount=29)did some time ago.;)

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

No complaints from me about our "random repper", as I just checked on my User CP and saw that my points raised significantly from a post of mine (of what I thought lesser quality than some of my others) in The White Horse Inn (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?p=364270#post364270). I am curious about the lack of signature or comment though, since what got me into the habit of signing my reps (both negative and positive) was seeing signatures on reps given to me by the higher weighted 'Downers.

Fea

[Encaitare]

I too have been repped by the mysterious anonymous entity/entities -- two reps on a response to Imladris' Modes of Interpretation (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=11428) thread, totaling 13 points! Not a bad post, but not a particularly grand one in my opinion. I'm not complaining, of course, but I do like to know who is repping me... and I dig the little comments. The "random repper(s)" must be someone with a good amount of sway.

Can those spider things rep? Is the forum being invaded by faceless search creatures? :eek:

[Lalwendë]

Me too. About the comment-free reps, I mean. I don't mind, not everyone has the whole 'teacher thing' like me, and who knows, it could even be Father Christmas. And we all know not to upset him, don't we? ;)

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Hm... An early Christmas present? Santa-Wight, perhaps?

"I wish you a deathly Christmas,
I wish you a deathly Christmas,
I wish you a deathly Christmas,
And decaying New Year."
As he floats about the forum in a red... er, green... Santa suit, randomly repping people in bouts of holiday cheer. :D

[piosenniel]

No one is cheating the system.

I'm going to assume the repper you are talking about is me. I've had several blessedly light nights at work and have had time for quick peeks at the Downs.

No one is being 'randomly repped' by me - those were all posts I enjoyed reading. And had no time for lengthy comments. (No negative's given, by the way.)

~*~ Pio

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Aww shucks, Pio. And here I thought we had us one heck of a mystery. There goes my fun. :) But in that case, thanks very much for the rep. It's always nice to know that someone likes what I'm saying.

Fea

[Sapphire_Flame]

Curiouser and curiouser! :p

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

It would take a strange person to abuse the reputation system. Why cause trouble on the Downs when there is so much trouble just waiting to be caused in the real world! It's even more fun, that way. ;)

On an entirely unrelated note, *ahem* - excuse me - I have, for the first time ever, entered the fabled Top 30 in the members list! I predict this to last approximately 0.8 days. That is unless I can think of more amusing captions, because let's be honest, that is all I add to this site.

Cheers!

[Lindolirian]

No one is cheating the system.
Well! I am very sorry if I offended you pio, but I was only making a hypothetical situation (that thankfully truned out not to be true) I wasn't trying to accuse anyone. I think I was perhaps basing my hypothesis off of Saucie's hypothetical situation too much. Well we're glad to have such munificent people around!

Hahaha... Mithalwen, I'm never gonna stop using that word! :D

[HerenIstarion]

Thanks all who complimented my post above (previous but one). I'm really flattered, and a bit confused too :)

I'm also curious (as I've noted davem to have 8 jewels now - congrats, sir, and thanks for fine job of posting :D) - is it a milestone of 1000 points we see passed by? :eek:

[The Saucepan Man]

is it a milestone of 1000 points we see passed by?I think that it might be 900. If I'm wrong (and I may well be), he's way outta sight. :eek:

No one is cheating the system.Well that accounts for one of my messageless reps (thanks, by the way, pio :) ). But the other was not so weighty.

Rep-sleuth remains on the case ... :smokin:

[davem]

I think that it might be 900. If I'm wrong (and I may well be), he's way outta sight.

It is 900.

And I will rep more - my new year resolution! My problem at the moment is that my work computer won't bring up the repuption box, & when I'm at home I keep forgetting because I'm so rushed.

I will be a better & more thoughtful person! I will be a better & more thoughtful person!

And thanks to everyone who voted for me...

[Lalwendë]

And I will rep more - my new year resolution! My problem at the moment is that my work computer won't bring up the repuption box, & when I'm at home I keep forgetting because I'm so rushed.

So it wasn't the fault of the spiders? :p

I'm going to assume the repper you are talking about is me. I've had several blessedly light nights at work and have had time for quick peeks at the Downs.

I hope we haven't upset Pio by our speculations! Such nice feedback is always welcome, I think, while if you had a negative point with no comment then that would be a bad thing.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

My problem at the moment is that my work computer won't bring up the repuption box

Sounds like you have that loathesome new "google" toolbar on your browser or something equivalent -- it has a 'security' feature that disables pop-ups. Turn that off and you shall be able to rep again.

And should this tip work, guess who you should -- in all conscience man! -- rep first?! :D

[The Saucepan Man]

My problem at the moment is that my work computer won't bring up the repuption box ...Logging on to the Downs at work, eh? Tsk tsk.

:rolleyes: ;)

[mark12_30]

Logging on to the Downs at work

Good heavens! With that on your conscience how can you possibly sleep at night!

****YA :o WN****

[davem]

So it wasn't the fault of the spiders?

Its [always[/i] the fault of the spiders!

Logging on to the Downs at work, eh? Tsk tsk.

Not at the moment - we've been firewalled :mad: I'm working on it though. We have a cyberspace which I frequent at lunchtimes - whenI can get on. Unfortunately I can't turn off the toolbars, & they're incredibly slow....Its all down to Microsoft - all us sensible folks use macs, of course!

I'll start repping asap - trouble is I haven't repped enough so some of you will have to wait till I can get round to you - still can't rep Fordim, SpM, Lalwende or Mark - may have to start with Bb (I know - how are the mighty fallen ;) )

[Lhunardawen]

Logging on to the Downs at work, eh? Tsk tsk.
Hey, HerenIstarion does! He said so in this thread (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=10744).

And I log on at school, during my Computer Science class. I even tried using our library's "for research only" computers! *looks around suspiciously and nervously for potential tattletales*

[HerenIstarion]

Accused returned guilty, I do. But one has to live up to his reputation, ye know. How would one live up to it, if one logged on once a week on Saturdays only?

But if seriously, it's on a break time and after the working hours when I may fully enjoy reading and posting - working hours are full of what Niggle called 'interruptions'. (As if my employees did not know what is the real purpose of an office PC!)

Not to stray very far off, let me bring your attention to the event of Lalwendë joining ranks with seven squared squadron of runners up to His Majesty Eight Squares davem :D Congrats :)

Is that totalizator of yours still up, SpM?

EDIT Just another thought - you know, I believe I've figured out what would be the limit of our progress - 11 squares, that what will be the top floor. How do I know? I've been to Stormfront LoTR forum. Hush, steady, I just followed link in some of the older threads here, out of curiosity. Remembering effects of curiosity on stray felines, and living together with two wonderful cats probably having some of peculiar feline properties rubbed off on me, I grew afraid and ran for it very soon, but before I leaft, I've seen three things - first, they use software similar to ours (just a tiny step ahead of us - whilst we are powered by: vBulletin Version 3.0.0, they are by vBulletin Version 3.0.3), second - they have similar rating system (I suppose the criteria is entirely different, though). And third - there was this chap, who had 'won repute beyond reputation' and had 11 squares. So, rather 'spied' than 'figured' out.

On the other hand, I may be misleading you, and 11 square jewels is not the limit at all, just they ran out of steam in making up titles, so anything beyond X point has the same title. Hazard, hazard. END OF EDIT

[Lalwendë]

Not to stray very far off, let me bring your attention to the event of Lalwendë joining ranks with seven squared squadron of runners up to His Majesty Eight Squares davem Congrats

Lalwende offers her thanks and a most gracious bow to H-I (bowing being much more her cup of tea than a mere curtsey). Though I doubt I could have got there without the encouragement of His Majesty Eight Squares davem himself (and I can see him laughing at that right now) ;)

I log on at work too - and before anyone mutters about taxpayers money, my job is weird and sometimes I can be so utterly busy I miss my breaks and lunch and get apoplectic with stress, while at other times I face endless hours of ennui. Still, a quick look at the 'Downs is no more of an interuption than chatting with colleagues and as I am shunted into my little dark corner this is not easy. :(

Edit: And congratulations to Boromir88 for his new 'sparkler' - it now says 'Boromir 88 would be welcome at Aragorn's court' - well, this is true, but would Boromir version 1 be welcome?

[The Saucepan Man]

Is that totalizator of yours still up, SpM?Seems to me that it would take a brave person to bet against ol' eight jewels at the moment.

Congrats to Lalwendë and Boromir88. :)


I log on at work tooTsk Tsk. All these slackers! That is something that I would never do. :rolleyes: ;)


And third - there was this chap, who had 'won repute beyond reputation' and had 11 squares.Having spent a short time myself viewing that sight (a short time being as much as I could stomach), a high reputation there is most certainly not something to be proud of (although sadly he probably is). It is a truly repellent site and one that no self-respecting Tolkien fan should wish in anyway to be associated with.

[Boromir88]

Thankyou Lal and SpM
Sit now says 'Boromir 88 would be welcome at Aragorn's court' - well, this is true, but would Boromir version 1 be welcome?pM[/B].
I would sure hope so, of course, :D .

[Sapphire_Flame]

Congratulations to ye, Boromir88! :D *gives gold stars and glitter to Boromir*

Interesting thing to find out, Heren. Who else is thinking that davem is going to be the first here to get to eleven? ;) :p

Nearly to my fourth jewel! *green*

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[Boromir88]

Thank yee Saphy, woo I love glitter!
Nearly to my fourth jewel!
Seems like you just got to it ;) .

[davem]

Well, I've been away for a few days & I have to respond to Lalwende & H-I for their kind words - particularly to the Fair Lalwende for making me get off my backside & post something today, which got me a bit more rep:) - i'm looking for a bigger place in which to keep it all;)

Of course, if the aforesaid Lalwende hadn't pestered me to post I'd probably have continued to daydream & done nothing & that would have given others more chance of catching up ....

So, if you want to blame anybody for me being so far ahead you can all give her a load of negative rep - & serve her right... :p

(She dared me to do that, so I did..she doesn't scare me!)

[Lalwendë]

So, if you want to blame anybody for me being so far ahead you can all give her a load of negative rep - & serve her right...

But if you do that then davem gets the spiders (or worse) and he'll run for the hills...

(She dared me to do that, so I did..she doesn't scare me!)

I do scare him, because I have my little arachnid friends...they got away when he went to stomp on them, and I feed them off all those rep points he thinks he's kept hidden secretly away. He really ought to find a bigger place because I've found them. :p

[Sapphire_Flame]

Thank yee Saphy, woo I love glitter!

You're welcome. :D Glad you like the glitter.

Seems like you just got to it ;) .

So I did! *pokes the jewel* Thank you, person-whom-I-shall-not-name! :D

Lal, could I borrow one of those spiders? Shelob is getting very lonely...

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[davem]

I do scare him, because I have my little arachnid friends...they got away when he went to stomp on them, and I feed them off all those rep points he thinks he's kept hidden secretly away. He really ought to find a bigger place because I've found them.

Actually they're the fake poisoned ones - they'll kill all your spiders so NERRRR!

[Lalwendë]

Actually they're the fake poisoned ones - they'll kill all your spiders so NERRRR!

Good job I kept one back then, because it's going in your shoe... :p Oh, you meant rep points, didn't you? Hang on, fake poisoned rep points? :eek: Imagine the levels of rep sickness there could be...

I'm going to get done again now for going off topic because of you.

[davem]

I'm going to get done again now for going off topic because of you.

So you should be. This is supposed to be a serious discussions board:p

I should explain to everyone that Lalwende & I know each other, & that all the interesting stuff in her posts has been stolen off me & posted as her own work, & she doesn't deserve any rep points at all.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

all the interesting stuff in her posts has been stolen off me & posted as her own work, & she doesn't deserve any rep points at all.

Hmmm. . .I thought I was the only one doing that. . .

[Lalwendë]

Libel!

So, davem, what you are owning up to is that you gave me all my ideas about ninja biscuits and experiments involving custard and Rentaghost and stuff? Careful now, you will get another reputation you didn't ask for... ;)

And you never told me you were a civil servant, as seen here (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=362318&postcount=172).

[Boromir88]

Now, now, now, I thought members of Aragorn's court were able to conduct themselves civilly? Are you sure you two aren't supposed to be on the negative side? "The fool of a Took," rep header, thingy? :p

[Sapphire_Flame]

Exactly, Boromir. Some of us, those-who-have-not-yet-ascended-to-the-pinnacle-that-is-Aragorn's-court, seem to act more mature than the courtiers at times! *gives davem and Lal a Mom Look* Really, you guys have to set a good example for the newbies.

Just kidding. ^_^ ;)

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[HerenIstarion]

Seems to me that it would take a brave person to bet against ol' eight jewels at the moment

hmm... for a modest contribution (you call it bribe? I call it gift of respect!) to my purse (hey, I have to repair my car for my holidays...) I can arrange that... :rolleyes: mwa-ha-ha.

I reckon I'll loose my second in givers, though...

But, if you noticed, we are engaged in outright chatting.

Let us bring in some speculations (well, no data, just guesswork), but let it be on topic:

I don't remember it for sure, but I suppose Pilgrim's Progress up to now went along the following pattern:

10 points - 1 square
50 points - 1 square (different title)
100 points - 2 squares
200 points - 3 squares
300 points - 4 squares
400 points - 5 squares
500 points - 6 squares
700 points - 7 squares
900 points - 8 squares

Assuming that my previous 'spied upon' data is more or less true, and assuming that my speculations are based on sound reasoning, I may utter a guess as to what will follow:

1200 points - 9 squares
1500 points - 10 squares
2000 points - 11 squares

Having our leader past 900 points in 10 months since the introduction of the system, and allowing for holidays and mysterious dissapearences off the board for a while due to requirements of Real Life and other chances, I guess that somebody will get to 2000 points by next Christmas. During another year thence, the main bulk of the rest of us will get there two.

So, by Christmas 2006 everybody who is an actively posting member now (assuming they won't fall off posting) will have 2000 reputation points (gosh!)

What happens than? :D

cheers

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

The system collapses and we all get lost in the impending darkness...

Maybe.

But anyway, this reputation system has entered my dreams. Last night I had a wonderful dream that I received hundreds of approving comments for one particular caption. (It must have been pretty damn funny.) It pushed me up to third place in the reputation list.

Alas, even in my dreams there are some people I cannot beat. I am considering making accusations of dream-manipulation against a certain two people. Well, I think they may be clever enough...

[Firefoot]

:eek: Eomer, I had a similar dream a couple weeks ago - except it was an RPG post instead. And it wasn't hundreds, just a lot. Enough to make me very very happy. :D Someone here must be maniuplating dreams...

Maybe it's the spiders.

[Boromir88]

Now I'm just starting to get creeped out. Anyway, there's another thing that will fall under Lal's "Barrowdown's products." Ok, who bought the dream-manipulater simulater?

[Lalwendë]

Alas, even in my dreams there are some people I cannot beat. I am considering making accusations of dream-manipulation against a certain two people. Well, I think they may be clever enough...

Well, if you're thinking of who I'm thinking of, he does have particular dark powers you know. :eek: But he won't be having anything to do with spiders; that's my job... ;)

Maybe the rep system will be like the universe? It can only expand so far before it all collapses again, and then it will grow again and so on. Maybe there are even wormholes in it? Maybe we could get rep points for future posts we don't even know we have written? Or rep systems could collapse in upon themselves causing Green Holes? What's that noise? It's just the men in white coats coming for me again...

[davem]

Well, if you're thinking of who I'm thinking of, he does have particular dark powers you know. But he won't be having anything to do with spiders; that's my job...

You're going to have everyone thinking we have secrets......I mean, if i told them you like to walk around the house barefoot, what would they think then?

[Lalwendë]

You're going to have everyone thinking we have secrets......I mean, if i told them you like to walk around the house barefoot, what would they think then?

Um...they would assume I am a Hobbit? ;)

Or that I'm treading gently so as not to trample on your rep points? :p

[davem]

Um...they would assume I am a Hobbit? ;)

It was a 'little' secret - bet they couldn't begin to guess what I could tell them about you :p

[Sapphire_Flame]

You're chatting again... :p

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[davem]

You're chatting again... :p

She is, isn't she? But that's Lalwende for you. i personally think its appalling! I'm going to give her a load of negative rep right now for turning this board into a chat room. I'd never do anything like that:p

[HerenIstarion]

If folks start dreaming about it, it's time to close the whole shady shop and give the goods away free :rolleyes:

Should we wait for 2000 limit?

Whatever the outcome, its only certain amount of squares beneath one's screenname. I won't stop loving So-and-So, even if he has [only?] 2 jewels, and if I'm not happy with somebody, eleven jewels won't help them win my respect.

'tis only a game, ladies and gentlemen, don't forget it. After all, we already came to the conclusion (I suppose, as beneath the layers of baby-talk of this thread lodes of thought are at times found) the system can not be objective (look at Squatter, per instance - the moment he stopped posting on regular basis, he rolled down the scale in reputations. Does it mean his thoughts now are of less value than they were before? I suppose, on the contrary - they are dearer as come by rarer!)

Should we care about it that much? It is very pleasing to get approval, graciously expressed in words and supported by statistical points, numbers and titles, but the point of the forum is sharing thoughts, not statistics. For honesty's sake, I do like getting reputation points, it tickles my vanity, but when push comes to shove, it's discussion and thence truth what matters, not points one gets for putting words around it.

And final grave note - If I were on the top, I would not dare to post this for the fear of being thought of as hypocrite, but I'm not on the top, and it has it's advantages - freedom! See how davem has only one spot to fool around - this very thread. On the discussion fora he has to live up to his repute ;). My very fear I just confessed of is a bad sign - One Rating To Rule Them All, One Tournament To Bind Them - do we really need that?

cheers

PS Now I've reread the post it sounds a bit dreary - the thing 'old cranky windbag' would say, to use the term Kalessin were fond of. Situation is not that bad, really, I just wanted to warn us all (myself included) against 'losing sight of the basics', to use term by Child of the Seventh Age this time

cheers :D

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I agree with Heren. I've got to admit... getting a new little green box made my ego purr like a kitten this morning. Many thanks to everyone who appreciates at least a little of what I say.

It's funny how little I appreciate others' reputations though. Well... allow me to rephrase: the reputation system here reflects real life for me. In RL, I don't care what anybody says about anybody else. I appreciate everybody until they give me reason not to, regardless of what other people have said. Same here: I might see eight boxes, or I might see one, but if I don't like what you're saying, chances are, I'll gloss over your post in favour of the one below it. I prefer direct references; if somebody actually says "Hey Fea, you should read this (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=10943&page=3&pp=40) post." I'll go and read it, but if it otherwise doesn't look interesting, I won't click it just because of who started the thread.

Fea

[mark12_30]

H-I,

Thank you. You have said much that I bit my own tongue over. I essentially took time off from giving reps because repping had become too much the in-thing to do.

Well-said.

[davem]

To be honest, I hope I wear my rep lightly - mostly because even if I am in top position at the moment (currently at 984 points if anyone is interested) I certainly don't consider myself to be the best or most interesting poster on these boards - not by a long way.

Not to embarrass anyone who's currently around I have to say if anything I had posted was up to the standard of our much missed Squatterfor instance I would maybe feel my rep was deserved.

This is not to say that I'm not incredibly grateful for the rep I have been given - I am, & the real value it has for me is the indication of respect from other Downer's that it shows.

[HerenIstarion]

Dave, my previous was not directed at you at all, Eru forbid :) It was kind of, um, general lathspelling sort of forecast

I haven't stopped repping on that ground - to an extent I have given too much of it in the last 24 hours and have to try later. But the point is, what is it I rep for? - some post pleased me, one, and in return I want to please author of the post, two. What I wanted to stress upon is that to be pleased and to please are things good, but not the end in itself. One has to hold one's priorities firmly - it is repute for writing still, but let us be wary lest it becomes writing for repute soon, if you follow my meaning, kind sirs :)

On the other hand, perhaps I'm just a bit moody this evening, and nothing more...

cheers :D

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

but let us be wary lest it becomes writing for repute soon, if you follow my meaning, kind sirs
Ah! It is just as I warned my English teacher. I told him that the purest way to write was to write what you feel, and to write only for yourself... he said to heck with purity and that I could write to please myself all I wanted, but if it didn't please him, he was going to fail me. He is rather liberal with the non-high grading. What I've had to do is learn to write what I want while still catering to his moods, and that is just no fun at all. ;)

So my highschool English class is rather like this reputation system... if I don't write what pleases you, you can all officially fail me. :D

Fea

[Lalwendë]

I just write what I like to be honest - hence the slightly eccentric nature of my posts, one day thinking up mad ideas about the breaking of light and the next things to do with custard. Luckily, other Downers seem to appreciate my mad mind, and I have to be honest and say I like to get rep because it makes me feel, well, not quite so barmy as the rest of the world seems to think I am. :) But yes, always write what you feel/think; this is not a competition and free exchange of mad ideas is what makes this a great forum.

[davem]

Dave, my previous was not directed at you at all, Eru forbid It was kind of, um, general lathspelling sort of forecast

Oh, God, don't worry - I didn't take it badly. I do feel a bit undeserving of all the points. Mostly I just write whatever pops into my head at the time, so I feel a guilty about all the praise I get, that's all. I don;t think I've ever posted something in the hopes of getting any rep - though as we all know it is nice to be appreciated. Lalwende has just suggested (jokingly, I think!) that at 1000 points you should have to start again from scratch & I must admit the idea sort of appeals, if only to see if I could do it again. Maybe I'll re-register under a different name & see how far I get......

[Sapphire_Flame]

hence the slightly eccentric nature of my posts
Heavens, Lal, your posts are eccentric? I never noticed. :eek: ;)

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[HerenIstarion]

But the point is, what is it I rep for? - some post pleased me, one, and in return I want to please author of the post, two

It was too narrow a criterion, come to think of it. It happens (quite often) I do not merely 'approve of' of something as peer the author, but am awestruck and admire the post I rate as something better than what I myself would have been able of contriving, as an admirer (or worshipper not in direct, but in a good sense of that word).

Both attitudes are lawful, I suppose, but the latter helps to uproot one's arrogance - not a critic, but an appreciative reader.

The whole alarm system went off the instant I caught myself on two things - growing tendency of rating 'like peer' and instances of logging on to the fora with the purpose of checking if I've been rated lately, not with the purpose of checking what wonderfully new ideas were posted on the threads I'm interested in, and I grew afraid. So the whole rant above was for more or less my own sake, to bring my own self to sense, and carry those of you back who may have been in danger of catching the same malady

And it is funny how my 'alarm rant' is gaining me repute :rolleyes: Not that I'm not pleased, but hence I'll try not to forget, and will remind myself now and again that the pleasure of approval is the secondary issue here, and the knowledge of truth (whatever that means) is what matters more.

The whole situation of having the posts debunking the system approved of by the system helps to clarify the issue - my most rated posts are precisely those in contriving which even the shade of thought about reputation haven't crossed my mind. And I suppose it follows the general pattern of all human activities. Can't help remembering C.S.Lewis here. My apologies for crumpled quote, I'm not sure it is exact, but it was something like:

Pray in the morning in your garden, paying no heed to the beauty and dew and birds, and you'll come back wonderfully refreshed by the beauty of nature. Go to your garden with the purpose of experiencing feeling of wonder, and you will feel nothing nine times out of ten

it is to be found in 'Four Loves', if anyone has the book handy, be so kind to post the correct one, please

I hope I haven't mutiliated the quote beyond recognition. It really seems governing imperative for all things transient.

Or let us (or me, in the first place), remember that Gloria mundi always tends to transit. What will be the sic in the process, is of no significant consequence

[Lhunardawen]

The whole alarm system went off the instant I caught myself on two things - growing tendency of rating 'like peer' and instances of logging on to the fora with the purpose of checking if I've been rated lately, not with the purpose of checking what wonderfully new ideas were posted on the threads I'm interested in, and I grew afraid. So the whole rant above was for more or less my own sake, to bring my own self to sense, and carry those of you back who may have been in danger of catching the same malady
Thanks for the wake-up call...and just in time, too!

But I've been thinking about the initial query...what happens to the rep system when we're all "welcome at Aragorn's court," or maybe in the very presence of Eru himself? Maybe before that happens we would all relive the times when there was no reputation system - telling what we think of others' posts right in the forum and seeking to have meaningful discussions, not rep harvests - and the reps would be more of a luxury than an indulgence.

I don't have anything against the system, though. It's a great way to know you're appreciated. :)

[ivo]

'Ever does the system seek to corrupt the hearts of men, who above all else desire rep'

[HerenIstarion]

'Ever does the system seek to corrupt the hearts of men, who above all else desire rep'

To the point, and funny at that. Thanks, ivo, good laugh is what I, at least, really needed - as I've started to look at the whole issue a bit too gravely. And welcome to the Downs, too, where you'll see that many trivial things become cornerstones of prolix discourses and moral clashes and things similar ;)

I don't have anything against the system, though. It's a great way to know you're appreciated

Neither do I. And of course, it is. I do against myself, though, as soon as I start to value rating more than thing rated :)

[Lhunardawen]

I do against myself, though, as soon as I start to value rating more than thing rated
I wonder how that will look as a siggie... :)

Very well said, by the way.

[Mithalwen]

I feel quite lucky in my current situation in that I am repped frequently enough to maintain confidence but am so far behind the leaders that it would be pointless to get competitive. As such I would say that I was greatly touched by the anonymous person who although their rep carried no points took the trouble to leave a kind comment. It really is the thought that counts sometimes .... ho ho ho.. Also it was reassuring..... I would say, that it is time to worry if your rep comes exclusively from your "friends" - even if one does not consciously "pay back" there may be at least a subconscious tendency to notice and rep those who have repped us. Therefore to attract the favour of an unbiased new corpse may be as much as a compliment as to receive a bucket of points from one of the mighty dead of the downs.....

[davem]

Well, my good friend H-I has pushed me through the 'impossible' barrier, & I now stand, guilty & undeserving, at 1003points!

As you may see nothing spectacular has happened to me as a result:(

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Nothing, davem, except that you are now deserving of a place at Elrond's Council.

Let me be the first to congratulate you on receiving the nifty new label. Nice work.

EDIT: You know... If I've got the wisdom of Gandalf, and Gandalf was seated in a nice important place at the Council of Elrond, than surely that means that I'm on the same level as davem. Go me! ;)

Fea

[davem]

Nothing, davem, except that you are now deserving of a place at Elrond's Council.

That's all very well, but I'm wondering if I should accept - I've just got settled in Aragorn's Court, & it would mean packing up all my stuff & moving hundreds of miles north.

I suppose I must accept my destiny, though (awaits commiserations from all my former coleagues in A's C....)

[Lalwendë]

Have we to pass round a leaving card and start up a collection for you? ;)

I suppose I ought to be the second person to congratulate you... :p

[davem]

Have we to pass round a leaving card and start up a collection for you? ;)

I suppose I ought to be the second person to congratulate you... :p

All contributions gratefully accepted. I'll be waiting for the rest of you - I'll tidy up the place -these Elves all seem to have their minds on 'higher things' ... The dust in here is terrible...

[Boromir88]

Oooh, Elrond's council, whoever thought of that reputation liner congrats to thee.

Also, congrats Davem, you might want to take them rep jewels with you it could get lonely. Considering you are the only one at that reputation stage (so far) and seeing that Elrond isn't around anymore.

[davem]

and seeing that Elrond isn't around anymore.

I suspect that's the reason for all the dust - the boss's away, so the staff just let things slide.....

[THE Ka]

Congrats Davem on your new position! :)


~Another thoughtfully respective unique Ka post~

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

I'm pretty sure, however, that the next level will have something to do with the Elves -- either "an Elf-friend of Rivendell/Elrond" or "worthy of a gift from Galadriel."

I called it, way back in post 284.

I think that should earn me some positive rep, despite my appalling absence of late.

Congrats davem!

[Boromir88]

I called it, way back in post 284.

I think that should earn me some positive rep, despite my appalling absence of late.
Well, I don't know about a positive rep Fordhim (unless I benefit in some way :rolleyes: ), but it will earn you a congrats. :)

[The Saucepan Man]

Congratulations and fare thee well, davem. You'll be sorely missed in Aragorn's Court.

But perhaps you can at last reveal the truth - did Elladan and Elrohir stay? :D

[tar-ancalime]

Well, I don't know about a positive rep Fordhim (unless I benefit in some way ),

What's this? A sordid back-room deal involving the exchange of little green jewels, to the mutual benefit of the conspirators? ;)

[Mithalwen]

What's this? A sordid back-room deal involving the exchange of little green jewels, to the mutual benefit of the conspirators? ;)

For the longer dead, I would be interested to know howm many posts they have made since the rep system started. Some people seem to have incredible averages..... (ie points per post)

[The Saucepan Man]

Some people seem to have incredible averages.....I guess that I just take the scattergun approach. If you make enough posts, a few of them will appeal to someone or other ... :rolleyes: ;)

[Boromir88]

It appears Davem is going to have some company soon, congrats SpM, on your new promotion.

[Mithalwen]

was it something I said? But at least I get a choice of chairs ;)

[Lalwendë]

I hope you parked your car safely, Mithalwen, we don't want anyone getting run down by careering vehicles on Rath Dinen. You'll have the health & safety rep out there blowing a fuse. ;)

[mark12_30]

**gasp**

Saucie has overtaken both davem and Fordie.

I didn't know it could be done.

[davem]

Saucie has overtaken both davem and Fordie.

Finally - a deserving leader! Congratulations Sauce

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Things are back to normal. . .

I remember the very first day the rep system was turned on I looked to see who was in the lead and it was SaucepanMan. It stayed that way for quite a while as I recall, until Saucey disappeared on us for a couple of weeks and some other upstarts used that time to stage a coup de Downs.

It's nice to see that the King has indeed Returned.

[Bêthberry]

**gasp**

Saucie has overtaken both davem and Fordie.

I didn't know it could be done.

Spam. Definitely spam.

But good spam. After all, he's Spm. :D Well done, old boy. *bows*

[The Saucepan Man]

Aha!The Scattergun approach works! :D

As evidenced by the fact that this development follows a long session in which I made a multitude of posts (accompanied by a nice bottle of red wine :rolleyes: ). Although the main contributor was (ironically) my "Repping Game" post in Lalwendë's Barrow Downs Products thread. Indeed, 'tis my humour rather than my erudition (such as it is) that has contributed most to my rep tally.

I shall enjoy it while it lasts - which, I strongly suspect, shall not be very long, as there are many others whose posts are far more deserving, on a consistent basis, than mine.

In the meantime, many thanks for your kind comments. :)

[Mithalwen]

I hope you parked your car safely, Mithalwen, we don't want anyone getting run down by careering vehicles on Rath Dinen. You'll have the health & safety rep out there blowing a fuse. ;)


Ok it was nothing to do with bad parking and the only person who was run over was me ..... in a desperate and successful attempt to prevent injury to anyone else's person or property... it's the season of goodwill can we forget the whole sordid matter now...frankly I wish I had never mentioned it...... I have a clean licence and maximum NCB... anyway I am sure like horses, cars are confined to the lower levels of the city. And my current jalopy would not cope with the gradient.. :(

[Amanaduial the archer]

That's all very well, but I'm wondering if I should accept - I've just got settled in Aragorn's Court, & it would mean packing up all my stuff & moving hundreds of miles north.
Well, how terribly inconvenient. You most certainly should decline then. Elrond, old chum, while I am most gratified to recieve your invitation, well, I'd really rather not - rather inconvenient, quite settled here in court and all, doncha know...

Congratulations to all those at Elrond's council, even if I am rather late ;)

[Sapphire_Flame]

Congratulations to davem, Saucepan Man, and Fordim! Double congrats to Fordie, for guessing the next level correctly. ^_^

*throws confetti, and gives gold stars and Shiny Wrapping Paper™ to davem, SpM, and Fordim*

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[Lalwendë]

it's the season of goodwill can we forget the whole sordid matter now...frankly I wish I had never mentioned it......

Mithalwen - OK, I've forgotten it... ;) It's my festive gift to you! Anyway, I persuaded them to have some lifts installed - you know, it's terribly hard on the feet going up and down those seven levels. Now there's more room for us anyway and we can nab all the best chairs. ;)

[Mithalwen]

Mithalwen - OK, I've forgotten it... ;) It's my festive gift to you! Anyway, I persuaded them to have some lifts installed - you know, it's terribly hard on the feet going up and down those seven levels. Now there's more room for us anyway and we can nab all the best chairs. ;)


Why thank you - it will make a welcome adition to the actual gifts I received (somewhat scarily dominated by footcare and de-tox products - what are my friends trying to tell me? ) But I was counting on the slopes of Minas Tirith to get me fit as the hill of La Cotonne in St Etienne did a dozen years ago - although hill walking does encourage distressingly chunky calves. Anyway the first arrived were bound to have grabbed the best chairs (as in school staffrooms) so on that means Fordim and Davem's are the ones to go for ...I am anticipating an indefinate stay so I may as well make myself comfortable ... :D

[Boromir88]

I never welcomed you Mith into Aragorn's court, so welcome, tis an honor to have you. ;)

Also, Congrats to Fordhim on your new promotion, I guess that means leaving us behind without a 2nd consideration? :( :rolleyes:

[Lhunardawen]

I'm just wondering...who was (or were) bumped off to allocate places at the Council of Elrond? :p

[Boromir88]

I believe so far it's just SpM, Davem, and Fordhim. I have a feeling Lal is getting close, just a thought.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I am completely ashamed and embarrassed to have overtaken The Squatter.

[Bêthberry]

Oh my, what's this! Fordim and Sauce now have four shiny baubles at Elrond's Council and have overtaken davem's lead.

Is this where the jewels part way with the place? Or am I confusing things? Previously, didn't a jewel move one up to a new sight?

[Mithalwen]

I never welcomed you Mith into Aragorn's court, so welcome, tis an honor to have you. ;)

:

Tis an honour to be in such company ...... and I think we have dispatched teh cigar smokers to Rivendell ... lol .... maybe we should redecorate ?

[Lalwendë]

Tis an honour to be in such company ...... and I think we have dispatched teh cigar smokers to Rivendell ... lol .... maybe we should redecorate ?

Um, don't forget the little boggart in the corner with her nasssty habit. The ceiling's gone quite yellow above my chair. :eek: There's no point getting the emulsion out just yet... :smokin:

[Mithalwen]

I was assuming that you didn't actually smoke cigars ..... and alas I fear that we will not have the pleasure of your company too long :( you will be off and gone to the more elevated smoking room of Rivendell ... obvious now why Elrond held the council on the terrace :D (but kept the decanters in his own office ... lol elf after my own heart).

[Lalwendë]

I was assuming that you didn't actually smoke cigars ..... and alas I fear that we will not have the pleasure of your company too long you will be off and gone to the more elevated smoking room of Rivendell

Oh I'll be here a while longer with my cheroots, stinking the place out. Well, now and then, anyways, you do tend to get odd looks as a 'lady' enjoying such a thing. ;) I think that the 'Trinity' have gone up and away and far beyond the rest of us. Though davem might be upset to find you assuming he smokes cigars as he is a keen pipe smoker.

obvious now why Elrond held the council on the terrace

Now there's an idea, outdoor meetings! I might be able to contribute rather than daydream about the next break when I can get my next fix! :smokin: (another reason not to start, folks - felt I had to do my 'public duty' health warning bit again there).

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

I'm afraid to say that Elrond's Council looks to be an altogether more formal and stuffy place than Aragorn's court. When I first arrived here I doffed my smoking jacket and was looking forward to lounging around in my underwear with a can of beer, just like in the good old days when it was just davem, SpM and I in Aragorn's Court.

But alas, Elrond came out and offered me sherry which he then poured into an elegant-yet-disappointingly-little crystal glass, and then Arwen showed up so I had to keep my pants on, and when I asked for some pipeweed I was told that Bilbo was all out and had given it up anyway as he is getting on in years. . .

I can't wait for Lalwende and Bethberry to get here so the party can really get started. . .hmmm. . .

*Fordim scurries off, then returns*

Nope, drat it -- have to spread some more rep around before they can get any more from me.

[The Saucepan Man]

Yeah, and if I hear "Tra-la-la-lalley, Here down in the valley" much more, Mandos is suddenly going to have a lot of business on his hands ...

Pshaw! Elves!

Must be the lack of pipeweed making me irritable ... :rolleyes:

[Elianna]

Is there a way to view all the reputation points you've received, not just the most recent?

[Lyta_Underhill]

I think that, once a member has reached the highest allowable level in reputation, he or she should go back to zero, much like the return to white belt in Bruce Lee's martial art Jeet Kun Do ;)

Cheers,
Lyta (who sends congratulations to all who have reached higher levels than she...oops! That means about half of everybody!) Heh heh...

[Mithalwen]

I fear that would be far too depressing for those of us in the pack ..... since I am sure our frontrunners would garner points at a depressing rate and would soon start to lap ..... :eek:

[The Barrow-Wight]

The Great Barrow-Downs Reuptation Race!
Around the Downs In 80 Reps!

[Lhunardawen]

Around the Downs In 80 Reps!
They've been there, done that...at least five times.

[Gurthang]

Actually, I think they' re up to about ten laps by now. And still spreading the gap! :rolleyes: :D

[Mithalwen]

Well theoretically they haven't completed a single lap yet ( small comfort for those of us passing through the earlier chicanes), since they are still aquiring baubles and attaining new levels - the question is when they have reached the highest level, are they deemed to have reached Nirvana, Downers summa cum laude and with les felicitations de la jurie? Or do they reincarnate and depress the rest of us as they scamper past for the second time ..

[Boromir88]

Lal, why....why....why....did you have to accept the invitation to Elrond's council? Isn't Aragorn's court good enough for you? Anyway, good luck on the jouney. :)

[Finwe-89]

I hope I'll get a good reputation :(

[Boromir88]

It will come in good time Finwe. That is if you post good posts, that cause a lot of thinking. Or maybe for another route, just between you and me (or anyone else that reads this). Post here (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=10727&page=92&pp=40) ,(or any of the mirthful threads) people like it when you make them laugh.

[Lalwendë]

Lal, why....why....why....did you have to accept the invitation to Elrond's council? Isn't Aragorn's court good enough for you? Anyway, good luck on the jouney.

Well, I've borrowed Mithalwen's car as I thought it might be in safer hands (sorry, couldn't resist... ;) ), and in the boot I've stowed a barrel of Stewards' pipeweed and a couple of bottles of Gondormorangie. I heard there was a party planned in Rivendell... :smokin:

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

and in the boot I've stowed a barrel of Stewards' pipeweed and a couple of bottles of Gondormorangie. I heard there was a party planned in Rivendell... :smokin:

Lal, Lal, Lal welcome, and WELCOME indeed. Do you need any help getting those bottles out of the trunk?

It's so nice to see one of the gentler sex hereabouts. Perhaps you'll have a bit more luck in getting Arwen to speak -- quiet girl. She does have a cousin or something hereabouts who looks a lot like Liv Tyler: won't shut up.

At any rate, party's on the terrace.

[Mithalwen]

Well, I've borrowed Mithalwen's car as I thought it might be in safer hands (sorry, couldn't resist... ;) ), and in the boot I've stowed a barrel of Stewards' pipeweed and a couple of bottles of Gondormorangie. I heard there was a party planned in Rivendell... :smokin:


It isn't the same car ... but this one I have had for 9 of its 15 years and it has survived til now ..really I AM a very good driver .... however I am impressed it made it to Rivendell...

Actually I think you stole it! Slipping off without word. Intent to permanently deprive! I don't suppose you were thinking of coming back and I won't be going anywhere .... :( And.. and .. you've been smoking in it haven't you?

[Lalwendë]

I don't suppose you were thinking of coming back and I won't be going anywhere .... And.. and .. you've been smoking in it haven't you?

I think it went wild in the Old Forest actually (sorry, ripping off Rowling there ;) ), so it might find its way back to you eventually... I did stop at the Edoras service station to havea smoke, so as not to make it all stinky, so if there's a smell of tobacco then it weren't me, it must've been them sneaky Hobbits.

Now, I must find the buffet as it appears that Fordim, SpM and davem have been cooking up vol-au-vents and garlic bread and stuff... I think Arwen's been domesticating them. What will she have them doing next? Embroidery? ;)

[mark12_30]

Ah, good timing, then. One Mithril-spangled banner, please. I'd like it in Midnight Blue, with the constellations Perseus, Andromeda, and Wilwarin.

And a stellar compass would be nice, mounted on the top of the staff. Thanks.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Hey, who is that I see carousing about the terrace with Saucepan Man and Lalwende? Is it. . .could it be. . .? It is!

Welcome to the Council of Elrond Child of the 7th Age!!

(Say, do you know anything about looms? davem and I sure could use a break. Oh, and if you wouldn't mind, could you bring me another drink? I'm parched from all this weaving, and the smoke from davem's pipe is rather thick. . .)

[Child of the 7th Age]

It's the quiet ones who sneak in unobserved through the back entrance....

"Carousing"? Me? Never....

Thanks Fordim for those kind words concerning the Council of Elrond. The funny thing is I do know how to spin and weave (after a fashion). But this hobbit has no intention of spending her time on domestic labor. I understand they have a good library here, and I intend to use it.

As to being thirsty, I'm partial to miruvor. Frodo and the gang couldn't have taken it all with them.... And bring out some extra as well. I'm sure there'll be a larger party coming up the trail in a very short time.

[Boromir88]

Aragorn's court is becoming a lonely place, is it only you and me Mith? Of course, I can't blame anyone if they aren't satisfied with being next to Aragorn, I guess that's the key in life, rising up the ladder, and getting promotions ;) . Good luck on the journey Child. :)

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Lonely? In Aragorn's court? Have another look, Boromir88 - to get to Aragorn's side, you'll have to push aside Bêthberry, Heren Istarion, mark 12_30, Kransha, littlemanpoet, Rimbaud, Mithalwen, Mister Underhill, Aiwendil, Firefoot, and The Barrow-Wight himself! No sense in trying to push me away - I'm family! ;)

[HerenIstarion]

But, Esty, we can push you away - we just have to rep you hard and send you spinning to visit other set of relatives at Elrond's Council! ;)

[Sapphire_Flame]

So, who comprises our population at Rivendell at this point?

~ Saphy ~

[Mithalwen]

[QUOTE=Lalwendë]I think it went wild in the Old Forest actually (sorry, ripping off Rowling there ;) ), so it might find its way back to you eventually... I did stop at the Edoras service station to havea smoke, so as not to make it all stinky, so if there's a smell of tobacco then it weren't me, it must've been them sneaky Hobbits.

QUOTE]
Well I had this message from one B Butterburr, who is managing the Under -Pelennor Garaging " I've something that belongs to you. If you recollect Lalwende and the TWOCing, your car that she took, well it's here. Come back all of itself it did. But where it had been to you know better than I . It had a leaking fuel line and was running on fumes... but it goes..." Well I think it was jolly mean not to get the Noldor smiths to touch up the body work while it was at Rivendell and I will be invoicing for the fuel line ... ;)

[Mithalwen]

Aragorn's court is becoming a lonely place, is it only you and me Mith? Of course, I can't blame anyone if they aren't satisfied with being next to Aragorn, I guess that's the key in life, rising up the ladder, and getting promotions


Wel I am an under acheiver so I wouldn't know... :rolleyes: but I will be glad of your company untill you continue your meteoric rise..... but I am sure there will be new people along as others pass ... I mean HI has been having a quiet phase - I am sure he won't be around long either like bb & Helen .... Oh well at least I will get my own way with the redecorations.. :D

PS To find out who is where, go to Members List and click on "reputation" and it will sort accordingly

[Ealasaide]

Geetings all you high-achievers!
At the risk of sounding negative, I was wondering if there is a way of turning off the reputation system and simply opting out. While I understand that it was not intended as such, the reputation system seems to have taken on something of the air of a competition on the Downs to see who can accumulate the most points the most quickly. For personal reasons - which I can explain by PM if necessary - I would really prefer not to see the Downs as a competitive place, as least not where I am concerned.

The comments and feedback are nice, but I don't much care for the point accumulation. On the old system where one was rated with bones, I did turn it off. Overall, I see no problem with the system as a whole. Most people seem to enjoy it. I just believe that those of us who wish to avoid competitive situations should be allowed that option. :)

[The Barrow-Wight]

There are no winners or losers on the Downs. Reputations is not a contest, but it is a measurement of approval of and by our members. We are all living within the bounds of the same reputations system, so though some people may be uncomfortable being numerically rated against their peers, everyone is treated equally by the system.

Overall, the Reputations feature of vBulletin has been a positive influence on the Downs. Only occasionally and for very short time periods has it become the main topic of discussion, and when that happened, it subsided as quickly as it started. Most of our members have been prodded by Reputations into cleaning up their posts in both content and appearance. With such forum-wide benefits, allowing people to turn it off would skew the results and make the system inaccurate.

With that said, even if I could turn it off for specific users (I can’t), I wouldn’t. I have been quite happy with Reputations ever since we started using them, and I am sure they will continue to work well for us. I recommend that anyone who perceives the system as negative (or even oppressive?) remember again that the Downs is not a competition. It is just a place for you to read and discuss everyone's favorite topic: Middle-earth.

[Ealasaide]

Thank you for your prompt response and explanation, Barrow-Wight. I did not mean to imply that I thought the reputation system was a negative or oppressive thing as a whole. As I said in my first post, I believe that most people do enjoy it. I, too enjoy the immediate feedback aspect of it. I just don't care for the idea of point accumulation, as, whether anyone cares to admit it or not, it does lend an aura of competition to posting. Being in the vast minority in my opinion, i.e. not liking the point aspect of it, I had no expectation of or even intention of suggesting that it be stopped for everyone.

Now that you have explained that giving folks the option of not participating would skew the calculations for others, I understand why that option is not offered. That is all I wanted to know.

(Later - Edited for clarity as I wrote this post intially at work & was interrupted just as I went to place it on the thread.)

[Lyta_Underhill]

There are no winners or losers on the Downs. Reputations is not a contest, but it is a measurement of approval of and by our members. Indeed, I enjoy the ratings system not merely for its measurement qualities, but simply because it allows me to direct short expressions of "Good show" or "Well said" to the poster without having to resort to the cumbersome and limited PM system. It works great if I've got a one line comment or something I'd rather not muck a thread up with or that means something only to the poster. It is a quick, on the spot comment system that I've enjoyed using! Good show, BW! :D

Cheers!
Lyta (that was a slight bit longer than one line!)

[Boromir88]

I just don't care for the idea of point accumulation, as, whether anyone cares to admit it or not, it does lend an aura of competition to posting.
I take that as a good thing. That only prods people to write intriguing, thoughtful, posts and gets you to learn a lot more about Tolkien. ;)

I think also if you look at the discussions on the board (even this one), most people get a long and enjoy eachother's input.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Welcome and well met Bethberry to the Council of Elrond! Delighted to see you.

Sherry? Pipe? Loom?

[Bêthberry]

Why, thank you fellow countryman Fordim.. Make mine port, poured, not spattered. And I'll raise a broom to that loom, thank you very much. :p

Nice to see that we can now rely on Esty's capable hands to keep things in line in Aragorn's Court. Congatulations Esty! :)

[Lhunardawen]

HerenIstarion has a place at the council of Elrond.
How in the world can Rivendell make room for five wizards?

[Lalaith]

Easily! They must have all attended the White Council there at some point, surely...

[Lhunardawen]

Lalaith,

Your post above could very easily be a topic of deep discussion, but this is not the right thread to do so. ;)

[Boromir88]

I think a congrats are in order to Heren and Bethberry. May you find prosperity and welcome in Rivendell :) .

[Mithalwen]

I am sure you will be joining them soon and a there will be a new influx at Aragorn's court .... I wonder what the next level is ...... a place on the White council? A Captain of the West or perhaps being accounted one of the Aratar?

[Hookbill the Goomba]

What about "Has a high place at Manwe's council"?

And the final level should be; "Knows the mind of Tolkien."

[Boromir88]

Mith:
I am sure you will be joining them soon and a there will be a new influx at Aragorn's court
If you are speaking to me, then....I wish I could stay in Aragorn's court. I never liked Elrond, or any of that elvish stuff, I guess I'll just start writing bad posts to get negative reps. :eek:

[Lyta_Underhill]

What about "Has a high place at Manwe's council"?

And the final level should be; "Knows the mind of Tolkien."

Or how about "Exploded in a Puff of Faerie" or perhaps "Too Lofty for This World" :D


Cheers!
Lyta (enjoying the Fame of Frodo, an ambiguous rating to say the least, but one that seems to fit! I'd feel a bit out of place at either Aragorn's Court or Elrond's Council!)

[Boromir88]

The final title should be "Eru", I mean you can't get any higher then him right?

Or another powerful title name could be one of Gandalf's lines against the Balrog...
"you are a Servant of the Secret Fire."

[Lhunardawen]

I guess I'll just start writing bad posts to get negative reps.
As if you can, Borrie. :p

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

The final title should be "Eru" (B-88)
But there can only be one! Must the top repped Downers duel for this final title?

I am immortal, but I can be killed. Yeah.

[Lalwendë]

Or how about "Exploded in a Puff of Faerie"

I like this one, it's quite descriptive of the inside of my head. :eek: Lalwende's brains, ever combusting like the universe in an endless cycle of evil pixies and Light and custard. ;)

And welcome to all the lovely new members of Elrond's council! The more the merrier! Anyone fancy a game of Tengwar Scrabble? :)

[Finwe-89]

YAY, my reputation is now 23! Obey me!

*Kid looking with his mouth open and dweels*

I said obey me!

*silence...*

OBEY ME!!!

*Get's a potato of a old man in a wheelchair against the head*

Old man: He he he, you didn't saw that one coming did you laddy? He he he

Ok, it's not much, but it's a good start

[Encaitare]

Anyone fancy a game of Tengwar Scrabble?

Lalwende, you both instigate and inspire! Now I absolutely must do that.

[Mithalwen]

Mith:

If you are speaking to me, then....I wish I could stay in Aragorn's court. I never liked Elrond, or any of that elvish stuff, I guess I'll just start writing bad posts to get negative reps. :eek:


I was ..... but I think you may be slipping in to character too much here - if not I may have to make you take a twelve step programme "learning to like elves" :p ..

Oh or do you just want a neg rep .....

[Finwe-89]

Ok good, now I have 37 reputations points! Tnx for the ones who gave me the points ;)

*Crabs a potato*

*Throws, and HITS*

HA! Take that old man!

[Mithalwen]

While I am intrigued by the levels titles, and wonder what will happen now that Fordim has five shiny jewels alongside the five plain ones, I have to say I really don't think this is the place for members to broadcast their own rep in terms of actual points. As far as I know that is information that is only available to the member and, to my mind should stay that way. Similarly I would not like to see the thresholds for the various levels made explicit.

I guess it may because I had a certain type of British upbringing but I feel it is as vulgar as bragging about how rich you are..... and by quantifying it in such precise terms it does make it seem very competitive.

The rep system acts as a guide and encouragement. Most people use it positively. Generally it seems to me good posts get rewarded and a lean spell means that a bit more effort is required. I think it is quite clever the way the system is weighted. If I get repped by one of the high-rollers, I am pleased because it is an honour to be recognised by someone who has earned the respect of the community, not because it will get me more points. To turn it in to a points grubbing exercise devalues the whole thing. The thoughtful comment of someone whose rep carries no points is not valueless.

Now I will stop sermonising.....

[Sapphire_Flame]

Saphy has a question.

Saphy was wondering if the rep points one gets on a post get nullified or removed if the thread your post is in gets deleted. Saphy has actually been wondering about that for a while.

[Saphy evidently is turning into a Gollum, and thus must refer to herself in third person.]

Saphy must now leave to chase after Takua with a rusty spork.

~ Saphy ~

[Mithalwen]

I do know that if you delete a post you keep the rep whether good or bad. I once posted something, received a pm that seem to "blast" it and was shattered enough to delete it almost immediately. However someone else seized that brief window of opportunity to positively rep it... and so I felt a fraud for having got points on something I hadn't been brave enough to keep on the forum. Perhaps we should have an "honesty box" to return points we feel we have got in such circumstances....... On the other hand, I once got neg rep for a post which on second looks was a complete non-sequitur - I think I had replied to the wrong forum in error - and in my shame I deleted it (obviously it didn't spoil the flow of the thread). And the neg rep stayed too.

So I guess once you have got it, you keep it ... but I may be quite wrong....

[AbercrombieOfRohan]

Abercrombie has another question, what does it mean if you get a gray reputation?
(It's ok Saphy you're not alone.)

[Lindolirian]

It means that the person who repped you had under 50 posts or not enough rep points of their own to give. Basically, they meant well, but it didn't really count. :rolleyes: See the Wight's post (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=318757&postcount=29) on specifications on reps for more info if you want. EDIT: See this one (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=318772&postcount=32) also, BW had a mistake in his first one which he corrected here.

[Shelob]

Sorry AbercrombieOfRohan that might have been me. The other day after I responded to your haiku riddle my finger slipped and I might have accidently clicked something (new laptop, I'm still not used to it). If it was me I'm sorry for confusing you (maybe as compensation I'll give you a real rep point as soon as I can :D)

[AbercrombieOfRohan]

Ok thanks. Yah I think it was you Shelob but don't worry it's ok. You weren't the only one... :rolleyes: newbies... ;)

[Bêthberry]

I do know that if you delete a post you keep the rep whether good or bad. I once posted something, received a pm that seem to "blast" it and was shattered enough to delete it almost immediately. However someone else seized that brief window of opportunity to positively rep it... and so I felt a fraud for having got points on something I hadn't been brave enough to keep on the forum. Perhaps we should have an "honesty box" to return points we feel we have got in such circumstances....... On the other hand, I once got neg rep for a post which on second looks was a complete non-sequitur - I think I had replied to the wrong forum in error - and in my shame I deleted it (obviously it didn't spoil the flow of the thread). And the neg rep stayed too.

So I guess once you have got it, you keep it ... but I may be quite wrong....

In regards to deleted posts... If you ever change your mind, Mithalwen, you could always contact the moderator of the forum and ask for the post to be reinstatted. With the new software, a deleted post is still visible to a moderate, who can restore it.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

With the new software, a deleted post is still visible to a moderate, who can restore it.

Interesting. . .what, then, does a radical see? The post as it might have appeared to someone from a different forum? Does an extremist see it as he or she believes it should appear? Perhaps reactionaries see only the first post of the thread? Do anarchists see only a mess of randomy generated words taken from the post?

[Nuranar]

Conservatives see what the post would have looked like a hundred years ago.

[Bêthberry]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bêthberry
With the new software, a deleted post is still visible to a moderate, who can restore it.


Interesting. . .what, then, does a radical see? The post as it might have appeared to someone from a different forum? Does an extremist see it as he or she believes it should appear? Perhaps reactionaries see only the first post of the thread? Do anarchists see only a mess of randomy generated words taken from the post?

tsk, tsk. Fordim, I would have thought that a member of your repute as well as reputation would not go so off-topic. Surely my typo belongs on Merendis's thread of Misplaced Homonymns. :)

More seriously, my posts have been messy of late, and few and far between. I am having monitor and other computer problems, and in fact cannot read BD at all against the black background unless I go to "printable version" or highlight posts. And even then my screen is reflecting so much from elsewhere in the room, no matter what lighting I use that it is akin to watching myself in a mirror as I write. there has to be some weird literary metaphor in that which you can play with!

And it is almost impossible to read what I am writing as I post. I suppose my lesson is that I should remember to go back and highlight each post, to check so that Professor Hedgethistle won't dock marks for me. ;)

[Mithalwen]

Thanks BB - I did eventually post a rehash, which while it was less 'stream of consciousness than the original' (whose critic had chastised me for not upholding the hight standard of punctuation of the downs), was also less powerful. So I partially expiated my guilt.

[Finwe-89]

Well, I think everybody deserves a rep. Cause it's very cool to have a lot of Tolkien/LOTR fans around on a forum like this. So I'd love to give everybody a point, but there are too many members

[Aiwendil]

Hmm - I just got an anonymous negative rep from someone who "agreed with my point".

Which leads me to wonder whether it's a common occurrence for people to accidentally click on "disapprove" instead of "approve" (or viece versa). Have others ever experienced this, or perhaps realized that they've accidentally given the wrong kind of rep?

[HerenIstarion]

I've got positive comments on negative rep twice (if I remember correctly) in my experience. I suppose I know why too - the dot keeps marked the option one used last time. So, if anyone rated anyone negative, and than haven't paid heed to where the dot is, several following ratings may come out negative as well, whatever intentions

[Mithalwen]

So Prof Hedgethistle has scaled new heights and no doubt SpM is not far behind ... can the summit be far away for the Hillary and Tensing of our ranks? Or will they merely cahnge colour....

[Encaitare]

Ah, congrats, Fordim! Looks like it's off to the Blessed Realm for you!

*sniff* We'll miss you here on the hither shore of mortal lands...

[Mithalwen]

Oooh I never even looked....... *sings (stephen oliver setting)*"To long, has he dwellt upon this hither shore, and in a faaaaaaaaading crown has twined the golden Elanor......."

Maybe should substitute James cook and Charles Clerke for Hillary and Tensing.... :D