Reputation System Update - We need your help!

[Claire]

Unless the 'reputation' does anything, I don't see it helping me become a better writer. I like reading comments both positive and negative. That's just my 2 bits.

What the reputation system does for you is actually a good question that is not easy to answer, but I'll try. The sole purpose of the reputation system - and of even the entire forum - is to create an environment where authors like you will receive more comments and especially more substantial comments. If you want an example for what I want this place to be, then look at the exchange that @Shocker and I had in his Valentina thread. The moment that this type of conversation about a story is the norm here - ideally involving more than just two people like in that example - the forum is a success. To help create such an environment ist the ONLY goal that this reputation system has.

How does that work? There are three tiers of popularity for stories that are linked to the reputation score of your story:

• Public Stories
• Popular Stories
• Community Favorites

Once your story reaches a certain reputation threshold it will be removed from the Public Stories board and be moved to the Popular Stories board. What does that get you? Your story will now be marked as Popular. People looking for stories that have proven their "quality" will look in that board and see your story there. Because the traffic of new stories being added to the Popular Stories board will be much lower compared to the Public Stories board, your story will stay much longer in the spotlight at the top of the board.

And that is not the only thing you get. Upon reaching a new popularity level, you and your story will receive a shoutout in the Book Club board that names your story as the newest Popular Story and you as the author will get a special title. A moderator will post a congratulatory message in your story topic and with that push it immediately back into the center of attention. So you get more attention for your story and recognition as an author of a story that has proven itself in the eyes of the community. That process repeats once your story reaches Community Favorite status.

This is just what this system does for you personally. Its purpose for the forum as a whole is much larger. Guests will only be able to read the first post of a story in the Popular Stories board. So as we accumulate more and more Popular Stories, guests will have a reason to register. It will get them full access to the Popular Stories board. So the Popular Stories will help draw more people in who can then provide that feedback you want. And Community Favorites will only be accessible to members who reached Pillar of the Community status. To become a Pillar of the Community you need to gain reputation either by posting stories yourself or by leaving feedback for stories that the author or other users deem worthy of getting reputation. So, long story short: The Popular Stories board gives people a reason to register, the Community Favorites board gives registered users a reason to participate. And that participation has to be seen as valuable by the community or it won't get them the reputation they want.

So to summarize what the reputation system gives you:

• More exposure for your stories
• Recognition as an author of great stories
• An environment in which people actually discuss stories and do not just passively consume them

Here is the crux: All of this will only work if a large enough number of users actually uses the reputation system. This entire structure I have outlined is designed to reproduce itself once it is properly ignited. Once we have a substantial catalogue of Popular Stories and Community Favorites it will keep itself alive. The Popular Stories will get people to register and the Community Favorites will get them to participate. And the people that are drawn in by this will then generate the next batch of Popular Stories and Community Favorites that entice even more users to register and participate. But we need to get there first. We need a base level of activity that produces the first few Popular Stories and Community Favorites. And for that we need people that (1) publish stories, (2) comment on other people's stories, (3) rate other people's stories and (4) rate substantial feedback provided by other readers.

And that is what I need your help with. Whether we can ignite that base level of activity on the forum that starts that self-sustaining cycle will be what decides whether this forum will either succeed in building an active community, or fail like TBV and Ravishu. It's up to us. If you wish for a different outcome from what you experienced on other sites, I invite you to make good use of that reputation system. It's your best chance.

Will this make you a better writer? Of course, someone rating your story +2 will not magically improve your writing skill. But writing in a community where you can actually ask people questions about decisions you made while writing a story and get substantial and helpful answers on that? It might.

[Kendall]

The problem is an excellent story may be buried, only seen by a few and never get recognized. In short, we are at the mercy of other members. I noticed on RC and TBV that a lot of people read but few liked and commented. Whereas a single comment can feel just as good and be helpful in the form of critiquing.

[Shocker]

The problem is an excellent story may be buried, only seen by a few and never get recognized. In short, we are at the mercy of other members. I noticed on RC and TBV that a lot of people read but few liked and commented. Whereas a single comment can feel just as good and be helpful in the form of critiquing.

Hi Kendall,
I think we always have been at the mercy of the other members in that regard. From how I understood Claire’s motivation for the reputation system, is to incentivize writing and commenting. In the future some of the particular popular stories will be shifted to restricted access, requiring being a registered member for the first tier, and having a certain level of reputation for the upper tier. This has been the cause for considerable debate and split opinions, but she has a point that to get to the “excellent” stuff a more active participation will be required. Think of it like the “inner Wanktum”, that sub forum needed also a certain level of trust to be accessible, for good reason as you might recall.

Let’s give this new idea a chance, right now the user base here is too small to really judge if this has an impact. I don’t see any effect on my stories, but then again most people knowing me have seen and read those before.

@Claire one thing I would like to see possibly changed is the location of the reputation counter in the story view. Can this be moved perhaps to a right alignment? The most important part of a story listing should be the title, not the rep counter.

[Kendall]

@Shocker
Hoe...errr...how does one award 'reputation, anyhow?

[Shocker]

@Kendall you click at the thumbs up symbol in the top row of a story or story comment. You can assign 1 to 3 points of reputation, coming out of your own pool , which are replenished every 12 hours.

You might have seen the notifications of me positively rating your stories. I’m usually stingy not changing the default settings of 1. It also is a great way of communicating to an author or commenter, by a short message nobody else is seeing.

It’s a bit incestous with writers and commenters adding to each others rep, but it will build up rather quickly.

I hope this explanation helps a bit.