Reputations

[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!

[Sapphire_Flame]

*snicker* 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! *shakes Lalwendë's hand and gives a gold star*

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Interesting. . .

This post 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.......

[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.

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

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

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.. 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 . Three words. Over 35 rep points. Twelve plus points per word. Really, Crazy Captions is looking very good, as are other Mirth threads.

Is this good-bye to RPGs and Books?

[Sapphire_Flame]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Is this good-bye to RPGs and Books?

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?

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 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. 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]

Originally Posted by HerenIstarion

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. Fangirls, line up & take a number-- he's here & he's hot.

[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.

And he has other business which he cannot mention here - dark business 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 .

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.

[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.....

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by HI

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 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" 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. 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 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?

[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.

[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!

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]

Originally Posted by pio

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!

[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 ) - is it a milestone of 1000 points we see passed by?

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by HI

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.

Originally Posted by pio

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 ...

[davem]

Originally Posted by SpM

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?

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]

Originally Posted by davem

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?!

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by davem

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.

[mark12_30]

Logging on to the Downs at work

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

****YA WN****

[davem]

Originally Posted by Lalwende

So it wasn't the fault of the spiders?

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

Originally Posted by Spm

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

Not at the moment - we've been firewalled 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]

Originally Posted by Saucy

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

Hey, HerenIstarion does! He said so in this thread.

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 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 too

Tsk Tsk. All these slackers! That is something that I would never do.

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.