I didn't realize something like this had been done before.

Well, as far as I know, your "personal reputation node" is a unique idea.

I do see the potential for some abuse but rather than discount the whole idea, I'd prefer to see suggestions on how to make such a system less susceptible to those who might make ill use of it.

The problem lies therein. You cannot control how people vote. The XP system is designed to show approval of someone's posted knowledge by rating it ++ or --. By rating information, you get the general (voting) public's opinion on if this information is worthwhile. The levels (and benefits obtained from friar+) are only there to allow outsiders to help maintain the site. Granted, our fearless leader has put in a lot of effort to making PerlMonks what it is, but Tim Vroom can't possibly keep track of and fix every problem in Everything. The users that have been here from early on, that showed earnest interest in helping PM grow, became editors, pmdevs and gods. They weren't chosen by their reputation number, but by their social reputation and expressed desire to assist in keeping PerlMonks running.

I think your idea to show some appreciation to another monk is a wonderful idea, however, I don't think that it should be done using XP. Seeing my XP jump by 5 points don't really mean much to me, but when someone likes my post and either posts a reply or private messages me, I reap a greater benefit than a mere XP jump. Knowing that a fellow monk that, odds are, I've never met appreciates my assistance in some way makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over. XP just doesn't do that.

My idea is not the best. It was merely an off-the-cuff example of some other means of displaying appreciation. I think, however, that expressing your gratitude or admiration in person (so to speak) would be much more flattering and acknowledgeable. Personally, seeing that five people ++ed my reputation node would mean nothing to me, despite the fact that someone either: liked my ideas/personality/rant-in-the-CB or felt like dropping a vote to use it up.

The two main reasons I must disagree with this is that (1) XP means absolutely nothing (i.e. XP + $1.00 = cup of coffee) and (2) voting would be anonymous. Now, I don't want personality contests and ego trips to run rampant across the Monastery, but the best way to show appreciation would be to openly show your gratitude towards another. It doesn't have to be public (in the form of a post), it could be as simple as a private message. Just like considering nodes, I feel that if someone is going to show appreciation or ++ a personal rep node, they should let their fellow monk know that they personally appreciate his or her work.

John J Reiser
newrisedesigns.com

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.