The Skill FAQ - How can skillz pay the bills?

[Azure]

Aight, thanks.

[Flames09]

MOD EDIT: Removed, if you have a problem with a specific skill rating, take it up with the moderators.

[MagicallyAdept]

I think more skill should be given out for humour. Sometimes a great one-liner or a joke can really help you out during a tough day and they need just as much skill as sensible types who write nice, informative posts.

[photon]

Good suggestion! And for those awesome photoshops!

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by MagicallyAdept

I think more skill should be given out for humour. Sometimes a great one-liner or a joke can really help you out during a tough day and they need just as much skill as sensible types who write nice, informative posts.

You're not talking about a guy who can (and often does) perform surgery after consuming 4 regular beers, but can't stand after two dome beers are ya?

[tanguay'sstillgood]

Originally Posted by photon

Good suggestion! And for those awesome photoshops!

I think this is a really good idea. For example, in the Wings Flames graphics thread there are some posters doing awesome work, one that stands out is Halifax Drunk, and I think I have seen some cool graphics from Alltherage too, and these people deserve kudos for spending their time to entertain us all.

I have mostly stayed away from the skill conversations on here, but I guess after reading this thread I will try to recommend posts that I see that I think deserve (usually positive, I think they negative ones probably stand out more to the mods) skill. I also want to say that I don't think the general community knowing who gives out the skill would be a good thing, as it would probably lead to some ass-kissing by some posters and more people just trying to repeat the opinions of the skill givers. I know I think differently when I am conversing with somebody who I know had the 'power of skill ratings', and I don't necessarily like it. Example, Jiri and I disagree about Playfair, and have had that conversation a few times, and whenever I talk to him I feel like I have to be a little more careful than usual...I wouldnt want to know everybody who gives skill because it could have too large an effect on what I say.

The reason I came in here though was to ask a question. When I look at the members list it seems like positive reputations are represented by green and negative is red (i.e. the original system). Is this true? And, if so, is there any way to change it to the red/blue to keep it consistent with the Flames/Oilers system? If not, I guess it's no big deal, as long as we know red = good in the forum and red = bad in the members list. Sorry if this has been covered before, but in my scan of this thread I didnt see it.

[photon]

Yeah, that's always been on my list of things to fix, but haven't ever got around to it.

[tanguay'sstillgood]

Thanks. And another quick question, is skill only given in the main form, or is it also around for people who are always helping in the computer help thread, or for things in the OT forum, etc? I guess that would be kind of tough, and doesnt really indicate contributions to hockey discussion, but might recognize people as generally being helpful...?

[photon]

We don't have any specific guidelines for the skill givers to avoid specific areas, so they would give skill for whatever they see as good for the board, be it in OT or wherever.

That said I suspect the focus is probably more on the main discussion forum.

[jamesteterenko]

I saw an interesting feature on another forum that I think would be really useful here. It was on the amazon.com customer discussion forum.

At the bottom of every post there is the following question, "Do you think this post adds to the discussion?" There are two buttons to click, yes or no. If there are a substantial number of no votes, then it shows up as if the user was in an ignore list. i.e. you don't see it by default, but you can see it if you really want to. You have to be logged in to vote, and it takes a few votes for it to dissapear. For an example, see here.

I think that this would complement the existing features of this forum.

James.

[photon]

Yeah, similar to slashdot or digg.

The only downside to that is if someone has an unpopular opinion then their posts can get pushed down even though their thoughts are still valid or at least well reasoned.

EDIT: Plus that isn't in this forum software yet and I don't think I've seen an addon that does that; writing our own addon is pretty time consuming.

[jamesteterenko]

Originally Posted by photon

The only downside to that is if someone has an unpopular opinion then their posts can get pushed down even though their thoughts are still valid or at least well reasoned.

I agree that it will probably impact how some people vote. However, the threshold should be high enough that fringe voters wouldn't impact it too much. In the example link I showed, I think that there were posts still visible where 5 of 5 votes felt the post did not contribute. They probably have it set that you have to have a fair number of votes and less than 10% finding it useful before it is blocked. A well thought out, but unpopular opinion, should get enough positive votes to stick around.

Anyway, something to think about if the software ever adds that feature.

James.

[Flames09]

Originally Posted by Flames09

MOD EDIT: Removed, if you have a problem with a specific skill rating, take it up with the moderators.

Okay I will, PM sent!

[SpitFire40]

What's up with the Comments on skill neg's? To me it's like the skill givers & takers take pride in rubbing your nose in it.

Do what you gotta do, leave your comment/reason and leave it at that.

[moon]

Is there any way to see which posts got positive ratings?

It would be interesting to see the kind of posts that are getting the positive rep and to know how some people have two red squares when they should be at two or three blues.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by SpitFire40

What's up with the Comments on skill neg's? To me it's like the skill givers & takers take pride in rubbing your nose in it.

Do what you gotta do, leave your comment/reason and leave it at that.

not sure what you are saying here...should the skill givers leave comments or not leave comments?

[SpitFire40]

Originally Posted by looooob

not sure what you are saying here...should the skill givers leave comments or not leave comments?

Leave a comment, but do so without attitude. Do your job, but there is no reason to be a dick about it, all it does it annoy the poster (I.E Me) and make them pretty much flip the bird to the whole system.

Which is why I don't care about the system anymore, it's about as consistent as NHL officiating.

There are some Magoo's on the rating team, but there are also some McCreary's doing a great job and shut up outside of a swift and exact reason, then there are those like Magoo who like to prance around and be dinks about it.

Also, enough of this PM moderator stuff. There should be somewhere for people to talk about this system and to vent. If not, that's borderline Nazi.

[SpitFire40]

Originally Posted by fotze

How new is the infraction system, I got a few of those puppies lately.

Infractions are different than skill.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by SpitFire40

Also, enough of this PM moderator stuff. There should be somewhere for people to talk about this system and to vent. If not, that's borderline Nazi.

This thread suggests that we do have a place to talk about this stuff doesn't it?

If you have specific questions though about skill/infractions then you should PM the moderator.

When you start throwing out terms such as Nazi though it makes it very hard to want to spend anytime considering any of your points of view though.

[photon]

Exactly. We are talking about ways we can improve the system over the summer, and we understand that sometimes skill givers give skill that is more in the realm of opinion or personal bias (they're human too).

"There should be somewhere for people to talk about this system and to vent. If not, that's borderline Nazi."

I don't see your posts being deleted, as long as you aren't discussing specific instances (or just complaining instead of discussing). A question was just asked to clarify what you were trying to say.

Comparing it to Nazis this is pretty dumb, I don't think you understand what you mean by that. A dictatorship is maybe more what you are going for. And in that case, yes it is a dictatorship.

If it was really either, we'd have had you shot looong ago