I thought it was about time to remind folks that there is a reputation system available for the MobileRead forums. It basically allows you to give a thumbs up or down to a post and give a reason why.

But mostly, it's a nice way to give a pat on the back for a great post. There will always be spectacular contributions that never get "formally" noticed, but if you see something nicely done, why not show your appreciation by clicking on the karma link at the top right hand side of each post near the post number? It feels good to find out that something you've written has meant something to someone else.

If you notice that you have some karma and wonder what people might have said, you can go to the "Forum Jump" drop down list at the top right of any MR page, and pick User Control Panel.

good idea to remind people Bob!

I was wondering what this karma "score" was about. What about the geekiness bar, how is that generated?

I'm pretty sure that changes by the amount of posts you've contributed (though I'd venture to guess the color changes when you get above a certain number as well; i.e., red to blue). Natch explained the karma thing a few months ago about how karma is computed, though you'll need to use the search feature to find the post (my memory registers have cleared since them ;) ).

How do you like Tokyo?

I've put the karma explanation in its own thread in the Lounge and stuck it, so it'll be easier to come up with when folks wonder about it. Here's a link (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=68075#post68075) :smiley2:

I don't know exactly how the "geekiness' meter works but it seems number of blocks and their color are both tied to the number of posts. :shrug:

...Natch explained the karma thing a few months ago about how karma is computed...

How do you like Tokyo?

Ahh, I'll see if I can track down that post.

Tokyo is great, particularly with the today's weather! Been here for a while, and reckon I'll be here for some time to come :-)

The blue bars are reached at the 400th post.

Hey, Ivan, nice Avatar!, very cool. :yes:

I knew that the blue bars were linked to number of posts, but I hadn't paid anywhere nearly enough attention to figure out exactly when. Thanks for that info. :beam:

I didn't know you could actually see what people gave you karma for, cool.

Hey, Ivan, nice Avatar!, very cool. :yes:

I knew that the blue bars were linked to number of posts, but I hadn't paid anywhere nearly enough attention to figure out exactly when. Thanks for that info. :beam:
Thanks!

And it's funny but I first noticed the number when your bars turned blue. :)

How ironic. :laugh4:

How could I forget karma? It seems nearly every time I log in I want to give some to some helpful person in the iLiad world, only to find that I have to "spread it around" a bit more. But with new iLiad developers popping up the way they have been recently, this is becoming less of a problem. ;)

I find it easy to give karma for many things. Most recently with the explosion of offerings in the Sony Reader Uploads section.

I too have had the same problem as neko and I have also gotten the message that I am not allowed to give it to the same person twice for the same thread. (If I have to start keeping notes on who I give it to, that would decrease the joy of giving it.)

It is funny; but, it seems that most of the karma I have received are from a small group of people, some who have given it multiple times. Thank you.

ah, karma. her real name was carman but we all called her karma. she was a readhead.

I too have had the same problem as neko and I have also gotten the message that I am not allowed to give it to the same person twice for the same thread. (If I have to start keeping notes on who I give it to, that would decrease the joy of giving it.)
We could remove this restriction, but I am afraid there might some people who would play it then.

I am not asking for the restriction to be lifted. Often a thread will be revived and and you think, "Wow, that's a great post. I should give them some karma." You know you've read it before; but, that was several weeks before and you forget if you gave karma or not.

NP, I have been seriously considering lifting the restriction based on your experiences. I just wanted to share why it might be a problem to lift it and to hear your opinion. :D

On the other hand, sometimes a thread gets revived and there are new improvements or a new direction (thread drift, anyone?) and one might reasonably want to give karma to the same person again.

On another forum, I might see the concern about someone "gaming the system." Do you really think that would happen here? (This is not a rhetorical question.)

I don't know. I'm relatively sure it would be less of a problem here than anywhere else.

I'll admit that I've spent some time thinking about how to game the present system, here, not because I intended (or was even tempted, for that matter) to do so, but just as an intellectual exercise. I also analyze physical security systems when I see them, my brain just works that way, almost never actually test my theories though (there was one time at the library when I was in college, though ... but I also worked there at the time :)). Anyway, I believe the way it's set up now could be gamed, but it'd be a lot of hassle, and not very effective.

I expect there might be some who would be tempted to game it if it were easier to do, if not any who are around presently, there's always the next guy to come in the door. :shrug:

The way it's set up now, I kind of regard it as a challenge to post things that folks find helpful enough to give karma for (and I figured out early on that I wanted to keep on the lookout for other folks' posts I could give karma to). That's also why I don't like posting about karma, and usually put a disclaimer on such posts: it just seems too easy to get that way, feels like cheating. :shrug:

If you really want to give someone Karma for a second time you can always do it in any other thread and mention it in your appreciation words.

It's not just that you can't give someone karma more than once for the same post, it's also that you have to give karma to 2 other people before you can give the first person karma again. :)