Rep system abuse

[jimnyc]

I've had many complaints about users abusing the system to share points with one another, or to attack a particular member. Some have engaged in repping 8-10 members in a matter of minutes simply so they can get back to another member a second time.

I've went through the comments over the past week and it's ridiculous how some are using this system. It's a system for sending someone a positive rep if they write a great post, or sending them a negative rep if they write something as a "troll", or become personal with another. It's not there so you can rep someone with "hahahahaha" or "hey dude" or "how are you?" You also shouldn't be giving out 20 separate reps in a 25 minute span!

I will be randomly going through the rep system and this will be corrected. Anyone found to be abusing the system will only have points removed from their count as well as from those they are playing their little games with. So use the system properly, or risk signing on one day and finding a drastic difference in your total count.

[jimnyc]

Perfect example - LiberalNation has just been banned for 48 hours. She decided it would be appropriate to neg rep me for doing my job here on the board.

I'm not going to tolerate abuse of others here, and I'm certainly not going to tolerate being abused myself because someone disagrees with me taking action based on the complaints of many.

[jimnyc]

I woke up this morning to a flood of PM's with complaints, inquiries and concerns over this announcement. It seems many are quite happy with the system "as is" and having the ability to rep someone for anything they see fit.

I don't need an indicator to know who has a better reputation on the board anyway. One can still have a ton of points and add little value to the board, as well as one can have very little points and make one great post after another. I believe our community is smart enough to know the value of another's posts without looking at their rep count as well.

I have manually taken away 45,000 points from myself as I have no need to be on a leaderboard. I'm comfortable with my posts whether others feel the need to rep me or not.

In the interest of fairness, I have lifted the ban on LN. With this situation in mind, she had every right to neg rep me because she didn't like the direction I wanted to go in slowing down the rep points.