Ranks and Experience on the Forum

[Ltsurge]

Firstly I just want to say I don't know if this thread has been made before because It's too hard to search for it (although I did try) as there are no real words I could search for.

I just wanted to bring to the attention of everybody the way that we see "experienced" and "noob" members of this forum. Basically (at least for me), the only way I can see if this person is an experienced cuber just by their profile; mainly by these factors

Post Count
WCA Profile
Signature (with PB times)
and Date of Joining the Forum

(these aren't in any particular importance)

However these may not be very accurate. For example a person may have only been cubing for a year but already have a sizeable post count (by spamming like me :fp). In comparison, someone like Macky does not have an extremely high post count but I'm sure we all agree, he is one of the more respected members of the cubing community.

There are ways that we can see the experience of a member but it isn't simple and easy to see in a glance. Some members may wan't anonymity and as such don't post their WCA profile. Sometimes they may actually have been to competitions since the "beginning" of modern cubing (IMO 2000 ish) but since they don't have a profile up noobs like me don't know they are that experienced.

Of course when I refer to experience I refer to the length of time they have been cubing for and the times that they can achieve.

I propose that in some way we improve the system of experience on this forum, besides using a post count. In other forums there is a ranking system which is based only on post count however; with this forum I believe it should be a combination of Post count, date of joining and WCA profile (i.e. the competitions they have been to (no. and prestige) as well as the times they have achieved).

There is no computer that can determine a rank; this will have to be done by the mods. Also IMO the private forum and its admission should be used as a marker of experience, perhaps as the highest "rank".

Anyway this is all my opinion and I'm looking for others and their opinions on this too. If I have been too vague, I will post more later as I have leave now for a bit.

 

[aaronb]

There are thousands of members and mods could not possibly rank everyone individually. I do like the idea of a new ranking system, but with the size of the forum, your would need a computer generated formula. And including post count would make lurkers seem to have less credibility; and one thing that many users will tell you to do to become a better member is lurk. If we could find a formula that the majority of people agree on, then I see no reason, why not to do this.

I think a suggestion that might come up is a "thumbs up/down system." I think the problem is that people would spam other people depending on if they like them or not. Maybe a thumbs up/down system, where you can only give thumbs after being selected by a mod, or are qualified/in the private forum. To be honest, I don't really like a user-based thumbs system, or something that can be affected by any user, and I don't find it to be that reasonable, and putting it up to the mods, would be too much work for them.

I think we would have to find a good formula, or find a good method, to determine ranking to make this at all reasonable; but I think at the moment that we don't really need a ranking system, or that this is a big issue.

 

[Zarxrax]

Why does this even matter?
What's wrong with judging each and every post on its own merits?

 

[aaronb]

Why does this even matter?
What's wrong with judging each and every post on its own merits?

I think, that he thinks it would help with things like admission into the private forum; and I think it might help, to know whos post you can really trust. But like I said in my last post, we don't really need one; and I agree that you should judge posts individually.

 

[Ltsurge]

Why does this even matter?
What's wrong with judging each and every post on its own merits?

True; However, I'm mainly referring to noobs who first browse the forums... Of course we all could judge on our own, however I am looking for a uniform measure of experience rather than individuals if you get what I mean. Everybody has different opinions on who is "experienced" or not but I am looking to make it easier for someone to know whether they are wasting their time reading a useless post by a noob (like me) or a post with "proper" content by an experienced member. Also I would just like to add... I dislike smart alec comments by people like Kirjava or Faz. Yes they are good cubers and yes they are definitely more experienced than most, but it doesn't give them the right to blatantly flame a noob. A simple, firm but not aggressive comment should be made to correct a post in a wrong subforum etc instead of straight flaming.

All just my opinion.

 

[Edward]

No need IMO
I know people like me, can just tell when someone is experienced or not
For example: Lt surge is decently experienced. He knows a little bit more than the basics and can solve fairly fast. May or may not be sub 20
(was I right?)

 

[Ltsurge]

No need IMO
I know people like me, can just tell when someone is experienced or not
For example: Lt surge is decently experienced. He knows a little bit more than the basics and can solve fairly fast. May or may not be sub 20
(was I right?)

True BUT

You don't know if I know my cube theory... I.e. if I am decently experienced in the technical side of cubing (knowing terminology or complex theories and methods). It's sort of difficult to see whether a member is knowledgeable; something a ranking system can show in a glance. You could go back through all my posts and see the content I posted OR you could glance at a rank and know in relative terms how knowledgeable he is...

I'm not exactly advocating for a ranking system, I just want to put the idea out there.

 

[iChanZer0]

I believe that a quiz would be acceptable to rank members.

 

[Mollerz]

A lot of the time you can quickly judge how experienced someone is by the way their post is constructed or the by the content. Whether or not they are experienced or not anyway, if it contributes to the thread and does not blatantly flame or bash someone in particular then for all I care they could be anyone. Obviously some people will have better or more constructive things to say in some cases but a ranking system wouldn't develop well as it would promote people to actually post and what they think may be constructive, may just be drivel and a waste of a post.

It's definitely not a necessary addition at all. The forum isn't exactly huge so a lot of us know who the good contributors are, and there are a lot of people who are perhaps semi-knowledgeable but do not post as often like myself. You obviously feel that, even though you are relatively new like myself, you know a lot about cubing and you want to stand tall and perhaps show off what you know in the short amount of time you've been a member of this community. Most people do not really care and for the most part of the forum, they do not really need to know either, and when they do need to know, perhaps in the Constructive Speedcubing Discussion, hopefully you would have laid out a post which is constructive and has sufficient content in regards to the thread, so again, they do not need to know anything else.

 

[MovingOnUp]

Firstly I just want to say I don't know if this thread has been made before because It's too hard to search for it (although I did try) as there are no real words I could search for.

I just wanted to bring to the attention of everybody the way that we see "experienced" and "noob" members of this forum. Basically (at least for me), the only way I can see if this person is an experienced cuber just by their profile; mainly by these factors

Post Count
WCA Profile
Signature (with PB times)
and Date of Joining the Forum

(these aren't in any particular importance)

However these may not be very accurate. For example a person may have only been cubing for a year but already have a sizeable post count (by spamming like me :fp). In comparison, someone like Macky does not have an extremely high post count but I'm sure we all agree, he is one of the more respected members of the cubing community.

There are ways that we can see the experience of a member but it isn't simple and easy to see in a glance. Some members may wan't anonymity and as such don't post their WCA profile. Sometimes they may actually have been to competitions since the "beginning" of modern cubing (IMO 2000 ish) but since they don't have a profile up noobs like me don't know they are that experienced.

Of course when I refer to experience I refer to the length of time they have been cubing for and the times that they can achieve.

I propose that in some way we improve the system of experience on this forum, besides using a post count. In other forums there is a ranking system which is based only on post count however; with this forum I believe it should be a combination of Post count, date of joining and WCA profile (i.e. the competitions they have been to (no. and prestige) as well as the times they have achieved).

There is no computer that can determine a rank; this will have to be done by the mods. Also IMO the private forum and its admission should be used as a marker of experience, perhaps as the highest "rank".

Anyway this is all my opinion and I'm looking for others and their opinions on this too. If I have been too vague, I will post more later as I have leave now for a bit.

This came up RIGHT AFTER I posted something on somebody being a noob because of these four points. Tell me this isn't about that haha. The guy had 1 post and was making all kinds of tutorials that I said he was probably too inexperienced to make

 

[souljahsu]

Having a ranking system on the forum is completely unnecessary. First of all, "ranking" a person is not
only difficult but extremely unacceptable. Ranking everyone on the forum is impossible due to the high
number of cubers we have on here, and the number of factors that would involve in the "ranking"
system. Imagine a starting cuber who has just learned the basics of solving a week ago, he makes a
mistake of posting something "stupid". It doesn't necessarily make him "lower-ranked" than the average
forum-er, because he will likely eventually turn into a "higher-ranked" forum member from experience.
Moreover, "ranking" a cuber by looking at his posts is comparable to "ranking" a person by the stupid
mistakes that he may have made during his teenage years. An example is shown by the fact that most
responsible adults have done something "silly" when he was younger. Furthermore, "ranking" will
result in hate and distrust among cubers. An extreme example of this being enslaving people due to
racism. As a conclusion, "ranking" does not have a place on a good cubing forum, it will have no effects
save worsening the discontent between cubers.

 

[MovingOnUp]

There IS the possibility of having like a REP button that you could press that would rank you up. This would be used if the person has an especially insightful post or helpful one. That way you could tell whether you could trust the poster and see if he usually posts good quality information.