I am posting this as my difinitive explanation about REP. I am not sure if I have figured out all of the nuance yet, but I have it pretty damn close....
Definitions:
REP POINTS: This is how many points you have been awarded by other members in recognition of the quality of your posts. You can see your rep points by clicking on the green box at the top left of any of your own posts. You gain rep when someone else clicks on green box at the top left of one of your posts and the "approve" of your post. When that happens your rep increases by the REP POWER of the person who approved. If they disapprove, or NEG REP you, then you lose rep equal to half the rep power of the person disapproving. (I have not personally confirmed this yet)
REP POWER: This is the number that is listed above your avatar. This is how many points you award to another person when you click on their green box and approve their work. The formula for REP POWER is one point for every 50 posts that you make. And one point for every 50 rep points you have collected. * This is often referred to as a person's rep, eg. "He has a really high rep!" as this is the number visible to everyone. Everyone's rep power is zero until they make their 50th post. Then the formula kicks in.
REP NOTES: When you give positive or negative rep to a person they can read the note that you write along with the action. These notes can be seen at the bottom of your own USER CP page (Link at the top left of every page of the forums). You can always see the last five rep notes that you have received and who sent them.
GREEN BOX: When you click on the green box at the top left of one of your own posts it will tell you if you have received any rep for that particular post. If you have you can see who it was from and what they said. This is always available to see. By clicking the green box on somebody elses post you can award them rep or neg-rep them.
GIVING REP: When you give rep to someone you add the total of your REP POWER to their REP POINTS. When you neg-rep someone you subtract half of your REP POWER from their REP POINTS. There are limitations to how often you can give rep to people - good or bad. From my own conversations and observations these are the rules for giving rep...
- You can only REP a post one time.
- You can only REP ten posts in a 24 hour period.
- After you have given REP to a person you must either rep nine other people or wait ten days before you can give rep to them again. (Spread it around!)
- ADMINS have a fixed rep power of 25 but no restrictions on how often they can use it.
- MODS follow the same rep rules as other members.
How you use your rep power is completely up to you. It is yours to weild, limited only by the rules listed above. Intelligence, insight, wit, eloquence, whatever reason you want to give rep is yours to decide.
If you get rep from someone there is no rule about needing to write a note or anything. Whatever feels right to you in recognizing the gesture is fine.
Neg-rep is also at your disposal. I generally use it as a way to let people know that they are breaking the rules, as do many of the other mods and admins. I usually send some softer message first. As a member you can do the same thing, but if you don't want to get into a neg rep war with someone please leave the spankings to the staff. If you see a post that is out of line you can choose to neg-rep it, or you can use the red box at the upper left corner of each post to report that post to the moderators of that forum. I personally would discourage using neg rep over disagreements.
Hope this answers any questions!
Bill
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aka
TheBigDog - Hypography Full Freaking Moderator
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