No internet connection
  1. Home
  2. Support

User reputation?

By D @dave
    2019-11-20 04:29:20.108Z

    What is the status of the user reputation system? Do user earn reputation like on Stack Exchange? I've been looking around for a few minutes and I don't see anything that would indicate a full reputation system is implemented, although I saw some discussion about it back in 2013.

    • 15 replies

    There are 15 replies. Estimated reading time: 14 minutes

    1. D
      D @dave
        2019-11-21 02:44:10.549Z
        1. In reply todave:

          Hi Dave — the reputation system is not yet fully implemented. Members advance to trust level Full Member, but not yet to the higher trust levels (namely Trusted Member, Trusted Regulars and Core Member).

          How would you want to use the reputation system?

          Looking at the StackOverflow link you posted (i.e. https://stackoverflow.com/help/whats-reputation), I'm thinking you have in mind getting points for posting / answering questions, i.e. gamification? To encourage participation and returning to the forum?

          Currently Talkyard's reputation system is more about preventing misuse (e.g. trolling and spam), and giving a bit more moderation influence to well-behaved members.

          1. DD @dave
              2019-11-23 20:37:43.940Z

              I'm thinking you have in mind getting points for posting / answering questions, i.e. gamification?

              Yes, that's right.

              1. In reply toKajMagnus:
                K@kejsaren2
                  2020-10-22 14:51:46.413Z

                  I also think a reputation system and some form of gamification would increase the value of Talkyard substantially.
                  And it would be nice if you can points not only for activities in the forum, but also for comments. I haven´t seen any other platform that can do that.

                  1. Points for comments? You mean ... if one posts a blog comment / article comment, which gets upvoted, then one gets some reputation points for that? — Yes that seems how I would want a rep system to work ... and like you, I don't know about any other discussion tool that can do that.

                    There will be support for reputation systems — I wonder, though, if different organizations are going to have a bit different ideas about how it should work.
                    Not impossible that Talkyard will expect an external system to calculate reputation points, and update Talkyard, via an API. Rather than having this in Talkyard itself.

                    Somewhat likely, reputation points will be implemented via tags and tag values: Via an API, one adds a "Reputation" or "Karma" tag to a user, combined with a value, say 123. Then, Talkyard can show "Rep: 123" or "Karma: 123" next to the user's name.

                    Any thoughts about calculating reputation points yourself, in your backend server? And updating Talkyard? Compared to Talkyard adding say 5 rep points per Like vote or sth like that.

                    1. K@kejsaren2
                        2020-10-26 08:42:54.368Z

                        It could be points for comments itself, for likes/upvotes of comments one has written, and similar.
                        Sure, there will be different needs from different organizations, so the ability to be able to plugin to external reputation (or calculation..) systems sounds reasonable. Depending on how difficult it is to build and maintain such a system within Talkyard. Adding external probably creates flexibility, but also a hurdle for us not so techie.

                  2. D
                    In reply todave:
                    D @dave
                      2019-11-21 06:25:41.185Z

                      Is a user reputation system (like on Stack Exchange or Question2Answer) on your roadmap?
                      https://stackoverflow.com/help/whats-reputation

                      This seems to be the only important feature missing from Talkyard that would prevent us from being able to use it. If we signed up for a hosting plan, is this something you could implement for us? How big a project is it?

                      1. Such a reputation system is not on the near term roadmap (iike, nearest months).

                        Would you want a reputation system to work "precisely" like over at StackOverflow? Getting plus points for good questions and answers, and minus points if one posts Unwanted questions?

                        ("Unwanted" questions? — In Talkyard, high trust level members can cast Unwanted votes to influence what type of contents does not appear in the forum.)

                        And with a reputation points counter shown in the top bar?
                        With notifications and info about recent reputation points one has gained?

                        ***

                        If you signed up, I would still be too short of time to implement this the nearest time (sorry).

                        What would your community be about, what topics would people discuss? Who would join?

                        I'm thinking in most cases, getting other people's Like votes, for having posted helpful answers, and getting one's own questions answered, can be motivation enough. And the nearest time, I'd like to implement notifications if one gets one's posts Like voted.

                        What about having Like votes gotten, as "Reputation"?

                        1. DD @dave
                            2019-11-23 20:35:39.397Z

                            Thank you for your detailed and thoughtful reply. We would want a reputation system almost exactly like Stack Overflow (as close as possible). Question2Answer has a similar open source implementation. It's not as sophisticated as Stack Overflow, but it would meet our requirements.

                            One purpose would be to motivate members to earn reputation points for participating. Another reason would be so that new members can understand the experience and participation level of existing members by their reputation.

                            If we signed up for standard hosting as well as offered a bounty (for example, an amount equal to a year of standard hosting prepaid) toward this feature, would that make it possible for this feature to be implemented in the nearest months? I know that isn't much money, but if you were to decide to implement a fully functional reputation system soon enough for us to choose Talkyard, we would also make future donations as our site grows.

                            The Stack Overflow system is well-thought-out and well-tested. For example, new users cannot down vote, and you lose points when you can and do down vote. This prevents abuse of a certain type.

                            "Like votes gotten" is not enough for us. A user should get extra reputation points simply for providing an answer, then more points for likes, then more points if their answer is selected (or best). They should also get something just for posting a question. These are all things that Stack Overflow and Question2Answer implement.

                            For our site, we need the most sophisticated reputation system possible, but starting with one equal to Question2Answer would get us going.

                            Also, Question2Answer has a good administration center for points where the admin can assign their own number for each item that has a points value. This type of admin would be important.

                            1. Hi again Dave,

                              If we signed up for standard hosting as well as offered a bounty

                              That would work I think. We could start with discussing how the reputation system can work — it needs to integrate somehow with the Like votes and the trust level system.

                              I could then implement a basic version of this reputation system in January 2020. Maybe the same as what Question2Answer provides. — I websearched a bit to find a description of Q2A's rep system, but didn't find any details this far. You have a link?

                              Some thoughts: Maybe one could enable / disable [the reputation system with up- and downvotes] on a per category basis — and, if enabled, the Like vote would get replaced by up- and downvote buttons ...

                              ... Because sometimes your users might want to post news, or post informal open-ended discussion, without thinking about up- and downvotes and changes to their reputation? In different sections of your community.

                              (Or maybe up- and downvote buttons can co-exist with the Like votes.)

                              administration center for points where the admin can assign their own number for each item

                              Yes that makes sense — I suppose each Q&A site would have its own opinions about how the reputation points system should work and how many points etc.

                              1. MMichael S @michaelS
                                  2020-03-15 07:58:34.827Z

                                  What's the status of the vote and reputation system right now. I am also feeling that this is an essential missing part of talkyard right now. It would also be great if you could sort questions and answers by votes like in stackexchange.

                                  1. Hi Michael, It's still missing. You mentioned 1) vote system and 2) reputation system,

                                    With vote system, you have in mind up- and downvote buttons and an upvote count,
                                    which look like over at StackOverflow and other more strictly Q&A forum software?
                                    And seeing how many upvotes a question has, directly on the topic list page?

                                    And reputation system — one would get +10 points and +10 points when one's question or answer gets upvoted,
                                    and +20 points if one's answer gets accepted? And one's reputation points would be displayed next to one's name, right.

                                    I'm thinking about starting with this now soon — seems to be a pretty popular feature requests.

                                    (All this will be optional — not all communities want the Q&A up- and down vote buttons, and the reputation points.)

                                    1. MMichael S @michaelS
                                        2020-03-17 15:51:40.853Z

                                        Yes StackOverflow and the rest of the stackexchange network is the best example of this. In think the defaults should be as in Stackoverflow, however the user should be able to configure it (how many points for an upvoted question/answer etc) as possible in OSQA or askbot. Yes on the topic list you should directly see how many upvotes the question has, just like in Stackoverflow. Yes the reputation should be displayed next to the name. The admin should be able to configure of how gaining rights with raising reputation.

                                        1. In reply toKajMagnus:
                                          DD @dave
                                            2020-03-17 18:43:03.482Z

                                            I agree with Michael S. The Stack Overflow network of sites is the best example of a well-implemented reputation system. However, we (admins) should be able to configure our systems regarding how many points are assigned to each thing. We are hoping Talkyard implements this soon so we can launch our new website with Talkyard.

                                            On each Stack Overflow network question or answer, a user's reputation is always displayed near (below) their name. It includes the points and badges a user has earned. If you click a user's name (or go to your own profile), you see your full reputation. (As a logged in user, you also see your own reputation, including points and badges, in the top bar on every page.

                                            Here are some images of the reputation pages for two random users.

                                            In my opinion, to implement this well, one would need to thoroughly study Stack Exchange. However, if it helps, I will post more screen shots.

                                            1. In reply toKajMagnus:
                                              DD @dave
                                                2020-03-17 18:47:09.580Z

                                                This shows how the user's reputation is displayed on an answer: