What is "Rep" and how do I use it?

[Jalyha]

vHi, sorry to necropost but...

I'm pretty sure I understand now the *basics* of how the rep thing works. And I kind of get why, since it's a sort of ranking system, you need to *have* rep, before you can give it... else some spammer/troll would come along and make 50 accounts and rep himself to god-mode... but...

I don't know how to say/ask this. I'll just use me as an example to start with. I'm (obviously) new here. And (more obviously) know nothing about cartography. So my first goal is (as it will be for most new people) to *learn*.

My initial visit, I was looking for an answer to a specific question. I read *massive* numbers of threads (post by post) and finally found the answer. After I registered, I went back and liked the post... or repped it? I'm not sure which, because, I repeat: >>Newbie<< .

I've also found 2 or 3 other posts that REALLY taught me something great, and either repped/liked those as well. Point being "Newbie wants to learn" and "This post actually helped". Since the point of "Tutorials" and "Guides" and such (which are a large portion of the forums) are meant to *teach*, I think this point is important. I think the fact that those posts educated people that DON'T know cartography.. that matters.

So I was a little distressed today to find out that the reps or likes or whatever I gave... (from what I understand) those didn't count for anything? Not only that, but I can never go back and re-do it? It is like a thank you card getting lost in the mail, and then the person moves away - you feel guilty every time you use their gift!

Unless I'm understanding wrong. Should I avoid that rep button until/unless I actually have some rep to give away?

And I still don't get what the difference is between reps and likes?

I don't want this to sound like a complaint, because it's not. I think it's a much better way of ranking contributions than whoever's post count is "over 9000". Rather, I'm struggling for clarity, as well as pointing out that (from my understanding) there's a hole in the system where a lot of genuinely helpful posts probably aren't acknowledged. What may seem basic to the "old-hands" at mapping, and therefore go unnoticed, is often truly helpful to the *beginners*.

Unless, again, I'm understanding wrong. So I guess my questions, in a very general sort of way, are 1) Am I correct in how the rep system works, 2) What is the difference between reps and likes, and 3) How can a newbie express their appreciation for something that really helped them?

[foremost]

Hello Jalyha, I hope I'm able to answer a few of your questions!
You were exactly right behind the reasoning of why reputation
power isn't given to brand-new folks. The idea is that you have
to earn some rep before you can contribute back.

If you rep another user, but you don't have rep power yourself,
they'll generally appreciate it anyway; most of the members
here will be more excited someone liked what they did. Rep
isn't a very competitive thing. So no need to feel like you should
go back and do it over again when you get rep power.

You probably should use the like button more than repping,
as I think it's a more general expression of approval. Rep is
normally reserved for posts including maps, whereas a like
might go towards a useful comment. Plus, a like shows up
on the member's profile whether you have rep power or
not.

Keep working hard and posting maps to earn rep; another
good way is to complete a map for a mapping challenge.
Voters sometimes rep the artist who had a map they liked.

These are obviously just general guidelines, as the technical
rules and stuff were posted at the start of the thread. It
didn't seem like you had any problems with that. Plus, I'm
not a knowledgeable member of the community yet. Just
what I've observed.

Happy Mapping

[Jalyha]

That actually answered precisely what I needed to know. A - that people do see the *attempt* at giving them rep, and B - that the "like" feature is more along the lines of what I needed anyway.


Thank you so much for clarifying.

[Katto]

If you like what people are posting, but can't give rep at the moment you could also write some nice words in the user's vistor area.

[Midgardsormr]

I know I always like seeing a rep entry in my control panel, even if it didn't come with any points.

[ladiestorm]

Greetings everyone, I'm also new here, and I've read the main part of this post about rep... and I'm even more confused now, than I was before I entered this thread. I'm struggling with the lingo to start, and I can't seem to access anything to figure things out.

For example... As stated in the original post... one could look at *something* in their cp to see their rep, and comments that have been left giving them rep. Well, I just learned that cp means control panel, because the above post says control panel instead of cp.

The original post talks about a set of scales that members can click on? I'm looking at all of the posts, and my own posts... I don't see a set of scales. I see the little green button under my name, and see that I have 26 rep. But I have no idea where to click on the control panel to find the comments. I'm not even sure where the control panel is. Is that my profile? I'm new to the rep based websites... as I have been without internet for the past 2-3 years.

I'm not even sure how to like a post... what am I supposed to click on to like a post?

I'm afraid some of us newbies may need to have you experts dumb things down for us. Not all of us are forum savvy, and the original post kind of assumes people understand the abbreviations and such... and we might a little more detail finding the things that you mention in your post. I know I do!

[Josiah VE]

Hi Ladiestorm, I'm pretty new and I was confused when I first joined too. What I figured out is that there is no longer a set of scales and you can't like posts anymore (as far as I can tell). Instead it is a little medal at the bottom left of a post, beside the "Blog this post" and "Report this post" buttons.

The green bars under someones name is how much rep (reputation) they have, how many rep "points" other people have given them. How many rep "points" you give out when you give someone rep depends on several factors..

The original post is very outdated (2007)..

Hope that helps.

[J.Edward]

I thought I'd add this, not sure if it's been stated yet - and I just found out the other day - until you have 30 posts, the rep you give will show to the receiver as null [no rep value] but will still show that you repped them. Just to let people know that bit.

[Greg]

Thanks, J.Edward. It had me confused for a while!

[RPMiller]

Hello everyone. I've updated the first post to reflect the current information a bit better. Hope that clarifies a few things, and isn't confusing to new members. Let me know if I missed anything.