I am really glad that the blinging, dinging period is part of the past now. Thank you Randy.

Lately I got several requests for positiv ratings (blings) from FlyerTalkers (some of them I hardly know/remember their aka) by email (and when I for just a minute turned on the 'show reputation' option, I saw the same requests also added to positiv blings given to me). I did also read requests for positiv blings on the OMNI board.

I was tempted to reply by email:

Gruezi and thank you for your positiv rating of one of my posts lately.

Regarding your request for a positiv rating from my side, I must unfortunately inform you, that such requests now go into a waitlist and clearing that waitlist may take months.

I am only allowed to make two ratings a day, and also clearing order of the waitlist will not only be:

* by dates of blings received,
* but also by how many points this individual bling was worth

As I expect many more positiv blings from high (points-) valued members in the near future, it really is very probable to take months till my waitlist-system will allow me to give back.

Please be aware, if positiv blings will not be repeated to be given to me after every other 19 days in the waitlist (that's the time period the FylerTalk-ratings-system is set to accept a second bling from the same member), they will unfortunately automatically drop out of my waitlist.

I am sure that you understand the situtation. I am always glad to serve my blinging FT-colleagues to the best of my abilities. Please be assured that your bling-business is important to me.

Yours faithfully

Rudi.

Clearly this is a no win situation for Randy.

At this point I'm ambivalent about whether ratings should be allowed or not, but if they are they should clearly be viewable by the recepient.

But I do object to the way in which the feature was just pulled off. I just found out that one could view the previously anonymous ratings, but before I had a chance to examine my rankings the plug was pulled.

:D :D Good post, Rudi!

Consider yourself "blinged"!

This alone tells me that, while some of the genuine positives were sincere (and heartwarming just as the negatives were sobering), many were not sincere but indeed, mere baseball cards, rendering reputation meaningless to some greater or lesser degree.

If the model is ebay, know that everybody's ding/bling is equal, i.e., the weight of your ding/bling does NOT vary depending upon how long you've been a member of ebay, nor upon the number of transactions in which you've participated - all members get an equal weight. Also, everyone else can read the comments you leave. If reputation comes back, those features should be incorporated, if possible, in order to introduce more transparency to the process.

The Cat who "Scratched" Reputation?
 

Thank you Randy for turning off that reputation function. It stopped being fun a good while ago (although I was never dinged but got some nice blings.)

Let what we say and do on Flyertalk speak for ourselves. No grades, no stars, nothing.

Just hope I won't now be known as "the Cat who Scratched Reputation."

Oh well. :(

Not to sweat. I'm sure that distinction will fall on someone of far lesser stature with the FT community than you.

Yep. And, they will wear that as a badge of honor!

Just like they "claim" to have "killed" the Moderators forum that is still alive and well.

Sad, pathetic and sad.

Real reputation
 

No human can truly read the heart of another.

The only "reputation" that truly counts is that of Him who knows all.

I enjoyed this little experiment into human nature, and into learning more about our fellow Flyer Talkers. However, unless you've learned to read minds and hearts, don't presume to know what fully and truly motivates another human being.

Count me in the camp of those who enjoyed this little adventure, sophomoric as it may have been at times, Gang Dings notwithstanding.
^ Great post, Rudi. ^

Yet as the focus of this entire website is supposed to be miles and points, perhaps our host felt that such side-shows were not conducive to the overall intent of why we are all here.

Given all that has transpired, who is to say that he is wrong?



Will OMNI be next?

We don't yet know what HE thinks as the silence thus far is deafening. But, for the sake of those who enjoyed this bonus feature of the new FT, I sincerely hope it wasn't taken down by the bully pulpit preaching of a few who doomed this feature from day one. Those who have followed the recent ORP forum follies know the outcry from the select few started way before the first anonymous dings appeared. Almost within hours of the re-launch a month ago, the reputation feature appeared to have struck fear in the hearts of those who had been making themselves obnoxious in various forums for a long time. You could almost hear them say" OH NO...this is my worst fear!! It's payback time now unless I do something to stop this! First, I'll....I'll...I'll shut the reputation feature off before I rack up serious red beanies. Yeah, that'll do it!! No, wait, I'll just have an ominous black beanie while everybody else is racking up green ones. So, NO, that won't do it. I'm going to have to blanket this forum with every bit of verbiage I can think of! If I throw enough **** against the wall, something is certain to stick.Yeah....mysterious cabals, dark alliances, anonymous dingers, secret midnight meetings, forgery, extortion, name-calling, threats...that should be enough to get this feature canceled."
I'm very upset at the way this whole thing has been handled. And actually less upset at the folks that have caused this feature to be shut down than I am in the way it happened. One second it's running, the next it's not. Not a word as to who,what,why, whatever.
Will I survive without the Reputation Feature? Yeah, somehow I guess I will. I thought this new way of communicating with our fellow FT'ers was the best thing I've seen in a long time. And now it's down and out because a select few have decided to pee in the sandbox.

Randy is in Chicago getting ready for his "date" with Sheryl Crow tomorrow. I imagine that FT & this "reputation thing" isn't at the top of his worry list right now.

http://www.webflyer.com/liveflyer

Well I for one will really miss it and I think I was probably the biggest victim of all the abuse that took place:

1. I was "gang dinged" on April 3. No surprises when the lights were turned on. :rolleyes:

2. An old handle of mine that I had long forgotten, "iknuP", was hacked and used to ding me. :eek:

3. Someone, (actually Few Miles) sought out an old post, a totally friendly and innocent post, of Hunki's and dinged it just out of spite. :td:

4. Someone else, dinged a third party and signed my name. This person even insulted a 4th party in the ding, really trying to cause hard feelings all the way around. :(

In spite of all that, I still loved the system. It was a wonderful way for me to spread good cheer and make friends with some new Flyer Talkers. Heck, I even got some Hot Sauce out of the deal. ;) It also played a role in the beginnings of healing of some old divisions.

No losses and lots of gains on my part. I would love to see it come back.

Those who don't like it can simply turn it off and those who do like it, and don't abuse it, can continue to enjoy spreading good will. :)

From the very beginning, I believe I indicated that I would abide by whatever decision Randy came to about the feature.

Nonetheless, I offered my own thoughts about it based upon what very little we knew - how we were supposed to judge; what a rating reflected; etc.

Subsequent to its being turned on, we were told that it was for use in Coupon Connection primarily, which was still vague, so people continued to use it for their own purposes. Complicating this situation was the fact that it had a lot of the same features as the system upon which it was modeled - ebay - but few, if any, of the safeguards, like transparency and accountability.

Then, it came out that, as was feared would happen, people were sending snipes from the shadows and framing other members for that sniping (by signing these other members' names manually) in order to advance who knows what agenda. Naturally, people were outraged as though their pseudonyms had their signatures forged. With no control over your own pseudonym (something which, as I've pointed out before, is one of the most valuable things to each of us who participate here) and the comments it's giving out, it's a situation ripe for abuse, as subsequent revelations made clear. The system was misused and abused.

IMHO, based on past history at FT, reputation was a feature doomed to failure. YMMV.

I'm with Punki on this - if it comes back, fine; if not, fine; I won't probably be turning it back on anyway.

Agree 100%. ^

Thanks, Catman.

Magic: a methodology point: in order to test the effectiveness
of the ding system, one would have to give red dings to the
good guys to see if that would affect their behavior ;)

And special thanks to Randy and colleagues who got rid of
the system once and I hope for all.