Before I continue, if this has been expressed before and more clearly I apologize.

I've heard and seen a lot of the debate on what I see as "grading" reputation. It's sad and it's potentially destructive (reminds me of the days of the flame wars of Flyertalk past.)

Here's my two cents, for what it's worth.

Can you really put a number or a point system on reputation? Can you put a score on someone's character? Reputation I feel is really measured (and earned) by the deeds that you do. It can be good (helping a Flyertalker) or bad (flaming someone.)

The reputation system could also turn subjective, depending on the feeling about the tone of the post or the poster.

All of this latest "drama" reminds me of high school where the certain "clique" used to rate fellow classmates on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 the higher the number the more "popular" you were. (I ended up on the lower end of the scale.)

Plus, a person should be confortable with himself/herself on how his/her reputation is. I really don't need "a gold star" to tell me what my reputation is. I try to keep it good at best.

Randy, ultimately it's your decision but this is one veteran Flyertalker who feels it's time to pull the plug on reputation. The "mood" of this board over "reputation" is harking back to the "Flame Wars" which almost tore the "community" apart.

If you have something to say about a post... there's always e-mail.

One more thing: I have no desire to bling or ding or sling or ring or whatever to any Flyertalker. Please save the energy for slinging for talking points and miles.

Have a very MEOWY week everyone!
Thank you for reading.

^^^^ What Catman said!

(Or, if you do want to keep it for Coupon Connection purposes, perhaps it can be made a bit more like the system on e-Bay. That could be useful.)

Heaven knows - I have not made heaps of posts agreeing with Catman ...................

.................. but this is one of them. ^

Great idea, Catman! ^

Catman's right. Pull the plug on the "reputation" feature. Let someone's actions and posts speak for themselves not some arbitrary "click-if-you-like-me" feature.

I posted the following originally on April 5th and nothing has changed since;I did try a couple of small experiments during the past month.
In case one I dinged a poster who IMO opinion their post are on the verge of being troll-like. Turns out it did not make one bit of difference the person still posts troll-like.
In a couple of other cases I gave green marks (blings?) to several posters and they still continue to post in a manner that I find reputable.

What I do find amusing on reading all these threads is that I am certain that posters in the discussion must have other certain posters on their ignore lists because they for sure do not read what the others are telling them and blithely continue posting on and on and on.
Okay so that has always been a big thing with me - just try to post your thoughts on the subject and then let it go - no need to continue to post and post and post - oh wait forgot about the great need to have the last word!

And thanks to the one and only person who gave me a green mark - I hope it was not an error but in almost one month on this subject my thoughts did not change. Some posters post in a reputable manner and some do not and interestedly I enjoy reading the reputable posts even if I disagree with them.

Reputation is no longer anonymous. Each and every member is now accountable for the reputation that they spread around.

Filter out the purely agenda driven bleatings of one member and then ask yourself:

What is so bad about this feature?

Ah but I have filtered out the bleatings of more than one poster.
Obviously not you though

At first I was afraid that I might miss out on something but then came to the realization that those whose bleatings I eliminated would never ever post anything to assist me in maximizing my earning of miles or points or the maximizing of my flight experience.
In the spirit of fairness though at this point I have only elimated those who rant in the Miles and Points forums.

I agree 100% with CameraGuy. I think it is wrong to pull the plug on this system just because a few rotten apples want to spoil it for all of FT.

Great post, Magic. I tried to bling it, but got this message:

The reputation feature is currently disabled

You can just go ahead and feel loved anyway.

Well said. ^

Thankfully Randy has listened to many on FT it seems and has disabled this "feature".

I hate to break it to you Glen, but I think a VAST majority of FT'ers enjoyed this feature.

No need to rain on the parade at this stage, no need to rub salt in the wound, please...

We're mourning the loss of reputation...

^ ^

Worthy of positive reputation - if it were still active.

Seriously, FT survived for nearly 6 years without a "click-if-you-like-me" feature, and I'm certain it can once again thrive without it.

Randy, Thank you for deciding to pull the plug on the reputation feature.

Looking back I should have also said reputation is something that cannot be described in words (or dings.) It's understood.

While I have never been "dinged" I think it was bringing the board in the wrong direction.

Hopefully now we can all move on and focus on travel.

On a final note, I hope I'm not the one who will forever be known as "The Cat who Scratched Reputation."

Well posted. This is a sad day in FT's history...