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Badges are a bad idea

AKradianAKradian
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edited September 2016 in Rants and Raves
I'm sure we all want active forums, but encouraging people to spam "cat memes" is going a bit too far.
UzumeArlongPrideLilyflower
  1. Which would you rather see?46 votes
    1. Quality
       96% (44 votes)
    2. Quantity
       4% (2 votes)

Comments

  • AggraphineAggraphine
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    edited September 2016
    As long as the shitposting it's contained to off-topic, I don't have too much of an issue with it.

    After seeing how much Xerna is... contributing to various threads, I have to say I agree here. The post count ones ought to be disabled for an indeterminate length of time.
    NiightseekerPikarie
  • AKradianAKradian
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    edited September 2016
    Aggraphine

    As long as the shitposting it's contained to off-topic, I don't have too much of an issue with it.
    It's not, though.
    People respond in General and Suggestions and Questions and Announcements and everywhere else even if they have nothing to say.
    Not that the old forums had a stellar signal-to-noise ratio, but this is a lot worse.
    Now, it could be because these forums are "mobile friendly" so people post while bored on the bus or something, but for certain specific posters it seems to be intentional spamming. Either for trolling purposes or for postcount.
  • bumbertyrbumbertyr
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    Nexon
    edited September 2016
    i'm honestly not surprised that it's happening again. The same issue happened over on the Stand Alone Complex forums albiet a bit different. Some dude was spam creating topics then logging onto mules to upvote it.
  • KerqxonKerqxon
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    edited September 2016
    err you know theres no real way to fix it right?
  • AggraphineAggraphine
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    edited September 2016
    image
    Xerna said:

    err you know theres no real way to fix it right?
    You could stop shitposting. That would fix it.
    PikarieWillScarlet
  • AKradianAKradian
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    edited September 2016
    image
    Xerna said:

    err you know theres no real way to fix it right?
    Is that gloating?

    Of course there are ways to fix it. A simple limit on how many posts one may make per day/hour would do wonders.
    Infracting people for spam and temp-banning them if they keep doing it is also a possibility.
    If the subreddit managed to get rid of their obsessive shitposters, so can this forum.
    bumbertyr
  • ふかせふかせ
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    edited September 2016
    It would also be nice as well if our post counts weren't shown under our avatars.
  • AKradianAKradian
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    edited September 2016
    ふかせ
    ふかせ said:

    It would also be nice as well if our post counts weren't shown under our avatars.
    I agree.
    Although the old forums did show the post count, and most other forums (on various topics) that I've seen do it too, I feel it contributes to spam and to unnecessary judging.

    On the other hand, consider a new person who comes here and asks a question, and gets two or more conflicting answers. How do they know who to believe? A high postcount, especially if accompanied by a high number of "likes" and "insightfuls", can help the new person figure out which of the responders is more likely to be correct.

    Southperry experimented with something they called "reputation", in which forumers rated each other on such attributes as "knowledgeable" "flame-baiter" "Nexon fan/hater", etc. Supposedly, this would help a new person on the forums know who they're dealing with. However, this experiment failed, because not enough people bothered to give their honest opinion about many others.

    So, I don't really know. I saw that we have some badges for "answers", but nobody has earned any yet, so I don't know how they're supposed to work. But they seem promising.
  • ふかせふかせ
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    edited September 2016
    AKradian
    AKradian said:

    ふかせ
    ふかせ said:

    It would also be nice as well if our post counts weren't shown under our avatars.
    I agree.
    Although the old forums did show the post count, and most other forums (on various topics) that I've seen do it too, I feel it contributes to spam and to unnecessary judging.

    On the other hand, consider a new person who comes here and asks a question, and gets two or more conflicting answers. How do they know who to believe? A high postcount, especially if accompanied by a high number of "likes" and "insightfuls", can help the new person figure out which of the responders is more likely to be correct.

    Southperry experimented with something they called "reputation", in which forumers rated each other on such attributes as "knowledgeable" "flame-baiter" "Nexon fan/hater", etc. Supposedly, this would help a new person on the forums know who they're dealing with. However, this experiment failed, because not enough people bothered to give their honest opinion about many others.

    So, I don't really know. I saw that we have some badges for "answers", but nobody has earned any yet, so I don't know how they're supposed to work. But they seem promising.
    I'm not against having a post count show on our profile pages though. I just don't like the idea of having it out on display, such as right under our avatars. Having a post count show so easily does indeed lead to unnecessary judging. However, if people want to see how "active" someone is, they should be looking at the person's profile.

    As for the question badge, maybe it's a feature still being worked on. If executed properly, it would be a great way to show who tends to give insightful answers.
  • iyKagomeiyKagome
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    edited September 2016
    Well I don't necessary judge people with high or low post counts. It is just a number. I know some people judge at first glance but if you look at that person posts and see how much they contributed to a topic, then you can see if that person is really active or just a distraction.
    I do like seeing my post count under my avatar for my own personal reason. I want to know how active I am sometimes.
    I tend to be a lurker but I want to have more of a presence here, in a good way.
  • AKradianAKradian
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    edited September 2016
    iyKagome
    iyKagome said:

    Well I don't necessary judge people with high or low post counts. It is just a number. I know some people judge at first glance but if you look at that person posts and see how much they contributed to a topic, then you can see if that person is really active or just a distraction.
    I do like seeing my post count under my avatar for my own personal reason. I want to know how active I am sometimes.
    I tend to be a lurker but I want to have more of a presence here, in a good way.
    You could see your post count in your profile page.

    The problem is that some people do judge. If you're a new person here and you ask a question and you get two conflicting answers, who do you believe?
    Many people go by post count, on the assumption that someone who's been here long and writes a lot should know what they're talking about.
    Plus you get stuff where people disparage others' opinions because , "You made an account just to post that?"

    However, as I said in the opening post, the post count itself is not a huge issue to me. It was there in the old forums, and many other forums have it. It's a staple of internet forums, so w/e.
    But here, we seem to have gone a big step further, and are actually giving people extra "rewards" - these badges - for spam.

    The badge system needs to be removed. I honestly don't see what the forums gain from it.
  • BIackbeanBIackbean
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    edited September 2016
    Ehh, I kind of understand where you're coming from, given how active you were back in the old forum and now everything got reset
  • KThxBaiNaoKThxBaiNao
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    edited September 2016
    I can understand the concern, and see why it can get annoying when people are just spamming the forums to get their post count up. If you feel like someone is doing this, please - Report them. Message me or one of the VFMs, and we will look into it.
    bumbertyrUzumeYonaxSpiritofMir
  • AKradianAKradian
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    edited September 2016
    BIackbean
    BIackbean said:

    Ehh, I kind of understand where you're coming from, given how active you were back in the old forum and now everything got reset
    That's got nothing to do with it. I don't care about my own post count. I post when I have something to say.

    My problem is with the reading, not the writing. I try to read everything that is posted in most sections of the forums, and the large amount of meaningless spam makes that task difficult. You might say that's my own problem, but I believe it also poses a problem for the mods and for Nexon staff, and ultimately for the community. The more "noise" there is, the less likely a "signal" is to get the attention it deserves.
    Uzume
  • nenenenenenenenenene
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    edited September 2016
    It's not like our first day here. We all know each other too well to even bother looking at that meaningless post count. Do you still bother to check how many HP a normal zakum has when you are level 160+ ?
  • AggraphineAggraphine
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    edited September 2016
    nenenenene

    It's not like our first day here. We all know each other too well to even bother looking at that meaningless post count. Do you still bother to check how many HP a normal zakum has when you are level 160+ ?
    But we aren't the only people here. Other people don't know who's who on the forums as well as you, me, AK or anyone else.

    It's not our first day here, but it may be someone elses.
  • AKradianAKradian
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    edited September 2016
    nenenenene

    It's not like our first day here. We all know each other too well to even bother looking at that meaningless post count. Do you still bother to check how many HP a normal zakum has when you are level 160+ ?
    Again: I don't care about the post count.
    I do care about the number of meaningless posts I (and others) have to wade through in order to find the meaningful ones.
    That's why I don't want people spamming, and I believe that removing their motivation to do it would be far more effective than reporting them, @KThxBaiNao .
  • The Blue CorsairThe Blue Corsair
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    edited September 2016
    AKradian
    AKradian said:

    nenenenene

    It's not like our first day here. We all know each other too well to even bother looking at that meaningless post count. Do you still bother to check how many HP a normal zakum has when you are level 160+ ?
    Again: I don't care about the post count.
    I do care about the number of meaningless posts I (and others) have to wade through in order to find the meaningful ones.
    That's why I don't want people spamming, and I believe that removing their motivation to do it would be far more effective than reporting them, @KThxBaiNao.
    image

    Another possible solution to this would be to add an ignore option so any individuals that you feel might spam can have their posts be hidden. Looking at the accomplishments/badges, there aren't that many that actually relate to post count so this may not be the largest concern.

  • AKradianAKradian
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    edited September 2016
    The Blue Corsair


    image

    Another possible solution to this would be to add an ignore option so any individuals that you feel might spam can have their posts be hidden. Looking at the accomplishments/badges, there aren't that many that actually relate to post count so this may not be the largest concern.

    I was thinking about suggesting a killfile option ("ignore"), but it seems a bit beyond Vanilla's abilities (or Nexon's willingness to explore Vanilla's abilities...) There are far more important features we don't have here, including ones that the old forums did.

    You're right that not many badges are about postcount, but then again, not many badges are obtainable at all. Length of membership, "answers", all sorts of things that can't be acquired (but were somehow a lot more important to implement before the forums go live, unlike custom avatars).

    And I go back to the basic question: what do the forums, or the community, gain from the existence of this badge system?
  • KeepComingBackKeepComingBack
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    edited September 2016
    I think of it as an incentive to kinda jumpstart the new forums and get people to explore forum sections they normally wouldn't participate in.
    Sooner or later people will stop actively bothering with the badges and just go back to posting when they have something substantial to say.
    It's just a few people "spamming" anyway.