Rep limit change

[Cinnamon]

At the moment the limit for the number of reputation points — also known as ‘likes’ or ‘upvotes’— is 20 per day. However, I (and other Sharders) find this restricting. We know that there is a limit for a reason, but, we think it would be great if our limit was moved up to something higher. Perhaps 30? I understand that many users never reach this limit but a good number of us do. I know that whenever I stumble onto an art thread or the gallery my points are slurped up like a bowl of stir fried spaghetti. We find that reputation is a great way to give thanks to our fellows or agree with somebody on a point without having to make an entirely new post explaining so, the thing is, we just don’t have enough of it.

Before I continue I would like to make it clear that this is in no way a demand, it is just a suggestion that some members of our not so little online community have come together to produce.   
We totally understand that this may just be a hassle to do or be completely impossible. Regardless of what comes of this, it has been extremely fun putting together this campaign of sorts and I have certainly made stronger connections with Sharders that I previously had very little contact with  .  
That being said we are not just seeing this as some sort of fun thing. If it wasn’t a legitimate concern our community had brought up, I would not have bothered posting this. But, regardless of how many people want this, the number of reputation being 20 does not impede on users enjoyment of the site too much. I don’t think it should be considered an extremely urgent issue as we will still function fine without this change.

Without further ado, our case.
If the limit does end up being extended, we think that 30 would be a great number to move it up to. Originally 40 was proposed but we do not want to have so many reputation points that we spend them without care, compromising the integrity of the entire system. 
Realistically no one should spend all their rep every day. The extended limit would accommodate those days when you find such exuberant amounts of amazing content that you just need more reputation. For example; 
you wind up on the theory crafting section of The Shard and find so many theories you espouse along with some great responses. Upvote! Later on your playing forum games with some buddies and someone makes some incredibly witty jokes that just make you crack up. Upvote! Later in SE there is an exceptionally crafted piece of roleplay that you need to recognise. Upvote! Then later, you see on the home page that there are all new images on the gallery. You must check it out. Upvote! Upvote! Upvote! Ohhoho but we’re not done! Argent has posted something new in news, and as always his exceptionally sharp humour () combined with the fact that there is a new art commission that is absolutely stunning means you must click the orange arrow of glory! But what’s this? Noooo the dreaded grey box informing you that you have reached your limit for the day?! What to do? Do I take an upvote away from one of the deserving artists, or theory crafters, or role players, or comedians? Woe!

Disclaimer: this was a work of fiction heavily influenced by real life events, not a retelling of an actual event in time.

Of course I will reiterate that the above predicament should not be an every day occurrence. Hitting the reputation limit shouldn’t be something that happens too often, yet, it does. 
The above predicament could have been avoided if the rep limit was higher. Now, I know what you’re thinking — I probably don’t but just pretend  — “But Cinnamon, this scenario is not completely unavoidable, the rep limit will still occasionally be hit to early, even with the limit extended. Yes, but by that point ten more deserving reputation would have been given away. Perhaps the person will even see the notification and be shocked at the amount of rep they have given out and try to reign themselves in for the future.

Some Sharders, I have found, rarely hit the reputation limit. So it is plain to see that this is not an problem that prevails for every single user. You can see, however, that there is certainly a few who see this as an issue. There are actually more than are listed but these people preferred to remain anonymous as to not ‘draw upon the wrath of the mods’ (paraphrased). I myself would rather not draw their wrath so please know this; if anything here comes off as disrespectful, presumptuous, snarky, or rude I most certainly do not mean it in that way, as I’m sure you all know, tone is quite difficult to convey through text. I have tried to combat this with the interspersion of relevant emotions and emojis, but this is not always enough. 

One of our very own Members of the community — Mr. Misting —said this. 

Quote

 

As someone who very sparingly hands out reputation I think my views upon the matter hold particular merit. I understand how a rep limit prevents reputation from becoming meaningless, but I still think implementing a higher limit would have many positive effects.  

I think you need to consider who this change would effect.

If somebody already receives a lot of reputation, then they are, most likely, a dedicated member who regularly posts. Diluting the experience of reputation for them doesn't feel like a travesty. 

But to those new members and people who feel like they don't belong, receiving reputation on their first theory or drawing could make their day. To those new members it would be a shame to have people's reputation limits already taxed.

Raising the reputation limit would just allow for more positivity and for the shard to feel more inclusive to more people.

Sorry, that was kind of long. Also sorry for wasting your time mods.

 

 

I think the opinion of someone with a different point of view is very valuable. Mr. Misting did a wonderful job explaining his case and I feel no need to expand upon it too greatly however, I would like to focus on his last sentence.

Quote

Also sorry for wasting your time mods.

This is most certainly not the first time I have seen things along these lines. I could link hundreds of posts iterating the community’s general fear of the moderators and admin, I’ll admit, a few of those posts were mine. If this request is granted — or at least considered, read, and treated this a real proposal — I feel it will reduce the general population of the Shards’ feelings of fear towards our staff, and show that they really are people. …unless they’re not people and are totally fine with being feared, if so just ignore that last paragraph.

Even though I have been here less than a year, I have grown to love the community that The 17th Shard provides and I care about the people on here and their experience with the site. I honestly feel that changing the rep limit will improve the enjoyment of users.

I am very sorry for the lengthy post. If you would like to express support for our cause feel free to PM me or respond to the thread and I will add your name to the signature.

Thank you for listening to my ramblings, and mods: please don’t kill me.

 

Signed

            Cinnamon (me), @Thaidakar the Ghostblood, @Aes Sedai, @The Halcyon Girl, @Robin Sedai, @Ookla the Inverted (The Aspiring Archivist) @Sequence, @Mr. Misting, @The Wandering Wizard

*executes a dramatic exit splendiferous enough to make Hoid jealous*

 

---

My information comes from responses to these two SUs,

https://www.17thshard.com/forum/profile/42635-calanocorvus/?status=22972&type=status

https://www.17thshard.com/forum/profile/51662-cinnamon/?status=23098&type=status

this thread,

and various PMs.

Edited January 1, 2023 by Cinnamon
Missing comma

[AonEne he/him in an enby way]

Hey, thank you for bringing this to our attention! It's clear you put thought into it.  I'll mention it to the other mods and see if we can get a response in about whether or not we want a rep change.

For now, please know that you're not bothering us by asking; there may or may not be a change to the limit, but regardless, it is just fine for you to suggest things and express what you as members of the community think. You're being respectful. 

You don't need to be scared of us either, as we are indeed just regular people none of us are kandra in disguise. not a single one. certainly not all of us in a grand conspiracy, and we want this community to be a fun and safe place for everyone. We're here to make sure it stays that way. 

[Kaymyth she/her]

Mmmmm, spaghetti.

7 minutes ago, AonEne said:

 we are indeed just regular people none of us are kandra in disguise. not a single one. certainly not all of us in a grand conspiracy,

Of course we're not kandra. Our spikes give us mod powers, not shapeshifting abilities. We're like the forum/Discord version of Steel Inquisitors!

[Cinnamon]

On 4/1/2023 at 2:07 PM, Kaymyth said:

Of course we're not kandra. Our spikes give us mod powers, not shapeshifting abilities. We're like the forum/Discord version of Steel Inquisitors!

Actually, we were theorising that you guys might be cyborgs, but forum steel inquisitors might be scarier. 
I am very glad that we have no need to be afraid of you and thank you very much Ene and Kamyth for abating our concerns and for taking the time to read our proposal!

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

Ah, yes, as I become more active, I am thinking about this more and more... hmm...

totally not posting so that more people see it because I genuinely think this is something I want to see addressed in some way or another. Totally not... Definitely not at all...

[alder24]

8 hours ago, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

Ah, yes, as I become more active, I am thinking about this more and more... hmm...

totally not posting so that more people see it because I genuinely think this is something I want to see addressed in some way or another. Totally not... Definitely not at all...

I would totally give you a rep point but this is all I see for the last few days:

Spoiler

 

This is my problem every time a new book comes out. There are so many new cool threads, new awesome theories, so many new interesting observations and engaging discussions, new people are coming to the forum to share their reactions and insights about those books and I really want to give them all a rep as I feel they all deserve that. I can't, it takes me several days to give them all a rep, if I even still remember about them. And that's on top of my regular daily upvoting activity. I would be very grateful if our sleepless moderators address this issue in any way.

[The Stormfather He/Him]

this seems cool. Iv'e only hit the rep limit once, and that was after scrolling through old sanderson memes about shallan where I gave out like seven or eight, and I have another proposal that seems dumb but if you think about it kinda makes sense : you have a rep limit of 20, but an extra 5, or 10 or something, for the theories section and forum games.

[Treamayne]

Reposting from the Rep Poll thread:

On 7/25/2023 at 10:08 PM, Treamayne said:

I've noticed the main time I have hit the rep limit is SP release weeks. So many new posts all in a day or three (or more if my reading was delayed and I am trying to catch up on the spoiler discussions that went on during release week).

Probably difficult-to-impossible to implement, but I would love to see a running total system where is it 20/day - and on any day that you use less than 10, your total is now +1. That builds until <new max> or the first time you use them all (which resets to max=20) - that way we could "bank" some extra rep before a release (or other anticipatory event) without skewing the daily factor of everybody having "all the rep" to give. So, for example, ten days of < 10/day would yield one day of 30 max.

[ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ Male]

Is there any news about changing the limit? I reach it often, but it also is not the end of the world, so I was just wondering.

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

3 minutes ago, ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ said:

Is there any news about changing the limit? I reach it often, but it also is not the end of the world, so I was just wondering.

Doesn't appear to be. The mods would know most likely, but they've got a lot on their plate even without the secret projects and shard cast. Probably best to occasionally remind them in a casual and polite way, but not to be pestering them about it. I'm sure they'll get around to this eventually.