On Karma and the new flagging system...

For those of you that are actively flagging inappropriate threads, don't worry about your karma point count for now.  We are monitoring point levels and adjusting them down as necessary for people who are gaining bad karma by flagging things that needed to be flagged.

This is new for all of us, but we don't want you guys to feel like you're getting punished for reporting spam or porn or other offensive material or bad posts with the new Flag button. This isn't to say you can just flag with impunity - if you're found to be abusing the system by flagging posts that shouldn't be, then we will just let the karma system do it's job and you will soon find yourself unable to flag anymore until your points decay back below five at the rate of one per day.

Remember, the system is only going to work if everyone uses it! If you have any questions or have a problem with your karma, please contact a moderator and we'll help you out. 

For those of you that are actively flagging inappropriate threads, don't worry about your karma point count for now.  We are monitoring point levels and adjusting them down as necessary for people who are gaining bad karma by flagging things that needed to be flagged.

This is new for all of us, but we don't want you guys to feel like you're getting punished for reporting spam or porn or other offensive material or bad posts with the new Flag button. This isn't to say you can just flag with impunity - if you're found to be abusing the system by flagging posts that shouldn't be, then we will just let the karma system do it's job and you will soon find yourself unable to flag anymore until your points decay back below five at the rate of one per day.

Remember, the system is only going to work if everyone uses it! If you have any questions or have a problem with your karma, please contact a moderator and we'll help you out. 

I have a question. Let's say someone manages to reach -10, will he/she be banned from posting forever, or will they regain their privileges after their karma is restored?

Essentially it's just a more efficient way to report posts to moderators. I think the name "karma system" has mislead some people when really all it does is allow for quicker removal of bad posts and topics.

I honestly don't see the big deal. Just makes things a little slicker on th moderator side :| People seem kinda annoyed with it for no reason.

"I have a question. Let's say someone manages to reach -10, will he/she be banned from posting forever, or will they regain their privileges after their karma is restored?"

"TheJollyRajah said:

"I have a question. Let's say someone manages to reach -10, will he/she be banned from posting forever, or will they regain their privileges after their karma is restored?"

Points decay at the rate of one per day, so once that user gets back to 9 or below, their privileges will be automatically restored."

A great idea and very welcome after recent events. 

I still think it's lame that you lose a point for flagging bad stuff. I think you shouldn't lose any points for reporting unless the mods find that the content wasn't bad.

We're removing points of people who report the right stuff as we go along. But when multiple people flag one post, we can't see everyone who flagged it so just PM a mod online if you need your points reset.

Who's out there posting all this porn and spam? More importantly, who's posting the porn, and where?

"Who's out there posting all this porn and spam? More importantly, who's posting the porn, and where?"

If I win $10,000 on a scratch off lottery ticket, will I be hit by a car in the near future?

I think this is confusing as hell.

"I think this is confusing as hell."

"Metal_Gear_Sunny said:

"I think this is confusing as hell."

Agreed."

• Everyone starts off with 0 Karma points. Everytime you flag something you gain 1 point.
• Gaining 5 points will block you from being able to flag anymore content on the forums.
• Gain 10 points and you will be unable to reply, post or comment on any forum topic, news article or review etc.
• Each day everyone loses 1 Karma point. So if you have 10 Karma points you will have to wait till it drops to 9 before you can post again.
• Forum Moderators can see everyone's Karma level and can reset it to 0 if and when needed. We are at the moment carrying this out on users who have flagged content that definately required us to moderate it in some form.
• However people who continually are flagging content that really doesn't deserve our attention at all we will likely leave to the system to deal with and reset their Karma level.
  

"

• Everyone starts off with 0 Karma points. Everytime you flag something you gain 1 point.
• Gaining 5 points will block you from being able to flag anymore content on the forums.
• Gain 10 points and you will be unable to reply, post or comment on any forum topic, news article or review etc.
• Each day everyone loses 1 Karma point. So if you have 10 Karma points you will have to wait till it drops to 9 before you can post again.
• Forum Moderators can see everyone's Karma level and can reset it to 0 if and when needed. We are at the moment carrying this out on users who have flagged content that definately required us to moderate it in some form.
• However people who continually are flagging content that really doesn't deserve our attention at all we will likely leave to the system to deal with and reset their Karma level.
  

A few of you seem to think this is somehow punishing you all. Abide by the rules and you have nothing to worry about."

"Hamz said:

"

• Everyone starts off with 0 Karma points. Everytime you flag something you gain 1 point.
• Gaining 5 points will block you from being able to flag anymore content on the forums.
• Gain 10 points and you will be unable to reply, post or comment on any forum topic, news article or review etc.
• Each day everyone loses 1 Karma point. So if you have 10 Karma points you will have to wait till it drops to 9 before you can post again.
• Forum Moderators can see everyone's Karma level and can reset it to 0 if and when needed. We are at the moment carrying this out on users who have flagged content that definately required us to moderate it in some form.
• However people who continually are flagging content that really doesn't deserve our attention at all we will likely leave to the system to deal with and reset their Karma level.
  

A few of you seem to think this is somehow punishing you all. Abide by the rules and you have nothing to worry about."

Oh, so now we're gaining points instead of losing them? I've never been so confused in my life."

"natetodamax said:

"Oh, so now we're gaining points instead of losing them? I've never been so confused in my life."

It's not that confusing. You only really need to think about it if you're posting innapropriate things or flagging unnecessarily otherwise the system has no effect on you, so don't think about it."

"natetodamax said:

"Oh, so now we're gaining points instead of losing them? I've never been so confused in my life."

It's not that confusing. You only really need to think about it if you're posting innapropriate things or flagging unnecessarily otherwise the system has no effect on you, so don't think about it."

My worry is this:

If flagging takes away from the Karma you have (or adds them whatever) then some people may not flag at all.

There aren't that many posts that are moderated as far as I can tell. It shouldn't be a problem.

"My worry is this:If flagging takes away from the Karma you have (or adds them whatever) then some people may not flag at all."

The moderators have been watching a lot of My Name Is Earl lately, I think.

I kind of wish the "Flag" wasn't right next to "Quote" and "Reply"...I've almost hit it five times now. 

Hey, cool idea. Have you pitched this to the Xbox Live team?

"I kind of wish the "Flag" wasn't right next to "Quote" and "Reply"...I've almost hit it five times now."