As you all know, back when we still had a rep system, anonymous hate rep was common. I feel that with it's removal, the animosity in the forum has increased. Without a way to leave anonymous hate rep, members are instead flaming posters directly in the threads, causing more bickering, thread derailment, and fighting. Also, it was a cathartic experience for many posters who feel too afraid to flame others in public. At this time, these posters internalize all of their contempt for that poster and I've found these posters to be way more salty in general, leading to more pettiness in other threads. Furthermore, it was a good feedback system. Sometimes posters don't want to give feedback to other members because they are afraid that the poster may take it personal. Leaving anonymous, constructive criticism, was an easy method to provide feedback. The way I see it, anonymous rep, specifically, anonymous hate rep, was a vital feature for the harmony and maturity in this forum.
Just exile those bickering posters to the D&D. Problem solved! Seriously, anonymous criticism is never a mature thing. If you can't make constructive comment looking in the person's eyes, then you should just keep quiet. It's funny how we are talking about looking in the person's eyes when this is really an anonymous venue where you NEVER look a person in the eyes. In short, wanting anonymity in an already anonymous environment is lame.
Harmony and maturity ... lulz Hateful, anonymous comments make for mature and harmonious social interaction ... It prevents "people too afraid to flame others in public" from bottling up "all of their contempt for some person" providing "a cathartic experience" -- a vent or a release, if you will. Back in the 70s before Caller-ID, we used to disguise our voices (or have friends) make one-way, anonymous hate rep phone calls, too. One-way Flame Wars make life better -- awesome Internet Logic ... what a time to be alive
I disagree. Hated that passive aggressive bullcrap. If someone has something to say to someone say it them directly. Being behind a computer screen should be protective enough. Don't get me wrong, I miss the green peen...but anonymous comments were a cheap way of attacking someone.
I didn't mind it being anonymous. There are many lurkers here who no longer participate now that it's public. Is there an option for posters to give anonymous likes/dislikes that only the recipient sees?
You are already anonymous here. Nobody knows who you are unless you disclose it voluntarily. For all practical purposes, you are just a screen name and an avatar. I don't get why people are so afraid to be open about what they think on an anonymous board.
Eh, some people like to lurk behind the shadows. I can't speak to the psychology of it. I just noticed that when the BBS changed and we were able to look back in our rep history, I received anonymous rep from posters that I've never seen post before yet had account histories earlier than mine. Now their name doesn't pop up anymore. I'm sure those posters would like to participate again in some way without having their name publicly viewable.
Oh, I understood. I just don't think it's the right way to prevent immature hostility. Anonymous neg rep was a way to throw insult without giving argument while not letting the person know who threw it. It's like encouraging throwing poo to someone's back from a hiding place and then running away in order to prevent violent fighting. It's a cowardly way of avoiding confrontation.
For the record, I liked the rep system. If for nothing, just the using of players' names for different levels of repped-ness was really cool. I used to wish that the reps would automatically show the repper, like the Like system. That way you don't even have to "sign" your reps.
i'd actually prefer the new likes system to be anonymous. would weed out all the newbies liking each other nonstop quid pro quo
No. Let people take out their anger in the threads so that those that deserve to get banned get banned. Anon rep was a **** show of losers leaving hate messages knowing that there was little to no chance of repercussions.
