Quote: (03-06-2012 02:08 PM)Athlone McGinnis Wrote:
Quote: (03-06-2012 01:43 PM)Hencredible Casanova Wrote:
Quote: (03-06-2012 01:38 PM)Athlone McGinnis Wrote:
Can you go without providing that incentive? Sure, but don't pretend that there won't be a price (read: fewer high quality early posts/more laziness). To prevent that, the average guy would have to have your more altruistic mindset, and we know this isn't the case.
Point taken. But I also think there's a flip side to that coin. I think rep points can incent some people to fabricate, embellish, or simply drop meaningless posts, with "mainstream appeal" as G said, in an attempt to garner more points. I've seen that too many times.
No system is perfect-all can be abused.
That, and the community has already shown its ability to cut through bullshit with the whole Dash Global fiasco. He exploited precisely the dynamic you're pointing out (fabricating data sheets about popular locations) and earned a decent amount of rep for it.
In the end, however, he paid the price. We're fully capable of governing the spread of bullshit ourselves.
The funny thing is Dash wasn't let go because of his constant BS, but because he had some kind of meltdown. There were some guys on here that have stated they didn't think he should have been let go. There was even a thread before he got canceled debating whether or not he should be let go (due to his high number of posts and rep points.)
The rep system inevitably acts as an insurance mechanism against getting eliminated. Most members who've been banned have been newbs or guys with few, if any, points.