guru's infected threads - I am voting against reputation system

Hi,

These are threads where "guru" feels to be right to post out of subject diveriging thread on sand beach of corall island, where it can lay down and take sun bath.

OP is defensless, and all the thread is wasting time and effort. Let nullify all these reputation points, to be "guru", to be helpfull, should come from today, not from the past.

Guru's seems to be tired answering the same questions. But I am hesitating why then they bother to post at all? Something completely useless, out of subject? Say some stupid advices, about learning how to post smart questions, google before asking, etc. "Essence of the wisdom is flowing from their posts".

Moderators also seems to be paralyzed by "gurus" reputation, allowing to post whatever "gurus" want to post.

Cheers,

Educating new members on how to ask a question in a way that will increase the chance of getting an answer is stupid advice?
Teaching people how to effectively use search engines, and thereby, find answers quickly is stupid advice?

Say some stupid advices, about learning how to post smart questions, google before asking, etc.

So you are able to tell someone what to do by looking into your crystal ball, we can't.
We need information, we are not mind readers. We can only help those who help themselves.
If you know how to search effectively, you can often find the answer to your problem.

Let nullify all these reputation points, to be "guru"

I agree, but some people like to know that the people answering their problem have some experience.

Originally Posted by Randicus Draco Albus Teaching people how to effectively use search engines, and thereby, find answers quickly is stupid advice?

It is stupid if out of subject. Asking someone about time and receiving in answer that you should brush you theeth 3 times a day, is stupid, and it is clear. Please, don't make yourself kind of a teacher, try to be helpful, productive, and stay on subject, this I think the way to create good post.

It is little arrogance to actually think that you are able to teach other person. It is as possibe that you will mislead it.

It is eaxctly my point: guru is thinking he is able to give something of value - because is guru. Let's switch off these reputations point and start game from the beginning, we will see, do post would have some value? Or maybe the only value comes from it was posted by "guru" ?

Originally Posted by fatmac I agree, but some people like to know that the people answering their problem have some experience.

Well, let posters focus on answers rather than on experience.

This has been suggested/discussed several times in the past. jeremy seems to think the "rep" is needed to keep new passers-by interested. Short attention span and need for instant gratification of the younger ones.

Personally I think the post count should go too. Judge the value of posts by their content - only.

The "Guru" label has nothing at all to do with reputation, but with post count. Members with 5000 or more posts have the option to choose from several labels, "Guru" being one of them. For example, syg00 (post #6) has chosen "LQ Veteran" instead.

Anyways, if you feel that someone is posting offtopic the proper course of action is to report that post, so that moderators will look at it and react accordingly.

Originally Posted by TobiSGD Anyways, if you feel that someone is posting offtopic the proper course of action is to report that post, so that moderators will look at it and react accordingly.

Sorry, but I saw numbers of threads where moderators themselves were floading thread and directed to nowhere. I was always thinking that report is for some serious forum rules violation. Anyone can report any post, not only OP. But it is in OP interest to keep thread focused on question. Let OP decide not moderator. If OP feels that a post is useless, out of subject, let them decide to remove that post. But any post counts. That's problem: garbage is growing up.

Originally Posted by fatmac I agree, but some people like to know that the people answering their problem have some experience.

I think post counts are wrong.

Just because someone has more posts, it does not mean that person has more knowledge then people with less posts.

I am a perfect example. I used GNU/Linux since 1999 and as qualified as anyone to give a knowledgeable answer. I have used everything from Slack to Debian to LFS to Gentoo to Arch and yet I appear less qualified to answer questions because of my lower post count.

Another thing that bugs me is when you answer a post and give the right information, a guru has to come along and answer with the same answer but with a book on the explanation. I come from a age and ideology that research is king and I get punished for that thinking. I have no problem giving an answer but a search of these forums or your search engine of choice will give you an answer more then likely.

There is no real incentive for newer users to post on these forums. You are up against people with 1000s of posts and they will always get recognition over someone like me.

Originally Posted by TobiSGD The "Guru" label has nothing at all to do with reputation, but with post count. Members with 5000 or more posts have the option to choose from several labels, "Guru" being one of them. For example, syg00 (post #6) has chosen "LQ Veteran" instead. Anyways, if you feel that someone is posting offtopic the proper course of action is to report that post, so that moderators will look at it and react accordingly.

Quite right on all accounts. You are over-focusing on the term "Guru" where instead it is merely a label choice from a handful of options. 9 years on these forums and you don't know these sorts of details about how the forums work and how titles can be chosen?

You disagree with reputation, then disable your reputation, it is an option available to every member.

Originally Posted by rtmistler You disagree with reputation, then disable your reputation, it is an option available to every member.

Hmmmm - an unfortunate side-effect of doing this is that you are unable to give rep credit(s) to others. Very poor design.

Originally Posted by igadoter Sorry, but I saw numbers of threads where moderators themselves were floading thread and directed to nowhere. I was always thinking that report is for some serious forum rules violation. Anyone can report any post, not only OP. But it is in OP interest to keep thread focused on question. Let OP decide not moderator. If OP feels that a post is useless, out of subject, let them decide to remove that post. But any post counts. That's problem: garbage is growing up.

It doesn't matter if it is a moderator or a regular member, if you feel that someone is acting against the rules (and posting offtopic is against the rules) report that post.
Giving members the right to delete posts can lead to all sorts of abuse and is, IMHO, not a good idea.

Originally Posted by LinBox2013 I think post counts are wrong. Just because someone has more posts, it does not mean that person has more knowledge then people with less posts. I am a perfect example. I used GNU/Linux since 1999 and as qualified as anyone to give a knowledgeable answer. I have used everything from Slack to Debian to LFS to Gentoo to Arch and yet I appear less qualified to answer questions because of my lower post count. Another thing that bugs me is when you answer a post and give the right information, a guru has to come along and answer with the same answer but with a book on the explanation. I come from a age and ideology that research is king and I get punished for that thinking. I have no problem giving an answer but a search of these forums or your search engine of choice will give you an answer more then likely. There is no real incentive for newer users to post on these forums. You are up against people with 1000s of posts and they will always get recognition over someone like me.

I don't perceive that you're less qualified to answer a question.

Answer the questions you know how to answer, your experiences are welcome here.

EDIT: "Your experiences are NEEDED here! So please share them."

Ignore your post count. Ignore your reputation.

Share your extensive knowledge.

Notice if you will that certain users migrate to certain forums by the way. I see certain people only in the Non-*Nix->Programming forum. They answer a lot of questions there. No fuss, they have expertise. One person in particular has stated that they are just a retired person playing around, but they love scripting and programming and they offer a TON of helpful answers to people. I think they're a great resource in that forum. Difference there is that they just don't get into any General forum or care about superfluous (to them) subjects.

So there's plenty of capability here to just participate in subject areas where you feel you can be of assistance and be aloof of any non-related topics.

I feel badly when people focus on things like this, however in my humble opinion, LQ has nearly always been like this as far as tabulating the post count and using reputation. That's actually why I say keep it.

Further, ... and sorry. But "use your brain", you're smart, right? I'm smart too. What I've learned is to sometimes be from that non-trusting state. Missouri? I forget which it is and I'm not looking it up, it's the "show me" state. Anyways, you can look up a person's posting history. You can find out if they're a snarking type of person, if they're generally a helpful person, if they seem to have "an agenda", or if they're a person who asks a bunch of random questions with little thought. So I suggest doing that.

Another reason for evaluating the question and the questioner is to consider if they're even asking a good question which will help them.

Plenty of people say "Please show me how to code hello world" maybe, and what they really want is a simple script to automate their network. But they ask so "off" of an original question, that it obfuscates what they really wanted.

@rtmistler your post is perfect example what I complain about. My post was clear but you have started a little chat with @LinBox2013, diverging this thread onto your own sand beach. I assuming that you have done this because you actually think that your post "would be helpful for others". No matter it is in huge part out of subject, and that you are actually risking to splitt this thread. Now I am OP and I can do nothing with this. @rtmistler you have multiple ways to encourage @LinBox2013 to share his knowledge with us, but why in my thread ? Are threads chat rooms ?

Originally Posted by igadoter @rtmistler your post is perfect example what I complain about. My post was clear but you have started a little chat with @LinBox2013, diverging this thread onto your own sand beach. I assuming that you have done this because you actually think that your post "would be helpful for others". No matter it is in huge part out of subject, and that you are actually risking to splitt this thread. Now I am OP and I can do nothing with this. @rtmistler you have multiple ways to encourage @LinBox2013 to share his knowledge with us, but why in my thread ? Are threads chat rooms ?

Honestly, 800 some odd posts down the line, 9 years later. You don't know how to ask a question. Someone called you on that. And you've posted a rant. So, report me, or better yet, make me a guru. I haven't thought yet what my name preference would be if I ever get to 5k posts.

Jeremy's in charge, and there are moderators. I guess they'll contend with determining if they consider posts to be appropriate versus not.

How about you help someone versus fuss?