The system now tracks how many comments registered members have posted and shows this number next to your name in the messages. Why does this matter? Well, you will be awarded stars next to your name based on how many comments you've posted. This lets readers know who is an active participant. Plus, it's kinda cool. Another benefit is that you will be able to help us moderate inappropriate postings partly based on how many stars you've accumulated. So help yourself and others by registering and start collecting stars!
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You get one star at 50 posts, two stars at 250, three stars at 500, four stars at 1000, five stars at 5000 posts. So get cranking and get noticed!
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Linh

how many stars do you see?????

Why is this? Just for fun?

There's certainly the fun aspect to this. But there are other benefits: your contributions to the forums will now be visible for others to see. Though not the only means, it is one way to establish trust since people with more stars are likely to participate more and have a good reputation.

The other cool benefit is that people with stars will have the added ability to "moderate" discussions. If someone is blatantly rude and off-topic, you will have the ability to mark the reply as "off-topic" and have it removed from general viewing. In effect, the dance.net community can help moderate itself much more effectively than just one person like me. There will certainly be clear guidelines for removing replies (and someone who abuses this privilege will lose it).

Please let me know what you guys think. More improvements are coming...

Linh

well, new and new... I've been hanging around this site for like six months but I've not had the "time" to register....


and I really enjoy this star thingy..

I think its a great idea. Keep up the good work:)

Does this still include people who aren't registered?? or do we need an account to be able to get stars?

For technical reasons, we can only count your comments if you are a registered user. (For example, if we used only the IP address, then a bunch of AOL users would look like the same user since AOL shares IP addresses.)

Linh

i think it is a great thing all the other forums should have one like it well done i congratulate u on a great idea

Definetly a great idea! Now the community members will be able to moderate those comments that are completely inappropriate.
Keep up the good work!

Neato

PurpleFishy_43 wrote:

Neato

nicely said lol this really is a great idea

Hi, Im a new member, I think the star rating is a great idea. Unfortunatly though I am struggling to post my 20 comments as there are no instructions as to where and how I can post them.. I found this news item bit and am trying to post comments to some of the news items but i would really like to join in the forums....any help ideas

This is actually pretty easy. First off, it helps to lurk a bit (sample the various forums) to find out what this site is all about.

There are really two ways to post. You can start a thread with a new topic that may interest you; or, far more commonly, reply to an existing thread assuming you have something to say.

At the bottom of every post there are seven blocks "Reply,Quote,
Edit,Options,Mod,Rate, and PM.

To comment on a posting, click "Reply" and a window will come up and you start writing...in full text, no "netspeak" it is not allowed. Do 20 substantive comments and you qualify as a full member once you've been here for a week. (This is done to discourage "spammers", which the Moderators patrol vigourously. By requiring 20 posts and insisting you spend at least a week with us, the sites know that you will have some seriousness in being here. We do not allow people to cut and paste the same response to a bunch of posts just to get 20 posts. The Moderators look for this (and people will tell the moderators when they see this) and can and do remove these posts. They also discourage vapid posts of the "Oooh what a cute costume!" variety which really say nothing. They really don't want comments like that to a "For Sale" posting. The sellers don't want to see that either.

The Quote button permits you to use all or part of a previous text to give a frame of reference. Use this sparingly. If you are commenting on a recent post just use an "up caret" [^] to point to the post immediately preceding or [^^] for two posts up.

You can edit your own post up to two hours from the time you post it. Moderators can edit any post at any time. DDN wants you to be responsible for what you post and normally the moderators are reluctant to remove a posting unless there is some violation ot the Terms of Service. Writers' Regret is normally not a reason for a moderator to remove a posting so think before you post.

Options...You as the creator of a post have a few options. You can lock a thread that you created. Normally this is done on "For Sale" postings when someone has sold an item and doesn't need to answer any more questions about the item or do any more negotiating for a sale. When a thread is locked, a line is drawn through the subject and no one is physically able to reply. Only the moderators can unlock a thread, which occasionally happens when a sale falls through and the seller would like the thread reopened.

The MOD button is how members can raise an issue directly with the Moderation Panel, which now numbers about a dozen volunteers. You can make a comment you think the moderators need to know about, you can ask for help from them this way.

Rate...when you click this button (and you must be a full member) you can give "Karma" to another member for a particularly good posting. When you click "rate", there are guidelines for what constitutes a Karma deserving post. Misapplied Karma can be removed by a moderator if it doesn't meet guidelines.

PM is Private Message. Only full members can use this. You can talk directly to another full member as though it were an Email directly to them.

It is also useful to learn about DDN by reading the Frequently Asked Questions and the Terms of Service. Scroll down to the very bottom of any DDN posting and you will see those words. Clicking them will give you a hot link to those guidelines.

Jon (Former Moderator)