This place now sucks

I understand your side of it as you appear to be someone who contributes, but the thing is, not too long ago I didn't even know what a div tag was...now I am using my computer to make responsive designs, mod video games, edit video, make music etc etc. It was the support of others that provided a sort of morale that I could use to fuel me to figure everything out. Without that support, I would have probably been doing what I was doing before I picked up a mouse and keyboard if I had even lived to be this age. Support doesn't have to be a mechanical function or a literal answer to the proverbial problem, it can be as simple as a 'well done' or a 'keep it up', but for that to apply one needs to be willing to do some leg work for themselves in the first place.

A user who is clueless in all things web related that is at a forum primarily for webmasters dealing with marketing and search engine stuff has only one thing to do...learn. If someone wants to learn some html or css and can show me that they are trying by pasting back a working example based off of some help I gave them...I can like that post and continue helping them...it shows initiative, besides when that person can be helpful, they will look back (hopefully) and say, ok my turn to help someone and in turn end a vicious cycle and start a more gentile rotation.

I will also say that if someone makes money working with the web...they either need to learn how the whole thing works or be part of a team that does. At any rate...if someone has any aspirations of being a webmaster of any kind...picking up some basic web skills should be a prerequisite.

 

Purchase a premium account and forget about the likes

 

Perhaps, just perhaps, both the old and the new system are deeply flawed. The old system recognized long term loyalty, but had no objective metric for contributions. The new likes system demotes loyalty, but STILL has a defective method for rewarding contributions. I logged in today to find I had gone from 'established ' member (3 likes) back to non-established (2 likes), as one member who liked me has apparently been banned, thereby making their liking activity and contributions non-existent. Does that make any sense at all?

 

I stand corrected on the 'ban' aspect, but will reiterate there is a 'subtract' component to the like system that has the effect of erasing real likes that real people got. On other boards, a thanks received from a (later) deleted post or thread, doesn't get subtracted from the member's thanked count. Just because you may have a power to delete a bad Monday from the record, doesn't mean Monday never happened. At least the old, more reality-based system gave more weight to the definite age of an account, which can't be redacted.

 

No system will make everyone happy. The old system was deeply flawed (spam your way to established with crappy posts). The new system requires effort, which isn't really a flaw. BST is free here, but at other sites payment is required to register or use their equivalent of BST. So, as it's free, it's not unreasonable for the site owner (Shawn) to have to pass some kind of "quality test", which is three likes from three different (established) members (and have been a member for at least 48 hours). A very low bar, really. If it was my site, I would set it higher, as having a free BST section would be a headache with ROI. (Luckily, it's not my site.) Really, it just adds extra problems for the owner and mods to deal with (and they have enough reports and and other stuff they run across each day, I'm sure). So no, the three likes system can't be called deeply flawed, but a definite improvement over the old system.

It did not recognise loyalty, but anyone who spammed enough posts and waited for 14 days could become an established member. Look up the definition of loyalty as you don't seem to understand it.

So now we come to why you're so upset. It sucks to lose a like, but I would recommend checking the post each time you get a like. Be objective and think - would I have given that post a like? If you wouldn't, make a report and ask for the like to be removed, to avoid the disappoint of it later being removed as a member was found to be "handing likes out like candy" or similar. Also think - have I posted in a thread that might be deleted? A lot of people have lost likes by posting in threads that were later deleted, so you're not alone there. It's unfortunate (for people who care about likes), but not the end of the world.


Chin up, DP has loads of sections to make some useful, helpful posts in. You never know what can happen

 

We need a "This place now rocks!" thread, to help push crap threads like this one to the bottom, and I am sure that thread would be much longer than this one... how anyone can truly think it sucks when it's clearly so much better in all ways. hmm.... something to ponder.

 

Even, I'm not an established member. I never looked for posts and likes. I'm loyal member of this site(I'm very sad, I no longer can post in marketplace until I get another like).

My only work from past 3 years in this forum is to go to marketplace and buy some stuff. I mostly use private messages.

I don't want to leave, but my request is to consider the age of the user.

 

If all you want is a marketplace and have nothing much useful to contribute to any other parts of the forum try ebay or flippa...or buy a premium membership

 

Yes, I'm poor in contribution.

This is the better place for buying all stuff. We get all in one place.

 

That is the point of of three likes rule. To send members to all section so they can contribute in every part of the forum not just B/S/T section. I was really interested for buying the premium membership because of '':Added bonus:Ability to impress chicks,by saying you have premium membership''

 

@haradeep
Here's the deal, you've been here for 3 years and don't even have 3 likes. The changes here happened over 6 weeks ago and just now you're on here posting about it. This tells me that you really don't use the site much. Now you are here posting.....my what a change!
It took these changes to make you actually contribute a bit. Otherwise we never would have heard from you at all. Multiple this by hundreds of other users and you get a site that is coming alive.
A different kind of site and depending where your head is at...a better site.

 

What's the big deal about likes? Can you spend them? Can you take them with you when you die? Who cares!

You've been here for 3 years and still don't know what these forums are about? We're a community who primarily help each other out, among other things like buy/sell.

I didn't think the changes were brilliant when they first switched over, but now I'm used to it, it works fine. You still manage to navigate o.k, post o.k so what's the big deal over these likes that you can't do anything with?!

 

@scottpool2003
It's not a big deal unless you want to operate on BST and don't have the 3 likes to be established. Personally I couldn't care a less about how many I get or don't get. What I feel a sense of accomplishement about is "Best Answers". Those things are hard to get and don't come easy.

 

Isn't the "Best Answer" chosen by the thread creator?

If so it doesn't surprise me that there are so few of them, because many simply don't know how to choose it (or don't care).

 

I'm not upset, I'm simply voicing a preference for likes to not to be vaporized. I would have the same problem with the change if I had 30 likes, and one got erased from history. The old system was more objective (time and posts), the new system is more subjective (judgments about posts), and I think a system that is more objective is better.

Currently, literally all likes could be reversed based on a post deletion, or members who liked others changing their minds. Can the members who contributed likewise get their time and energy posting returned to them as well? How does a system that can readily turn contributions into non-contributions be said to be one that values contributions more? How is this de-facto incentivized contributing (to enable making threads on BST) a more natural, or unforced system of contributing?

 

Yes that's what makes them so hard to get. You can only get 1 per thread and many members don't bother to give them out. This is why there are some members with 500-1,000 likes and 0 Best Answers.
Likes are easy to get and most trophy points come automatically.