Circle Jerks, and improving the MGoPoints
I think the point system has done some good, but I would like to have the ability to see who voted and how on everyone's posts.
If I step over a line, the negs are a pretty quick feedback indicating such. But often times some posts are negged for absolutely no reason.
I also find it disheartening that while I have tried to improve my behavior to be more polite and limit posts that are simple one liners, some of the post whores on here who have accumulated massive amounts of points feel no need to do likewise.
Certain posters with large point totals have no qualms about tossing around flames and calling people rude names. It's rather unpleasant to be talking about football and then to have to suffer through incessant PERSONAL attacks.
I think they behave this way because they sense little threat of punishment. And they have circle jerkers that follow their lead and anonymously neg bang for the fun of it.
So I suggest two possible solutions that might not be feasible in the near term but I would hope could be implemented someday.
1. Allow Brian or some other mods to hand out 4 hour posting suspensions. Or this could be an automatic result of a specified level of down votes. This would allow the violator some time to rethink what they wrote or calm down from an emotional high following a game. It's not a permanent ban, but a way of really hitting the post whores where it hurts.
2. Allow everyone to see how everyone votes. This way we could see if one fellow with 22 points was going around and negging everything from a fellow member for no reason. This would also help prevent the use of sock puppets and would allow for retaliation against such silly behavior. If one person goes on a vendetta (which I've been tempted to do) it would be visible to others and could be punished accordingly. Plus it's good to be able to confront people who neg you so that you can understand their point of view by having direct discussions with them and improve your future posts.
well, what do you guys think?
October 4th, 2009 at 1:40 AM ^
1. You have 500 MGoPoints. Negging is largely inconsequential to you.
2. I am perfectly happy to go back to the days of no MGoPoints.
3. I'm sorry I offended you enough to write a diary about it.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:07 AM ^
if people would just stop with the personal attacks this would be a much happier world, wouldn't it?
October 4th, 2009 at 2:39 AM ^
there'd just be more idiots.
October 4th, 2009 at 1:40 AM ^
Rule #1: Don't worry about MGoPoints, and don't talk about MGoPoints.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:09 AM ^
DON'T talk about MGoPoints.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:02 AM ^
I think you worry about points too much. They are less than insignificant. They are nothing, and they mean nothing.
[Edit: And if some feel especially sensitive about points, I say hide the points or get rid of them entirely. Give the mods more power to ban people, because preventing and banning trolls or abusive posters really seems to be the primary intention of points in the first place.]
October 4th, 2009 at 8:38 AM ^
I think you worry about points too much. They are less than insignificant. They are nothing, and they mean nothing.Easy for you to say. Look how many you have! Some of us aren't so privileged. Brian needs to implement an mgowelfare system for those of us who are a little short on points.
October 4th, 2009 at 11:42 AM ^
Oh, wait...
October 4th, 2009 at 12:37 PM ^
Hey man, equal chances, not equal outcomes.
October 4th, 2009 at 4:18 PM ^
We weren't all borned privileged with a Maize and Blue spoon in our mouths. When I was growing up, my family didn't have a lot of MGoPoints. But you know what? We worked hard and made do with what little MGoPoints we had. Did we ask for MGoWelfare? No! Call it pride, but I prefer to call it the good ol' fashioned MGoAmerican way. I fixed avatars, cleaned posts, and, back in the days of Haloscan, jacked handles. It was hard work, but it made me appreciate what I have.
Besides, do we really want MGoWelfare babbys?
October 5th, 2009 at 12:28 PM ^
all I want to know is who is responsible for the MGoHoovervilles.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:01 AM ^
Unless the MGoStore begins taking points as payment, I, uh, don't really care about points.
So you can stop negging me all night long CPS.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:07 AM ^
I haven't negged you, and I have no reason to neg you, BlueVoix.
But thanks for the unfounded accusation, buddy.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:12 AM ^
Ha, okay, well then I have some enemy that enjoys going through my old posts and negging me...but I guess I've just reached Brodie or Bouje status then.
Actually, I'm not sure if thats a good thing at all.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:14 AM ^
It happens. I have the same. It's a rite of passage, I suppose.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:16 AM ^
I'm not even getting a circle jerk out of it, that's the most upsetting thing.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:24 AM ^
This is going to be really uncomfortable, but if you would like me to point-jerk you, I'll oblige. Though I think the politically correct ;) term is plusbang.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:35 AM ^
Man, that was way more uncomfortable than I thought it was going to be.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:43 AM ^
What can I say? I like to push the edge sometimes.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:57 AM ^
You two get a room :).
October 4th, 2009 at 11:44 AM ^
All homo-point-eroticism aside, I have one of those constant neggers on my tail too. It's frustrating, but really, it doesn't matter, at all.
October 4th, 2009 at 1:59 PM ^
If you aren't someone that is directly involved with publishing this site, or officially charged with policing the diaries and forums, it is baffling to me how someone could amass a point total in the multiple thousands....really.
How much time would you have to spend here to do that?
October 4th, 2009 at 2:24 PM ^
Its not hard, just dont be a douchebag and post a bunch of MGoPaintings.
October 4th, 2009 at 6:23 PM ^
I'm pretty sure I have the no douchebag part down, but there are a lot of douchy people on this forum these days that do nothing but read through everything and vote people down for whatever they write.
For instance, I made a simple post the other day with regard to Brian's concern for the change in the spread. All I said was not to worry about the change too much as it can easily be a result of how much money is coming in on one side of the spread with Vegas perhaps trying to even things out or entice more people to bet. That lost me a whole three points, though not exactly sure why.
Some people here are a little too caught up in gathering points and then not applying them in the proper manner, which is to thwart trolls. It just detracts from the enjoyment of the board rather than adds to it and it causes a whole lot of vitriole between people that wouldn't be there if people only focused their points on trolls.
October 5th, 2009 at 11:44 AM ^
because you argued it backwards...
October 4th, 2009 at 2:02 AM ^
I can't wait till I have a million Mgopoints. Then I can trade them in for one of those cool bouncy balls that light up and start strobing when they hit a hard surface.
October 4th, 2009 at 8:14 AM ^
And a $1.50 will get you that bouncy ball.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:08 AM ^
Life is good no matter how many points I have or don't have.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:20 AM ^
There is a certain person who negs me every time no matter what i say... but it doesnt really matter in the long scheme of things...just keep posting as long as its a sane point of view.
October 4th, 2009 at 8:49 PM ^
It does matter what you say. I neg you every time your post contains more periods than you have sentences. Or when the number of words in your post is a prime number or a multiple of 2.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:22 AM ^
Would you douchebags stop negging me so I can have enough points to start negging some douchebags! Thanks. Luv ya!
October 4th, 2009 at 2:26 AM ^
Mmmm. Circle jerks. Lovin' me some mgopoints.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:29 AM ^
Just be patient. After the season I'll fix many of the problems with the points, and then everyone will have something else to complain about. The main purpose of them at the moment is to prevent trolls/idiots from excessively polluting the signal to noise ratio and that's been pretty successful.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:34 AM ^
Thanks Bri. Can I call you Bri? I appreciate everything you've done through this whole ordeal. You da man.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:36 AM ^
This post was also uncomfortable.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:21 AM ^
I do not remember posting that.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:45 AM ^
While the prevention of trolls has been largely successful, I would suggest implementing a maximum number of points (e.g., 500) in addition to a minimum number of points to post on MGoBoard and in Diaries. This would address Blue Seoul's concerns.
I also suggest hiding the points, or at least point totals. People will neg particularly egregious posts, but prevent MGoMob mentality. I don't oppose making votes public (e.g., that I may see those who vote for or against my comments, or vice versa), but I can see problems with retaliation, which seems to defeat the purpose of the points.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:49 AM ^
two *hopefully* useful ideas for the points in the future:
1. linking back to a certain post that was upvoted or down voted in your mgopoints history (I think Brian said he was working on it).
2. thread subscriptions. little email blips if someone comments on your post or a thread you started or a thread you've subscribed to. I have a horrible memory and this board goes 450million directions at once. its sometimes hard to keep track of where a discussion that i'm interested in went and I don't really want to have to bookmark every one.
October 4th, 2009 at 6:30 AM ^
The points have had much of the intended impact.
In terms of the unintended impact...
I agree with hiding point totals.
A range label is a decent substitute but PLEASE don't use the "rookie" "all-american" type labels.
0 - 100
100 - 500
500 -1000
1000 - 5000+
Also implement something that would indicate when a person is going back through a persons post systematically just to neg them.
Someone going through 30 old post by a person in an hour and negging them all is shitty.
October 4th, 2009 at 3:37 PM ^
0-10 points: Mark Elzinga
10-20 points: Rich Hewlett
20-30 points: BJ Dickey
30-40 points: Chris Zurbrugg
40-50 points: Demetrious Brown
50-250 points: Dennis Franklin
250-500 points: John Wangler
500-1000 points: Rick Leach
1000+ points: Jim Harbaugh
Or whatever. I'm only half kidding...
October 4th, 2009 at 8:01 AM ^
1. Who cares, people are dying in Afghanistan.
2. Make posts more than 5-7 days old "unneggable."
October 4th, 2009 at 12:52 PM ^
the non-neggable shelf-life thing, the Princess Bride taught me to stay out of asian land wars.
October 4th, 2009 at 8:37 AM ^
that BlueSeoul took the time to write out such a detailed OP, or the fact that he/she actually sits around and worries about how people are voting on posts on a message board, or the fact that he/she is hypothesizing ways to improve someone else's message board points system to suit his/her liking, borders on the absurd to me.
Oh, and BlueSeoul, when you'd like to say, "I fucked up royally in my freshman year assessment of Martavious Odoms" to me, I'm willing to accept your concession at any time.
October 4th, 2009 at 1:12 PM ^
his freshmen year was a 3-9 effort. when that changes, (as it has for this year)then my assessment will change too. What exactly did I say to offend you? I said his record breaking stats did not reflect his performance.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:45 AM ^
This is all very entertaining on a Sunday morning. I appreciate it because I had to turn off ESPN when they ran the Notre Dame win as their top story. Whatever. I hate those guys.
October 4th, 2009 at 10:04 AM ^
As far as mere mortals are concerned, having over 1k points would only be meaningful and desirable to a complete degenerate
October 4th, 2009 at 10:05 AM ^
What you have to say is way more important than how many points you have. A rich man is not necessarily a smart man.
October 4th, 2009 at 10:20 AM ^
You find it "disheartening?" You do realize you are talking about points that mean exactly nothing don't you?
Is there some sort of underground Mgoblog point culture where "post whores" neg people for arbitrary reasons, "circle jerk" acolytes seek the approval of those who have the "privileges" that high point levels award you that I'm not aware of? Where do they meet? Do the high point level guys get the hottest chicks and the best drugs? Sign me up.
Otherwise get a life, and stop thinking about points enough to actually start an appeal to the community.
October 4th, 2009 at 10:27 AM ^
getting called an asshole for no reason is disheartening to me. my bad.
October 4th, 2009 at 10:30 AM ^
Asshole