what is the kudos thingy

[fleamailman]

hi, I see the word on my posts marked kudos, what is that,

[javierrivera]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

You can give other people kudos, clicking on the word "give" and take some of their "kudos" away by clicking on "take".

It's kinda of a score of how much you have help minus how much you have annoy people .

Javier.

[Fenyx]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php?topic=13095.0

Thread discusing the Kudos system.

I personally never really understood the rationale for this feature, nor do I see the benefits of it. How many people actually do use or are aware of the Kudos system? But since I wasn't able to contribute earlier to the discussion and didn't raise my question, I don't feel entitled to complain much. If some people are happy about this feature, then so be it.

[fleamailman]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

thanks,

[dibl]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

I just went back and looked at that original thread about setting up the kudos thing. It's funny that we're still using it, but the original suggester, D1SxEyes, hasn't been seen on the forum for a long while, as far as I know.

[DeathKitten]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

I think the whole point of the kudos system is to help people judge who's more likely to solve there problems. Like if someone starts a thread, and two people post suggested responses, neither suggestion is similar. If one person has a couple hundred posts on the forum, but only a couple kudos, and another people has a few more posts, but a lot more kudos, then it's supposed to indicate they've been successful at helping people more often.

Granted, sometimes the system gets thrown off if someone is expressing political opinions and other people choose to take kudos away because their opinions differ on the same subject, but then something like this isn't intended to be the only factor on deciding who's advice to listen to, just something to give a little help if all other factors are the same from your point of view.

[myNigga]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

It's a totally broken system, you never know what happens, all of a sudden you get a minus.
For it to work, the Give or Take should not be anonimous, the system could keep track of who gives and who takes, so the user had it at his/her dispposal for future "reference".
It has no practical advantage, it's purely virtual, and one could simply not care about it, flame everything and everyone, take many negatives, and start over with a fresh account. In reality, why would anyone in earth care about virtual reputation?
It's just a matter of using the forums and nothing else, IMO.

[Snowhog]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

Yes, it has no *tangible* or *real* value. It is an attempt to provide an indicator of the users *value*, either negative or positive to this forums users and visitors. But as stated below, anyone can give a negative (Take) kudo, lowering the total kudo count, or a positive kudo, raising the total kudo count. A user with a below zero kudo total doesn't necessarily mean that users value as a source of good information has been deemed of no good. You can accidentally hit the Take instead of the Give. I've done it, by mistake.

Unless the kudos are removed from the forum (and it's Open Source's call to do so), any user is subject to being given, or have taken, or have none given/taken at all, solely at the option of any poster.

Note also, that you can only Take/Give a kudo to any given user once per hour (I believe).

I've asked Open Source to reposition the Take Give links, as they are to close together, which is how someone may get a Take clicked when the poster intended to click the Give (or vise versa).

[fleamailman]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

what would be a better system then that is if a system in needed

[Fenyx]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

I don't think a system is needed at all.

Again, I apologize for being a late complainer. At the time when the Kudos system was proposed and introduced, I took a bit of a break from forum activity.

Anyway, I don't quite understand what the kudos system tries to accomplish and how it tries to accomplish this.

When a user asks a question, the presumption is that he will get an answer that will not delete his system. The presumption is that people are here to help. If that user is dubious of the answer he got, or of the person giving the answer, he could:

1. Wait for someone else to answer, to either confirm or contradict the initial answer.
2. Try to look at the person's reputation in the forums.
3. Or just accept the answer he got.

Neither situation is addressed by the kudos system. You might say that it addresses #2, but then how accurate is the kudos system, which is absolutely arbitrary? I'd say that looking at the person's previous posts/threads is a more accurate indicator of that person's reliability.

Furthermore, what's more important is the answer, not the person giving the answer. You might find a person who has a very low kudos rating giving the correct and accurate answer. Doesn't that count more than just a plain higher kudos rating?

I'm not against the system, if some people actually do find it useful. I just find it inefficient for the issues it tries to address. I am also a bit concerned about the kind of mentality that it develops, that the more popular people have the right answers. I'm also curious as to whether our members actually know what it is or actually use it (properly).

But "kudos" means "praise". If you really want to thank the person who gave you a helpful answer, a small "thank you" would suffice I believe. If you really publicly want to tell the whole world about it, you can make a [Insert Name Here] Appreciation Thread, so that other can join in to give him thanks or praise.

So I personally don't see a need for this system. But since it's already there and since it does no harm (other than the implicit mentality), I didn't think much about it until someone asked.

[myNigga]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

I don't think a system is needed at all.

Your words are my words.
The system can be easily messed, so, despite its good intention, it remains inefficient, a small "thank you" is enough. When you turn your computer off, your virtual reputation is gone. Other than that, nobody knows who you really are, so...

[dibl]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

My original concern, that people would be anonymously "punished" without explanation, has turned out to be unfounded, as far as I can tell. I don't put a lot of stock in the kudos -- they kind of go up and down like the temperature in Ohio, at times, and you don't really know quite why.

However, I think maybe one potentially redeeming aspect of it is to temper the impulse to flame. I've participated at times on some other forums where outbursts of flaming really kind of put a wet blanket on the whole forum, if you don't happen to be a big idealogue of some kind (TechPowerUp comes to mind ...). On this Kubuntu forum, if someone gets hateful, they're going to head into negative kudos pretty quickly. It may or may not be a real discouragement factor, but maybe there's a little psychological pressure not to accumulate a lot of negative kudos.

That's my two cents' worth on it. 8)

[Fenyx]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

I couldn't see how a negative kudos solves or stops flaming. Unless a negative kudos entails inability to post anything (which is a cure worse than the illness), I don't see it much as a deterrent. Someone who wants to say something, flame or not, will still say it, as long as he wants to and as long as he can.

Issues like flames and spam should be dealt with on an administrative level anyway, not on peer review or popularity.

Heh, now you've just convinced me all the more that the kudos system might not be useful at all. But like what I said, if it harm none, let it be. :P

[DeathKitten]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

While some people are going to say whatever they want whenever they want, most people will occasionally just get hot headed and spout off without realizing what it's going to do or how it's going to sound. People who are actually worried about their kudos being effected will think a moment before they say anything on the forum, and this will cut back on some of the craziness.

For someone who thinks the system is silly, they're just going to do whatever they think is right or wrong regardless, but for the people who actually find the system useful, they'll moderate their own actions because of it. It's not a fool proof solution, but it can help.

[Open Source]

Re: what is the kudos thingy

It is true that there is no accountability for your giving and taking of kudos. For this reason, I will shut down the kudos system until further notice. The system is not much of a benefit or hinderance to forum users, but more of a bloating feature. I think it would be more important to add a 'Solved' thread system. I appreciate all of the dialog here as to whether or not this feature is necessary.

OS