Problem with the Ranking system?

[#1]

I am also not much of a fan of ranks but its a staple of most forum software. The thing is that most forums rely solely on the post counts so if a user has a load of their posts completely deleted they would see their rank go down in the same way. This system just has a few extra parameters in the formula with the thanks and solutions system in place so if thanks or a solution is revoked that would nullify a rank forumla you would see the rank decrease in the same way as the above example.

[#2]

Going back to the off topic discussion surrounding the anonymous users marking posts as fixes, I have made a minor adjustment to the permissions (only this board was affected I think but let me know if you spot any others) and I beleive I have fixed this issue now going forward.

[#3]

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@jaread83 wrote:

I reckon that @MauriceC had received some thanks that were then removed

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As the 'Thanks' system works on various windows in time (e.g. past day, week, month), then I guess all that has happened is that the rank went down, because some 'Thanks' had expired in whichever time window is being used for the calculation.

Perhaps this could be recoded to not use a windowed time frame, but rather the total 'Thanks' that a member has received, which would eliminate this source of confusion, and remove the possibility that a member feels that they have demoted in rank.

[#4]

Thanks and solutions do not expire when it comes to the overall rank of a user. Those leaderboard pages (and panels in various places) show those scores in a timeframe to give other users a chance to reach the top of a leaderboard. If it wasn't like this then the leaderboards will always be dominated by the same users and others will never have a chance of getting on to these leaderboards. Just to reiterate my first point: thanks and solutions do not expire - but they can be revoked by an admin if needed.

What has happened is that a fix was issued to @MauriceC then removed (by request of OP) due to an anonymous user marking a reply as the solution. This triggered the rank up when the post was marked as a fix and when it was removed, the rank went back down. The anonymous user bug has now been resolved so we shouldn't see this happening again.

[#5]

That all sounds great, it makes sense, and we have some progress ! 

[#6]

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@MauriceC wrote:
Of more concern, and the reason I raised the original issue, is that this is yet another example of the unstable software base of this new forum.

As I mentioned here Maurice -

And just to be clear the Rankings are an in house tweakable thing...

The ranks/names, number of thanks and fixes etc are determined by Plusnet Forum Admin Staff. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the stability of the forum software, but I will agree that the software does "appear" to have an unstable base.

[#7]

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@jaread83 wrote:

....Those leaderboard pages (and panels in various places) show those scores in a timeframe to give other users a chance to reach the top of a leaderboard. If it wasn't like this then the leaderboards will always be dominated by the same users and others will never have a chance of getting on to these leaderboards.

That makes it sound like some sort of damned game Jack, which it most certainly is not. You have just given me a justification for suggesting that they be scrapped completely

[#8]

@jaread83 thanks for resolving the anonymous user issue.

[#9]

I am reminded of two posts I made in the hidden board

When rankings were first mentioned

I am probably a lone voice in the wilderness on this but I don't think that they serve any purpose except  to boost egos in a few cases

After we had a bit more information about them

I am going to be very rude here  
CHILDISH

But then again as you all know I have been variously described as a curmudgeon and that is the polite version

[#10]

You, a curmudgeon Jim! Never

[#11]

The way that 'Thanks' accumulate in a sliding time window was one of the few things which I immediately thought was better in this forum, than the league tables of the old forum which had a significant number of members who had disappeared many years ago (such as "Pierre_Pierre") who I would never be able to catch up with.

However, I don't see the added value of the current "Ranking" system, perhaps I just don't 'get it', or have any desire to become a top "ranker".

Personally I don't particularly think the the ability to identify "FIXED" topics is that useful either, as I would read all related topics anyway to understand the thought process and mistakes, rather than focus on whether something was ultimately solved or not. Again that's just me, and the way I view this forum.

I can see that other people might (and should) have a different view, so I'm not going to argue whether the "Ranking" or "FIXED" should stay or go,  just that if they stay they should work and be understood by the forum members.

[#12]

I would vote to remove Ranking , and Fixes ,, as  Unnecessary 

[#13]

The 'fix' is extremely useful from a support point of view, we can see which post contained the relevant information and can point people directly to it, either here or on social (possibly from the support pages in the future too).

Rankings are always going to be liked by some and not others, I can say the ones here are based on a number of factors and not just post count though.

[#14]

as far as i see FIX  just causes a double post

[#15]

The fix appears in both its "special" slot and in the context of the topic. I think we have to accept that visitors unfamiliar with how forums work might find it easier to locate the special slot than within the context. The fix could be many replies down the topic.

Perhaps a profile option to turn off "fix" displays should be offered?