I know this should probably be part of the new guidelines thread but I think that it would probably go un-noticed there. The new Big Soccer is ,quite frankly, crap. The removal of rep and post counts has damaged the community of the site. It seems to me that the powers that be seem more interested in gaining new members than keeping current ones happy. There is NO SITE if regulars and veterans of the site stop posting. I know it is just a couple of small things but already atleast 4-5 good, regular members have said they will stop visiting and I can only see this growing. I hate the changes and however small they are they have damaged my view of the Big Soccer site as a whole. I know this post will do nothing to effect the changes but I felt I needed to say how I felt.
completely agree. I'd give you REP, but what the hell for? It's pointless to have a REP system like this. get rid of it all if you're gonna pvssify it like it is right now. After all, that's what it'll come down to according to the new guidelines: "(frankly, this would be our next and final step)." might as well go ahead and do it right now cause it's worthless.
I will continue to post here, but I have to say I am dismayed at the removal of the rep. Rep was fun and was an interesting part of the site. It was a feature and if people were using it say in rep threads then how is that abuse? It is there to be used. As for the post counts, I liked having them out there for all to see, hell there was even a thread where people who lurk but don't post often were encouraged to post and it went pretty well.
The changes are terrible. I'd write more but those who posted before me have have said what I would say.
I can see why people might miss rep. But post count? Who ever paid much attention to that? We now have: BigSoccer Newbie: < 50 posts BigSoccer Jr. Member: 50-99 posts BigSoccer Member: 100-1999 posts BigSoccer Member+: 2000-9999 posts BigSoccer Member++: 10000-19999 posts BigSoccer Member+++: 20000+ posts Doesn't that work pretty well?
Don't be so sure. Anyway, it's interesting to see the whiny-tiny-penis types this change caused to crawl out of the woodwork.
I'm a member of plenty of forums dating back to 1998 and I don't understand why so many people care so much about rep and post counts. Did you ever hear the saying "attack the post, not the poster"? The same thing should apply to every post. No matter how many posts or how much rep a person has your reply to their posts should be the same. If you want to see how many posts you have, check your profile. If you want someone else to see how many posts you have, tell them to check your profile. Put it in your sig if it matters that much.
BS should be about good discussion first and foremost. If certain people cannot function and feel the need to spit the dummy over reputation and post count, then good riddance. You will not be missed, so quite your bitching.
God, does anybody remember when we didn't have rep? It wasn't that long ago, for all you Johnny-Come-Latelys. Who cares? The quality of the discussion is what matters. And quite frankly, that hasn't improved over the years, so the other stuff is just details.
I know that it's the contents of the post that really matters and I don't doubt that the quality of those will still be excellent, but BS now is now vanilla ice cream when it used to be chocolate. Also if rep means nothing then why didn't it just stay?
you mean the one nipple everyone has i'm not so much bugged by not showing the rep and post count under the user name anymore, but to reset everyone back sucks.. why couldn't we just lose 1/4 of our rep, or rep received before a certain date.. or however it was done before
I usually don't weigh in on these sort of issues, but feel compelled to ask the question: "How did BigSoccer ever survive before there was a reputation system?" Some long-time members are getting very dramatic and very upset about losing the reputation system. I may be mistaken, but reputation is only about a year old, right? The site has grown and survived for 10 years without it. And it's gone through a lot of changes in the interim. When I joined, there was an "All-Star" system that actually seemed to work pretty well. But, that was abandoned and the site surivived. Then there was a paid membership subscription system. Again, through all the complaints, the site survived and grew. I see no difference here. Quite frankly, the reputation system was a joke (other than identifying obvious trolls and idiots who had red dots) and I say that as someone who had a high reputation. It didn't mean anything because of all the rep-trading that occurred in certain tight-knit fora that allowed friendly posters to boost each others counts.
Well, if you're dealing with the officer ranks, then 11 (and that's if you count the rarity of a 5-star general). You start mixing in the enlisted grades and you can get a much higher count, but it's like mixing apples and oranges. As it stands, the two changes that I would suggest are: A) to make the names correlating to post count a bit more soccer-related and less bland. B) to make it so that any premium members "pet name" is shown in addition to their member status I see those as two simple changes that can help make the site slightly better. As it stands, though, I'm not going to pick up my ball and go home if they aren't implemented. I'm here to talk soccer; anything else is a bonus.
I'm not against the changes in BS. Especially if it calms this place a bit. But I am against the biggest reason why these changes were made: $$$$$ And as much as you would like to look the other way, these changes will definately affect the popularity of BS. Because, remember now, these new members BS is desperately is trying to attract, are those members that will be caught up with with the World Cup fever, but once thats over, they'll be be gone for good... and maybe come back again in 4 years, but who knows. Is that what you want BS to be about? a plastic forum with no sense of community, no sense of ugly, funny, happy, absurd... personalities that have made these forums what they are now. There's a reason why BS is one of the biggest forums on the web... but after this change, it will just be another average popular forums. Just my 2 cents.
Another quick thought. Recently, if you look around you notice two things: Alot of angry members and alot of downtime / forum errors. Coincidence? I think not.
define "alot". Please. I see a few folks complaining, but given the large number of members, I find it hard to define a few upset posters as "alot" or even "a lot". In fact, if you visit this forum, you'll see the current number of angry members is really not that untypical.
So you want BigSoccer run as a charity that doesn't pay it's bills? Or not. In fact, you aren't paying anything.
Rep was a fun feature, who cares if it was a contest or not. Besides it helped build the community regardless of whether you think so or not.