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We didn't set out to have a reputation stat, but because we started by adapting code that had it, we started out that way. When we brought up removing it, a few people objected strongly. (See, fo...
Answer
#2: Post edited
by
Monica Cellio
·
2021-04-21T12:58:05Z (over 3 years ago)
- We didn't set out to have a reputation stat, but because we started by adapting code that had it, we started out that way. When we brought up removing it, a few people objected strongly. (See, for example, [this discussion](https://meta.codidact.com/posts/280043).)
- We've "nerfed" reputation; unlike on SO, reputation doesn't affect your abilities. It's *just* a number. [Abilities are instead governed by specific, related activity](https://meta.codidact.com/help/abilities); for example, you earn the privilege of editing directly by having enough of your suggested edits accepted.
- We've also made the "usercard", the stats that accompany your name and avatar on posts and in the users list, [configurable](https://meta.codidact.com/posts/280005). A community that feels strongly that rep is important can show it; a community that wants to downplay it can remove rep from that block of stats. I now realize that might be a good thing to try here on Meta; I'll discuss that with the team.
- We don't yet have a way to show you which of your posts have gotten recent voting. We've kept the rep number in the header (when you're logged in) so that, as a poor substitute, you might at least notice when that number changes. We do intend to do better there; it's on our list, but we're a small team and we haven't done that yet.
- We didn't set out to have a reputation stat, but because we started by adapting code that had it, we started out that way. When we brought up removing it, a few people objected strongly. (See, for example, [this discussion](https://meta.codidact.com/posts/280043).)
- We've "nerfed" reputation; unlike on SO, reputation doesn't affect your abilities. It's *just* a number. [Abilities are instead governed by specific, related activity](https://meta.codidact.com/help/abilities); for example, you earn the privilege of editing directly by having enough of your suggested edits accepted.
- We've also made the "usercard", the stats that accompany your name and avatar on posts and in the users list, [configurable](https://meta.codidact.com/posts/280005). A community that feels strongly that rep is important can show it; a community that wants to downplay it can remove rep from that block of stats. I now realize that might be a good thing to try here on Meta; I'll discuss that with the team.
- We don't yet have a way to show you which of your posts have gotten recent voting. We've kept the rep number in the header (when you're logged in) so that, as a poor substitute, you might at least notice when that number changes. We do intend to do better there; it's on our list, but we're a small team and we haven't done that yet.
- Some say that the reputation number is a measure of expertise. Maybe an *average rep per post* would be, but the total alone doesn't tell you whether the person has a few good posts, a bunch of mediocre ones, or a single hit. On The Workplace over on SE, we often saw a snarky answer on a hot network question skyrocket for the entertainment value. That someone has a couple thousand rep from that single answer doesn't actually indicate any expertise -- but, if people are evaluating posts based on author rep, that person's *next* answer would look stronger than it should. This is why, in the "usercard", we show the number of posts (by broad type). One of my early designs of that blob of stats showed more of a breakdown, something like "41 answers (39 positive)", but it was cluttered and we decided we needed to look for another approach.
#1: Initial revision
by
Monica Cellio
·
2021-04-18T01:51:35Z (over 3 years ago)
We didn't set out to have a reputation stat, but because we started by adapting code that had it, we started out that way. When we brought up removing it, a few people objected strongly. (See, for example, [this discussion](https://meta.codidact.com/posts/280043).) We've "nerfed" reputation; unlike on SO, reputation doesn't affect your abilities. It's *just* a number. [Abilities are instead governed by specific, related activity](https://meta.codidact.com/help/abilities); for example, you earn the privilege of editing directly by having enough of your suggested edits accepted. We've also made the "usercard", the stats that accompany your name and avatar on posts and in the users list, [configurable](https://meta.codidact.com/posts/280005). A community that feels strongly that rep is important can show it; a community that wants to downplay it can remove rep from that block of stats. I now realize that might be a good thing to try here on Meta; I'll discuss that with the team. We don't yet have a way to show you which of your posts have gotten recent voting. We've kept the rep number in the header (when you're logged in) so that, as a poor substitute, you might at least notice when that number changes. We do intend to do better there; it's on our list, but we're a small team and we haven't done that yet.