Has anyone else become skeptical of the Fluther score system as a metric for quality?

just because you took time to write this….......no score for you! Who cares? Does it matter? Do you get a prize when you get50000 points?

@hairypalm: can you explain your comment further, please?

I can’t I’m driving .;( scary huh?

DRIVING???? Don’t blame fluther if you rear end someone!

I think it would fly in court :) oops just hit a cyclist.;p

Regardless of the answer, someone appreciated it! Fluther can be fun, too!

It’s about finding that gentle median!

hmmm I could sue fluther, no warning sing that says don“t drive and fluther.

@hairypalm: no, i don’t care about my score… i care about good reasoning behind scoring. what’s the point of score? i use it to help determine whether a person’s answer is likely to be helpful/vetted/researched or not. if score goes up as a function of anything other than helpfulness, then it’s no use to me!

Methods are in place to deal with this.

@johnpowell: care to elaborate?

What do you mean?? The score is very important! J/K It’s just a number.

See I’m some what useful….I see score as a bunch of numbers bro. But I have heard of a rumor that when you hit 5,000 you turn into a real jellyfish.<<<~I pulled over for this one.

I just noticed that mine hasn’t gone up and I was given points for great answers.

@hairypalm: You better have pulled over for that one!

I just said that so someone can test it and give me points! J/K

Seriously, the number wasn’t moving.

@samkusnetz… You can only get a certain amount of points from a user. So hotbod39 can only give me a certain number of points.

This system is flawed but it was a stopgap to prevent people from gaming the system.

@johnpowell: is that in total? or per thread? is that “certain number” public knowledge? would it make sense to scale that limit based upon the score of the person giving the points?

Total.. I don’t know the exact numbers. For example Riser can only give me 300 points. That number is made up. After 300 they don’t count. I have already seen this happen to me a bunch of times.

@samkusnetz: Do you REALLY care about the points?

I love fluther !!! I’m home.

@babygalll: yes and no. i certainly don’t care about my score, except that i care that it accurately reflects me.

the way that i do care about it points is in looking at other people’s points to help me assess how much they have positively contributed to the site. if i’m using a vastly different metric for points than other folks, then i want to know that so that i can vary my behavior accordingly.

and since i’ve been active on this site since before points existed, i must admit that i’m feeling a certain amount of disappointment that the system is developing such that it’s no longer fulfilling the function for which it was designed, namely measuring positive contribution.

@johnpowell: thanks for the math!

@hairypalm: Safe and sound.

Isn’t ‘187’ code for something??? Quick someone change it!

@sam Is your Shift Key broken, or are you just lazy?

Some people take the Internet to seriously. I think I was getting more of a rush driving and fluthering, Im done with this thread. I added 1 score to everyone! Night!
...... Well not Sam LOL sorry I’m an ass sometimes. You will learn to love me.

You guys are being on the jerkish side. He’s trying to be super polite.

@Sam, I have only been on fluther for maybe a week, and I see the points as more of a seniority rating, as in, how long the person has been around, and also how involved they are in fluther. I don’t really judge peoples responses as more or less reliable, hopefully the answer itself is enough for me to be able to judge its usefullness I mean, fluther is not an end-all for an important question, but a starting place. I think, anywho.

@hairypalm: actually you can’t sue Fluther for driving and Fluthering; see terms

(I know you were only kidding but fyi)

@sndfreQ: You also have to account for road safety laws, driving and fluthering is pretty illegal. :)

@hairypalm: This may only be the Internet, but don’t be so rude to people.

sorry if I made anyone cry. I’m sorry.

It is possible that with the influx of newer users, some may not know the established reasoning for doling out Great Answer points. I found that I felt unusually uncomfortable with my score…considering I was a member for only 4 weeks….compared to others who had been members for 2+ years.

Hi, my name is squirbel.

it depends on what you consider great also. if i see a funny answer and i like it or it makes me laugh then i mark it as great. does an answer have to be a smart/intelligent answer in order for it to be a great one?

Here on Fluther, the purpose of questions and answers isn’t for entertainment as much as it is for education and enlightenment.

So yeah, it does matter.

thats disappointing.

and if it isnt for entertainment then why do people ask questions like whats your favorite movie? or best bumper sticker? do you think people really ask those questions to educate themselves on the various bumper stickers across the nation? i dont think so. i think this site is just as much for fun as it is for education. and i think thats how it should be.

www.fluther.com/faq

Fluther already defined itself.

ive read that notice before, but to think that fluther should be used only “for education and enlightenment” sounds kind of boring to me. i think its great that fluther is a place where people can ask genuine and scholarly questions, but if i want strictly education and enlightenment ill stay at school.
and apparently the creators dont have too much of a problem with it. if it was a serious issue they would have to start kicking people off… and that would be a real bummer.
the day fluther becomes education only is the day ill voluntarily leave.

(just my opinion.)

At the top of this thread, I gave a link that said, fluther can be fun, too! Check it out, those are the creators of this site, and it is pretty darn funny. Ben, Andrew, and Erik know that gentle median, that I spoke of!

blubatron: i saw it… and it is funny. thats why i dont think this site should be taken too seriously.

@bulbatron: Do you mean “happy medium”? You keep saying “gentile median”. I’ve never heard that phrase before. I like it, but I don’t think it means the same thing.

@Allie: Stay in school.

@sam: I’m with you. I think it’s time to get rid of points altogether. Or perhaps only let them be awarded by gailcalled.