OOAK Table Tennis Forum

A good point The font used is small, and I can set the limit of the number of thanks shown, which is currently set to 10. If 10 looks like too much (I've not seen 10 thanks for a single post) then I can reduce it.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I think you should deactivate the "These users thanked the author.." block that's currently appearing in the bottom of thanked posts.

Why? Isn't it nice for the author to see who appreciated their post?

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

When this feature was first suggested, I was ambivalent about it. Anything which makes this forum more like FaceBook is, IMO, a bad a thing. Looking at its first use, I think my fears are going to be realised. Do I really need to know who thanked whom? Do I really need to know that they were then thanked in return?

Don't get me wrong - I'm very happy that GrumpyJoe has decided to stick around, but how does it add to the quality of the forum if I'm mentioned in a line at the bottom of his post? FaceBook "likes" are a feature I never use. I suspect ooakforum's "thanks" will be just the same.

I'm also interested to see how much this is going to reinforce the buddies networks that exist. "You know who" is always going to "thank" his best mate for his posts. The chances of "you know who" or his best mate ever thanking GrumpyJoe or me, regardless of the quality of our posts , are minuscule. So this will simply reinforce what we all know: "you know who" and his best mate are best mates.

BTW, I'm thinking of changing my name to GrumpyTassie. Could you please install a "no thanks" button for me?

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"So long, and thanks for all the fish
So sad that it should come to this" Sung by the dolphins in The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

What is this?

Have we now turned posting into a popularity contest?
Or, are we now going to be given a ranking on the forum simply because we "thank" people?

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"So long, and thanks for all the fish
So sad that it should come to this" Sung by the dolphins in The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

I disagree with you Tassie...

Firstly this idea does not come from Facebook... it's been around in forums in one form or another well before Facebook even existed. The function is also quite different.

I've seen no evidence at all of any kind of 'buddie' system, but instead people showing their appreciation for other people's posts. Just because someone, that you may have a personal issue with, gets some 'thanks', does not mean there is some sort of conspiracy behind it. Perhaps you should look at the posts that have actually received thanks, and look for genuine reasons why people choose to offer their thanks, before before making up your mind. I'm sure you can find an example of one that may not mean much, but IMO the majority of 'thanks' there were given for good reasons.. and allowed people to show their appreciation without having to post something. Sure people could post a simple thanks, but lots of single word posts are not encouraged in forums as they clog things up, and after a while it's hard to read who they're even thanking. GrumpyJoe decided to return to the forum, many member were happy to read it but may not know what to say, so that offer their 'thanks'... is that so wrong?

The ratings are rather meaningless, and I have not even figured out what they mean, but if I find a way I'll remove them, as it adds no value... so I do agree with you there. If they are just rating for posts, I don't see a problem, but if they're rating for people I don't like it either.

This module was discussed and proposed with the right intentions, and I think can be quite beneficial if the majority use it the right way...so why not give it a go before you make up your mind?

GrumpyJoe has secured exclusive rights to the word 'Grumpy' on this forum...so there can be only one


If you're going to be cynical like that, I'm not going to waste any more time on you trying to discuss this in a constructive manner. Perhaps if you can discuss things in a more positive and constructive manner, you'll get some positive responses.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Several reasons:

1) It takes up quite a bit of space and detracts from the post itself.

2) It serves to highlight a post as thanked, making it more likely to be thanked by others than yet to be thanked posts that still lack the large footer block. This will surely skew the results and make them less valid.

3) As you can read in subsequent posts in this thread, it introduces the element of identity which will inevitably spawn a popularity contest; something better-designed merit systems strive to avoid. It's good enough to know if/how many registered members have thanked a post. It's not necessary to know who did.

Good points, thanks nathanso!

I guess ideally only the author can see that they've received thanks for the post, and without names. I'll see what options there are in the settings to facilitate that...

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Apologies, but the only conversation I was aware of was this: Facebook buttons?


Apologies, haggisv (and to anyone else) if my questions offended you. You put so much time and energy into making this forum the best TT forum on the web. I would like to publicly express my appreciation for all the incredible work that you do.

Yet again, I appear to have expressed myself poorly. nathanso made exactly the same point I was trying to make:

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"So long, and thanks for all the fish
So sad that it should come to this" Sung by the dolphins in The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

I have addressed these issues to some extent:

- I have removed most of the details from the posts that received thanks. All it shows now is a list of names in a small font, and a rating for the post.

- I have removed the "number of thanks' and number of thanked' from member's profiles, which should minimise the possibility of some sort of competitive issue to try and get the most number of thanks, as you can no longer see this.

- The "thanks toplist" at the top of the screen still shows the top 10 of;
(a) posts with thanks
(b) threads with thanks

The rating is a measure of the amount of thanks a post or thread has received, it is NOT a rating of a member, so there is no reason to try and compete with another member. I personally like sucha list, as you can see which threads people appreciate, and they're probably worth taking a look at.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Somewhat better, but if it's not a rating of a member, why is the largest of all font blaring out "Rating: 100%"?! And what of members who want to thank anonymously..?

I'll find a way of removing that Rating from the posts altogether, as I agree it adds no value. Then the only time you'll see a rating is in the "Toplist".

Giving another option to thank anonymously will makes thing more complicated again (would need yet another button), so I might leave that in the 'too hard' basket for now.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I have removed the 'RATING' from posts, so all you see now in a post is the list of members who thanked (in a small font). The 'Thanks Toplist' now only shows a list of the topics that received the most number of thanks. I hope that's a good compromise.

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Thanks is a good tool and replaces the "reputation system" on TTT

I personally like it better

Nice one haggis