Forum Options: Some questions

[BKocka]

So, I was thinking to myself..... "whats the point of having a buddy list on the forum? what does it do for you (other than add a little + sign next to said buddies name when they log in.)

anyone have any good answers (John)?

and referalls. whats the deal with that?

and I mean, what do reputations points really do for you? Other than get you in the top 10 and make you look good, is that it?

just some questions i thought I'd pose. ;)

[gopherhockey]

So, I was thinking to myself..... "whats the point of having a buddy list on the forum? what does it do for you (other than add a little + sign next to said buddies name when they log in.)

anyone have any good answers (John)?

and referalls. whats the deal with that?

and I mean, what do reputations points really do for you? Other than get you in the top 10 and make you look good, is that it?

just some questions i thought I'd pose. ;)

Good questions. There are a lot of features in our forums that probably don't make a lot of sense for us that maybe make sense for other clubs, or perhaps larger systems that have many thousands of users.

The buddy system I don't really use because EVERYONE is my buddy.. right...right? :embarass: :D I'll look into its original purpose though. I think you can do things like allow buddies to see you online if you are in "invisible" mode while others cannot...

The referrals part is odd. It really doesn't do anything and can be a bit confusing when a user is registering. If they type a person's full name instead of their forumid, their registration is not accepted until they correct it. I do think that referals somehow give you "points" to do other things, such as the ability to grant more rep or other things. I suppose we could do things like give discounts on things for doing referals...

Rep points I think are more of a feel good thing. I like to give people points when they say something exceptionally insightful or even when they do nice things outside of the forums. Its fun to get positive points but I don't think serves much of a purpose beyond that.

There are lots of other things like the infraction system that aren't of much use for us but might be more funny than anything else if we use it the right way.

I hesitate putting up the Top 10 list (and it will probably come down eventually because its just a drain on forum resources) because it really shows those of us who have no life and use the forums way too much more than anything ;)

[BKocka]

thanks!

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