Alternative to the * system

[Scotty.]

Now that the * system has been removed, I don't know how much of a necessity it is to come up with a replacement, but here is an idea that I really like.

I have recently started using the bodybuilding.com forums, and I really like their "Reputation System." Here is the basic outline of how it works:

Every poster has a little section below their avatar showing the amount of reputation they have. For every post someone makes, other posters have the option of giving it positive or negative reputation, which makes the original poster's overall reputation go either up or down. A poster with a highly positive reputation will have a lot of rep points, and green bars by their name indicating this. A poster who is given a lot of negative reputation with have negative points and red bars by their name.

Each poster's ability to give out reputation is also different. On BB.com the method they use is you earn 1 additional point of rep-altering power for every 1000 posts, 1 point for every year you have been a member of the forum, and 1 point for every 1000 positive reputation points that he/she has received themself. This way, the posters who have been around the longest, have the most posts, and the most positive reputation are able to have the most influence on others' reps. A person with an overall negative reputation has 0 rep-altering power.

That is a basic outline of the system. There are other measures in place to limit abuse of the system. Full details can be found in the FAQ on the bodybuilding.com forums. I think this system would be especially useful for the strategy forums, and being able to identify good posters.

This would obviously require a software update in order to implement, and I have no idea how difficult the logistics of this would be.