XenForo 2.0 Discussion

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I would like to see a native reputation system implemented in Xenforo 2.0. This is one functionality that XF to date is sorely missing.

In order to show why I'd like this functionality built-in, I'll give you a real example from one of the forums I administer.

1. In order to promote activity in certain sections:

We have a Reviews and Library section as well as a section where items can be given away. These sections are moderated and have a very high standard for posting, and require sometimes 1hour+ worth of work in order to be approved. Back when we were running Vbulletin, these sections were swarming with activity. Why? Because we offered a reputation point from staff for every approved thread. Since 2011 when we moved to XF, one of these sections has had a total of 4 new threads. This is a section which as a total of 953 threads. Without an incentive to post in the form of Rep, we've essentially killed these sections.

2. In order to promote excellent posts:

This is somewhat the same as the above mentioned point, except that it promotes above-and-beyond posting throughout the entire board. Especially in our case, the News and Politics section. People would go to extreme lengths to make amazing posts on current events, politics, etc., because they knew they're much more likely to garner rep points for such posts. The likes or the Advanced Ratings add-on works fine to promote activity, but not to promote a high standard of activity like the reputation system.

3. In order to provide a method of oversight:

Unlike the likes or advanced ratings add-on, reputation can be monitored, can restrict users from repping their friends too much, and can require stated reasons for why the rep was given which are publicly listed on user profiles. This provides a level of oversight in order to keep reputation fair.

4. In order to provide a longevity to the system:

Without a native rep system, there is no way to provide longevity to the system, and add-on's which provide such an important functionality are a "weak" solution for a number of reasons. We have experimented with substituting the functionality with add-ons, but have found they are regularly unavailable for new versions of XF, they lack functionality and fixes, developers discontinue support over time, and current reputations are unable to be imported from one system to the next. This is a glaring problem with boards such as ours when reputation is earned with such hard work, only to wiped away with one update. It essentially locks us to old versions of XF.

5. The likes system is not a replacement for reputation:

One of the most often cited reasons for not implementing a reputation system is that XF utilizes the "likes" system. However, it is my contention that the likes are not a replacement for reputation, they are a replacement for the "thanks" feature available on vB. XF simply does not have a comparable system, which leaves a glaring deficit in terms of functionality for boards such as ours.

Conclusion:

There is clear support and need for a native reputation as evidenced by the number of times this has been raised, the numerous threads, and the popularity of multiple 3rd party add-on's that have attempted to fill this obvious deficit in core functionality. So much so that recently a number of boards have crowd-funded a very costly development in order to fill this void, however, no matter how many 3rd party add-on's are built, they simply are not a replacement for a core system (which can then be expanded on with 3rd party add-on's, while providing a fundamentally solid system going forward).

XF is not vB and I recognize the need to differentiate XF from other forum software systems, however, for us (and I'm sure for others), the lack of a native reputation system is a glaring lack of functionality that leaves us in a tough situation. On the one hand I love the XF system, but if the next generation of XF means utilizing a system that lacks a functionality that we quite desperately need, we'll have to move to another platform. Something we really don't want to have to do.

I recognize that some of these problems can be overcome with other solutions, however, none as simple and as effectively as with a proper reputation system.

Finally, I would respectfully request that if you don't want a reputation system for your board to keep that to yourself. If the developers include a rep system, you're not forced to use it. I'm not asking to remove the likes or any other functionality, just to include some options for people like us that desperately need it.
 
You can forget about reputation, the decision's been made by the devs to dump it years ago and a ridiculous amount of arguments in favour of it have been posted over the years but to no avail. It'd take a miracle for this to change after so many years.
 
Gladius said:
You can forget about reputation, the decision's been made by the devs to dump it years ago and a ridiculous amount of arguments in favour of it have been posted over the years but to no avail. It'd take a miracle for this to change after so many years.
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I understand the cynicism, but this is something important to a great many people, perhaps they'll eventually re-evaluate their decision.

Fighting for it is nothing compared with the ******** I have to go through on my forum by not having it.
 
Gladius said:
You can forget about reputation, the decision's been made by the devs to dump it years ago and a ridiculous amount of arguments in favour of it have been posted over the years but to no avail. It'd take a miracle for this to change after so many years.
Click to expand...
I disagree with this. If anything it is the wider customer base that has rejected it because the suggestions that this should be a core feature are few and far between if they even exist at all. I found one which was marked Lack of Interest; that's a lack of interest on the part of the customers rather than our assertion it isn't something planned.

That all said, @dehness, it's a valid suggestion but it is best made in a new thread in the Suggestions forum (or an existing suggestion thread if a valid one exists).
 
Chris D said:
I disagree with this. If anything it is the wider customer base that has rejected it because the suggestions that this should be a core feature are few and far between if they even exist at all. I found one which was marked Lack of Interest; that's a lack of interest on the part of the customers rather than our assertion it isn't something planned.

That all said, @dehness, it's a valid suggestion but it is best made in a new thread in the Suggestions forum (or an existing suggestion thread if a valid one exists).
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i hope Xenforo never offers rep as a core, its a negative feature and it causes more harm than good, i know the argument is "you can turn it off", but i rather xf dont waste time on such a toxic feature to begin with
 
Also valid feedback but we will always consider customer suggestions if there is a popular consensus that it is what our customers want.

With that in mind if it was popular, it wouldn't be a waste of time and if it's something you personally didn't want or need it would likely be possible to disable it in some form.

This is all somewhat off topic though. This thread isn't really suited to suggestions or debate about which features we should or shouldn't implement. Generally the suggestions forum is easier for that as we can then gauge the popularity and feedback of suggestions more easily.
 
It was more relevant 5 or so years ago when there were still a lot of vB->XF conversions being made. Most of those for forums of any value have been long done and those of us who converted had to go with what was available in XF, which usually meant converting rep/thanks to likes and moving on. No use crying over spilled milk at this point from my POV, but I guess it might still be relevant to some.
 
While I don't post here often, I have been using Xenforo for 4+ years. What my community would really appreciate is a fully-featured trophy system. I know there are addons out there but they are lacking since you don't have that many categories to track in order to give trophies. Some tracked stats would be:
- Hours spent on forums
- # of continuous days active/logged in on forums
- Uploaded avatar
- Easily extensible stat trackers
 
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