Reputation

It's my understanding that only a moderator can give "reputation".

Yes, we use the reputation system as moderators or at least most of us do. I'm guilty of not using it much, though there are some deserving folks out there for sure.

Thanks for the info.

If you take suggestions:

There was a time where APC allowed members to leave each other feedback. I understand you had your reasons for disabling it for non moderators (abuse? unrequited love?), but it is a good feature and you folks should reconsider. We all know there are threads that make APC special. Its nice to be able to read these threads full of interesting discussion and maybe say thanks without diluting the thread with "Thanks."

Mind you, I post noise or thanks or cheers on other forums all the time. I'm suggesting you cultivate what makes you different from other forums.

The way John N explained it to me, it is a function that only the moderators can use to give points to people that they think should someday become a moderator, that they use this feature to choose moderators. They can also give someone negative reputation points if they so choose.

It seems to me it would be wonderful if every APC member could have a voice, a vote in who gets nominated to be a moderator or to acknowledge peoples input. I think that there are several people who deserve recognition that will never get it because they are not in the favor of the current moderator staff. Why not give everyone a voice?

This is not the case. In actuality most if not all the moderating staff does not use this function. It had been something that was considered for use by the general membership, but it was decided it wouldn't provide any useful functionality. It is too easily abused - if you'd like an example see the long heated discussion over at the planted tank forum.

It definitely is not used to choose any new moderators, and would never be used for that purpose if it were ever implemented.

I see now that I am not smart and that I can totally abuse the thread rating system . <3