skeletonbow: … The best thing GOG could do at this point is to remove the Rep score completely, and replace the rate up/down buttons with a single "Report" button to report posts which are believed to violate GOG's terms of service agreement, and a dialogue that queries you as to what the violation/problem is giving multiple-choice options based on the actual terms of services, similar to how Twitch.tv does it. Then, when someone reports someone for a violation, keep track of an internal score nobody else can see in which if someone reports someone for a violation and it isn't a violation or just seems vindictive, they get a -1 to their internal score, and if they report a legit violation they get a +1 internal score.
Have all reports put in a queue, where each report is weighted based on the internal accumulated reputation of the people reporting posts, and act upon them in-order. Posts that are only reported by people with very low/negative scores get the lowest priority to investigate, and those who consistently issue false reports end up at some negative threshold eventually being completely untrusted in their ability to report legitimate violations. …
This is actually a good idea. It's not perfect (since even an untrustworthy account may legitimately capture a violation), but it is certainly both economical and sensible. It would pay for itself pretty quickly, if there were a lot of reports to police. (I'm not sure that is the case, however.)
kai2: IMHO voting on reputation is only relevant as a way for GOG to "enlist" users to take up moderation's under-staffing slack. It was obviously meant to alert GOG's small moderation staff to flashpoints -- harassment, bullying, and consistent anti-community behavior -- but probably was never meant to denote simple disagreements or differences of opinion. But -- in most cases I've seen (and in my experience) -- that's exactly how it's predominantly being used. …
This seems most likely. It's a fallacy to think that Gog are providing a service to the community when Ockham tells us they are most likely providing a service for themselves. The collateral damage (low reputation for sundry individuals) is an inconsequential cost, and the benefit gained (less effort) in the policing of the forum is measurable.
