I usually say when I downrep somebody. Not in the obvious cases (eg. "Die homo gay fag", but whenever it seems not totally obvious. Or somebody is complaining that he was downrepped.
That would be nice.

> 2012
> People still giving a damn about rep on some random forum

I tend to let people know when I downrep and the reason why. I feel that rep do no really matter, so it is better to have at least a short explanation also.

+1

In the case of obvious trolls or spammers, I'll downrep and leave it be. If an established forum member is behaving like an asshole, I'll downrep and leave a comment to that effect. That pretty much sums up how I approach downrepping and I feel it should be done.

Downrepping someone because you simply don't agree with their arguments is about the most cuntish thing you can do.

That being said, rep is a pretty useless thing anyway.

(Oooo, since when did I have three stars? Didn't realise my rep had hit 500)

I only down rep spam, maybe if somebody posted something really crass/racist/sexist I would down rep it, other than that I think everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I think here on gog.com, down repping can be quite vicious towards some posters, kinda like cyber bullying to an extent.

I would prefer and "Ignore" function than down repping.

I don't care much if someone downreps me (as long as it doesn't affect e.g. the game prices, I'm fine :)), but I am not against the idea that the downrepped person would get a list which users have down/uprepped him/her. Maybe that would curb the overusage of those buttons, at least the downrep one. Whether such list is technically feasible to do, I don't know. Maybe not worth it then.

Alternatively: remove the downrep button (but leave a button to report spam or illegal activity to mods), or at least don't automatically hide downvoted messages. In theory the idea is sound, mods don't have to hunt down messages which should be removed, as the forum users do that for them, but the latter are using it wrong to downvote unpopular opinions/people etc.

I'm not sure about the upvote button, whether it is needed or not. I think it is luring many people into making giveaways etc. (because they get extra rep for their effort), so I guess it has a positive effect to the forum overall.

Well... ok, maybe I forgot the gift code traders. For them the rep of certain person may be relevant input, but then if someone has been downrepped in forums for giving unpopular opinions doesn't necessarily mean he is not a dependable trader.

So if GOG wanted to set up "gift code trading service", that should obviously have a separate reputation system that does not have a connection to the discussion forum reputation. But I presume GOG is not trying to or even could set up any trading service (at least without publishers' content), so...

This. Preferable an ignore list.

Or troll back or kill them (not literally but get them banned). :P

I never downrepped anyone until "the Wakalo affair". For me, -1 is reserved for scammers, very rude behavior and spam.

As jamyskis said earlier, downrepping someone because you don't agree with him/her seems mean to me. Indeed, when I've seen a forum member downrepped because he constructively criticized GOG or argued about a sensitive subject in a civil and reasoned way (sadly, sometimes it happens -the downrepping-) I'll click the +1 to balance things a little...

Some fora allow you to attach a reason to the downrepping. Which is why I no longer hang out on Fitocracy, there was zero modding when I was there and the rep system allowed people to place personal attacks whenever they voted a poster down.

And the site operators didn't really care about whether or not the claims were true or even trolling.

At least here you just end up with a smaller number. For the most part having low rep doesn't really make much difference.
We need a way of removing the rep. I don't like having to +1 somebody because I accidentally -1 them, most of the time they don't deserve either.

Well, if you accidentally -1 someone and later you click +1 to correct the mistake, you aren't downrepping or uprepping them in the long term, really. ;)

About removing the rep, I guess it's still needed for trading. New members don't know who is reliable for his usual behavior in the forum and who isn't, so rep could be somewhat of a guideline for them.

I've been trolly sometimes when dealing with certain types of people and in those circumstances, when I know I don't have anything nice to say but want to say it anyway to relieve some stress, I except to be downgraded. I avoid downgrading people for saying things I don't agree with but don't hesitate to do so when confronting particularly nasty trolls or spammers.

It's feasible that certain people indiscriminately downrep left and right for petty things or verbal slights but the system is so that, unless you are actively trying to hurt people or saying completely outrageous things, a few downreppers isn't going to do any damage. In most of these cases I don't care why someone would downrepped me and just want to move on to more interesting or engaging conversations.

One way to keep it less intrusive for the person being downrepped but still give feedback is to have a list of options when downrepping, a tick the box sort of arrangement. When you click - a list of options would come up and you tick one or more the boxes. The person being downrepped could then look at a summarized version and know that they have done something out of line without open confrontation. It would discourage spamming downreppers and hopefully let people know when they are getting out of hand.

I know, it's just that with that red and that green button, there needs to be a yellow to go along with it.