24 replies to this topic

[travstatesmen]

I am wondering about the Credit System calculations on the Trap17 forums. If I were to make a post and submit it, then the calculation system does its magic and attributes a certain number of Credits for that post, right? So, what happens if I later revisit the post and edit it? For argument's sake, if I get am a bit sloppy in my speeling and don't rite proper Inglish, then your algorithm will give me less Credits than if I had been more accurate with my spelling and grammar. However, if after I have pressed the "Post New Topic" or "Add Reply" button I notice the mistakes and go back and correct them, will your algorithm run again on the edited version, ascribing more Credits to reflect the improvements to the post?

[Saint_Michael]

Then the credits will adjust accordingly thus the miracle of the credit system and so you can add more credits to your posts or if your removing a big chunk of info you lose those credits. Of course you won't see the significant change unless you really alter the post by a few credits.

[jlhaslip]

As explained by Saint Mike, the Credit system works to ensure that your credit stash is current to your input. When you edit the Topic/Posting, the credits awarded adjust accordingly.
Several good reasons for this, the biggest reason is to reduce the instances where a member comes with a huge cut and paste posting, earns credits for the posting, and then edits it to avoid a Warning being issued.

Also, if you reply to a Topic, and the Topic is then sent to the Spam Bucket, your posting credits for that reply are removed when the Topic is Spammed. We do not like Spam here, but original material is welcome.

I believe the system is quite fair.

[travstatesmen]

Thanks for the explanation. It does seem to be very robust. I wouldn't mind adding a similar system to a forum of my own one day. Am I right in assuming that this is a custom extension to Invision Power Board, probably coded by OpaQue? I think I may have seen mention of it elsewhere on the forums, but cannot find it now, so please forgive me if I am asking a repetitive question. Is there such a system available for phpBB3, does anyone know?

[galexcd]

travstatesmen, on Sep 6 2008, 08:55 PM, said:

Am I right in assuming that this is a custom extension to Invision Power Board, probably coded by OpaQue?

Well yes, the credit system is OpaQue's baby, and as far as I know nobody but OpaQue himself has seen the source code for it... I'm sure there are many other similar extensions for IPB that you can use to achieve a basic "credit system", however I have yet to see one as complex as this one.

[Nabb]

Quote

Several good reasons for this, the biggest reason is to reduce the instances where a member comes with a huge cut and paste posting, earns credits for the posting, and then edits it to avoid a Warning being issued.

I did that in a previous forum! Of course the 'credits' earned were only for fun, and allowed me to do things like change other peoples' avatar, user title and signature (before they logged on to realise). Fun stuff.

Maybe it's possible to cheat the system by having text the same colour as the background - anyone tried that yet?

Edited by Nabb, 08 September 2008 - 08:23 AM.

[Stridr]

Yes I have to agree the implementation of the Credit System has made things a whole lot easier, and i believe it is not easy to program a addon for this forum with such 'intelligent' capibility.

[innosia]

After reading this thread I just know that spelling and grammars affect credit. Sometimes I don't want to correct grammar since I know the reader can understand what I mean, but in next I must pay attention to that to make sure that everything is typed and spelled correctly.

If the credit system alters the credit points after editing, is the calculation the same as if we do post without editing? And this board is Invision Power Board, I thought it is vbulletin, hmm one new board I learn about, I only know about joomla fireboard, phpbb and vbulletin, this is new to me. So opaque must be a PHP programmer

[rvalkass]

Nabb, on Sep 7 2008, 05:08 AM, said:

Maybe it's possible to cheat the system by having text the same colour as the background - anyone tried that yet?

Some people think it's done on length, so add loads of blank lines to the end of their post, which we remove But so far I haven't seen anyone try using the same coloured font as the background. It would be fairly obvious though - a massive blank space in the middle of the post.

innosia, on Sep 7 2008, 01:58 PM, said:

If the credit system alters the credit points after editing, is the calculation the same as if we do post without editing?

As far as I know, yes. It doesn't matter whether you edited the post or not, the calculation is the same.

[truefusion]

Nabb, on Sep 7 2008, 12:08 AM, said:

Maybe it's possible to cheat the system by having text the same colour as the background - anyone tried that yet?

It's been done before, and they've been caught and punished accordingly. You'd be amazed at all the stunts i've seen people do just to earn a few extra credits. I could never understand the logic behind these acts, since it can only cost them their hosting, the very thing they were seeking when they entered Trap17.