um...ratings?

[SerpentLust]

I haven't been here in a week or so, so forgive me if this has already been adressed...I noticed new icons for the site supporters, very nifty....but where on earth did the star ratings go?

Jenn

[BoAddict]

i think its cause people had been complaining about the stars

[SerpentLust]

Well if that's the case then that blows! I was looking forward to hitting my next star...

[snakehunter]

ME TOO, I MISS MY STARIE GUYS

[marisa]

The stars sucked.

It had nothing to do with anything and was just a waste of space IMHO. If you really miss stars, I can post some cute little gif files and you can use those as your avatar. LOL. Besides this makes all us lazy people donate.

Marisa

[tHeGiNo]

Yes Marisa your right. It is rather embarrasing seeing the side of the page loaded with huge site supporter banners, then seeing my empty space -.-'. Guess it is time to lose the lazyness and make a paypal account :)

[sapphire_moon]

thats great, but it makes the people that don't really have the money to donate feel like crap!

[marisa]

Oh it does not. I have plenty of money I am just lazy. And besides Jeff takes change. Anyone can afford to donate!

:D

Marisa

[Matt_K]

no one is being forced to make a donation.. No one has ever been :D People that want to make a donation, will. If you can't afford to make one, please, don't feel that you NEED to make one no matter what.. Just remember the little people when you can afford to :)

[RachelS.]

DUDE!!! I havent been here for a while, and I was wondering the same! This sucks... stars stars stars!!!!

[Slannesh]

As Marisa said, it doesn't take ton of money either. Hell if every member donated only 1 dollar per month Jeff could quit his job :)

I know from personal experience that every little bit helps and no donation isn't appreciated.

[SerpentLust]

But it still sucks, because even when I did want to become a site supporter, I was going to tell Jeff to leave my stars...I liked the star system.

[gonesnakee]

I think its better without them. "Newbies" were quite often misled thinking that because the person giving them advice had lots of stars maybe that meant something, whereas the # of stars means nothing knowledge wise. I could have 5000 posts & still know Jack about what I'm telling people. I think it will make it so there are a lot less posts, just for the sake of getting stars. Mark

[Mr.Lizard]

I disagree about the stars being misleading.
There are certain members whose posts or responses I look forward to,not because they've accumulated stars,but because of the content of their posts.
Even a newbie can pick up on who knows what they're talking about and who doesn't if they visit this site a few times.
Oh well,sorry to see them go.

[sSNAKESs.com]

Its very frustrating when people complain both ways about things.... Someone says repeatedly that they need to go and then you remove them and people complain again about them going....

[CDN-Cresties]

I didnt even realize that they were gone :S

-Steve-

[Grant vg]

I was looking forward to hitting my next star...

This is one of the biggest reasons we removed them...
There were too many ppl posting useless threads and replies....to reach there next star.
its quality not quanitity were going for....

anyways...dont be sad, ...you're all stars in my book! :p

[TheRedDragon]

*doh*! I was hoping to see what my title would be after Viperdae. *pout* :( *LOL* :p

[Rebecca]

I miss them too. But ya can't please them all. I think it's better to have newbies following advise from people who know their stuff then from people who have the most stars.

[MouseKilla]

I don't know what you're all talking about, I've got all kinds of stars. Suckers

[BoidKeeper]

So why not put the number of post a person has where their stars were? People like to watch their stars change, well with the number post where the stars were they can get the same effect. It's the number of post that made the stars change anyway.
Any thoughts?
Trevor

[Grant vg]

if ppl want to know how much they have posted or how much others have posted...then they can move there eyes about 5 inches to the right...lol

[BoidKeeper]

I know that (wise ***!) but it seems like people just want something above their avtar is all.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Vengeance]

Stars and titles are just something that all message boards have, most message boards have titles for the post count.

I can see the argument from both sides, the titles could be misleading but people like to "achive" something from posting. I think the best solution for something like this is to bring the system back but change the titles associated with them. At 5000 posts a person shouldn't be called a Expert. I know on one of the boards I'm on at a certian post count people got to choose their own names. Personally I don't care one way or the other, yea it's cool to get diffrent titles for post count but it isn't going to make me post more or less one way or the other.

[rwg]

I liked them but I'm happy to see them go. They become a motivator for "post padding" which just decreases the signal to noise ratio. The reward for posting is active involvement in a community of herpers. What more could you want?

rg

[SerpentLust]

I do like Trevors idea, or even, instead of the titles, just have the numbers with the stars.

[Swampwalker]

but people like to "achive" something from posting

I agree with "rwg"'s response:

The reward for posting is active involvement in a community of herpers. What more could you want?

The sharing of information, ideas, pics and the love of the hobby should be the reward, not watching stars and number of posts increase and getting the next title.

[Mr.Lizard]

I agree the stars shouldn't be considered an award for the people who post the most.
But watching your title change from newbie to colubrid and so on is just kind of a fun little thing.
It gives you a sense of just how long you've been a member or how much time you spend on the site.
I've read posts from "newbies" who I could tell had plenty of experience.
I think it's just as easy to tell if someone just likes to post a lot based on the content of their posts.
So for me,confusing experienced advice with inexperienced is a non-issue.
If common sense doesn't tell you that then you probably shouldn't be in charge of the life of an animal.

[Derrick]

Originally posted by Jeff
Its very frustrating when people complain both ways about things.... Someone says repeatedly that they need to go and then you remove them and people complain again about them going....

hehe, Admin's a thankless job

[RachelS.]

Originally posted by MouseKilla
I don't know what you're all talking about, I've got all kinds of stars. Suckers

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/avatar.php?userid=2511&dateline=1073578307

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! LMFAO!!!

[Shane Tesser]

Yes...i got a laugh out of mouskilla's avatar as well. But now i especially like his new one! :D

[MouseKilla]

Hahaha! That's good, I think I'll keep it. What a pretty flower! Why don't I get to keep the self-appointed title of "super moderator"? How did you do that if I out rank you? You may want to let all those people I PM'd know that they aren't really banned for life, that it was just a joke. LOL!

Anyone who wants their stars back can buy them from me, they are bright and yellow! Five bucks each.lol!

[sSNAKESs.com]

lol!

[Matt_K]

LMFAO! Atleast you're a good sport Mousekilla :)

[Shane Tesser]

That flower was the closest thing that i could find to being a star :P

[MouseKilla]

The closest you could come to a star without borrowing images from an adult site anyway.LOL! Of course I think it's funny that you got me back, it was a joke to start with. You guys just get to stay a step ahead with your mod powers, they tend to work better than my super mod powers for some reason.

[Beejay]

Originally posted by Grant vg
anyways...dont be sad, ...you're all stars in my book! :p

lmao

Okay everyone, let's earn back our stars with a year's worth of posts about made up stories of imaginary snakes, one word replies to ourselves and delightful ramblings about whether school sucks or not. ;)

Or accept that Jeff made a positive decision to encourage people to post in order to contribute to discussions rather than for the sake of seeing their star collection prosper.

I agree with Grant, that the people who participate in the site, whether site supporters or not, are all stars...and Jeff, you shine brightest :D Thanks for volunteering your time and money to keep the site available and for your efforts to try to meet everyone's desires are appreciated.

Thanks to the mods for their volunteer efforts as well.

~Bj

[asphyxia]

yes

[maiden_canada]

why didnt you guys just leave the stars? they weren't hurting anyone, and it encourages people to post more often

[marisa]

If people want encouragement of some sort they can call their mothers.

This is a reptile site. Ya got something to say, say it. If not don't. But don't post because you want stars, need stars to encourage you or because you want to have 1100 posts. If someone needs a gif file to encourage them to type a message, then I have a couple choice ones I can share privately. LOL.

I agree with Beejay's post.

Marisa

[Matt_K]

Originally posted by maiden_canada
why didnt you guys just leave the stars? they weren't hurting anyone, and it encourages people to post more often

lol, have you read any of the posts in this thread?.. I think it was made clear why they were removed..

[asphyxia]

me too

[sSNAKESs.com]

Thanks guys!! :) I do try to please everyone but have realized thats pretty much impossible!! lol!! :)