We need to get rid of the “Rude!” score nonsense. Makes us sound like mental handicapped where we can’t deal with normal social interactions. Really, it needs to go. A post can always just be reported if it can be classed as inappropriate. But this needs to stop. And I’ve felt this way for a long time.
Well, the Rude! score is supposed to be a tool in our arsenal as self-moderated members. The rating system is very forgiving. It’s just supposed to give a little bit of visual feedback so that you can know how people react to your posts. I think SB said that there’s no auto-ban or anything like that associated with it, but if you do get a high number, it will let him know so that he can check it out.
AFAIK, you can’t see anyone else’s Rude! number or which posts of theirs were flagged, only your own. The 10 on the scale is arbitrary and doesn’t mean anything really. I think he said that he had to choose a number in order for the scale thing to work, and it seemed to him that 10 was a good number.
Around the time the Rude! meter was introduced, we needed it. Maybe now we don’t, but we might again in the future. We do get the occasional rude person around here, although a truly unapologetically rude person is quite rare in general at BLF. I mostly ignore it, but I have given Rude! points a few times and as well have also received them. I count it as a mostly harmless feature that can be useful at times.
I think we should also have an informative button with an area to skim through the top most informative posts to gain knowledge that might otherwise be hidden:)