hey, why do i have stars under my name???
what do they mean, etc......
kind of silly, but i just noticed, and was curious.

If you click the name of the poster you get a drop down menu. If you go to their profile there is a place where it says "rate this user". You choose how many stars you want to give them. Someone liked one of your posts, and gave you stars. If you give a high number of stars, their stars will/may increase. A low number and the opposite May happen.

oh, cool, thanks!

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

oh, cool, thanks!

No, not cool. The system is flawed to be sure. Unless you give someone five stars, they will not move up and if they do they may only get one star added. If you like them and you give them one star, you could inadvertantly bring them down. I have gotten online from one day to the next and noticed that the amount of stars that I have has moved down considerably, when I hadn't even made any posts??? Someone can be on the forum for one day and all of a sudden have several stars with only two posts under their belt, when someone that has been around for years and had many posts can get knocked down to nothing. It used to hurt my feelings seeing my stars go up and down, I no longer let it bother me since so many people don't understand the quirky way it has to work. Also, once you have voted for someone you can not go back to that person and change what you have done once you realize the way the system works. So, if you accidentally knock someones stars down there is no redemption. Sometimes, ignorance is not bliss, at least not for the person losing their stars. I have watched many peoples stars go up and down with and without merit. I think the mods are immune to this rating system as I have never seen them change but I wouldn't put too much thought into them, otherwise you might end up feeling slighted.

Don't get too hung up on them, tho.
Each star (and $3 or $4) will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Mike

haha, not hung up, just curious.....
i don't get hurt feelings that easily(well, actually, i do, but i pretend i don't)

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

haha, not hung up, just curious.....

LOL, I hear ya, Mallory!

 Quote:

i don't get hurt feelings that easily(well, actually, i do, but i pretend i don't)

Check it out though...look at the number of posts you have, then look at the amount of stars you have. Then look at my numbers...see what I mean? Last week I had the same number as you do. I am not aware of the fact that I am looked at unfavorably (pm's welcome if this is the case, hehe) so trust me, it can happen!

Oh that's funny!! I just had one, as I posted this, I got another one, lol!!!!!!

Edited by RobbinMann (01/14/2008 10:17 PM)
Edit reason: Comment on new star

that is funny, do you think people are giving stars now because of this thread??

i don't think i give good answers at all, most of mine don't make sense, and piss people off, so i was really thrown off by the stars, but the fact that they don't really mean anything makes sense now.....

I think it works like an average, so the more people that have starred you, the slower your amount of stars will change. Do you know what I mean?

If someone has been given hundreds, you giving them one isn't gonna matter.

If someone has only been rated a few times, giving a lot or a little will have more of an effct. I don't know for certain if this is true, it just seems to be that way to me. I starred you all...

The stars are a personality contest. Nothing more, nothing less!
You wont feel any knowledge sucked out of your head when you loose them. You wont gain any knowledge when you gain them.
You can agree/disagree with the dumbest person here and gain/loose stars. Same with the knowledgable people on the forum. There are definately 4-5 star people here that deserve them and 5 star people that don't have a clue. 1-2 star people that can train a snake to shake hands and 1-2 star people who shouldn't own a dog. Bottom line, it doesn't matter unless you want them to in your own mind.