Would to prefer to be rated, or a word of thanks?

[hitai]

After you hav replied to someone`s post and your post hav been of help, would you like to be rated or have the OP post a message of thanks. Or would u like to have both?

Would u also mind if some1 disaproved yor post?

[Siddhartha]

Thanking and Rating is naturally the best amongst the options presented.

Saying "Thank You" to someone who has helped, and deserves it is IMO a good habit that ought not to be forgotten. Apart from acknowledging the help, it also tells others reading the thread that the solution given solved the problem. This is important too.

As far as Positive Ratings go - one does not need to only rate posts that answers one's query.
One can rate any good reply from anyone; even in threads not started by oneself . This is encouraged, and is a good practise.

As far as Negative Ratings go - one must use them sparingly, and on good premise (like outright provocative rude behaviour for example), if at all one should.

When one receives an unjustified Negative Rating, de-motivating as it may be - one must dismiss it as an extreme case, and continue. There are people who don't know the effects of it, those that make mistakes, and sometimes there are pranksters.

[Melian]

Saying "Thank You" to someone who has helped, and deserves it is IMO a good habit that ought not to be forgotten. Apart from acknowledging the help, it also tells others reading the thread that the solution given solved the problem. This is important too.

Totally agreed here. And I always say thank you, even ifit's just for a link with the answer in...

[hitai]

Alright, I`ll remember these points next time.

[HanneSThEGreaT]

In my opinion:
Thanks is a little magic word with special powers. Sometimes a small thank you can make your day, sometimes a thank you is all you need to hear. When I hear / read Thank You, I feel quite chuffed with myself. Then I know the problem is solved and I've helped someone. As you can see in my signature "If You have Helped me, Thank You!".

Rating is also a very good gesture from someone, sometimes you get a rating from somebody you didn't expect to get it from, then you know you must be doing something right. I always rate as much as possible, and I make it a point, that if someone has helped me, I rate them. If I see a very good reply on another thread, I rate the person, because he/ she deserves it.

Negative Ratings, well the other day I got one (which is probably no surprise to you guys ), I typed a very small thing wrong, and a person gave me a Negative Rating. It's only one point, But, now I'm still on 199 Rating. I felt bad and devestated, but, I've learnt that I should Preview my posts before submitting

My conclusion:
A Thank you is more than enough

[Zeb]

It's only one point, But, now I'm still on 199 Rating. I felt bad and devestated, but, I've learnt that I should Preview my posts before submitting

Well, that didn't last long 200 already! I can see how that would have hurt though. Was the person a long term member, or a new one? (I'm not after names here, just curious). I've been tempted to throw a negative rep at some posts that I thought were very anti-social, but I was worried that it would turn into a negative rep war - I've seen that happen a few times, and frankly, I don't think it helps the forum.

Personally, I think a thanks is great. It gives you the warm fuzzy feeling, and also goes to show others that you helped in a visible way by indicating that the thread has been resolved (cause how many ppl actually use the "resolved" option? come to think of it, last time I used it, it wasn't working...).

[Pinky98]

Mmmmm, thanks or rating...
how about money!!
na, just joking. I think a good "thanks this helped" is far more useful than ratings. If some one wants to give me negative ratings and I deserve it then fine. But generally I get a little anoyed when getting neg ratings for expressing my opinion (happen several times now).

[HanneSThEGreaT]

Well, that didn't last long 200 already! I can see how that would have hurt though. Was the person a long term member, or a new one? (I'm not after names here, just curious). I've been tempted to throw a negative rep at some posts that I thought were very anti-social, but I was worried that it would turn into a negative rep war - I've seen that happen a few times, and frankly, I don't think it helps the forum.

Thanx Zeb

It was a new - ish member, but, it's all forgotten now!
BTW. Zeb, I'm on 217 already

[Zeb]

BTW. Zeb, I'm on 217 already

It was only 2-3 months ago we were even... now you are almost 100 above... my post rate has been dropping this last 6 months...

[HanneSThEGreaT]

my post rate has been dropping this last 6 months...

I've noticed, why¿

[Zeb]

work, home - all so busy now.

My last job I really hated so I would spend large slabs of the day posting answers (and checking them). Now, I don't hate my job, and want to do well, so I can't spend much time doing extra-curricular stuff. Chit chat is no-brainer stuff (generally) that only takes a few minutes of my time a day, but posting answers - I like to double check to make sure I'm at least close to right, so it takes more time then I should spend during work hours.

And home life... Check the sig. Every spare hour (that my girlfriend allows) is spent playing battlefield 2

[exterminator]

Every spare hour (that my girlfriend allows) is spent playing battlefield 2

You are having a great time ... As for the thanks and rating - I feel like rating people -ve whose replies are like nowhere related to the topic of the thread or subsequent queries asked during the discussion. Also, copying and pasting whole stuff from a link into the reply...thats very bad. I mean quote a few lines that are relevant and then provide the link...thats a better option. I think people do learn these with time and then the quality of posts improves but sometimes they are very bad, dont seem to improve either. And frankly speaking I sometimes feel very annoyed. But I dont do so. And I think thats better. I sometimes even feel the negative rating should be removed - just keep a positive feedback - if a person helped - rate or else leave that as it is.

Regarding thanks - yeah...that motivates a lot. also as far as ratings are concerned - one from a senior member is much more motivating that tens from new comers... I will go with Sid, both a thanks and a rating point are a good pattern to follow. But ratings has to be less frequent than thanks. Thanks for each post that is helpful and rate one of the helpful posts in a thread coz there can be more than one amazing posts by a person in a thread...and you obv cant rate them all (as you need to spread some reputations). But anyways .. these depends on people's different perspectives as to how they see these... but yeah both going together is perfectly fine and welcome. Regards.

[HanneSThEGreaT]

Regarding thanks - yeah...that motivates a lot. also as far as ratings are concerned - one from a senior member is much more motivating that tens from new comers...

A Rating or even a nice comment from a moderator is also a huge boost

[Sahir]

my post rate has been dropping this last 6 months...

You been working ?

[PadexArt]

If it helped, a thank you is more than enough. And should be provided to mark the end of the thread. IMHO ratings should be taken out. They prove pretty much nothing and encourage duplicated answers that bring nothing new to the thread. I'd say keep them in a slightly modified form: do not count them.