# Off Topic > Suggestions for Improvement >  >  Add Reputation for Good Questions

## jewelsharma

Dear Forum Moderators,
I suggest that there should be conscious effort to recognize good questions/queries raised by the users on this forum; and that such questions should be rewarded with "reputation points" - the currency of goodwill & meritorious contribution on this great forum. 

I hope we can agree that good questions are just as important to the forum as the fantastic solutions/responses that the experts provide here for one and all. Also, I am aware that there is nothing that stops the users from doing so currently. Nevertheless, one feels that it is not actively encouraged (enough!). 

I suggest that as most 'gurus' provide a categorical reminder that the beneficiaries should add to their reputation (or as forum rules indicate that a beneficiary should add to the reputation of the solution provider) - so should they take upon themselves to add reputation points for good questions (I'm hopeful this is already happening) - and furthermore to actively advertise & encourage it as a practice (a small addition in their respective signatures shall be a good starting point - reminding all users who read their responses).

This would make the solutions-seekers feel more valued, and should promote an improvement in the quality of questions asked and also the way they are asked/framed - benefiting all.

Cheers!
Jewel

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## shg

Not a terrible suggestion; a lucidly stated question (alas, too few) half admits its own solution. I'm for it.

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## FDibbins

Im not sure if you mean "now that was a good question" or "now that was a well-phrased question?  If the latter, then I agree, because 1/2 the problem with answering the question in the 1st place, is to have a good understanding of exatly what is being asked, and what the requirement is

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## jewelsharma

Dear FDibbins,
How about rewarding both cases when it befits? (& certainly the ones that are both good questions & well phrased). Let's make a start of it.

All I'm suggesting is - A good answer solves one question. A good question get's the best out of the teacher & educates the whole class.

Warm regards,
Jewel

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## Philb1

I would have thought that a reply to your question is rewarding enough, it is for me. If it's not understandable, then it stands to reason you're not going to get much response & therefore you'll try to make yourself better understood next time & be rewarded

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## XOR LX

I agree with this idea in principle, but am slightly worried about it in practice.

Broadly-speaking, if we divide the people who use this forum into two groups - those who ask questions and those who answer them (of course, there are some who do both, though this is, I think, a reasonably fair generalisation) - then it's quite obvious to me that some sort of incentivising, 'reward' system makes sense to the former, though not so obvious that it does also to the latter.

How many of those coming to the forum to ask questions will actually be bothered about 'gaining reputation'? For those who are regular visitors, perhaps some, yes, but first-time, even infrequent forum users (who perhaps still make up the majority of visitors)? How incentivising will such a system be to them?

Basically, a system based on some sort of accrual of reputation points is only ever going to be of interest to those people who are going to be in a position to accrue those points on a regular basis. 

As Philb said, visitors whose question is obviously not up to standard quickly find themselves without a response. That doesn't mean that those whose question is above par should not hope for some sort of recognition of that fact. I will praise a poster for a well-explained, lucid question where due, and perhaps it's this kind of informal praising that should be promoted, rather than any formal reward system.

Regards

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## jewelsharma

Happy to see valued contributors taking time to ponder,  and collaborate on the effectiveness of the suggestion (exactly what one was hoping for). 

I concede that 'reputation points' may not be very enticing for an infrequent user and very few would bother. But suggesting 'reputation points' here was slightly more than that. On the face of it, the idea is very simple - Reward good & well framed Questions, and to encourage that practice. I hope all will concur that we should - and from the replies so far, there seems to be a general consensus for it.

What we may differ on is "how to" reward meritorious questions - whether 'reputation points' is the right approach or some other informal way of recognizing it would be better. So, why 'reputation points', simply because:the option is already there. it works well.'click a button' would be easier to institutionalize than asking all to write rewarding messageseasy for a 3rd party (not the Questioner or the Answerer) to acknowledge both the 1st & 2nd party (if one learns something new - they should thank both - ....how? .... simply by adding reputation ... easier & simpler to do)lastly, it shows balance. that the users appreciate and recognize that Qs & As are both important and essential to this forum. The very reason why this forum is.
I rest my case.  :Smilie: 

Warm regards,
Jewel

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## Kyle123

I do it anway

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## Philb1

There is one little thing I see, that especially for first time posters needs to be improved. It's the "You will be shot at dawn posts" from the moderators for not complying with some rule or other. Surely there's got to be a better worded solution for them. If you want people to return to your business, you don't usually threaten them lol

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## Tony Valko

@Philb1

I wish I could give you 10,000 rep points!  :Cool:

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## Pepe Le Mokko

> There is one little thing I see, that especially for first time posters needs to be improved. It's the "You will be shot at dawn posts" from the moderators for not complying with some rule or other. Surely there's got to be a better worded solution for them. If you want people to return to your business, you don't usually threaten them lol



Didn't know this forum was a business ? I 've never seen a penny in all those years ...

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## FDibbins

> There is one little thing I see, that especially for first time posters needs to be improved. It's the "You will be shot at dawn posts" from the moderators for not complying with some rule or other. Surely there's got to be a better worded solution for them. If you want people to return to your business, you don't usually threaten them lol



As mods, we have discussed this at length - new members getting slammed on their 1st post, and we have all agreed that for new members, the "shot at dawn" response needs to be lessened to "life imprisonmemt"...Just kidding.  

We all try to use guidance, more than enforcement for most over-sights (at least, Im sure most do).  I treat errors like code tags and titles from newbies with a light hand, often adding tags myself.

If this "tied to the post" reaction is still happening, please let myself or 1 of the other mods know  :Smilie:

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## Philb1

Looks like I touched on a nerve there  :EEK!: . 
I've yet to see the point of these rewards. They appear to be only "Brownie" points. I have seen names who joined relatively recently, posted half a million posts & got themselves to Guru+ status. Don't ask me who, as I don't remember
Now if someone tells me the "Reputation" points can be cashed in somewhere, I'm all for it & I'll take Tony up on his offer  :Wink:

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## Tony Valko

Maybe you can cash them in at your job?

Hey boss, come here and look at this.
See there? It says I'm a Guru.
It's on the internets so it must be true.

I deserve a $1000/week raise!  :Smilie:

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## FDibbins

@ Tony, the cheque is in the (e)mail  :Smilie: 

@ Phil, nope no nerve, just trying to set the record straight  :Smilie:   and regarding this...





> I've yet to see the point of these rewards. They appear to be only "Brownie" points. I have seen names who joined relatively recently, posted half a million posts & got themselves to Guru+ status. Don't ask me who, as I don't remember



Check the forum rules, they define what the requirements are for each level in the forum...




> The following is the revised level structure -
> - Registered User: New users
> - Forum Contributor: 60 days and 100 posts
> - Valued Forum Contributor : 120 days registered and 300 posts and 150 reputation points
> *- Forum Expert: 360 days registered, 1200 posts and 600 reputation points*
> - Forum Guru: promoted by voting from Forum Expert level
> - Forum Moderator: promoted from Forum Guru or Forum Expert level
> - Forum Administrator: promoted from Forum Moderator level



So, as you can see from that, you have to be a member for 360 days (pretty much a year), have 1200 posts and earned 600 reputation points to become an "expert".  From that level, you get chosen from Gurus, Mods and Admin to be invited to become a Guru

Hope that helps clear things up a bit?   :Smilie:

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## Philb1

I've just looked at my usercp page for the first time in ages & found I've got 82 Rep points, or is that going to be 10082 lol. I didn't know I had any until 2 mins ago.
As for my work, it's usually associated with big hammers & frequent use of extreme profanity. Needless to say, nothing to do with computers. I found I had a need to keep track of things in a business I wanted to get into, but wasn't sure if it would work. That's how I started playing with spreadsheets & developed an interest in it. I regard it as a hobby now.

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## Philb1

Thanks for the info Ford. At my current posting rate, I'll get there in the next life  :Wink:

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## FDibbins

When I saw this part in your thread...




> As for my work, it's usually associated with big hammers & frequent use of extreme profanity.



my 1st thought was...aahh another computor user.  Then you spoiled it by trying to deny it  :Frown:   :Wink:

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## MarvinP

Using Reddit my son can "Thumbs Up" a post and it moves up in status.  In Facebook you "Like" a post and the person gets a tickle that people like what they have posted.  In Twitter they have "favorite" the post and/or "retweet" it so it gets more publicity.  I'm a little stumped on why I would approve of a good question on the Excel Help Forum.  Isn't the idea to get help with a problem we are having with Excel?  Have a problem and get an answer.  It makes me a little dizzy to have a question and "hey", great question, who cares what the answer is!!??  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):   :EEK!:  

I gave myself a great question a few days ago.  It was about SumProduct.  I just couldn't figure out why it is defined with commas between the arrays but seemed to work with a times sign between the arrays.  Hey - great question.  :Confused:   Should I get reputation for asking such a deep question?  I really want the answer so I understand Excel better and it can do more work for me.

I must be getting old but this sounds like a elementary school that advocates not keeping score.  They do this so nobody will feel like they've lost.  I personally think it takes away the need to "count" or learn math..  I don't like that.  I like to follow rules and have scores.

Maybe the "Question - Answer" model isn't the best and we should use a Wiki type of model.  I'm not sure how that would work if everyone got to volunteer their own personal facts. We already have a section of Tips and Tricks and perhaps a good question could go in this forum.  In reality we can give reputation points for anything we want.  Maybe I'll try to give rep for a good question every now and then.  I just don't know how to determine what a good question is.  On the other hand I can determine if an answer does really solve a question.

I'm very happy with the model of "Problem then Answer" using this tool of Excel.  I like to be able to test the answer to see if it really does solve the problem.

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## :) Sixthsense :)

> I just couldn't figure out why it is defined with commas between the arrays but seemed to work with a *times sign* between the arrays



Just out of curiosity, the word *times sign* refers to?  :Confused:

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## FDibbins

I think in this sense "times" means * (multiply)

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## :) Sixthsense :)

> I think in this sense "times" means * (multiply)



Ford,

Thanks for confirming it, just wanted to make sure before sharing something on this topic  :Smilie:

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## MarvinP

Hi 6sense,

I found info about SumProduct and the difference between the "," and "*" at
http://exceluser.com/formulas/sumproduct_12.htm 
In his last two sentences he claims it looks like a bug.  I had to agree but now know a little more about coercion.

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## :) Sixthsense :)

Here what I observed in my analysis....



*A*
*B*

*1*
Data-1
Data-2

*2*
1
Text

*3*
Text
5




In General we know + used to Total the Numbers.

=SUM(A2+A3,B2:B3)

Will result #VALUE! Error

=SUM(A2:A3,B2:B3)

Will result 6

We are aware that SUM() will ignore Text Data.

Here + is not doing the task of the arguments.  Because each arguments will ignore text data from the range.

Like the + we know the * is used as multiplication as well as AND operator.



*A*
*B*

*1*
Data-1
Data-2

*2*
1
5

*3*
Text
10

*4*
10
10




Again using the multiplication operator inside the single argument of sumproduct

=SUMPRODUCT(A2:A4*B2:B4)

Again like the above in Sum it will result #VALUE! Error

=SUMPRODUCT(A2:A4,B2:B4)

Will result 105 as answer.




*A*
*B*

*1*
Data-1
Data-2

*2*
A
5

*3*
B
45

*4*
C
10

*5*
A
Te3xt

*6*
B
10

*7*
C
10




=SUMPRODUCT((A2:A7="B")*B2:B7)

Will result #VALUE! 

=SUMPRODUCT(1*(A2:A7="B"),B2:B7)

Will result 55

*Here is my observation:-*

It is good to use the Arguments, because it is taking care of Ignoring Text activity. In SUM & SUMPRODUCT it is defined to ignore text values from the argument range and the functionality may differ to other functions based on the error handlers and specialization

Using + or * inside an argument will not serve the purpose of individual arguments.  Using individual argument is the better approach from my point of view.

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## Alf

Perhaps this link could add a bit more info about SUMPRODUCT?

http://www.xldynamic.com/source/xld.SUMPRODUCT.html

As for adding rep for good questions I would say since every forum member have the power to give rep points for whatever reason they wish for should not that be sufficient?

Not too sure about this argument





> This would make the solutions-seekers feel more valued, and should promote an improvement in the quality of questions asked



as I feel that the majority of OP's after getting an answer "disappear" from the forum hardly aware that there exists a rep system if I consider the number of reps I get after solving a problem.

As many OP's declare that  "I'm not so familiar with Excel but a wish for a function or macro that calculates my spreadsheet, walks the dog and moves the lawn" I'm not sure how "improvement in quality" can be achieved especially as in order to ask a "good" question you need to know about 90 % of the answer.

Alf

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## AliGW

> Looks like I touched on a nerve there .



Been there ... done that (quite recently, actually)!!!  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

My issue with a discrete reward system for good questions (and this is from experience, by the way) is that it can encourage a culture of posing a question and then answering it oneself. On these boards, this could prevent the hints and tips sections from being properly used. I think it best to add rep points to good or well-formulated questions as one sees fit, rather than drawing attention to them in a different way.

Just my two-penneth ...  :Cool:

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## AlKey

I like the idea in principle. But I think that if any recognition to be given to OP should be for providing complete and accurate requirements. I believe this practice would encourage them to do that and in turn it would make life easier for those who provide answers as well as for OP.

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## Mad-Mizer

I've noticed that you sometimes need to massage the requirements out of people because they're often unsure about exactly they want.  I think that's because most people that *only* look for help are not developers and have been tasked with doing things outside of their comfort zones.  Because of that, it may be difficult for them to accurately describe, to ours and your all likings, exactly what is needed.  Because of this, I would be against repping good questions because there's it would be possible to negatively rep people when all they're trying to do is complete a task. 

My humble opinion.

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## jewelsharma

Hi Alf,
I made the suggestion, to add reputation for good questions, as I believe it is the right thing to do and encourage it (just as it is the right thing to add reputation for good solutions and should be encouraged as well). 

Let's just ponder over your words:




> As for adding rep for good questions I would say since every forum member have the power to give rep points for whatever reason they wish for should not that be sufficient?







> I feel that the majority of OP's after getting an answer "disappear" from the forum hardly aware that there exists a rep system if I consider the number of reps I get after solving a problem.



Isn't this telling us something already?

Now may I ask:why does this forum have the option of adding reputation at all? (I mean, really what is the need? What purpose does it serve?)why do we need to remind OPs & info-seekers to add reputation whenever they receive satisfactory responses?what's wrong with what you say OPs do more often than not - post a question, get an answer, move on & don't look back till you need to seek help again?
I'd be very happy to hear thoughts from yourself & other members on this.

Warm regards,
Jewel

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## Pepe Le Mokko

You might want to look at the Water Cooler forum. These kind of questions have been debated and re-debated and IMO not worth another thread.

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