New "User Power" Metric Live (thanks ChatGPT)

[MJ DeMarco]

Quick question MJ — what about changing the formula for User Power to something like:

Likes / sqrt(Posts)

Here’s the idea… we want a rating that takes into account both the QUALITY of contributions (that’s the ratio of likes to posts), AND the QUANTITY, in a single number.

If we have two users as follows:
U1: 100 likes, 2 posts

U2: 10000, 200 posts

Then the current formula says their User Power is equal, ie 50.

But intuitively we know this isn’t quite right, since the quantity of contributions isn’t taken into account.

The new formula takes it into account — it gives 70 U1 and 707 U2, which imo is much more accurate and reflective of both the QUALITY of their contribution AND the QUANTITY.

The way I came up with the formula is by reintroducing the quantity of likes by multiplying L/P * L. Then took the root of it to normalize it, leading to:

L/sqrt(P)

So here’s a few examples:

Kak — 8,992P 41,094L — 4.57 Current
MJ — 35,918P 150,591L — 4.19 Current
Andy — 16,252P 59,588L — 3.67 Current
Myself — 1,497P 4,063L — 2.71 current
Fox — 3,550P 23,945L — 6.74 current
BizyDad — 1,986P 6,689L — 3.37 current

If we order those from high to low, we get Fox, Kak, MJ, Andy, Bizy, Myself.

Here’s with the new formula:
Kak — 433
MJ — 795
Andy — 467
Myself — 105
Fox — 401
Bizy — 150

So the order becomes: MJ (the KING haha!), Andy, Kak, Fox, Bizy, Myself.

I feel this last order is a MUCH better reflection of contributions.

What do you think?

@MJ DeMarco

Good work. And not because I ranked higher.

Yea, I have to take a deeper dive into this but it seems more mathematically accurate. There might be an issue as Xenforo template language likely won't accept a Square Root in the equation.

 

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[Skroob]

Yea, I have to take a deeper dive into this but it seems more mathematically accurate. There might be an issue as Xenforo template language likely won't accept a Square Root in the equation.

There’s a way to approximate square roots arithmetically called Heron‘s method. I had my robot assistant write it in xenforo template syntax:

{{! Define a function to calculate the square root using the Heron's method }}
{{ function sqrtHeron(number) }}
    {{ set initialGuess = 1 }}
    {{ set newGuess = (initialGuess + number / initialGuess) / 2 }}
    {{ set tolerance = 0.00001 }}
    {{ while (abs(newGuess - initialGuess) > tolerance) }}
        {{ set initialGuess = newGuess }}
        {{ set newGuess = (initialGuess + number / initialGuess) / 2 }}
    {{ end }}
    {{ return newGuess }}
{{ end }}

{{! Call the sqrtHeron function with a parameter of 850 }}
{{ set result = sqrtHeron(850) }}
{{ result }} {# Output the result of the calculation #}

 

[BizyDad]

I got to use the interesting tag for the first time. I think that's a good addition.

If creating a forum leaderboard is the goal, then Black Dragon's proposal makes sense.

I would be disappointed if that's the way we went, but it's not my forum.

In my first conversation with Andy, he introduced me to the idea of the ratio. I've been doing the math the entire time I've been on the forum. It's a simple formula. Anyone 300% or higher is bringing value. 200% is solid. Under 100% and you're probably still figuring things out.

If we switched to the more accurate assessment of overall contribution, I feel like the contributions of someone like @heavy_industry would go unnoticed for longer.

And while I might get accused of coddling, I could see it being discouraging to people to feel like they're going to have to post for years before they get recognized. And still never catch up.

I mean, right now @Black_Dragon43 and @Muhammad Ibrahim are pretty close in score. But if you're on the forum for more than 2 seconds, you know who's bringing it.

Do we really need a "more accurate score" to tell us this?

If the point is just to get a quick sense of the value that the poster is bringing, isn't the current system better? Not looking to start a debate, just contributing my 2 pennies.

 

[heavy_industry]

I agree with @BizyDad
The current system is very simple and easy to understand by the users.

• When they post gold, number goes up.
• When they post shit, number goes down.

That's because the system literarily punishes you each and every time you post something. Which means that if you have to post a comment, it better be worth it.

It's the perfect way to discourage spam and have less posts but of higher quality.

Trying to find out the perfect formula is a waste of time. There are too many variables to be accounted for (including how active is the forum at any given time - how many users are there to interact with your posts).

---

But above all else, the whole point of the system is to encourage users to post high quality contributions.

Not to turn this into an elitist community of arrogant keyboard warriors.

The reputation system is just a proxy for estimating value. It's a great addon to the forum experience.

I don't give a shit about likes.

The only thing that matters at the end of the day:

• who have you helped?
• what have you learned from the fastlane forum?

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Scale has been modified again...

 

[Fox]

If we order those from high to low, we get Fox, Kak, MJ, Andy, Bizy, Myself.

...

So the order becomes: MJ (the KING haha!), Andy, Kak, Fox, Bizy, Myself.

@MJ DeMarco

Hey... let's not make any quick decisions around here guys. The current system seems just fine to me.

 

[Fox]

I agree with @BizyDad
The current system is very simple and easy to understand by the users.

• When they post gold, number goes up.
• When they post shit, number goes down.

That's because the system literarily punishes you each and every time you post something. Which means that if you have to post a comment, it better be worth it.

It's the perfect way to discourage spam and have less posts but of higher quality.

Trying to find out the perfect formula is a waste of time. There are too many variables to be accounted for (including how active is the forum at any given time - how many users are there to interact with your posts).

---

But above all else, the whole point of the system is to encourage users to post high quality contributions.

Not to turn this into an elitist community of arrogant keyboard warriors.

The reputation system is just a proxy for estimating value. It's a great addon to the forum experience.

I don't give a shit about likes.

The only thing that matters at the end of the day:

• who have you helped?
• what have you learned from the fastlane forum?

100%.

Any system is going to be open to being gamed. But at the end of the day it’s just a number and only a rough guide.

Anyone going around chasing a few extra points is already massively off track. It’s just lame and defeats the whole point of a forum.

And all the top posters know this already. Guys like Andy and Kak aren’t chasing the likes - they are just doing what they do best.

 

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