REP:etition | The reputation fallacy

Our reputation precedes us everywhere we go and if it doesn't, our first impressions will begin to create one for us. We are told that we should develop and keep a good reputation and surround ourselves with others that are also held in high esteem. This makes sense since a good reputation opens doors and gets buy-in to ideas, even before they are presented. With a good reputation, people are willing to listen.

A bad reputation however, and ears get closed but, mouths open wide. Without hearing a word, a bad reputation can be met with incredible amounts of hostility. In some US universities recently, I have heard reports that some potentially very intelligent speakers with controversial views were disinvited, barricaded out and attacked. Met with outrage, before they even spoke.

Aren't universities the place for controversial views to be heard and considered? Things have definitely changed. I wonder what the likes of Plato and Aristotle would say about such developments in discussion. Or lack of discussion. Do they sit there 2500 years later and say to each other, "All our hard work..."?

Anyway, I digress. Reputation. It is built from the opinions of others based on how they interpret what they know about you. What you say, how you dress, what you look like, your car, shoes... It is basically just a judgement of perceived character traits and material items found acceptable or not that is held in the mind of the person judging. In fact, they need not know anything firsthand about you at all, they could have heard about you from someone else who could have installed the judgement about you, in them, based on their own views. Pretty awesome.

So, this important reputation, possibly based on very little or not even correct information can help a person get acceptance without actually having to be there. Acceptance via proxy. Cool. Of course, to maintain the level of acceptance one must constantly live up to the expectations the reputation implies. And, because it is born from constantly changing opinions and desires, it is a very finicky position indeed. One small misstep can lead to a large dent in reputation.

To make matters worse, there are mixed signals being sent out in regards to this. 'Be yourself, who cares what others think, accept yourself for who you are' kinds of statements are thrown around contradicting the ones that support reputation. Well unless, who you truly are and will always be is what everyone unbendingly accepts and always will.

So be myself and risk my reputation or be what people want me to be and have a good reputation but massive internal conflicts? Hmmm. Decisions, decisions. The problem is that as reputation has value in the eyes of the group, the group rewards it with attention and various offerings. This means that in order to have many of the enjoyable things in life, you need people to like you. Well, like is not the right word, respect might be a better fit.

But, as they say, respect is earned. Which implies one has to do something to get it. What that something is is generally either what the group finds valuable or, be so brilliant at something that no matter how uncomfortable the group is with you, they have to give you credit. Credit equals some kind of currency to spend, right?

One path is easier day to day but is most likely leading to a lifetime of conflicts inside and out, the other can be amazingly difficult and can consume several lifetimes if given the opportunity. The second is also more likely to connect with passions and people that will support to bring out the best version of you and development of ideas possible. The first is likely to get fifteen minutes of fame before being tossed out the window.

The second also signals to the group, 'I will do what I do regardless of you'.

Respect.

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Why this??

Now, that was a repost article from 9 months ago. Interestingly, in the comment section @denmarkguy mentioned the coming arrival of "communities". Soon, @denmarkguy, soon. :)

At the time of writing, I had a reputation of 65, today, it clicked over to 70. Nine months to go five positions - it sounds like a long time doesn't it?

For the newbies, reputation is affected by a few things, vesting interests of the voter, the power they vote with and their own reputation. If the voter has a higher rep than the votee, it has more affect on the reputation score. So, me voting on a 25 Rep at 100 percent will bump them up to about 35, considering my own reputation and vesting power. But, that 25 rep voting on me, has close to zero impact on my own reputation score.

This also works with flags. Getting flagged by a highly vested, high reputation user, will obliterate smaller users reputation. This is probably why smaller users don't flag so often. Fear.

It used to be that one could kind of trust somewhat that the reputation of a user indicated whether the user was likely to be quality or an older user but, this has changed to some degree in recent times. Vote buying and delegation means that some users have been able to buy their reputation scores without needing anyone to actually support their content. Of course, when you get into the high 60s and the 70s, it is unlikely they bought so many votes to go so far.

But, it surprises me at times to see content from users in the high 50s and early 60s that would have very little chance to get voted up if it wasn't for the bid bots. Well, it surprises me at first until I remember about the bid bots. I haven't used them except trialing @randowhale when it first began, so they don't immediately come to mind.

This makes the reputation score a lot less valuable than perhaps it once was but, I know for some users like my brother @galenkp, he enjoys seeing it click over occasionally, even though he knows it is relatively arbitrary. I am the same. Even though it may not matter to anyone else, for me personally, it is an indicator of my progress and hopefully, represents that my work is of a standard deserving the reputation. Again, it may not matter to anyone else.

Today, I took this image on my phone from @penguinpablo's steemnow.com:

What made it click over to 70 was a vote on a comment I made on someone else's post. @acidyo's. It is kind of cool that it wasn't on my own content that pushed it over and kind of cool that he was the one to vote as he has done so much for me on this platform over the last few months and has given me a chance to help a range of people I wouldn't have been able to help otherwise.

I have talked before of invested people being community nodes that spiral outwards to find and help other people invest. @acidyo pretty much epitomises the concept, both in how he invests himself into Steem and, helps others do the same. So, thank you again @acidyo, I owe you a lot and I hope one day I can buy you a drink sometime. Should I do a 'crush video' on Dtube? :P

Anyway, I am pretty sure no one has read this far but, I am also thankful to everyone who has supported me and been part of this whole Steemit adventure. There are so many great people here at Steemit and there is still so far to go, we are just getting rolling.

Going forward from this point, I am looking to continue increasing my Steem Power so that I can build my own node and help others grow also and of course, do all I can to make sure that my content is at a level I am happy with and hopefully something you can enjoy and find value in. Yes, the reputation may be an indicator for you, but I am the final check, no matter the score.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]