Post Stats Posts, Stars. Flags ... W? .... K?

Okay, this might be a newbie questio but .....

What are the W and K stats under a person's avatar?

reply to post by ThreeDeuce


Wats is a system that measures your contribution level while karma measures the contribution level of members who reply to your threads. the more threads you make, the lower your karma gets. the more posts/stars/flags you get, the higher your WATS will be. I am not sure on the formula's though.

hope that helps.

reply to post by ugie1028

the more threads you make, the lower your karma gets. the more posts/stars/flags you get, the higher your WATS will be.

I don't think so..Karma seems to increase with stars..
Maybe a mod can answer because this comes up all the time..
Probably been answered many time also..

reply to post by backinblack


Its possibly based on stars * reply to thread ratio or something like that.

I would like a definite answer to that as well.

The W stands for Wat's index, The K stands for karma points..

It is basically a star to post , star to flag ratio system..

On Karma; this comes from observation.
Every newcomer had a "k" of 20 on their first post, which drops to 10 on their second, and gradually drops to 1 by their twentieth post. So there is obviously a "divide by number of posts" element.
Stars and flags boost the number up again. I don't know the formula, but, e.g. someone with two posts and one star has a "k" of 15 instead of 10.

reply to post by DISRAELI


Karma is based on your star average per post, and it's possible staff applause also influences it, though I am not 100% certain about applause having an effect.

reply to post by DISRAELI


Here's an explanation from SO that some may find really helpful too:

It's not real complicated.

Karma is influenced most by a stars-to-post ratio, with a minor influence from flags.

WATS is influenced most by a flag-to-post ratio, with a minor influence from stars and post-count.

Long term members with a high number of well-flagged threads will achieve a high WATS number -- or -- mid-term members with highly-flagged threads will also receive a high WATS number. It reflects a ranking of those who start quality threads (mostly).

Short term members who create replies that earn stars may achieve a high KARMA number -- or -- those long term members who focus more on adding to existing threads and are starred as a result, will also achieve a high KARMA number. It reflects a ranking of those who add quality to existing threads.

(Source)

In reply to Proto, I could be wrong but I think I can remember SO saying a while ago that applauses aren't taken into account for some reason as well.

reply to post by Rising Against


If memory serves some people wanted an applause based WATS system to prevent people from gaming the statistics.

However it was feared by some members that Staff Members might be partial to certain members and that too might lead to gaming the statistics.

As someone with some of the highest stats on the site I can honestly tell you they mean little to nothing in the eyes of opponents in a heated debate.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Yeah, I think I can remember seeing a couple of threads and posts asking for a system like this a while ago as well to be honest. And personally I actually like the idea of seeing who has the highest applause rating (or at least an APPLAUSE - WATS based system) – Applauses are after all a system to award quality contributions, similar to but of more significance than the Star and Flag system.

So yeah, I think It can only be a good system really, and if anything, I would imagine, It would only promote quality contributions even more. For example those with less applauses would work harder to post something of worth in the hope of receiving more of them, in turn climbing higher up the ranks and so on... As the theory goes anyway..

Just my opinion of course but I think a system such as this can only do some good really.

As someone with some of the highest stats on the site I can honestly tell you they mean little to nothing in the eyes of opponents in a heated debate.

As It should be.

reply to post by Rising Against


All I can say is I was pretty bummed when the site stripped me of my hard earned "God Like Wisdom".

I liked the old badge system and how applause factored into it.

From the "This One is Aware" up the ladder all the way to "God Like Wisdom" you could see right off in the members Avatar how much applause they were getting by staff.

Stars and Flags are great but it's even nicer still when the Staff Recognizes your post as being exceptional.

We need a way to "negative flag" a user's post.

I get upset at the use of the flag and star system on ATS.

If someone brings up a controversial subject,
one of the first replies will be something to the tune of:
"You're an idiot, there's no way that exists"
(or some other random refutation).

These contrary replies are usually Uber-Starred by other contraries.

The act of giving stars, Just Because It's the Same View As You,
is just plain wrong......

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Stars need to be given for complete and concise threads and replies.
I see the absolute worst replies gaining the most stars.

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Disclaimer: I am not writing this because I am concerned that
I am not getting enough stars; I just want to fix ATS.
And this is a major flaw that I see in the system
(Is there a better forum to post this in?)

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I also would like to anti-flag rude and unconstructive posts.

I think rude and "worthless" posts should detract from your Watts, and Karma.
(Karma Especially)

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reply to post by ThreeDeuce


The content on ATS is user generated and other than some basic manners rules it is user moderated.

There is a rule against one line posts but this is ignored often for many good reasons.

That said Starring something just because you agree or like the post is the entire idea!

If as a community we decided to only star well thought out intelligent replies or posts hat is our prerogative. I use a star and view stars as a kind of agreement rating. When someone says something and there are a lot of stars it gives me an idea of how many agree.

An anti flag would be too hard to administer and counterproductive. By simply not flagging a post you are helping to doom it to oblivion where it will not be seen. I wish people would flag more than they do. I have made several posts that just don't get flagged even though I get responses saying it was a good post. If you like it flag it and it will be seen, if not then don't flag it and it will disappear. Unless of course many others flag it, then who are you to judge what others like?

What everyone else has said really