“is on a distinguished road”
“is off the scale”

Comes from mouse over on the little green square to the right side of all profiles.
What does it mean?

What are you talking about?

What he said

No, I see what he means. There's a little green dot right of the members name in their profile and when you hover your mouse they come up.

Maybe it's like an indicator to who's marked and who is not? Like who to look out for...

it appears to correlate to when you registered but not your post count. correlation /= causation, so i dunno.

http://sciforums.com/images/reputation/reputation_pos.gif
reputation/reputation_pos.gif
reputation possition! reputation? :confused:
must be some inactive member rating system

Ahh, I have seen the green square now. Now I understand what you are talking about.

Dreamwalker being the only one here so far that “is on a distinguished road”

Ponders the meaning of that. Mine changed at about post 20 I think.
a new poster is “is on a distinguished road” then for some reason it gets changed.

Yay, I'm "on a distinguished road"... but which road is it?

hehe, I'm "off the scale" :D
but I weight only 55kg

wow... you're light....

I guess 6,024 posts carries a diff. type of weight, eh?

yeah, must be
Sciforums weight system
but 751 aint that small either, so I wonder...

Holy (Insert Object)!!!!

752! Golly Gosh, My Oh My...

I didn't even notice it!
Can I have a party when I get to 1000? (or surgery to remove my fingers and stop writting rubbish?)


*waves frantically*

Could someone very intelligent and omniscient explain this to us?

I think I already have made a good guess.
It's not a fully activated sciforums member' ranking system that does the ranking by some misterious laws (for which I'd like an explanation also)

yes, yes... *nods* that explanation is what I was refering to...


oh, looky here... 753... only 247 to go.

(note the use of the word "only"...)

13 frantic posting days should do the trick

I think I'll agree with avatar *storm clouds gather* on this one.

It's either the early form of a ranking system or my theory; a tolerant system.

hm.............. no. There's only so much rubbish one can blurt out...
or not....
I may be living proof of the oposite.

my theory; a tolerant system.
you mean it tolerates members until they're "waaaaaayyyy off the scale"?! :eek: :confused:

Well...it may have been put in such an out of place area so that us normies wouldn't find it and the mods can see a post, look in their profile and see what their current status is. Basically whether they're in favour or have been marked for potential disiplinary actions...

But this theory can only be applied if this is a work in progress (the square do da)

Anyway, that square is EVIL!

Yes...... it's got Green Eyes.... *wooooo*

//Avatar takes his sword to defend himself
you're "off the scale" too, mate ;) /muhahahaaa

it's a shame that there are only 2 varieties... half the fun just goes...

And they're both kind of good too

hmmmmm.... are they?

Off the scale meaning that we're so amazing we're too cool to register.

And walking the road was it? We'll, you're getting to our place in time

Shame on Norval for posting this thread, wasn't that green thingie suppose to be a rating system that most or only half baked didn't notice?
:D

Back to the green square, I can't find what you are talking about.

LOL'
ILikeSalt, go to someones profile and on the far right is a very tiny green square, put your mouse over it to see what it reads.

There seems to be a “pattern” is all I am gonna say for now. Sticks tongue firmly in cheek and grins.

Off the scale meaning that we're so amazing we're too cool to register.


It said you were off the scale. Maybe it simply means that you should get back on the scale?

My version puts me in a better light...so it is so!

Check Porfiry's square, he's off the scale. I would have thought it referred to post count, but with craterchains being tagged so early maybe it is a bullshit meter. Last time I checked I was still on a distinguished path. :)

LOL, I see. That is hilarious

It says I'm off the scale... whatever that means...

It would be nice if someone in the know would fill us in. Seems like a conspiracy of some sort. Ignore the green square... It means nothing... Sleep.... Sleep...

I can no longer sleep at nights. I need to unlock the mystery of the secret square...in fact, I'm gonna PM someone

Arch Rival is "off the scale" at 48 posts.
Any one else seeing a "pattern" in the designators?

No sorry, I fail to see a pattern. Perhaps you can explain?

"chuckles" ,,,, I am sure the powers that be will explain it all in their own good time.

I've just gotten a reply rom Porfiry and he says that at the moment it means absolutly nothing.

THis could either be the truth (which is logical as it doesn't appear to do anything) or it's a government cover-up...DUN DUN DUN!

If Porfiry wants to keep this quiet for now and let the suspense rise, who am I to dull the effect by posting what I have discovered? Go Porfiry!

Oh no, Craterchains has fallen... He is now part of the alien conspiracy... Did it hurt? :p

Seriously man, if you know, show...

I've just gotten a reply rom Porfiry and he says that at the moment it means absolutly nothing.

THis could either be the truth (which is logical as it doesn't appear to do anything) or it's a government cover-up...DUN DUN DUN!

It is official now:
You have been spending too much time in pseudoscience...

maybe it's just something; competely random... just to make us all waste time and ponder about it, discussing stupid theories while someone laughs at our pathetic attempts.


Oh wait, no. That's "earth". Can you hear God laugh?

It is official now:
You have been spending too much time in pseudoscience...

I don't think I've EVER been inside of Pseudoscience...too many trolls.

I don't think I've EVER been inside of Pseudoscience...too many trolls.


yes, the cesspool is much better actually.

lol....... AAAAAACtually.....

I'm gonna PM someone

what, has he turned into some sort of doomsday device now?

sorry.

Hey;
It’s not what you know or don’t know, but what you know that isn’t so, that will hurt you.

I honestly don’t KNOW what it means. What do we really KNOW about the little green square?
!. We are all on a distinguished road when we join.
2. At some time, which appears to be variable, it changes to say off the scale.
3. Porfiry’s answer to Thor.

Anything else we KNOW for sure?

4. Its green
5. its a square

+ I think that it is of an alien intelligence origin :eek:

i checked on someone who joined in july last year and who hasnt posted anything to see what they had, and they were 'off the scale', after posting nothing. so it cant be about post count, since none of them had posted anything.
i then looked at the most recent joiners and found: they were on the distinguished road.
i found that on page 178 is the first 'off the scale' mark and before that it is all 'distinguisehd road'
so therefore:
the green square is a system to moniter either:
-the time you have been here (but i think this is least likely)
- or.... your position on the members list. as a metaphorical road , you start at the beginning (like the golden brick road) and that is the distinguished road. you then go off the scale when you reach past a certain point. however, the system was probably not completed since its conception would have been at the beginning of sciforums. as there probably werent that many people here at the very start there were probably not enough people to make up enough pages (a long enough road) to implement such a plan.
bow.

am i right?

It does not look like you are right. There are people on the first page (like Wet1) who are still on a distinguished road.

It could be their current active status. Wet1 hasn't been seen in a while. So his Post Per Day count is low. Maybe it's that?

But last time I looked, even Jadedflower was on the road and she has a very high post per day count.

*goes back to drawing board*

by the way, the people on the first page who arent off the scale are people who ive never seen post.
mybe it is.... just like an advancement thing. the people round jadedflower are mainly off the scale so maybe they are more off the scale than jadedflower, so therefore by comparison she is on the road.

before i continue, may i ask if anyones knows whether there IS an actual purpose to this or are we just wasting our time?

Can you give some examples of the people you've never seen post? I may have done.

Oh NO, The world is gonna end, REVENGE OF THE GREEN square shaped PEOPLE.

oo just go on the members list and look at the end few pages theres tons of em. as for the ones in the post two up from here *looks up* there is:
-actually now i look quite a few people round jadedflower i have not seen. e.g. sg-n, (hed be good for your collective)
cactus jack (rip off name)
esp
and some others. but frankly i cant remember most people ive seen post theres too many.

The ones you've said were around about six - nine months ago...uhm...

wot that last posted?
then i may be right.
someone tell me......

I am so confused

yes.
blublublblub

I think we should try to assimilate the little green square. It has so much influence.

lol go on then i shall watch from here.
its quite hard
actually if you had porfiry then he could change it to the 'collective' avatar.

any more ideas about this green square?

Anybody ever hear of the military of the usa assigning SPIN's to the personnel?
It’s a form of psychological identifier.

nope, never.
explain more please?

No sorry, never heard of it.
Would you explain a bit?

I am still on the road, considering
that I propagate WESdom all the time
that seems somewhat inappropriate.

hey i said that.
303030303030303030303030303030303030303030303030

Well, I said so too.
Nothing we can do about it.
If you would be wes, this
would not have happened. ;)

Anyway, please explain Norval,
there are so many SPIN things on the net,
I cannot find that which you mentioned.

yes it would, now delete thy post, you wuss.

I am drunk (as if it mattered) and I have solved the case :cool:
all hail the mighty Avatar :m:

I ran a vBulletin demo from their main site to check out admin options and look what is under user reputation options[b]

Reputation Undefined
If you have any user gain a reputation that exceeds your lowest negative level, then this phrase will be used for them. If you do not wish to use this phrase, make sure you set a negative reputation that is larger than the largest score (negative) that a user on your forum has.
writable field > default> [b][is off the scale]

Yehaw! Great Avatar

I bow down to thee, mighty Avatar.
You have solved the problem that caused
us so many sleepless nights.

huh?
i am silly right now (as if i mattered)

well done.
just dont be a wuss ok?
part form that:
"respect"

As I said, “It’s a form of psychological identifier.”

Now why would Porfiry add another designator and actually turn it on? And also that it does change proves that someone changes it.

Avatar discovered what I did about the board set up. NOW the cat is out of the bag, good going Avatar. Hands yah a brewski. “cheers”

FOCLMAO

Reputation Undefined
If you have any user gain a reputation that exceeds your lowest negative level, then this phrase will be used for them. If you do not wish to use this phrase, make sure you set a negative reputation that is larger than the largest score (negative) that a user on your forum has.
writable field > default> [is off the scale]


The next question that should be asked is what does the lowest negative level signify or identify?
:D

Avatar, you'v told us what the thing is...but what the hell does that mean here!?

it means a secret government
a secret plot under your name
- a pathetic fool you walk on strings
and not see the evel souleater
---
it's crazy, it's mikeay
under the name of Porfiry
MUHAHAHAAAAAAAAA

nevermind ones drunken sanity

exactly how pissed are you?

Much like a cheap hooker, he's faking it.

Anyway, as long as both Avatar and I are on the same thing as porfiry...we're okay.

The next question that should be asked is what does the lowest negative level signify or identify?

That should be obvious. I feel sorry for your friend who went off the scale at 48 posts. :p Do you think it's a message?

i ntell you- it's as secret plot tp get rid of us: both you and me and also the real Porfiry
when the clock turns midnight we all just fade away
on a Vogan starship
to cosmic bermund's trilogy angle

hey, noones posting here anymore.
30303030303030303030303030303030
im gettin wicked at that.

Porfiry himself is Off The Scale...maybe that's to throw us all off...

i still dont understand what the hell it is.
im a fool

As Avatar puts it, it's a member reputation meter. This could mean a multitude of things.

- It monitors member tolerence for mods (my theory)
- It shows a relationship between posts and activity
- It shows how valued the member is to the community as a whole
- It shows how valued the member is to Porfiry
- Insert other paranoid explanation

so you dont have a clue?
i go mcLOL

I have many clues...just nothing that is concrete

so you havent got the faintest idea then
(rephrased)

I have many ideas...just nothing concrete

ditto what i said above

If you have any ideas, please share them

i said my idea, and i think its the best :D

30303030303030303030303030303030303030303030303030

One has to wonder if Porfiry even knew that this little green square was doing turned on? Was he even aware of it? Was anyone else aware of it before me?

I find the lack of moderator posts on this thread interesting. And, not even a post from Porfiry?

Maybe someone else was using it?

Just thinking.

Anyway, we should give it a use. This little green square is nice. It is Karma :D

Nah, can't be Karma. Look at all the bad people 'On a Distinguished Road'.

Like who? And how are you defining bad?

You know that you're just trying to explain how you, yourself, departed from the distinguished road. :p

I'd guess that as time goes on, whatever it is that cause one to fall from the path is likely to happen to everyone sooner or later. So at almost 6000 posts it's not necessarily bad that you're off the scale. It's people who are already off the scale at 48 posts that should worry.

I'm not worried about being 'Off the Scale'. If you look at Porfiry, he is also Off the Scale.

And bad...just annoying people

The karma is not complete here. There are only two possible karmas.
Perhaps it is not Karma but Dogma?

Hehehe My Karma ran over your Dogma....old but I like it

lol i havent heard that one before..
nope
theres no hidden sentences anywhere.

Haha now he´s checking everywhere. Chaos rules and Unsound follows.

The little green square is vBulletin's "reputation" feature. It can be turned on by the administration and members or groups of members can be given the power to "vote" on posts. Quality posts get a positive vote, negative posts get a negative vote.

The member can then have multiple ratings (pos/neg) assigned by the administration and viewable by the rest of the members.

Apparently its not activated here a sciforums and perhaps for good reason. Still, if done right, I think that the moderators could use it to assign "karma" points to members based on the amount of moderation their posts require, warnings received for rules violations/bendings, quality posts and threads created, etc. If the general membership gets the ability to "rate" each other, the feature can be quite abused, however. Cliques form to "gang up" on other members, etc.

SkinWalker, thank you for adding more depth into the current explaination. But how do you go about deciphering the only two reputations we've found; Off the Scale and On a Distinguished Path?

I think I edited after you posted, but because its not activated, I think vBulletin might have assigned some default "points" or perhaps Porfiry or a mod gave some. "Off the scale" isn't a default vBulletin rating as far as I can tell, but "on the road..." is.

Yeah, I think you did edit before I replied...

If what you are suggestion is correct then I think it would be a great feature to include. But as you said, only if implemented correctly. I have to agree that moderators should be able to do so but not your average member. Maybe some of the elder members who have been here a while can do so (this would exclude me...I mean come on, how much crap have you seen me spill here!) too. This way an accurate assessment can be made of different members.

Also, this could be used by the members as they can see if they need to improve as a member to the overall community. I'm sure if my little green box said 'Hey chump, fly straight or yer out' then I think I would.

Haha now he´s checking everywhere. Chaos rules and Unsound follows.


i didnt REALLY check for hidden sentences you know.
i am no sheep.


this vBulletin thing sounds great, but whats so bad about implementing it?

Logic, this is one of the pitfalls...

If the general membership gets the ability to "rate" each other, the feature can be quite abused, however. Cliques form to "gang up" on other members, etc.

oooooo
why not have it restricited to the mods and admin??
then
and isnt it only a rating, it doesnt affect the actual staus does it?

And if you read you'd see this...

I have to agree that moderators should be able to do so but not your average member. Maybe some of the elder members who have been here a while can do so (this would exclude me...I mean come on, how much crap have you seen me spill here!) too.

i did, but i thought id raise the whole wesstion again.
blah, i mean question.
dam, q is too near w for comfort.

Yes, and the SSSSS key always gets stuck doesn´t it?


here! here!

here! here!

nah, maybe thats just the .... sticky substance coating the keyboard
(courtesy of HIGNFY)

Apparently its not activated here a sciforums and perhaps for good reason.

Skinny, there are two settings 1) OFF the Scale, 2) On a Distinguisted Road. If there are two settings, then it is turned on.
Your statement is an out right lie.
I think there are a lot of people other than just myself that are sick of your lies and twisting statements. Many can see what you are really like now.
:D

...bleh...

It obviously gets changed by someone at some time.
Who does the changing and why?

Meteor-wielding aliens?

Dum dum, Dum dum, Dum dum, LOL

Would it be possible to change the color to blue?

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo greeen is now the established colour you non-conformer!
it also reminds me of ET, and thus keeps the mysterious possiblity of it being an outer space being thats lives in our forums, and survives by feeding off our text...!!!!!!!
btw, by 53 i will know everyyyyyyyyything (hopefully)

i say we change it to red, cos then we can blame the filthy commies for everything :D

dam you communism rules
CAPILALIST BASTARD!!!
wait.... im a capilalist?! ARGHARHAGR.

i say change it to black then we can blame the (insert extremely offensive term for black people) 's.
(not really a racsist, just taking the piss)

Black? you mean, like a... gothic shadow government? :eek:

Beware, a black square is the beginning of gothic rule...

yes.




it is.





:confused:

maybe if we changed it to dark red, almost black really we could have a secret government made up of gothic comunists

Yeah, with a resurrected Lenin. His corps looks so gothic in that glass coffin
lying around in his mausoleum. :D
He would be the perfect goth-undead-communist leader.

he couldnt be undead, he IS dead.
how about
(and he wasnt a goth)
DAVE OF THE DEAD!!!! or dracula.....
woohoo, zombies united. or vampires united

Tsk, tsk, people, let the guy earn a living. Personally, I hate advertising and hope that one day any form of unsolicited advertising will be a crime. But that is my opinion. Porfiry has his own reasons for what he is doing and how he is doing it. Ideally of course would be an add free site with a page listing the contributors and or donators.

How about using the "Little Green Square" as an indicator of a contributor of 5 dollars or more per year being "A Sciforums Supporter" :) and non contributors could be "Freeloading"? :D

Not a good suggestion?

Oh well I tried, but what is the little green square for Porfiry?
Who changes it and when, and why?

After having sent Porfiry a private message I have gotten no response.


why?

ask Porfiry..

Well Porfiry? :m:

It obviously gets changed by someone at some time.
Who does the changing and why?

It looks like everyone older than 170 days is "Off the Scale", and everyone younger is "On a distingushed road"
Look here (http://www.sciforums.com/memberlist.php?do=getall&page=160&ltr=&pp=50&order=asc&postslower=0&postsupper=0&sort=joindate), check the members at the top and bottom of the page, find the cutoff.

(This link will be out of date in a day or two)

Doesn't quite work. There was mention made of some who were tagged after just a few posts. Unless those few posts were made over a 170 day period...

From the vBulletin documentation (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/vboptions_reputation).
It is not enabled on SciForums.

:m: Peace.

Unless those few posts were made over a 170 day period...

Sounds right to me. I, for example, made a few posts when first registered, then disappeared for some time.

Nexus is correctomundo, many have changed far in advance of 170 days. The varriable indicates someone is doing it. And Goofyfish is incorrect in saying that it is not turned on as it does change and that means that it is turned on or all would be the same.

many have changed far in advance of 170 days
Example?
I can't find anyone currently younger than 170 days who is tagged as "Off the scale", or anyone older than 170 days who is "On a distinguished road".

Perhaps things were different in the past (someone playing with the feature?)

You're right. Both Craterchains and Arch Rival have been here longer than 170 days. Both of these were the examples used earlier in this thread. Seems like you've solved the mystery then.

Example?
I can't find anyone currently younger than 170 days who is tagged as "Off the scale", or anyone older than 170 days who is "On a distinguished road".

Perhaps things were different in the past (someone playing with the feature?)
actually zarky is way older than 170 days (about 2 1/4 years roughly) and is on a distinguished road so that shoots that theory down

edit to add- thats zarkov btw

Maybe Potfry didn't know someone was tagging the posters or maybe Potfry is the one doing the tagging.
:D

I think the green square has something to with the posts per day count. 1 or more = on path, 1 or less = off path

I actually think it does nothing. And whatever it did, it was shut off because no longer see anything displayed...

Dreamwalker, I find with Netscape the 'off the scale' or 'distinguished road' does not display but with Internet Explorer it does display.
Try a different browser.

cyberia, you have the number one included in both your suggestions where as the two categories would be mutually exclusive.
:D

Yeah, you are right. IE still shows the messages of the little green square.

it's the ultimate mystery

I bet it is some kind of mind control device :eek:

Its a disabled ranking system. I have seen them in use on other boards. Basically you earn points and your amount of green dots go up. A user can give or take away points from another user if they like/dislike his/her post. If you get many points you get green dots, if people do not like your posts you get red dots.

Its a meaningless system which doesn't belong here.

Dreamwalker, do you honestly think a tiny green square could control humans?

Mr Lard, if it is a ranking system as you suggest, then it is active because there are changes in rank, maybe some systems allow participants access to changing another’s rank but that does not seem to be the case with this ranking system of "off the scale or distinguished road". Obviously the rankings are of two distinctly different things.
:D

Dreamwalker, do you honestly think a tiny green square could control humans?


I don´t know, at least it commands their attention. :D

"http://sciforums.com/images/reputation/reputation_pos.gif"

its a reputation scale, probably porfiry has not activated this system and thus we all have one dot.

Yes, we discovered this about 5 pages ago.

actually zarky is way older than 170 days (about 2 1/4 years roughly) and is on a distinguished road so that shoots that theory down

edit to add- thats zarkov btw

True. I wonder if this thread (http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=37969) has anything to do with it?

Oddly, Zarkov also does not show up on the members list (http://www.sciforums.com/memberlist.php?&order=ASC&sort=username&pp=50&ltr=Z).

He was banished, it happens, the only way to do it is to piss off the administrator.

Thor,

then why are you people still ranting on about it???

Lol, because the little green square is soooooo misterious :D

You find a vestige software program left over from the vbullitin engine this forum is based off, mysteries?

Me? No, not really. But I think it is somewhat funny to see people making guesses about it when the real purpose was already revealed. Or do I sound serious on this subject?

But, who activated it and was using it? Now it seems to be deactivated, or not being used anymore?

MOOOooohhhaaaaaaa ha ha ha ha

It was never activated. The green square was an icon that was
not removed when Porfiry upgraded to the newer vBulletin.

:m: Peace.

Goofyfish they supposedly figured this out 5 pages ago, or did you also find it to difficult reading though all this weird crap?

Weird crap? You have the nerve to call this weird crap?
And, I do have to agree. LOL

There have been some very comical denials about it, and some fanciful detractors said about it, and the speculation continues. It’s rather comical that no one else, even those that had been here for years, even knew about it.

http://sciforums.com/images/reputation/reputation_pos.gif

And now I am back to being on a distinguished road?!?!?!?

FOCL

I'm 'off the scale', if you will.

And now I am back to being on a distinguished road?!?!?!?
FOCL

Bizzarre! Perhaps someone's toying with you :bugeye:

Is that the best they can do for toys?
:D