How reputation works
A user’s reputation reflects feedback on messages posted in the forum. Post score and author reputation follow different rules.
Votes on messages
- Each +1 vote on a post adds +1 to the visible message score.
- Each −1 vote on a post subtracts 1 from the message score.
- You cannot vote on your own messages.
Author reputation
- A +1 vote on a post gives the author +0.2 reputation points (current value set by administrators).
- A −1 vote on a post removes 0.2 reputation points from the author.
- The post vote is always recorded; if you have already reached the cap toward that author, the author’s reputation does not change further.
Per-pair limit
Each user can influence another author’s reputation by at most ±2 points every 30 days, summing all votes on their messages in any discussion.
Value shown in the badge
Internal reputation can have decimals (e.g. 1.8), but the badge shows the value truncated toward zero: 1.99 → 1, −1.99 → −1, 0.99 → 0.
Legacy accounts (ForumFree)
For imported accounts, historical likes found in migration are added to modern votes (the value can also be negative). Example: 0 modern votes and 10 historical likes → reputation 10; 0 votes and −3 likes → reputation −3.
New accounts
Users registered for less than 7 days and with fewer than 3 approved messages cannot yet vote, use the shoutbox, send private messages, report content or bump discussions.