What does the apple next to my name mean?

The cider press is where potentially contentious issues are discussed. By making the number apples you have earned critical to access then you limit the cider press to those who have proven they can make valuable contibutions and respect the house rules. For the moderators this means they need to intervene less often and the boards as a whole stay friendly.

Alternatives - based on membership date perhaps, or based on number of posts - do not really fulfil the same functions.

I know the last post on this thread was years ago, and I remember reading parts of it back then, but I just wanted to say I enjoyed reading it.

Sometimes I wish there was a “like” button for the whole thread. Or is there?

Hmmm, I don't think there's a "like" for a whole thread, but I think you can give it a piece of pie? Here, I'll give you a piece and you can experiment with it if you like. Another thing you could do is give it a "flag" (down at the bottom of the replies are words that say "Want to flag this thread for more attention? Grant up to ___ flag(s):"). You can give as many flags as you have apples. It doesn't use up your apples, your apples just determine how many flags you have, if that makes sense...

Flags don’t cost apples? I have been afraid to use them. Good to know! Thanks, Nicole!

You're welcome!

Once you use a flag on a thread, you have less flags. So, if someone had, say 12 flags and put 5 on a thread, they'd only have 7 left to put on other threads. But, if they got another apple, they'd have 8 flags left. And, if the person took the 5 flags off of the thread they'd put them on, then they'd have all 13 of their flags.

And for some reason, I think my explanation ended up sounding like some horrible "word problem" from algebra...

But, um, you can put flags on and take them off, and it doesn't cost anything, and your apples are not affected by your flag usage.

Nicole Alderman wrote:Hmmm, I don't think there's a "like" for a whole thread, but I think you can give it a piece of pie? Here, I'll give you a piece and you can experiment with it if you like. Another thing you could do is give it a "flag" (down at the bottom of the replies are words that say "Want to flag this thread for more attention? Grant up to ___ flag(s):"). You can give as many flags as you have apples. It doesn't use up your apples, your apples just determine how many flags you have, if that makes sense...

Thank you, Nicole! That’s very nice of you. Now, I’ll play with it😁.

I do wish in the future to earn a piece of pie for posting something of value for someone. Or, is that not how it works?

Dale Hodgins wrote:What about awarding rotten apples for bad behaviour or incredibly silly ideas. Or suppose a seemingly great idea is posted and awarded an apple followed by a barrage of evidence against its implementation. Big bites could be taken from the apple until only a core remains. This could be a sort of blood sport. Highly entertaining but I imagine that some would simply take their basket and go home.

Edit: I just picked up an apple. Does that mean that this post got it or was I rewarded for one of my MANY BRILLIANT,  WELL WRITTEN PAST POSTINGS. : I fear that my best days may be behind me and would like to IMMEDIATELY  recieve a truck load of apples or I plan to pout.   ---- Would I be punished if I were to take a picture of a bushel of apples and post it whenever I quote something I'm fond of. Or I could write big long winded pontifications and immediately award myself a truck load of apples.

See what happens. The moment a new law is passed, some dirty SOB finds a way to twist it.

LOL!!!

Liv Smith wrote:I do wish in the future to earn a piece of pie for posting something of value for someone. Or, is that not how it works?

 That's one way it works.  You also get pie for earning enough apples. You get a slice for every 20 apples you earn.  That's likely the most common way pie is accrued around here.

Mike Jay wrote:

Liv Smith wrote:I do wish in the future to earn a piece of pie for posting something of value for someone. Or, is that not how it works?

 That's one way it works.  You also get pie for earning enough apples. You get a slice for every 20 apples you earn.  That's likely the most common way pie is accrued around here.

Thank you for that clarification!!

I have long ways to go to get my pie that way, but I do want to humbly thank you for my first ever apple, Mike. I promise to not dissapoint☺️.

Thanks Liv!  I'm not worried at all about you disappointing anyone, I'm sure you'll flourish here

Nicole Alderman wrote:You're welcome!

Once you use a flag on a thread, you have less flags. So, if someone had, say 12 flags and put 5 on a thread, they'd only have 7 left to put on other threads. But, if they got another apple, they'd have 8 flags left. And, if the person took the 5 flags off of the thread they'd put them on, then they'd have all 13 of their flags.

And for some reason, I think my explanation ended up sounding like some horrible "word problem" from algebra...

But, um, you can put flags on and take them off, and it doesn't cost anything, and your apples are not affected by your flag usage.

LOL!

I understood - you explained it perfectly. It cleared up my confusion about the apples and flags. I also didn’t know if I could get flags back to use on some other post. So now I know that we can recycle them. 😸

Much thanks for your patience in explaining this site’s features.

Liv Smith wrote:

Mike Jay wrote:

Liv Smith wrote:I do wish in the future to earn a piece of pie for posting something of value for someone. Or, is that not how it works?

 That's one way it works.  You also get pie for earning enough apples. You get a slice for every 20 apples you earn.  That's likely the most common way pie is accrued around here.

Thank you for that clarification!!

I have long ways to go to get my pie that way, but I do want to humbly thank you for my first ever apple, Mike. I promise to not disappoint☺️.

While apples are usually given for really helpful (and sometimes funny) posts (basically, if a pollinator or moderator likes a post, they might give it an apple), pie is sometimes given for other reasons. People can buy pie (or get it from someone else, or earn it for every 20 apples), and a person who has pie can give it to a thread they like, to a person they want to gift it to (on their profile page), or on a thread. Sometimes pie is given in sympathy ("I'm so sorry you're having a hard day") or for an excellent post, or for something funny, or just for no real reason. Since anyone can give pie, they can give it for whatever reason they want to!

There have been some recent observations about apples and apple cores.

I think folks have really jumped on board with the apple game.  LOTS of apples being given out.  

And when the apple core stuff was being discussed, several people objected to the idea of there even being apple cores.   But now I think that those that have access to the apple core stuff have been becoming far more comfortable with using them.  

I think I give out two apple cores each month.   Probably one for a post that will not be deleted and one for post that will be deleted.  

I have seen a few posts in the last month that had something like seven apple cores!  And none of them were from me!

I think this is a good time to point out that the cider press is called "the cider press" because it is a great place to get apple cores.  

Suppose you post something to the cider press and 40 staff see it.   39 see it and think "whatever" but there is that 1 staff member that thinks "MY MOTHER DIED FROM THAT ASSHOLE!"  -- here comes the apple cores.   And the author says "why did my post get apple cores?  I did not violate the publishing standards."    --- well, you posted to the cider press and pushed somebody's button.

Or somebody says "i think politician A smells like porpoise hork!"   -- half the staff agree and let it go.  The other half think "politician A might someday be a member of permies and you are suggesting that they might be less than perfect!   Apple cores for you!"


So the apple system seems to be working wonderfully.   And, of course, it is not perfect - but it is pretty good.   Or at least it seems pretty good to me.    Maybe that's because I have the ability to give out all the apples and apple cores I want.   But I do need to point out that I've been given apple cores in the past myself.  

If you are going to share your stuff, there is never a guarantee that everybody, everywhere will like it.  I take comfort that I seem to get far more apples than apple cores.