What does the apple next to my name mean?

paul wheaton wrote:I like the new apple feature.

Ticky tacky apple. But hey, its your website...

Initially I thought the apples were elitist, but now that I have one, I think they are an excellent guide as to the quality of someone's contribution

I notice Ernie has three apples - I hope this doesn't imply that my upcoming RMH will only be one-third as effective!

Wow! I got an apple! Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I very much prefer a Northern Spy or a Pink Lady to a mealy-overly-sweet-tough-skinned Red Delicious. Can you arrange that for me? thanks.

But in all seriousness, I'm interested to see how this works out. Is it directly linked to Thumbs-ups or is it arbitrated by the facilitators? I'd hate to see people hesitating (or stuffing) on thumbs-ups just because of leader-board politics.

If it is by dint of the mods, I do kinda wish that we could know what posts where seen to be of apple value, it would help me focus on contributing in areas that are deemed important for the site... and encourage me to lurk around in the areas where (until I osmos enough vicarious knowledge) I should be keeping my mouth shut!

Beware! You have created an economy!

The apples can only be granted by stewards and are not based on thumbs up.

There might be a modification in the future that will tell people where they got their apples.

Created an economy? So that means I can use my one apple to loan nine apples into existence, and then play the arbitrage game with oranges and lemons from other forums to end up with even more apples!

Chris Sturgeon wrote:
If it is by dint of the mods, I do kinda wish that we could know what posts where seen to be of apple value

I'll give you a hint, Chris: my transportation is meat-powered.

Phil Numismatist wrote:Created an economy?... arbitrage... apples!

feel free to try.

This is by far the most amusing thread I've found on this site yet.

I was apple demoted. I'm sure it wasn't anything that I said.

You can lose apples?! I'm gonna have to stop flamebaiting the moderators...

Hey ya'll, looks like everybody's apples are rotting...

Hey ya'll, looks like everybody's apples are rotting...

...Time to make cider!

I'll need some yeast and a couple extra days for mine to be ready

I'm a bad apple. he he he

I get it...a way of conditioning the readership by suggestion! Took me awhile to figure it out but the explanations here were sufficient enough for me to derive that any ideas not approved by the "powers that be" on this thread don't get apples, but those that "fall into line" with their general outlook are rewarded with an apple sign. That way, new people can determine for themselves~yeah, right!~ what is sound advice or postings, or not.

So, if you get an apple, you have posted something that is approved, no apple~not approved. It's a not so subtle conditioning of the populace to only post ideas that will "earn" an apple and therefore earn "credibility" on the site. Sad. The old time Mother Earther hippies would have picketted over the mere suggestion of mind control on an eco site but this generation seems to embrace it with open arms. I attribute that to the Facebook and YouTube sites that measures in "likes" and "thumbs ups" to make sure that everyone only posts things that the masses will approve.

On the basis of this, I am very proud to be apple free on any of my posts...proves that I still have a mind of my own and the moxy to post it.

Jay, it is not really the intent.

I have been giving apples away for people being helpful to others, giving detailed advices, posting awesome pictures of their projects, giving a hand with book summaries, etc. Volunteers and Stewards come from a variety of backgrounds and have differing opinions on many things and all of them can grant apples.

Bottom line is, if you want apples, you ought to be nice! That's it.

Jay Green wrote:I get it...a way of conditioning the readership by suggestion! Took me awhile to figure it out but the explanations here were sufficient enough for me to derive that any ideas not approved by the "powers that be" on this thread don't get apples, but those that "fall into line" with their general outlook are rewarded with an apple sign. That way, new people can determine for themselves~yeah, right!~ what is sound advice or postings, or not.

So, if you get an apple, you have posted something that is approved, no apple~not approved. It's a not so subtle conditioning of the populace to only post ideas that will "earn" an apple and therefore earn "credibility" on the site. Sad. The old time Mother Earther hippies would have picketted over the mere suggestion of mind control on an eco site but this generation seems to embrace it with open arms. I attribute that to the Facebook and YouTube sites that measures in "likes" and "thumbs ups" to make sure that everyone only posts things that the masses will approve.

On the basis of this, I am very proud to be apple free on any of my posts...proves that I still have a mind of my own and the moxy to post it.

I think I agree, kinda, maybe?


I don't have anything against the current apple system, and I'm sure as hell not going out of my way to earn virtual apples and I doubt that anybody is going to be brainwashed over it, But I do think that it should be implemented on a thumb's up basis... Say for every 100 thumbs you get 1 apple? Seems to a fair way of gaining credibility.

Last sentence is just too cute to me, in a childhood reverse psychology kind of way.

I'm leaning the other way - I'm using it as my sole source of verifying credibility. In my daily life now, when someone puts something foreword, I angrily yell "You better hope you got the apples to back that up, boy!"

Jay Green wrote:On the basis of this, I am very proud to be apple free on any of my posts...proves that I still have a mind of my own and the moxy to post it.

what it proves is that you don't have any apples. at least no stylized electronic apples. I doubt you're any better or worse off for it.

Phil Curmudgeon wrote:In my daily life now, when someone puts something foreword, I angrily yell "You better hope you got the apples to back that up, boy!"

Phil, please try to yell at people less. think of your health.

But if you don't know what you posted to get an apple, how can it "condition" you to post a certain way?

How very Pavlov's dogs.

Tyler Ludens wrote:But if you don't know what you posted to get an apple, how can it "condition" you to post a certain way?

We're a bunch of permaculturists, right?

Observe, observe, observe!

Sorry, I post way too much to be able to tell which of my zillion posts might have warranted an apple.... :p

Tyler Ludens wrote:But if you don't know what you posted to get an apple, how can it "condition" you to post a certain way?

Good point and eventually we will have a way to show that.

I think the moral of the story is that chasing apples might be a fool's errand. enjoy the site. be nice. contribute where you're able. if you end up being awarded a lot of apples: great. pat yourself on the back. if you don't get many or any: don't sweat it. it's not personal. it's not a big deal. chalk it up to the limited attention span of our all volunteer staff. we're spread pretty thin, and we most certainly miss a lot of high quality posts.

tel jetson wrote: be nice

This is the main thing for me, I think it contributes to the greatest transmission of helpful and useful information. No squabbling = more time spent sharing information.

Ooh, the apple icons have gotten way more subtle and artistic! I take them as an indication that one or more of the staff have found posts by this person interesting. Interestingly, very apple-y names are often the people I am looking for in recent posts because their posts are thoughtful, humorous or informative. I almost wish they had apples visible in the recent posts list.

Gani,

I think that is a really good idea! I have passed it on to Jaikiran, who is working on the new look and feel.

I know I am late to the game but I find the apple feature to be a little bit of a popularity contest. Those who help out with the "empire" or are around A LOT are more likely to get points given to them. I come to the forum enough and have a good solid foundation on permaculture to know who's advise has likely been tried versus recided from a book/internet which to me means more.

Kris

the look and feel of the apple icon looks GREAT guys, very nice change!

I wanted to throw this link in, about S Bengi's suggestion for using a "greenback" icon

some (??) may use the term "greenback" to mean a particular kind of grape leaf --
the guy in this video grows organically in Nevada --
he loves eating grape leaves, and tells the ancient history of grape leaves --
starting at about 00:04:50 -- "greenbacks" at 00:06:55
"greenbacks" (leaves green on both sides) are the edible kind
It's an interesting video -- I'm surprised I don't see more about grape leaves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFCr9CEs3w8

does the thumbs up move a post higher in the order??
Funny thread, almost as good as the first singles forum thread

Linda Sefcik wrote: does the thumbs up move a post higher in the order??
Funny thread, almost as good as the first singles forum thread

Oh no, it's waaay more random than that Thumbs-up rates specific posts, whereas the apples are more general.
Here's a hint: we're very happy when people report spam, or posts that aren't nice...

So here we are, a few months down the road. I have to say that I like the apples better and better with each passing month. We have a new feature where if somebody gets three apples for a post, the post shows three apples.

There is a rumor that we might soon have a feature where we might be able to give an apple core (negative apple). I know there have been times where a post did not warrant deletion, but I did not like it - so an apple core would have been good.

Apple cores are negative. I don't think that is a good vibe to be sending out.

Rion Mather wrote:Apple cores are negative. I don't think that is a good vibe to be sending out.

Exactly.

I like to send a bad vibe back on icky posts.

And send a good vibe out on awesome posts.

The "infinity" sign for Paul's apples still cracks me up.

On the negative apple scoring, I'm not sure what I think. On the plus side if it leads to less deleting, that is a good thing. On the minus side it would probably be more of an ongoing locus of negativity. On the third hand, it might keep people engaged.

There's a reason I'm not running a huge community website!

I have noticed that successful large community websites generally have a leader with some kind of omnipotent "smite" power. And, sometimes people get un-smited after a popular uprising.

paul wheaton wrote:

Rion Mather wrote:Apple cores are negative. I don't think that is a good vibe to be sending out.

Exactly.

I like to send a bad vibe back

That is heartbreaking to hear. I thought one of the themes of Permaculture was community.
"Where there is love there is life"

Rion Mather wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:

Rion Mather wrote:Apple cores are negative. I don't think that is a good vibe to be sending out.

Exactly.

I like to send a bad vibe back

That is heartbreaking to hear. I thought one of the themes of Permaculture was community.
"Where there is love there is life"

Exactly - it is sad to see posts that are worthy of an apple core. I'm glad that there will soon be a away to mark them as "not the sort of thing we normally like to see here."

Every permie replying to this, but two, has apple(s). I guess I'm number 3 and feeling a little intimidated but keen =)

One suggestion I have is for you to be able to somehow track which posts of yours were deemed 'apple worthy'.
It doesnt need to be public info, just available to the poster that earned the apple.
This way, you could get a better understanding of what info you are posting is deemed to be truly helpful.
I post a lot, try to help out, but often wonder which posts of mine are the truly useful ones for others.
If in my account profile, I could see a list of which posts earned apples, it would help me to make more posts along those lines.

just a thought.

There is a feature now that does show which post(s) received apples.
In the post header, right after the date/time stamp, a small apple appears on a post that earned an apple.
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