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I have recently commented a few times on users explicitly asking for upvotes and accepted answer reputation points. I understand the drive that the reputation points system gives, but it is starting to become a bit too much.

What is our stance towards asking for these reputation increases? What are the pros and cons of enforcing a policy where these requests are not allowed?

Ultimately the reputation points are a part of this site, used to show which users contribute the most meaningful content, as judged independently by the users. IMHO allowing vote canvassing skews this aspect towards the most aggressive repvote collectors.

Your opinions please...

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  • "I have recently commented a few times on users asking for answer acceptance..." Not sure, I've looked here and it seems that you've asked only once. Did you delete some of these comments or something? – mindstormsboi Jun 22 '20 at 23:32
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    @mindstormsboi That could have been me. I purged more than one comment thread primarily between you and a newer user where you were explaining how to use various aspects of the site (posting images, accepting answers, etc). If Phil responded in one of those threads, his comments would have been cleaned up as well. – jncraton♦ Jun 23 '20 at 0:07
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Indeed - I would suggest flagging those comments as "No longer needed" or "Something else", and we can remove them from the site. If they are in the body of the post, they should be edited out.

I don't mind the occasional comment on an answer along the lines of "If this helped, please consider marking it as an answer and upvoting" especially if the question was from a new user who'd commented "Thanks, that's it!".

You're right that the gameification of these sites can promote a feeling of "needing the points", but we would like to be meaningful within the context of our small corner of the internet. Clearly I'm saying this from a position of privilege as a long term user with a large number of contributions.

It can seem arbitrary when some identification questions (for example) get a number of up-votes and others don't before they are answered, but I do try and upvote even slightly older ident questions when the question is of merit (i.e. reasonable photo, good description of the element, etc.) as well as the answer locating it.

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    Thanks Zhaph for validating my concerns. I do the same as you - posts get an upvote if they are well written and researched. I was not part of the first wave of users, but have gained a good number of rep points over the past 4 years - with lots of what I deemed good responses left with low votes and no accepted answer checkmarks. You win some you lose some. – Phil B. Jun 22 '20 at 11:26
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    @mindstormsboi I applaud your enthusiasm for this site and the LEGO hobby. Please do not stop contributing to this site, your submissions have been helpful. However, please listen to the feedback here and in other posts and adjust your approach a bit. Thanks. – Phil B. Jun 22 '20 at 19:03

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