I think about the commend/report button every so often when I'm on a user's profile. I feel like I rarely ever have something so nice to say about a user that I want to go bother the mods about it by creating a ticket. but if I did I'm still not sure I'd want to do it because, in my brain, a ticket is still exclusively a negative thing.

I guess this is kind of two different questions to two different parties. to the normal users, "have you ever sent a commendation ticket?" and to staff, "how often do you receive commendation tickets and what do you even do when you get them?".

16 commendation tickets have been made since the start of 2023.

There are pretty much only two things that can be done with a commendation ticket when it occurs: either close the ticket with no action, or give the commended user a positive record. Basically, what you’re doing is recommending them for a green bar.

In the case of the ticket being closed with no further action, this happens if the admin handling it decides that the commended user’s behavior, for whatever reason, does not warrant a positive record. This could be for any number of reasons, not all of them necessarily bad. For example, the commendation might be rejected simply because that user has already received a positive record fairly recently for basically the same thing. Just because you commend someone doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to get the positive record. They are not really given out lightly.

That said, if you see anyone who is consistently very helpful, and who hasn’t been properly thanked for it, then a commendation is warranted.

darryus said:
"how often do you receive commendation tickets and what do you even do when you get them?"

There have been 16 commendation tickets this year so far.
So... not terribly frequently?

There isn't a formal process for this. The ticket just gets thrown into a dedicated thread on Discord, and staff members vote on it.
If someone disagrees with the user receiving a positive feedback, they would need to justify their position. That's pretty much it.

One thing that kinda bothers me is that the report/commend function is that it always says "Reason for complaint" in bold letters. which kinda confuses me, should that text be changed to a more neutral saying or even encompass both a report and commendation?

lafcadio said:
16 commendation tickets have been made since the start of 2023.

I think i was one of those 16 commended (thx again kemonophonic)

I haven't made many commendation tickets, but I've done it before. Most people active on the forums have already been recognised for their contributions with Privileged rank or at least a green bar already, so there's little point commending them IMO.

I'm sure there's users out there with massive contributions but aren't active on the forums so they haven't been noticed, those are the people I'd like to commend.

benjiboyo said:
One thing that kinda bothers me is that the report/commend function is that it always says "Reason for complaint" in bold letters. which kinda confuses me, should that text be changed to a more neutral saying or even encompass both a report and commendation?

I think i was one of those 16 commended (thx again kemonophonic)

LOL@the auto moderator message I just got. I guess the answer is yes? Empirically tested and science approved with sample evidence of two!

Man, thinking of those particle accelerators where they have to get multiple signatures from different labs to really be certain.

faucet said:
I haven't made many commendation tickets, but I've done it before. Most people active on the forums have already been recognised for their contributions with Privileged rank or at least a green bar already, so there's little point commending them IMO.

I'm sure there's users out there with massive contributions but aren't active on the forums so they haven't been noticed, those are the people I'd like to commend.

I have no clue what a green bar is? I have literally never seen that, anywhere.

alphamule said:
LOL@the auto moderator message I just got. I guess the answer is yes? Empirically tested and science approved with sample evidence of two!

Man, thinking of those particle accelerators where they have to get multiple signatures from different labs to really be certain.

I have no clue what a green bar is? I have literally never seen that, anywhere.

Check your feedback list and you'll see a green bar now. I sent in a commend recommendation since you've been very helpful.

peacethroughpower said:
Check your feedback list and you'll see a green bar now. I sent in a commend recommendation since you've been very helpful.

It was staring right at me, but I didn't think that could possibly be what it meant. :/
Next accomplishment: 1000 uploads! (joke, kinda, I'm at 73 so far, and need to tag 17 more tonight to bring that up to 90)

With how it's set up, using a ticket to commend a user still feels like you're doing it wrong, especially when you're writing it and the ticket refers to itself as a complaint.

Also to answer your question, yeah i've commended a user at least once.

snpthecat said:
With how it's set up, using a ticket to commend a user still feels like you're doing it wrong, especially when you're writing it and the ticket refers to itself as a complaint.

Also to answer your question, yeah i've commended a user at least once.

It's an antipattern to discourage abuse? :P

When I was an admin the first time, a decade ago, they had actually just fixed some of the wording/phrasing to make it more clear that you can make a positive report. And in the years since then, we've tweaked it some more, to make it even clearer that it is possible to report a user for positive reasons (and that no you won't risk getting them in trouble if you use it for a positive report instead because we can for sure see it's a positive report).

Because people would worry about that. And we do want users to feel comfortable enough to commend another user if they think they are very helpful, contribute in a lot of positive/helpful/reliable/responsible ways, and deserve some recognition for their hard work.

So any wording that seems not-quite-neutral in that system? Is just parts that haven't been tweaked quite as much yet. It is a whole lot more clear now that you can use it for positive reports too. But yes, I can see what you mean. There may be room to tweak the wording just a little bit more in some places.

And while many things are discussed while considering a possible green bar, or an upgrade, or a thank you note, etc. It still makes us aware of users who are making a difference in a positive way, which helps bring them to our attention too. And more than once it has led to acknowledging that in some way further into the future even in cases where nothing was given publicly to them right away. So it does make a difference when users send in a positive report and let us know when someone is being great!

i didn't even know that normal users can commend other users in ways that might lead to them getting positive feedback and even promotion

i might just commend someone i think has been doing good work on the forums right now!

I really have to wonder if that number still sits at 16, or whether this thread caused an influx of commendations.

darryus said:
I think about the commend/report button every so often when I'm on a user's profile. I feel like I rarely ever have something so nice to say about a user that I want to go bother the mods about it by creating a ticket. but if I did I'm still not sure I'd want to do it because, in my brain, a ticket is still exclusively a negative thing.

I guess this is kind of two different questions to two different parties. to the normal users, "have you ever sent a commendation ticket?" and to staff, "how often do you receive commendation tickets and what do you even do when you get them?".

We don't receive commendation requests very often. I'm usually the one that takes them up though since Wolfy got busted smuggling a haytruck full of storks across the cuban border with florida.

To answer your question though, I take the ticket, put it in its dedicated channel so that staff can discuss their merits. 9/10 times everyone concurs, and I write them a super special green bar. We obviously use templates for punishment records, but green marks are just a blank text box written from the heart. Alphamule was my most recent one, so if you haven't read it, go do it! It's good. I love writing green bars and praising users, because the other 99.99% of the time it's just bans and punishment.

When we feel the user just doesn't deserve it, then I write them a long and thought out rebuttal as to why, and close the ticket. That's only happened I think twice so far.

I wish people would commend others more. You can even commend staff for exceptional performance, but mind you most of us have a ton of green bars so it's not really needed. As pickle said, the process was an afterthought and we put minimal effort into changing what we did, so the system simply wasn't made with it in mind. That's why the wording isn't great in places.

In short, yes, you can commend people, and yes, they usually get green marks out of it!

I have not sent a commendation; however, after noticing some specific users uploading or translating a lot of content from an artist I like, I did send them a thank-you note through DMail.

The commendation system just felt too serious for that.

I quite like the Wikipedia barnstar system, where people put up good-job stars on other people's user pages if they want to thank them for their work. If e6 were a wiki, I'd've definitely given some public thank-you stars instead of private thank-you messages.