How do I ask a question so I can increase my "reputation score"? This seems impossible for a genuine user

Question

How do I ask a question so I can increase my "reputation score"? This seems impossible for a genuine user doing genuine research, so that means anyone with a reputation is more corrupt than a genuine user. Although the "reputation" system probably has some effect to remove some spam and robotic evil, the corruption the "reputation" system causes is so severe that it most likely creates a snowball effect where it filters out the most genuine people first and goes right on down the line, peeling off all the honest people that would ever use the platform. Furthermore, the initial corruption of fake systems to create the above non-genuine "reputation" also snowballs, corrupting every result as that corruption branches out into all questions and answers. The "reputation" system as devised by StackExchange seems sick to its core, and I don't know any way around it.

Is there an honest genuine non-fake method to obtain "reputation" for this stackexchange web site?

Answer 1

How do I ask a question so I can increase my "reputation score"?

In my opinion, you're going about this the wrong way. Your goal (with respect to questions) should be one of two things:

• increase your knowledge
• share your knowledge (in the form of writing a Q&A)

Points should be a distant third in the order of priority. Points come from positively contributing because others have found what you asked to be of value. Speaking from personal experience, I have up voted questions which I myself never once had nor foresee even having in the future. Why? Reasons include, but aren't limited to the question being...

• an interesting topic
• well written
• well researched

This seems impossible for a genuine user doing genuine research, so that means anyone with a reputation is more corrupt than a genuine user.

Absolutely not on both points. There are very common questions that have been asked many times so blindly going forward and re-asking the same question without having researched it is a sure way to stop you in your tracks.

Now, making the assertion that people with reputation points is somehow corrupt is quite frankly offensive and insulting. It's unlikely you'll win any allies or supporters if you approach the community with that temperament.

While no system is ever perfect and like all systems that involve actual people, Ask Different is no different and it too has it's own sociological trends (I call them the "up vote brigade and down vote horde"). Note: I am not suggesting in any way there is collusion amongst members to target others either positively or negatively - they system actually has algorithms to detect this behavior and mitigate it. Instead, I am saying that "lightning does in fact strike."

The last thing I am going to say with respect to your "corruption point" is that unlike anything else in the real world, with knowledge, we all start at zero. Are there people who game the system? Of course, they rarely last long on here. However, when it comes to actually knowing what you're talking about, a vast majority of the high "scoring" users are some of the most knowledgeable people I have run across on tech forums.

You can't "corrupt" your way to genuine knowledge and skill. Period.

How to earn points

Ok, you want to earn points. Who doesn't? Here's some tips on gaining reputation quickly

• Contribute. Look for questions that don't have answers (and haven't already been asked/answered) and answer them backed with some good research (citations to said research are always a good thing to provide to bolster your credibility).

• Ask a genuinely unique question. Apple releases updates, new products, etc. all the time so the opportunity for a "new" question will always present itself. Granted this may be more difficult than asking what's on the top of your head at the moment, but some thoughtful questions with some good research goes along way. There may even be no answer to the question, but you put it out there.

• Ask and answer your own question. You may have a unique question that nobody's asked and obviously nobody has answered. Doing your own research can and will lead you to the answer. Go ahead and write a Q&A - it's an opportunity to "double dip" in the points bin on a single question!

Most importantly, stay positive and keep working with the goal to increase your knowledge. The reputation points will follow.

Answer 2

I recommend the tour to all new joiners to learn about the basics of all sites within the StackExchange community. It doesn't go into the details regarding reputation though, for this What is reputation? How do I earn (and lose) it? is a good place to go for information. The key takewaways for new joiners are

Reputation is entirely optional

The three most important activities on Ask Different are Asking, Answering and Editing - none of which require any reputation at all!

Please try to get comfortable with those three activities before looking to expand your participation into other areas.

The primary way to gain reputation is by posting good questions and useful answers.

So a good way to build up reputation is to actually have a look at the site and at unanswered questions regularly, and provide good, well-researched answers for those where you know a solution.