Meaning of Various Symbols Used in Forum

When I go to a thread and look down the left column, I see things like member's avatar, member's name, number of posts, and Mac specs.

Then I see some dots......small ones below the member's number of posts, and I don't know what these mean. Do they indicate the number of posts, e.g., one dot = 100 posts?

Then below the specs I see one large dot, which I think is used to indicate whether the member is online (green) or offline (Grey). Is that correct?

Is there a place/post I can go to and find the definition of the various symbols used in Mac-Forums?

And what is a Trackback?

The dots are not based on post counts, the "Posts:" tracks that. The dots are a representation of the reputation system. If you look at the top right of each post, the first icon with the thumbs up is how you use the reputation system. You click on that icon and can choose to approve or disapprove of a post based on how you feel. If you approve, that adds to the rep of the poster and dots appear with some witty statements. The positive repo points are in varying shades of blue getting darker as they go.

If you disapprove of a post, they get negative repo and get enough negative rep and the dots get yellow/orange..

The big dot in green or red or whatever indicates if you're online now or offline..

Trackback harks back (you like what I did there) to a time when people cared very much about where the links were going. So if I were to post a link from this forum on a blog or whatever, that blog would track back to the forum and let it know so that you could see where all the link is going. Not a lot of people care about that now..

Please read:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/news-community-announcements/68770-reputation-system-faq.html

- Nick

Thanks to Raz0rEdge and Nick for their prompt and helpful responses.

durango said:

Thanks to Raz0rEdge and Nick for their prompt and helpful responses.

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Hi Durango - also (if not known), if you hover over a blue dot(s), a message will 'pop up' about you - see the pic attached - Dave
.

Dave, I did not know that......thanks. Are the pop up messages standard, or does someone (e.g., moderator) decide what to say?

durango said:

Dave, I did not know that......thanks. Are the pop up messages standard, or does someone (e.g., moderator) decide what to say?

Click to expand...

Not sure - maybe both? Mine changed recently probably because of the addition of a light blue dot? I'm sure one of the mods will explain better. Dave

durango said:

Dave, I did not know that......thanks. Are the pop up messages standard, or does someone (e.g., moderator) decide what to say?

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The pop up messages are programmed into the forum software.

Pop ups? I don't get pop ups.
If they're really tooltips, then I have that shut off in Firefox, so that may be why.

cradom said:

Pop ups? I don't get pop ups.
If they're really tooltips, then I have that shut off in Firefox, so that may be why.

Click to expand...

If I hover my cursor over one of the blue dots below your number of posts, the pop up says "Cradom has a brilliant future." Now I can't attest to the validity of that statement, lol.

Craig, its a tooltip, not a full fledged pop-up..

Thought so. Killed 'em long time ago.

LOL they are as accurate as Fortune Cookes, but nicer.

I don't know Harry, your's says you have a reputation beyond repute (whatever that is supposed to mean). LOL, you're our man down under!

PS: I also have to include Brent in that category.