Contributor Rewards? Kudos?

[Kookus]

I know I'm late to the party, but I never really liked the system. I think my biggest gripe was a lack of flexibility. No matter how careful I was with my distribution, I always felt like I was being stingy toward contributors who really deserved praise for their work. Often, I'd see a really great piece and plop down five Kudos, only to hit the next forum and see something equally great.

I always thought a post rating system would be more appropriate. The fact that it's worlds easier to implement has nothing to do with it.

[General Woundwort]

I know I'm late to the party, but I never really liked the system. I think my biggest gripe was a lack of flexibility. No matter how careful I was with my distribution, I always felt like I was being stingy toward contributors who really deserved praise for their work. Often, I'd see a really great piece and plop down five Kudos, only to hit the next forum and see something equally great. ..

I agree with this observation. I had the very same misgivings about "kudos" in that the limited number in a 24 hour period made me less likely to give 5 for example (though it was often certainly deserved), and although it was no fault of the designers of the system I still could not help but see 1 kudo as 1 star, and 5 as, well, 5. A rating system might solve these problems; however, kudos - even considering the flaws - can be an effective positive reinforcement, whereas receiving a one star rating for a post will be more of a negative (far more so) than receiving 1 kudo.