Thanks, reventon!
I guess John was, in a way, answering my question about whether or not participation in VF counted as much as in SF. So far, he seems to like my work in VF and I have been quite active there even if I am still rather new, so I guess this was his way of showing me that effort was appreciated and he expects something equivalent here eventually. I wouldn't worry too much about it - you'll no doubt get them and probably others (if I can find out what they all are) in time. I see some members are already part of the EF Team who were part of the VF Team - so I guess that sort of carried over as well (and some of the mods as well). But the badges in VF (and in SF from what I read there) are not only based on rep - they are also based on contribution (Supporter), posting volume (Gold Member), skills (Developer), Microsoft-awards (MVP), and so forth.
I sort of agree with you about giving rep in what is essentially at this stage mostly a chat room more than an assistance-based forum, but rep to me is not only posting an answer to a question/problem concerning the purpose of the forum (though that's the main reason and, of course, the way a thread starter can thank the person who provided the answer or helped - typically newbies but sometimes even experienced members as I've seen people with hundreds of posts and even Guru badges post questions because we too get stuck sometimes (I've done it myself)), but also for generally helping others with related or even unrelated questions (perhaps about the forum or how to build a website or how to code a .bat file or even providing suggestions for things to include in a zip folder of helpful batch files for members to use - and not merely for specific posts on the forum focus (though that's most common for thread starters) but for a series of good posts that maybe individually aren't worth a lot of rep but collectively should be rewarded so you pick one and rep it and comment that it's not only for that post but for all the other good work throughout the forum - typically done by longer term members where the rep value is very high and it's hard to see any one post no matter how well done being worth that much rep)) - even things that are not really covered explicitly in the forum categories and may even be in the Chillout Room or the VIP Forum or wherever. For now, I'm mostly looking around and seeing what's up here before I do a lot of posting and certainly before I rep (or expect to get rep). I'm not quite used to or as comfortable with chat rooms as opposed to forums where I can help people and learn - so I'll just have to see how it goes. With VF as slow as it is at the moment (and not likely to improve over time), I should have the fime.
I've been on VF since 8/31 (but I had over 9700 posts in the forum I was in prior to that so I am somewhat experienced at this sort of thing and wish I'd switched earlier or started there instead because it is MUCH better here in many different ways - management, setup, features, environment, friendliness, cooperation and more - than it was there) and VF has been around for a while so it is essentially "fully developed" and it really isn't all that different from here. Yes, there are many minor differences in format and color and presentation - but I can see they used essentially the same templates and modified them somewhat to reflect their new tastes in how they want things to look (or simply to have a bit of variation between the forums). At the moment, I'd have to say I like VF a little better - but that's probably more because I'm used to it than because it really is any better. I can also see things here that I prefer - and I'll eventually grow accustomed to this style and maybe even come to prefer it. While I'm sure it still is under development and will change as they go along, what parts of this forum do you currently see as not being fully-functional yet (just curious)?
Thanks for the reply (and once you get to know me, you'll learn that long posts are somewhat common for me - sometimes good and sometimes not so good but as an author, I do like to write and sometimes get carried away - LOL!).
