Could points for Helpful and Likes be Driving Wrong Behaviors?

Hi Sean,

I have always thought that a Like or a Helpful should confer points to the receiver and give no points to the actor. This would add meaning to the points. Unfortunately the system as it is set up generates a lot of activity and the fact that we reward ourselves at the same time as we compliment the receiver detracts from the meaning of what we are doing. I also think that notifications of who liked or found something helpful are not necessary. A long time ago when the system was first adopted I decided to participate with the Likes and Helpfuls but always read the posts and try to be supportive of the efforts of the authors. In the final analysis the only people who look at the points a person has and think they mean much may be that person. As I look at the top points people they all seem to belong at the top except me. While my age and time working in the field as a technician has given me life experience which I share, my actual knowledge and skill level in electronics is well below the exceptional members whose point totals do not properly reflect their knowledge and skills. My postings tend to the simple and I am not ashamed to ask questions that bespeak my lack of knowledge. This site is a wonderful place as people of every level of expertise are accepted and respected by the members. The members are the best of the best and when new people join they are quick to realize that snarky behavior is frowned upon. I wish the points situation more accurately reflected actual skills and performance but I believe the Platform of the site itself was designed to spark activity and perhaps competitiveness in a commercial enterprise and our Web Masters have been forced to use what has been provided as far as structure. We have actually had similar discussions about the points in the past. The best policy is to participate in anyway that you are comfortable with and be as helpful to others as your skill set will allow. Do not get preoccupied with those who seem to be gaming the points system as they are the ones that are being harmed by not taking the time to mine the wealth of knowledge that is daily offered here free of charge. The volume and quality of the posts that are made by a given member are what is respected by the members not the points attached to that members name.

John

Hi John,

I am going to both like and mark your response helpful :-).

Hi Sean,

You will not get future mail on this if you turn following off

Frank

Hi Frank,

Back at ya!

John

Thanks, I'll go find that feature and nuke it myself.

There are a few names that come to mind when it comes to Like/Helpful "bombing". It can be especially annoying when older threads suddenly seemingly get revived by a few liked/helpfuls for the sake of point collecting. There's probably a daily limit on those actions, but those who are point-hoarders will probably end up doing it consistently. Part of the reason is that unless you look at a thread in the inbox, the number of "helpfuls" is displayed, but the actual person that conferred the helpful rating is not, and I suspect some people might be hoping to hide their point-rigging behind this.

In some senses, I would agree with your sentiment that it seems to be abused for point-gathering, but at the same point in time, it forms a game that results in people engaging with the forum in the sense that they come back to scroll through the threads to click the buttons. Whether they read the threads or not is another thing ... but the whole reputation centre was an engagement-driving feature, so I'm not sure how keen they would be to make changes. Perhaps as suggested by jw0752, it should not confer points to the person clicking helpful ... combined with stricter daily caps on points for helpfuls ...

Other sites seem to do things a little differently - some call it "karma" but ultimately, you collect points from when others mark your posts helpful, which you can then dole out to other posts which you find helpful, starting with a limited budget of course. This perhaps inspires people to be a little more selective about handing out "helpfuls" only when it's genuinely deserved.

- Gough

I like the sound of the karma approach.

I went to turn off my "following" and found it already off.  I don't get emails, just my online account inbox is what fills up with them.  Seems like 2 to 1 unfortunately.

Otherwise, I like the reputation system of element14 - points for clicks versus contribution, I could do without, though.

I agree. I don't see why you should get 15 points for clicking  "helpful", or 5 points for clicking "like" on someone else's post. Perhaps you need to get something as an incentive to support them, but I'm not totally sure about that. The only person who should definitely get points is the person who wrote the post.

I also think that only getting 5 points for posting a reply often does not reflect the amount of work involved in composing the reply.

Similarly (and I have said this before in another thread!) !5 points for a blog post frequently does not reflect the effort involved; however, a significant increase in this "reward" could easily lead to gamification by some unscrupulous members posting 1 line blogs!

Neil

But then you don't get notifications on responses, do you?

Yes, I think I have more points than I should have.  I've learned a lot on this site, and appreciate all the information provided by others.  When I learn something, I click Like or Helpful to reward the writers, give them the points they deserve, not to build up my total.  The effort put into a detailed blog, or project14, or a road test deserves a lot more than general discussions.

As the points don't actually mean anything I think there's limited harm in over-eager like and helpful clicking. People are definitely engaged here, so it seems it's doing its job.

Maybe reducing the points to the person who clicked to one point would be a good balance? There's still some inventive to mark stuff you genuinely think it's good, but not enough to be worth carpet bombing.