I am always trying to think of ways to increase forum participation...
The points system is one of the reward systems on the forum.
For some members it doesn't mean much, but for some it is quite satisfying to reach the various point levels.
It is also a type of participation leaderboard, but to get to the top of the leaderboard currently requires amassing points at a significantly higher rate than the current leaders, and maintaining that pace for a long time. This is not really feasible for most, so it diminishes the incentive to try to top the leaderboard.
I think a useful way to increase the incentive provided by the points system would be to create a shorter term leaderboard - say points accumulated in the last 60 days. This would allow new members to have the possibility of making it onto the leaderboard. For those who find it to be an incentive to appear on the leaderboard, it would increase participation on the forum.
It is probably non-trivial to keep track of running totals for each member, but it may be similar to metrics already used to quantify forum momentum or it may have value along the lines of quantifying forum performance, in addition to providing more incentive to participate.
Are there other ways to leverage the points system to incentivize increased participation?
