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Points & Rewards

dougw

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?

  • in reply to BigG

    https://twitter.com/E14Community  usually promotes each RoadTest review with a tweet. Depending on how catchy their tweet is, it usually results in a large number of page views (>1000) for the review itself.

  • in reply to dougw

    These days with social media and web-pages all promoting self, we've entered a new age where there's an art and almost an acceptance to digital self-promotion. So, just wondering whether the number of views for blog pages, road test reviews etc. should count too. Hit certain thresholds and this triggers additional points etc. This might incentive members to tweet away / use social media to promote to a broader audience so as to attract newbies/others to click and hopefully read. Once viewed and read the content, hopefully these strangers feel inclined to become members etc. I think I'm correct that at the moment only members can like etc. Anyway just a thought.

  • in reply to dougw

    I agree with BigG that the points gained for posting a blog seem rather small, compared with the amount of work involved in writing the blog in the first place.

     

    I also agree with you, Doug, that, hopefully, more points will come later, and usually do.

     

    However, I feel that there ought to be a better balance, with more points awarded for the initial posting - most people like a bit of instant gratification - especially when you consider that a simple reply or comment can often earn a substantial number of like or helpful points.and will have cost a fraction of the effort of a blog.

     

    Finally, when you mark something as helpful, why should you get 10 points for doing so? It would be more appropriate to only get 5, making it the same as liking.

     

    My thoughts

     

    Neil

  • in reply to BigG

    It has come up before that points are not proportional to the amount of effort expended, and this causes some members to ignore the points system. I would prefer a more proportional system as well. However it isn't quite as bad as it looks at first glance. If you take the time to publish a nice blog, it can result in lots of likes which earn points without any further effort, and these points can continue to accumulate for months. If you have enough great content published on the site, you can earn points on days where you didn't do anything. Another factor is that the number of points you can get by liking other members work are limited, whereas the number of points you can get from other members liking your work is unlimited.

  • Interesting suggestion. I like it and I think it would work.

     

    As others have mentioned, it acts as an incentive. I think for points to act as an incentive it needs to be transparent and then promoted properly.

     

    For example. There has been some recent discussion over failure of some people not completing Road Tests. Now if it was promoted as part of the road test that a returned road test equates to XX points and if you get and average rating of above average (to ensure quality) then you get an additional Y points then this acts as an incentive to do a good job. Maybe some roadtests get more than others depending on complexity etc.

     

    The amount of points for different things might need a bit of tweaking too. For example, I posted a blog. You get just 15 points (not that I was doing for the points) where I can get the same number points in half the time by doing 3 actions at 5 points each.

     

    So certainly for Road Tests I would like to suggest we push up the value of points and promote on the road test the value gained to encourage more returns. Will definitely encourage more, especially if we have the "sprint" or short leader board.

  • in reply to dwinhold

    Proportional to the number of participation points you earned in the year? image   2% ?

  • in reply to stevesmythe

    I agree - the top members are truly amazing!

  • What about bonus points on each 1 year anniversary you are a member?

  • in reply to gecoz

    It sounds descriptive. Is that based on a software developer term?

    How about RPL? (Recent Participation Leaderboard)

  • in reply to neilk

    I agree - those large point levels are not a big incentive. If only a half dozen members will ever get there, it isn't much incentive for the average member. Even for those who do get there, only the first person to reach a new level gets anything out of it. I'm not sure I even remember when I reached any particular level - there was nothing to mark the milestone.