Astahost Bonus Credit System?

Alright,

 

A few weeks ago (if I'm right) I asked if there was somekind of Referal Link System for Xisto in the shoutbox.

Well there wasn't and we had a little discussion about it. (I don't remember any names only Mark's name so if you want some credit on what you said PM me, or let a blue guy do it )

Anyway some guy said it would be cheating, of course that's true but then again, Xisto gains more users, and the users gain more credits. I'm not talking about LOADS of credits but like 5 per referal or something like that. Well then Mark420 came up with something like the Best Post of the Week, which gains some bonus credits.

Thus we kinda came up with something like a bonus system!

 

We, he, she, it and I want(s) to know what you think about this and perhaps you have a better idea for the bonus system. When there are enough opinions / ideas whatsoever we'll make a nice list and maybe a poll or something and see if the admins would agree with it.

 

bakr_2k5

Edited December 15, 2006 by bakr_2k5 (see edit history)

I don't know, it sounds all nice and dandy...but really, couldn't it be taken advantaged of? It's really a lot easier to take advantage of the referral system than it is to take advantage of the current Xisto's system. With the referral system in place, people could refer themselves and then register with a bunch of different email addresses from different computers and then these fake registrants probably won't post at all. That isn't really useful.

Agreed with Arbitrary, it would be easily to cheat with a combination of proxies and a ton of emails someone could easily mass a ton of credits. I know we talk about it on trap a few times coming with the same conclusion.

Not really a refferal system.What I was talking about with Bakr started off as that but then went off on a wild tangent :PWhat I was thinking of was a Best Post of the Week.This would be the most popular thread measured on how many hits and replies to the post.The winner would get an extra 5 credits transferred to their account.I think it would make the forums a little more active and some people would really try to get a good post up to gain the 5 credits therefore theres more and better content in the forum.It would be up to the mods and admins to decide the winner, its as easy as have a sticky on the mods area and each week we post the possible winner and then choose.What does everyone else think?Marky;)

I don't know, it sounds all nice and dandy...but really, couldn't it be taken advantaged of? It's really a lot easier to take advantage of the referral system than it is to take advantage of the current Xisto's system. With the referral system in place, people could refer themselves and then register with a bunch of different email addresses from different computers and then these fake registrants probably won't post at all. That isn't really useful.

Agreed with Arbitrary, it would be easily to cheat with a combination of proxies and a ton of emails someone could easily mass a ton of credits. I know we talk about it on trap a few times coming with the same conclusion.

This is all true! But with some good checks, scripts and stuff like that, it wouldn't be a big problem. Anyway the Referal Link System didn't seem to be right so we discussed about other things.

Like Mark and I said, Mark came up with the Best Post of the Week which is much better, it can't really be abused or cheated. And since spamming and whatever are not allowed on Xisto (and mostly all other forums), it can't be abused so Best Post of the Week would be safe.

Just like Mark said in his post, it would encourage users to post good posts and be a bit more active.

See it as a little contest or a game(?), it's not really about getting more credits since you'll get a small amount of them, it's more about writing the best post and get a small gift from Xisto in credits for your good work.

And IF it get's abused somehow one of the admins just pulls the plug out.

Oh yes, I had a thought at school. In association with the Best Post of the Week there could also be something like a Hall of Fame, although there is already something like that but that's for the amount of posts.

 

bakr_2k5

Edited December 15, 2006 by bakr_2k5 (see edit history)

I like the idea of the Best Post of the Week. And Mark420 setup/plan for the Best Post of the Week is good. Only the admins and mods can vote for it. This idea would not just make the forum a little more active but also shows visitors and members that Xisto is more of a professional forum, with posts having content rather than just junk/spam. Maybe after some discussion on this topic, Mark420 could write a new forum topic and ask the members to vote? Hmm... I think Mark420 has this in his mind too... anyway, there should be something on the main page of Xisto, that is index.php, that would let members/guests jump to a page where all the Best Post of the Week are listed. As for the referral system, I'm against it but I guess that idea is kinda dead right now.

The idea of post of the week will definitely add some depth to the system that we already have. I mean I wouldnt mind it, an extra 5 points is good for me if I was to win for that week. I mean mods and admins already are monitoring posts that are going on, Im sure that task to add a bonus system wouldnt hurt. It's just something to keep people posting and keep this forum pumping with better topics so that everyone can have a chance to put their two cents in. Sometimes what I see on this board is topics that I find hard to relate to, so having this forum more active with topics would be on the win-win column.

i think the idea of the 'best post of the week' is good. the referral idea is also good, but has a few flaws. as people before have said, people can come along register with heaps of different addresses and earn heaps of points, really quickly and really easily.maybe a solution though! tell me if im wrong, but would it be possible to give the 'referrer' 5 points ONCE the 'referred' user gets a total of 10 or so points. this would mean that the new user would have to get 10 points before the original user gets their 5 points. this may stop the abuse that the 'referral system' may get. but like i said, tell me if im wrong.they are all good ideas, but they just all need to the refined to make sure that no one can 'cheat' their way to hosting credits!

Why would someone go through all the crap to create 5 accounts to get five points. Honestlly only a mentally ill freak would go through that kind of freak. Secondly, Xisto could record each IP registered an not allow registration of teh same IP. That would eventaully limit the amount of proxy that could be used. Its quite easy to post here and so easy to fill up a page of context by spending the same amount of time as it would take to register five accounts. Mark i really like your idea about giving extra credit to the best post of the week. Though i think its a bit unfair to allow the staff to choose the best polst. Why not create a poll for all members to vote on the best post at the end of the week.

It sounds like a good idea but their is a small problem with that best post Idea the admin would have to go through hundreds of posts from that week and then decide which one is better. Now I don't know who has that kind of time to read all those posts and then decide, I know most of the admin already here don't have that kind of time.Also How would you determine what the best post should be like? (rhetorical question).

maybe a solution though! tell me if im wrong, but would it be possible to give the 'referrer' 5 points ONCE the 'referred' user gets a total of 10 or so points. this would mean that the new user would have to get 10 points before the original user gets their 5 points. this may stop the abuse that the 'referral system' may get. but like i said, tell me if im wrong.

This could work with the referral system yes. Atleast it would stop lots of people to abuse cause of the work that has to be done for that small amount of credits. But I think it would be a lot of work to record all these stuff. But it's a good solution if the referral system gets some votes or something, though I think Best Post of the Week will 'win'!

It sounds like a good idea but their is a small problem with that best post Idea the admin would have to go through hundreds of posts from that week and then decide which one is better.
Now I don't know who has that kind of time to read all those posts and then decide, I know most of the admin already here don't have that kind of time.

Also How would you determine what the best post should be like? (rhetorical question).

Like Mark420 said, it's based on the popularity of the thread (hits, replies). And perhaps also what's the content of the post, like is it usefull, etc...

For the needed time: The popularity shouldn't be that hard to 'log', perhaps with a little script all threads of that week could be printed. Though the content checks will take a bit more time like human eyes, but that could also be limited by picking the let's say top 5 popularity threads.

bakr_2k5

I guess I have been silent on this subject too long.Here are the drawbacks to both ideas:A referal system WILL be abused. We'll have normally good members either cheating or looking for ways to cheat. Crappy members will fill the forum with junk and fake member accounts in short time. I mean if a junk poster will post 30 one line posts just to get the 10 credits needed to apply for hosting, they will definitely create a multitude of junk email addresses for an extra credit or two. In the end, it will be a real pain for the staff to police the system and won't last long. I wish it wasn't like that.The best topic of the week idea seems pretty good on the surface but again has a bunch of issues involved in it. In the first place, it requires a lot of interaction from and between the staff members. We have staff members from all over the world. It takes us longer than a week just to agree on a new staff member and we still don't get input from all of the staff members. Trying to get everyone to read the same set of topics and provide an opinion would take about 2 weeks and then we still have to agree on the subject! What if there is a tie in the number of votes. What if you are like twitch where you write pretty good posts but nobody on the staff likes you? (Using twitch as an example since he won't get all upset and used to be on the staff.) Oh, there are ways to cheat this system as well if we usesome type of grading system.At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what my opinion is or the opinion of the satff. I already know OpaQue's opinion which is that you get free host for posting. You earn hosting credits based on a fair and completely automated system. Our system is probably the fairest and most desirable on the internet. The concept was to pay for the hosting with income generated by the advertising on the forums which is viewed by the posters and readers but that system doesn't work! The advertising only covers less than 10% or the hosting costs. So, the credits are already more fair to the user than to the forum.Here is the general opion of the administrators:If you refer a friend to the forums, then you will have one more person that may reply to your post providing the opportunity for you to reply to the reply. The more replies your post gets the better the chance there is that you can follow up with a reply. Every psot gets a few more credits so more memebrs automatically generates more chances to posts and ths more cahnces to earn credits. Basically, refering a friend already earns you more credits indirectly.Additionally, the best topic of the week already earns you more credits indirectly. If your topic is good, many users will reply and each of those replies is a chance for you to follow up on. So if you wanted to grade the topics based on the number of replies or number of views, we already do. Those topics already earn everyone active in them more credits. This is the point that I have tried many times in the past to make but it seems to fall on deaf earms usually. better posts and more members makes this great system even better for the users involved. Generally a good post is usually a little larger than most and that earns a few more credit. It generates more interest so more members earn credits by being active in a good topic and the topic starter usually has many more opportunites to earn creidts by leading and responding to the discussion.For the most part, the best changes we have made to the forums involves reducing the number of decisions that staff members need to make. The less often we have to use our judgemant, the less often we make mistakes. We used to have to edit everyone's posts for them in order to keep the credit system from being cheated which was a lot of work and resulted in many more errors. Most of us just want to keep the forums clean and answer any questions the members have. It is akward for us to police and award members for various reasons. Basically, the less complex we make the system, the happier the majority of members will be.Having said this, I will forward your thoughts on to OpaQue and see if his opinion has changed with regards to this subject.vujsa

I think you should be able to vote on posts like put near each post (did you find this post helpful) and the one who gets the most votes for being most helpful will win some good points. That way we can all get good info on what’s out there. And that way people won’t post point less things just to get credit because they will have to earn those credits.

vujsa, this is fully understandable yes. And for the biggest part I completely agree with you. Though those flaws in it like abuse and so on, could be solved in a small 'beta' test to get some ideas how people could abuse the system. It's true that it's better to keep it simple, automated and working! But with this post from flashdiamond:

I think you should be able to vote on posts like put near each post (did you find this post helpful) and the one who gets the most votes for being most helpful will win some good points. That way we can all get good info on whatâs out there. And that way people wonât post point less things just to get credit because they will have to earn those credits.

It would overcome the work that moderators / admins would have to do, since all users do the work!
But yes it's probably better to keep it this way it is since it's pretty safe, stable and robust! Still I stay with my opinion it would encourage users to post better and perhaps longer posts because of some rating / awarding system. Although the credits system is already something like a rating / awarding system.
Great you have forwarded it to OpaQue, and not just dropping the idea of all this . I think it could possibly work but the cheaters out there would cause problems... Perhaps it should be reconsidered a few times (if OpaQue thinks it could work / improve etc) just to solve the cheats!

bakr_2k5

Well it seems to me that we already have a credit system that is relatively stable as far as security goes.... so i must bring up the old proverb of mechanics, and DIY'S almost globally---- ---If it isnt broke, dont fix it----