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Increasing Activity at BBB
This change should result in the following:- Increase in activity
- Friendlier community
- More “fun” community experience
Proposal
Points System + Store
By creating a points-system at BBB, activity should increase by a significant amount. Actually, I believe this would replace the current reputation system BUT that is not what I want. If possible, I hope the points system and reputation system can work alongside each other. I also believe Staff should have an unlimited amount of points (for the store), simply because we need to show the members just how “cool” the store is. Perhaps premium members should get a bonus, because who better to show off how cool the store is, than the members? If the premium members look like they’re having fun, everyone will want to join in 🙂Some may say this will make BBB more childish, but I say it’ll make BBB more fun. I mean, our members work so hard to contribute to the community, so why not let them get something back for all their hard work? Points don’t cost us anything and neither does the shop. We could even encourage people to play at our arcade or… discourage (see note later on).
Points will be given out for a number of actions: posting replies (less points will be awarded than when posting a thread), posting new threads, posting news (BONUS for this? Since news is moderated, it shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll be getting higher-quality news and members would be getting something back for giving us the scoop. Freelance reporter, anyone?), simply viewing a thread (1 point, 2 points, 0.5 or 0.05 only)..and so on. If, for example, we wanted to emphasize on community, we could increase the amount of points one gets when posting in the CC.
If we do, do this, we need to have an explanation somewhere of how you get points (NOT just a stickied thread, I’m hoping for a little box on its own where everyone won’t miss it) and a link to a page explaining why they’re important.
Since members will be receiving points for any thread they look at (although a small amount), it encourages our members to stay active and look around. By doing so, they might find something of interest to them and end up wanting to post a nice reply or suggestion to a problem (which they will get a bigger amount of points for, thus encouraging posting above merely lurking).
Now the harder part, what do we offer in the “store”?
(I stress I don’t like some of these, but I thought I should list all the ideas that came to mind, anyway).- Increase in reputation influence? (I don’t believe it’s possible, going by what you’ve said in the past, but I thought I would list it nonetheless).
- Increase of signature limit
- Increase of avatar limit
- Allow the member to pick a custom font that will be used with all their posts, by default?
- Change their username?
- Italicize their username
- Bold their username
- Underline their username? (is there a point…)
- Glow their username
- Add a shadow underneath their username
- Change the color of their username
- Temp. bold thread title
- Temp. italic thread title
- Temp. strike thread title
- Temp. colored thread title
- Temp. glowing thread title
- Temp. add a shadow underneath thread title
- Temp. change thread title font
- Remove search flood protection?
- Remove post flood protection?
- Allow ONE thread close (of your own creation)
- Allow sticky (TEMP)? Might not be appropriate.
- Make the best and most popular arcade games cost points to play, UNLESS you are premium or something…?
- Buy a custom user title?
It should be possible with something like this:
vbBux / vbPlaza“Bonus” for rating threads
I’ve brought this up on IRC in the past and just recently after my return. I’ve seen plenty of great communities use the rating system to their advantage, and it is clear that the members of those communities hold thread ratings as a large determining factor of whether or not they should view a thread. One example of a community that uses thread ratings to a great advantage is Neowin.net. Love it or hate it, Neowin is popular.If we were to perhaps give points (1 or 2 or .5 or 0.05) for each thread that an ACTIVE member rates, then maybe thread ratings will become useful to us too.
Here’s a mod that adds this functionality:
Rate Threads BonusIf we were to implement this, this mod is MANDATORY to prevent abuse:
Can’t rate own threadsMake the reputation system more visible to the public
Although I believe some threads have been put up to inform the community about the existence of the reputation system, I still believe it’s existence isn’t public enough. I propose we recognize the top 3 or 5 members and display them in honor on the forum index, perhaps underneath the Who’s Online section? I also propose that new reputation comments are displayed on the forum index (like the new PM notification is) so that the members actually realize they’ve been praised for their hard work.This can be achieved by using this mod:
New posts and reputation commentsAnd this mod:
Top xx Reputation Forum HomeIt would also be highly beneficial to allow new members to give reputation points to whoever they like. People are going to join, ask a question, get an answer. Maybe they’ll be back (we hope they will), but say they don’t come back? I know for sure they want to say thanks. Let’s give them the perfect way to do it. 🙂 This shouldn’t be a problem since negative or “bad” reputation giving is disabled now. (detn8r and Nessa, I believe, first came up with this suggestion)
Clubs based on number of posts or reputation?
In order to better recognize our most active and prestigious members, we should develop some clubs. If you have so many posts, you get invited to this “cool” club. Benefits of being in this “cool” club could be similar to those you purchase from the store. I won’t list them again to keep this post as short as possible.I believe vbBulletin has built in support for stuff like this.
I have more ideas, but I’m trying to think of the best way to put them into words.
Oh, and: Resurrect the Premium Ones!
Changes:
+ Added note:
Perhaps premium members should get a bonus, because who better to show off how cool the store is, than the members? If the premium members look like they’re having fun, everyone will want to join in 🙂
+ Added note:
“Some may say this will make BBB more childish, but I say it’ll make BBB more fun. I mean, our members work so hard to contribute to the community, so why not let them get something back for all their hard work? Points don’t cost us anything and neither does the shop. We could even encourage people to play at our arcade or… discourage (see note later on).”
* Modified:
“posting news (BONUS for this? Since news is moderated, it shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll be getting higher-quality news and members would be getting something back for giving us the scoop. Freelance reporter, anyone?)”
+ Added note:
“If we do, do this, we need to have an explanation somewhere of how you get points (NOT just a stickied thread, I’m hoping for a little box on its own where everyone won’t miss it) and a link to a page explaining why they’re important.”
+ Added items to shop list:
“Make the best and most popular arcade games cost points to play, UNLESS you are premium or something…?”
“Buy a custom user title?”
I really like where you are going with this. My only complaints so far are some of the username/thread title formatting which could end up VERY distracting. I do like some of the suggestions such as bold and italizise your username, the shadow could be neat as well. I feel the colors would get out of hand, plus screw with the way people find the staff, and a glow could be a little in your face.
The avatar and sig would have to be very controlled because that increases loading time *cough*NEOWIN.NET*cough*. Heh, we don’t want to be all that slow, but yes maybe a little increase.
Clubs is something that I so want. Makes people feel good and included. I know around here a lot it’s like we have just STAFF and REGULAR. Well with clubs, we can have groups of people so more people can be more things and feel more important than just a regular member.
One last comment, is making sure that this stuff really only goes for all the active people, such as you are inactive for x days and every day after that you loose x points until your return. Anyways, good stuff, good stuff. (+rep)
You’ve got some great ideas here, man, let me make a few comments on some of them.
Points System + Store
When I had vBulletin forums, I used to run a store off it, and let me tell you, if you don’t calculate exactly how many points someone will accumulate, things can get very out of hand, very fast. But other than that, it can mean a lot of fun for the members (Hell, who wouldn’t want to change the color of a thread title in the forum listing?). And when someone sees a bright pink thread title, you know people are going to ask how, and in this way the word should spread very quickly.- Increase in reputation influence? Sounds good.
- Increase of signature limit Might get out of hand, but good idea.
- Increase of avatar limit Might get out of hand, but good idea.
- Allow the member to pick a custom font that will be used with all their posts, by default? This one I don’t like so much, I’m really for keeping all the posts in the same font / style and that’s one argument I won’t surrender from right away.
- Change their username? Sounds good.
- Italicize their username Sounds good.
- Bold their username Sounds good.
- Underline their username? They’re already underlined :p
- Glow their username Uh… glow? Last time I tried to use that, my browser wouldn’t even render it. Aren’t Glow/Shadow deprecated CSS styles?
- Add a shadow underneath their username See above.
- Change the color of their username Sure, why not. You may have to block Staff colors, or make all staff one color that way we won’t get any impersonations. 😉
- Temp. bold thread title Sounds good.
- Temp. italic thread title Sounds good.
- Temp. strike thread title Sounds good.
- Temp. colored thread title See above (Username Glow).
- Temp. glowing thread title See above (Username Glow).
- Temp. add a shadow underneath thread title See above (Username Glow).
- Temp. change thread title font Again, may get annoying, but worth a try.
- Remove search flood protection? How often do people encounter this? Is there a need?
- Remove post flood protection? See Above.
- Allow ONE thread close (of your own creation) Sounds good.
- Allow sticky? Might not be appropriate. Might need to be moderated. On a better note, why not have temporary sticky threads? That sounds better to me.
“Bonus” for rating threads
I agree, we should implement this great feature more. I think that when one person rates their own thread a 5, it may draw people to a thread that really shouldn’t be a 5.Make the reputation system more visible to the public
I agree, we need to also push this feature a lot, but probably keep it separate from the store.Clubs based on number of posts or reputation?
Definately! Maybe we could get Staff Members to head each of these “clubs” (one per club), therefore making the members feel more special (I dunno, what’s it worth to hang out with a BBB Staffer? :p) and also giving our staff something better to do than moderate and reply to posts (which has become increasingly easy these past few months).Oh, and: Resurrect the premium ones! because if we add this stuff, being premium can mean so much more. Yes, please, we need to rethink the Premiere Members!
Seph, great post man, absolutely great. Even better, you went and found mods as vB.org for us, excellent. If I could, you’d get +2 rep, but 1 will have to suffice. 😉
Updated first post.
Changes:
+ Added note:
Perhaps premium members should get a bonus, because who better to show off how cool the store is, than the members? If the premium members look like they’re having fun, everyone will want to join in 🙂
+ Added note:
“Some may say this will make BBB more childish, but I say it’ll make BBB more fun. I mean, our members work so hard to contribute to the community, so why not let them get something back for all their hard work? Points don’t cost us anything and neither does the shop. We could even encourage people to play at our arcade or… discourage (see note later on).”
* Modified:
“posting news (BONUS for this? Since news is moderated, it shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll be getting higher-quality news and members would be getting something back for giving us the scoop. Freelance reporter, anyone?)”
+ Added note:
“If we do, do this, we need to have an explanation somewhere of how you get points (NOT just a stickied thread, I’m hoping for a little box on its own where everyone won’t miss it) and a link to a page explaining why they’re important.”
+ Added items to shop list:
“Make the best and most popular arcade games cost points to play, UNLESS you are premium or something…?”
“Buy a custom user title?”
The games sounds good, however I feel we should still have a few good ones for free. But I really like that whole buy arcade things too. Also custom user title is like a must, It’s just good to have and people want it. I know I always did.
Great discussion! I’ve been tied up in all-day meetings yesterday and today (my boss is here from Houston), but I’ll sit down and give a complete reply tonight.
Quote:Make the best and most popular arcade games cost points to play, UNLESS you are premium or something…?Out of all the ideas I don’t agree with, this is number one.
It would take away from my Arcade Gamer of the Month award, and I just don’t want that!
Perhaps, but you must understand that in order for these changes to be effecitve, we’re going to have to offer an incentive for people to get involved with the points system or whatever. So we’re going to have to make sacrifices. 🙁
This is inequitable. I just started this, and already I am being told to compromise.
You choose one or the other, because I know people will find it inequitable that some of the games are only available to those who are most active on the forums and have the advantage to win the award.
It also seems in this circumstance you are literally forcing people to do something they are just not interested in.
OK,
1) where are these “points” going to be calculated? On forums, I seen reputation and I see points. I don’t see both. Nor do I see a need for both. Nor do I WANT to see both. The postbit as it is is crowed enough and if we arn’t going to bring back the legacy postbit, I do not want to see both rep. point pips AND a point score.
2) I don’t think this will be an issue (or, I can I say I don’t really know. .. we don’t have enough posters), but the possibility of post whoring. Is it with it? Is the “sin bin” going to be back? *shudders*
3) hell lets dig into the posted suggestions:
• Increase in reputation influence? Rep. point whoring. It probably will happen.
• Increase of signature limit Who cares? We don’t enforce it anyway.
• Increase of avatar limit Definitely not. The current size is good (especially for me, on dial up)
• Allow the member to pick a custom font that will be used with all their posts, by default? Hellz no! I’ll be damned if I’m going to go around and read hot pink font with some dumbass font.
• Change their username? Sure.. every other forum does it…..
• Italicize their username Sure, I’ll go for that too….
• Bold their username Would that not become the same colour as advisors?
• Underline their username? (is there a point…) No point.
• Glow their username Hellz no.
• Add a shadow underneath their username Hellz no.
• Change the color of their username Sure, I’ll go for that.
• Temp. bold thread title Would interfere with active topics not read.
• Temp. italic thread title Why? Make an unimportant thread stand out? pfft
• Temp. strike thread title Sounds unprofessional… I don’t like it.
• Temp. colored thread title Again, makes unimportant threads — important
• Temp. glowing thread title HELLZ NO!
• Temp. add a shadow underneath thread title NO!
• Temp. change thread title font Uhh…. No?
• Remove search flood protection? I’ll go for that even without “points” plz!
• Remove post flood protection? Sure.. and lets encourage post whoring too!
• Allow ONE thread close (of your own creation) Why? To piss people off?
• Allow sticky (TEMP)? Might not be appropriate. Perhaps we need to organize how the stickies are already stickied. I have a post about that some where else…
• Make the best and most popular arcade games cost points to play, UNLESS you are premium or something…? You already know about my thought about that.
• Buy a custom user title? Now were taking things people PAY for and giving them AWAY for FREE? Yeah, like that’ll fly…Generally, it will not make BBB more fun. It will make it more irritating for members who actually DO come.
I’ll think of more arguments later.
Hmm…. There are some really good ideas with pontential here Seph. But, Glowing of user-names and Increasing of Avatar and Signature limits?? I just think things like that would be too much…
Also, the points system sounds very complicated. If it does happan, it needs to be OUT THERE, like you mentioned, and probably be in the welcome email/my bigblueball page.
Otherwise… Pretty good ideas, Seph.
Oats… I think you missed the part where Seph linked to the current vBulletin mod “vbBux / vbPlaza”. It would be fairly simple to integrate. 😉
Increasing Activity at BBB
This change should result in the following:- Increase in activity
- Friendlier community
- More “fun” community experience
Warren mentioned several ideas to help do this:
- Points System + Store
- Bonus for rating threads
- Increasing the visibility of the reputation system
- Clubs
I’m all for increasing activity at BigBlueBall, making it friendlier and more fun. I appreciate the initiative and effort tracking down the mods for vBulletin, Warren.
I really like your idea of promoting the thread ratings, through some sort of bonus or incentive (probably to reputation). If the good topics are rated, over time people will recognize that it’s to their benefit of providing quality topics and replies.
Yahoo! Answers is not a perfect solution — there are lots of crap questions and even worse answers — but their “reputation” system appears to work. They call them points, but I see it more closely aligned with the reputation system. One good thing I like is that the person asking the question can select the “best answer.” If the original poster doesn’t select a best answer, other members can still vote on the quality of the other answers, and the answer with the most votes is selected.
Here is an example of a question I posted on Yahoo! Answers. I got two answers; one kinda crappy, but the other one excellent (I selected it as the best answer). Here is a table explaining their scoring system.
I also like the idea of increasing the visibility of user reputation. Here is an example of how they do it over at Yahoo Answers:
[attach]1051[/attach]
You can click here and see for yourself. You’ll notice that they also provide a link to the Top 10 Answerers. (I hate that word — but the concept is sound).
I also agree that creating clubs could be a good way of building community, BUT… we need to figure out what benefits there are to being a member of a club.
The one idea I’m not too keen on is the store concept. I really dislike the idea of glowing names and such. In my mind, it cheapens the whole site. I think that with increased visibility for the reputation feature, that would provide sufficient motivation for participation, as it is on Slashdot.
In addition to the ideas that Warren suggested, I think that we cannot forget that the number one reason that people come to BigBlueBall is the content. We need to make sure we have updated reference, tutorials and other material that people find valuable — enough for them to bookmark the site and come back again.
Digg is one example of a system that provides a measure (not infallible, for sure) of value. We still get a lot of inbound traffic from articles that have reached the front page of Digg, like https://bigblueball.com/forums/google-talk-news/33739-connect-google-talk-aim-msn-yahoo.html
I would love to create a reputation bonus for anyone who submits an article/news/tutorial/etc. that makes it to the front page of Digg (maybe as much as 100 points?).
As for the fun part, I think we are working on that, and we can make some improvements. The arcade adds fun, and we could schedule special tournaments or challenges, or add new games on a regular basis. The clubs could potential provide another avenue for fun (although I’m not exactly sure how). But we can also create some fun contests. We’ve done this before; giving away t-shirts and other prizes (even an iPod last year), and it always seems to be well received. We could do this again, maybe with a different contest each quarter?
There are some great ideas here, and I love the dialogue this has generated. Of the ideas that have been discussed so far, do we have enough consensus to get started on any of these?
Spike;213382 wrote:Oats… I think you missed the part where Seph linked to the current vBulletin mod “vbBux / vbPlaza”. It would be fairly simple to integrate. 😉I did… Thanks Spike. Remember, I’m not exactly familiar with this stuff! 😮
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