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1
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Levchik (Suspended)
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I definitely like the idea. Make money by writing reviews :)
Great incentive!
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04-04-07 02:57am
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2
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SnowDude (0)
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I'll certainly give it some time to grow on me, but my initial reaction isn't really positive. I think it might encourage participation although the lure of money might cause certain people to assign random user trust ratings for example just to get more tickets. I'm quite sure the site will be more active though so we'll have to see.
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04-04-07 07:11am
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3
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roseman (Suspended)
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Greetings Rick,
I believe that '' $200 Tuesdays raffle concept '' is surely good for the site and will definitely help it. I got confused with it somehow lol too many things to read :-)
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04-04-07 07:53am
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4
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roseman (Suspended)
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REPLY TO #2 - SnowDude :
I agree with you Dude, trust rating feature surely needs some change. I am sure that it will be taken care of :)
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04-04-07 07:55am
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5
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Rick (Suspended)
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I hope the raffle works out for everyone's best interest. We put a lot of thought into the rules and points (hence, there's so many). Here was our goals when preparing them:
-Reward those who are here for the right reasons, rather than those that write a biased review for their favorite site and leave (minimum 5 pts to qualify).
-Create more benefit for long-term participants (bonus pts for each badge).
-Focus most of the tickets on the reviews/comments, with a few extra tickets for other easy partiipation (to help encourage a good balance of participation).
-Give away enough money to make it fun and rewarding, but not too much to attract fake accounts or disingenious users.
-Have ticket max's for each type of participation so everyone has a decent chance to win. The major goal is to get new participation from experienced users.
Keep in mind we will definitely tweak rules if needed. I think this is a good start though. Overall if this works, it should benefit the community as a whole. :)
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04-04-07 09:13am
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6
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SnowDude (0)
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REPLY TO #5 - Rick :
Hey Rick,
Regardless of the outcome, I think it's great how hard you guys are trying to make this a vibrant site. And even though I expressed some skepticism, I'm definitely rooting for it to succeed.
One thing I did want to ask about was taking away points folks had earned from the previous system, especially taking away bonuses that users used to get for earning badges. I can't say I was happy to log in yesterday to see my point total dropped (as well as my ranking) but I know that you must have felt it was the right thing to do.
Thanks for all the efforts and for keeping us informed.
-SD
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04-04-07 10:55am
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7
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Rick (Suspended)
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REPLY TO #6 - SnowDude :
Thanks Snowdude!
There will never be lack of effort. :)
Taking away points from the badges was definitely a tough decision. There was a reason for it though which I'll explain here...
Since we wanted to have a "minimum" participation to qualify for the weekly raffle, we decided points was the best way (something we could tweak up or down easily). It was originally 7 points to qualify. Problem was that certain badges were fairly easy to obtain and earn an easy 5 points each (polls badge, replies badge). So essentially a user could qualify for the raffle and earn tickets without ever writing a single review.
By removing the points benefit (which is just a number anyway), we re-assigned the benefit of badges toward the raffle instead. This values each badge far greater in my opinion since these bonus tickets each week (you earn a bonus raffle ticket for each badge you've earned) will have long-term benefits. If you have 3 badges for example, you get 3 bonus tickets each week (forever) by simply earning at least 1 ticket for that week. We're also adding 2 new badges soon, which will give each the ability to earn up to 8 badges (8 bonus tickets).
Less 5 pts for each badge sucks for now, but you'll see the new benefit will be far better! :)
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04-04-07 11:21am
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8
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littlejoe (0)
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cool idea but expect a lot of half-assed reviews, even some where people were never a member there
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04-04-07 02:59pm
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9
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SnowDude (0)
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REPLY TO #7 - Rick :
Hey Rick,
I appreciate all the thought that went into the raffle and the reasons for eliminating the point bonuses which makes perfect sense. So, I am not complaining since you had a very good reason for changing things as you did. However, I would point out that there are legitimate ways of contributing to the site that don't include reviews that now seem to go much less rewarded. I think I'm a prime example of someone who has a limited budget and can't join that many sites to review but still put a lot (at least as much as I could) into the site. My concern as a result of the changes would be that those with lots of money to spend on sites or who join large networks so they can review a large number of sites at once would benefit the most. My point totals dropped by half since I haven't done as many reviews as some others although I think I have been one of the top contributors.
All that said, I know changes needed to be made and I know why you made the changes you did. It's not like I could have done better in your place, but I did think it worthwhile to offer my view on the changes. Regardless, the site is growing and changing which can only be to the good. Thanks for listening to my ramblings! ;)
-SD
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04-04-07 04:39pm
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10
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tblues2005 (Suspended)
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I think it is a good idea to do this and I hope it is a success.
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04-04-07 07:04pm
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11
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Rick (Suspended)
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REPLY TO #9 - SnowDude :
Thanks Snowdude for your understanding and great comments.
I'll definitely keep what you said in mind for future changes or upgrades. We really do appreciate everything you've been able to contribute and look forward to communicating more with you in the future to get your opinions. Hit us up anytime.
All the best!
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04-04-07 07:27pm
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12
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Nopity4u (Disabled)
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REPLY TO #11 - Rick :
A little OT. But, are there any plans currently to implement a forum system for the site? vBulletin or something else? This site definitely needs a forum :)
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04-04-07 09:53pm
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13
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Rick (Suspended)
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REPLY TO #12 - Nopity4u :
Hi Nopity4u,
We've definitely considered this idea and it's still up in the air. I'm 90% sure that we'll have a forum eventually. If we do implement something, it'll be custom made to interact nicely with your pre-existing profile. It's not super high on the priority list right now, but maybe it should be. :)
Thanks for the message!
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04-05-07 08:09am
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14
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SnowDude (0)
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REPLY TO #11 - Rick :
Thanks for the kind words and for letting me know I didn't go over the top...well, at least not too over the top!
The one thing I forgot to mention: I wonder if perhaps you should let users with less than 10 reviews be exempt from the trust ratings. I've seen a few too many never get to their rookie reviewer badge because they get jumped all over by "no" votes on their trust rating because they haven't learned the ropes just yet. I know you wanted to discourage people from coming in, writing a couple terrible or biased reviews, and then splitting. I think that's worked very well, but it could be going to far in the other direction and well intentioned folks making a couple missteps may hightail in out of here.
Anyway, it's just a thought. As I said last time, I'm quite sure I wouldn't have done better than you guys have by a long shot if our positions were reversed and you've done very well with every new feature. I'm glad to be a part of it and my "bully pulpit" is once again closed...for the time being. ;)
Thanks much guys!
-SD
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04-05-07 12:57pm
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15
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Rick (Suspended)
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REPLY TO #14 - SnowDude :
You make a good pt for sure... and unfortunately the community dictates whether they trust a user's opinion or not. Since each user has control on how they interpret "trust", it's something that can offend new (or even experienced) users.
In this case, there's not much we can do without removing the feautre altogether. I have a poll coming up getting everyone's take on the Trust Rating feature, so it'll be interesting to see those results. I still believe in this feature (more for long-term than short-term) and feel that as more user get involved we'll get larger more accurate sampling.
Problem of requireing 10 reviews to get rated is that come and go users who "shouldn't" be trusted will never get a chance to be judged.
Another point for others to keep in mind is that trust ratings can always be "changed" by a user who might have submitted "no". You always have a chance to prove yourself and earn the "yes" vote. I wouldn't advise anyone submit "no" votes just because a user's review isn't detailed. Look for "bias" or valid reasons why the user doesn't appear to be geniune.
That's my take. :)
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04-05-07 01:20pm
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16
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Nopity4u (Disabled)
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REPLY TO #13 - Rick :
Definitely. User interaction is what makes this site stand out. The earlier a Forum is established the better imho. Thanks for a great site.
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04-05-07 04:23pm
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17
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kkman112 (0)
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Its a classic way to increase traffic / interaction, but I have a feeling some will be reviewing sites whether they were a member or not just to get the points and tickets for the chance to win.
Although the 'trust rating' could help offset this, I would have liked it better if you charged per-review to get a ticket ($1 to enter?) just to further prevent false reviews.
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05-05-07 12:44am
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