Points based on post length

[Teekay]

I have come across forums that reward members with virtual currency for making posts based on the amount of characters used, or in other words the length of the post. At first, it seems logical and a good idea to encourage longer and more in-depth posts with more insight, but somehow I think it has the opposite effect and leads to lower quality of posts and generally, the same as posts with just Thanks and LOL but just with more characters.

What's your view on this? And what about the minimum characters rule?

 

[Viktori]

I think it can be done but the structure has to be really good, including being clear with the rules and being vigilant with enforcing them. If the owner and moderators decide not to allow short posts altogether or at least try to keep it to a minimum, then I think it can produce rich discussion.

 

[wasape]

Well it depends what point is for.
If it is just pure frame/level of an account then I guess it would work as long as someone is monitoring it. No big deal even if someone got away with it.
If it is for something like a currency to use to download files or view posts than I guess a better design would been give point base on quality, not quantity. I guess you could random assign some user to rate the post and take an average of that to give points and the user who rated this post get some bonus as well to motivate them going. If really can't depend on user then just get the admins to do it.

 

[jjmyles]

This is just my opinion but I think that that compensating based on the amount of characters used could become problematic because the quality of the posts may suffer due to writers padding to increase their compensation.

 

[BigJ]

Having seen the dollar amount under my name on another forum, it actually made me feel cheap. "BigJ, $34" could easily get out of hand...
I happen to be quite fond of the way that this forum is set up as I can agree/disagree/reward fellow posters on each post.

 

[jjmyles]

I agree Big J. I like the way it is set up also. It is easy to interact with others on this site and that always makes things more interesting.

 

[SimplySidy]

Though I wonder what the use of this virtual currency is ... but that said, I would say that if it was happening on my forum, I would still maintain the minimum character input level as 50 characters and start counting the characters after this 50.

And yes, sometimes, the question or the post is such that there can be only replies containing a few words or even the single - LOL or Thanks for the Informative post... I have seen that kind of posts on a select forum and the post was - about funny "Fails" and some were really hilarious.

 

[mikong]

Longer post does not necessarily mean that it is much more concise than a post that is at least three sentences long. Posts should be assessed based on its quality not its quantity. Any writer would know that quality carry much more depth than quantity. It is how you manipulate each terms correctly that really counts.

 

[Nixon Marcion]

I think they just don't want the content to be dull, or the writer to just post anything just because they are getting paid for it. Reality is just because a post is long does not mean it is good, but then again they have to review the post to see its quality. Quality post is what they truly want.

 

[mikong]

I totally agree with you on that, especially when it comes to points. It is like saying that we can just type anything regardless if it makes any sense or not. That being said makes the image of the writers lower. Article writers are really good at their field of expertise and yet their fee is much lower.

 

[TheDerpMan]

Longer post does not necessarily mean that it is much more concise than a post that is at least three sentences long. Posts should be assessed based on its quality not its quantity. Any writer would know that quality carry much more depth than quantity. It is how you manipulate each terms correctly that really counts.

The quality and quantity of a post are very important. A high quality post will contribute much more to a discussion than a meaningless long run on post. Giving an incentive to create longer posts only rewards users for using run on sentences, and not being efficient when they try to convey their ideas.

 

[CavaloBranco]

Well, although long posts can be very dull or not so constructive, in my opinion it's still the best way to control the quality of posts in a automatically fashion. Of course we could make a script that doesn't count "LOL" or "ty" or words used for spam but it still wouldn't fix the main problem

 

[Raivyn]

The quality and quantity of a post are very important. A high quality post will contribute much more to a discussion than a meaningless long run on post. Giving an incentive to create longer posts only rewards users for using run on sentences, and not being efficient when they try to convey their ideas.

Agreed. Incentives to create longer posts I feel would most often end up with a post that had a few good sentences at the beginning, but deteriorated in quality as it went on to pad numbers for more points.

 

[Cammie27]

As others have pointed out, incentives for longer post are likely to cause posters to run-on unnecessarily rather than just making their point. And as anyone who has come up against "wall of text" forum posts knows, that can make communication more difficult.

It seems to me that a minimum post length combined with a simple +/- system would be the ideal combination. That way you eliminate the one-liners and one-word responses that add nothing to the conversation, but don't create an incentive for verbal "clutter" that could interfere with the flow of threads.

 

[jjmyles]

Sometimes a one liner is appropriate but generally I think posts should have something more to offer then just a "LOL".

 

[smoothmarketer]

Some people are gifted with writing lengthy posts using complicated words and yet there is no value at all for other forum readers. Maybe a minimum length could be imposed without necessary rewarding the longer posts.

 

[b.williams127]

I think that this system sounds good on the outside but it is not good when you think of it. This system would encourage users to drag out the posts and make them much more boring, as well as using lots of smileys and punctuation to drag the count up. I think that some sort of algorithm should be created where things like keywords in a good post are detected and the quality of the grammar is assessed to give the forum a reliable points system. Also, the admins and moderators could override the system rating for each post. Perhaps even a system that learns from reported spam and follows links to see if they are clean. This would greatly reduce the administration of the forum.

 

[fancy]

In fact, quality and content are two key elements in any post. To launch and run a forum to my side is not a simple procedure and each administrator needs to put certain rules to help control such forums. On the side money is scarce and none would want to go throwing it to anyone who needs it. Also quality and quantity have some similarity is some way or the other. Yes…………. Am I out of point…..No… I was just trying to explain why some forums prefer the length of posts.
However though it may take me long to empress such forums I think they have a point and it is why they prefer it. And not to undercut anyone here we should look at their points of perspective additionally to ours and compose a relatively wise decision on this.

 

[Stuti]

I really think that I second the thought of member fancy. I think whatever you do whether simply starting a discussion the forum or doing something very small and simple, one should do it out of fun and not feel overburdened...I guess the more you engage yourself completely in doing even simple and small tasks you will find that you do not have to follow the earning but it will follow you automatically without you knowing it....and that is extremely true!

 

[bauss]

My forum has a point system, but I decided to not go with the points per character/word in my community. I don't want too many points to be handed out per post, because I wan't my point system to have some value in our marketplace.

I might even add a option where users can buy points in the future.