Comment for prizes proposal....

from WinCustomize Forums
I've been giving it some thought for a while, but it seems that the proper authority of the site has been alarmed already by the fact that comments are a rare kind here at WC. So one solution would be to set prizes for the people who comment (thing which i proposed already on the main thread). I find this to be a harmless way to make people actually comment on skins.Harmless because it is not based on popularity,but on commenting,it helps to get ideas moving around the community and it doesn't cost anything for users,on the contrary users are the ones who have to get something out of it.

The main structure of the system:
- The same system can work for both subsribers and members of the site. (If you want to make it a subscribers only feature that will drive an ammount of people to become subs, but a great deal of people will be discouraged from commenting. And the ammount of people wanting to subscribe is surely far lesser than the ones who would comment.)
- Each comment will count as one credit for the commenter. Credits will be stored to a personal bank of each user.
- A comment must be a full sentence with a minimum of 7-8 words. I believe a word counter can be easily implemented to the system, right? This way the Wow,Great,Nice,Sucks,etc will be ignored as "Spam Comment",even when not intented as such.
- When a commenter gains enough credit he then can exchange them for a prize of his liking. When a prize is selected the ammount of credits needed are substracted from the total, so that way one cannot gain prizes as his comments increase. I also propose the following milestones:
* 1000 Credits = One premium WC Suite of commenter's choice.
* 2000 Credits = A small program (CursorsXP, Icon Packager, Object Dock Plus).
* 3000 Credits = A big program (Windowblinds, Desktop X Pro).
* 4000 Credits = WC Subscription (New or Renewal).
* 5000 Credits = Object Desktop.
- No Most Popular Commenters list is needed, since the main goal is not to impress or gain glory or anything else. The goal is to gain something concrete such as a program or a suite. That for the user, whereas the community gains some good ideas flow.
- Of course it is possible to be abusers of the system with copy-paste. (If needed can you disable that function for the text boxes via coding? I think it is possible).
- This can be implemented with the coming of the next year, that is January 1st of 2006. When a year is past all credits return to the bank, so that no stocking attempts are made. You'll need to act immediately.
- Credits for comments surely will have nothing to do with user class or site access promotions.

Well that is all. What do you think? Is it doable or at least agreaable?
3,913 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Sounds credible. I don't know how much running around with heads cut off the admins will have to do to implement before 1/1/2006, but sounds alright to me. Thing is, we shouldn't NEED an incentive program for commenting on skins. The comments should be made on honor, with criticism given to increase the abilities of those authors that need it, a pat on the back for those that already have the ability. I would think that if members starting seeing more articulate commenting in the galleries that more people would afford the respect deserved and critique with some enthusiasm. But, if this is what is truly needed to give the push, so be it. I wouldn't be able to come up with any better, without knowing what is possible on the part of the admins of the site. I like that you have put forth the effort to start the ball rolling, cyberworld. Kudos for that, surely!

Now, you're talking 1 credit for 1 good comment? That doesn't sound like it would be too bad, that would take an awful lot of comments to get to that 5000 ODNT prize. If it's a year long thing, looks quite possible to catch that milestone, if that many skins get uploaded.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The only problem I see is for people like myself that find one or two really great themes/blinds/etc. that they like, download, apply, comment on it and then don't download again for a long time (as they don't change what they have for months on end). That's really not fair to those that have limited space (no room for hundreds of downloads) or those that don't want to change their setup to something new just to earn points.
DD

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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
That's really not fair to those that have limited space (no room for hundreds of downloads) or those that don't want to change their setup to something new just to earn points.


True,but the thing is that people around here need to be motivated by something. I thought this would be a good start and a good incentive. Surely there will be many who are opposed to this and some who just can't comment that much due to time/space/speed limitations. (I for myself am an example of this, although now with DSL things will improve.) Also points for credits is not supposed to become an end in itself but an incentive to keep in mind at the back of your head. Changing your setup isn't required to comment, you can just try out what you've downloaded and try it out for some time and then revert to your old setup.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The comments should be made on honor, with criticism given to increase the abilities of those authors that need it, a pat on the back for those that already have the ability.


Ditto my friend, i for instance tend to comment on things i download just because i feel i need to give an opinion on something. But like you said: Desperate situations call for desperate measures.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
No, no, no. Giving incentives for comments will open up
a big can of worms. You can say what you want, but people
will spam (more than 7-8 words) just to get a prize.
Forum sites that give out "rankings" based on the number of
posts or comments, fight the spammers all the time.

Bad idea.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I prefer my comments to come from the heart, not the want for stuff, points, or credit! I am beside myself to see that people are even considering such an idea.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

We can do without points for any kind of activity as it encourages the wrong response. People who contribute in a positive way to the site are noticed and can be thanked in other ways.

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
We can do without points for any kind of activity as it encourages the wrong response. People who contribute in a positive way to the site are noticed and can be thanked in other ways.

Ditto!

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Points for credits is not supposed to become an end in itself but an incentive to keep in mind at the back of your head.


I'm not stronly in for this, but i'm tryiong to think not as a commenter, but as a person who needs a motive to comment. But i guess Fuzzy is right, this thing will probably encourage the wrong response.