Much Ado About Points

@ Kurtni
I think that's a really great way to go about it and having stories be worth a decent amount of points is good for those of us who don't really write articles.

Would there be a way to make sure people didn't get completion points multiple times for the same story, though? It sounds a tad ridic but I could see people repeatedly checking and unchecking the completed option in order to continuously gain points. I think if you change a story from complete to incomplete, you should lose the points you earned for it until it's completed again.

@ water's cascade.
Yeah, I would imagine so. I think that's what happened with articles- you got points for the ones you already had.

I was thinking like... ten points per poem xD. Maybe I'm devaluing poems, I don't know, but since there is no real editing or quality control with poems like we have for articles, I'm not sure about 50.

@ chai latte
I think if you unchecked the completed box, you'd lose the points you already earned. That's what happens when you delete an article or book (to prevent someone from submitting/deleting/submitting/deleting the same one to get more points)

@ Kurtni
Oh, okay. I wasn't sure whether or not it was already an automated thing.

And I agree that poems shouldn't earn as many points as articles for the reasons you stated, at least for now. And I think stories should be worth as many points as articles, maybe a little more. But I probably think that because I write only stories.

@ Kurtni

I like the idea for a two-points system for stories - one for word count and one for completion. Has a number been thrown out for each yet?

I think since we're offsetting the word count issue with a two-point system, it would be okay to make the points per poem and the points per completed story the same number.

I do get what you mean about quality control for articles vs. stories, so I think we'd have to at least half the number (so somewhere 25 or under for completed poems and stories). Perhaps you could also get one point for each story/poem comment (if there's a way to make sure author's don't get points for their own comments).

For the forums, perhaps we could give a point for each forum post - not counting general, role play, writing contest or group stories.

@ chai latte
I think 50 points would be fair for completion points, and I think Dujo said something like 10 points per 1000 words for word count points. (We were just brainstorming though, so that's still debatable/ changeable).

@ Audrey T
I like the idea of one point per forum post and comment. Not sure how to go about blogs. Maybe 10 per blog? It's hard to assign a value to when some blogs are simply "read my story, here's the link, please read this, etc." and others are .... deep, political discussions.

@ Kurtni
Honestly, I was going to say less, but I didn't want it to look like I was, as you said, devauling the poems. xD
Hmm. I think 15 would be a good amount. You're definitely right about the quality control of the articles.

I love the idea of one point per forum post. But I never really thought you could get points for blogs. Like you said, they could easily just be for promoting stories and such.
I think, at the most, 5 points for blogs. That's just me, though, because it seems like there are more promotional blogs than political discussions.

I also think that being able to give another user points for any reason is a great idea. Maybe there could be like a little pop-up where you typed in the amount of points, and the reason why you're giving it to them? I don't know how complicated that would be.

water's cascade.:

I also think that being able to give another user points for any reason is a great idea. Maybe there could be like a little pop-up where you typed in the amount of points, and the reason why you're giving it to them? I don't know how complicated that would be.

From what I've heard from Dujo, I think that's pretty well how he plans on designing it. You'll be able to include a message explaining why you're giving them points. I think it's pretty simple.

@ Kurtni
Awesome!
What about contests? I don't know if points will be officially incorporated into those yet, but I just wanted to throw that out there.

I definitely think articles should be worth the most, for reasons already stated.

For stories, would drabbles (i.e. approx. 500 words) get 10 points for that, even though that's below the suggested 10 points for 1000 words? (I think 10 per 1000 words is good, as well as some for completion.)

As it's been said, it's difficult to give points for blogs, so it should be low if they do get points.

I think poems should also be relatively low, and perhaps even had a certain amount of points per words as well.

I also think that a very small amount (i.e. 1 point) for posts in the forum and comments on stories/poems (blogs too?) would be fine, as it would encourage people to discuss and interact with each other. Would points be given for comment swap comments?

Kurtni:

@ Audrey T
I like the idea of one point per forum post and comment. Not sure how to go about blogs. Maybe 10 per blog? It's hard to assign a value to when some blogs are simply "read my story, here's the link, please read this, etc." and others are .... deep, political discussions.

10 per blog sounds good, if the point count for poems is a bit hire. I don't think it would be fair to have 50 for stories/articles and then to place poems and blogs in the same category for 10 - when I think people generally do put more work and thought into poems than most people put into blogs.

I love the idea of getting one point per forum post, especially with how dead the forums are lately. I think it would encourage activity again.

water's cascade.:

I also think that being able to give another user points for any reason is a great idea. Maybe there could be like a little pop-up where you typed in the amount of points, and the reason why you're giving it to them? I don't know how complicated that would be.

I don't think we should be able to choose how many points we give another member, or else people would go around giving their friends like 10,000 points for no reason. I think if you give someone points it should be a set amount, or if we are allowed to choose the amount of points, there should be a limit (like, 5 tops.)

@ chai latte
If someone wants to give their friend all their points, I don't see the harm, it's just odd. They earned them I mean, and then that user would have no points left, so I don't think that would happen frequently. (The points you give come out of your personal supply of points)

@ Kurtni
Oh, I was totally unaware of that. My bad.

@ Kurtni
I like the idea of the word count thing. Because I don't think one could really cheat with that. The only way to do so would be to write more.

Maybe with points regarding blog/forum posts, you could get one point for every post and two points if it exceeds 200/300 words? Most people don't write a big long post unless they're actually saying something.

@ dru's hammer.
Agreed. I also like it because some users write very, very long stories, and even though they may have 50,000+ words written, if we only did completion points, they wouldn't have anything to show for it.

@ Kurtni
Yeah. It would definitely be nice to get more points for my Nano novel and my 40,000 word fic. They're not necessarily better than my 5k oneshots, but they took a lot more time to complete.

On a web site where so many people are posting their work and not as many are giving solid feedback, I think a review should be worth more points than posting a story. I mean, if people are rewarded for posting stories, it will remain in the cycle it's kind of in now where people are more focused on posting their own stories than on helping other people with their writing, you know?

OOH. Also, would it be possible to get points for BEING recommended? That might help with the blog thing, too--blogs with more substantial, meaningful content are more likely to get recommended (hopefully, unless people are just like OH THIS IS THAT PERSON WITH THAT STORY I LIKE I'LL REC THEIR BLOG BECAUSE IT LINKS TO THE STORY so that may not work but I'm just throwing it out there).