[arsalahmed786]

Hi everyone, We have point credit system which we just use to decide winner of VPS plan. If 2 people requested for same VPS then giveaway manager see their usage of purpose and who have the most credits, There could be more factors obviously i don't know i'm not giveaway manager here, @deanhills is.

So how can we make point credits useful for more than just a showpiece.

Well here is some ideas, You guys are welcome to add more.

- First change symbol, It should be any currency symbol. Make something with "P"

- Ability to purchase small add not in header/Footer obviously sponsors are really important. Banner OR text format add smaller than "728x90" holding place could be between posts.

- Ability stick your thread for week or longer Advertising & offers board (Expect Free VPS Providers & Other Free Service Providers )


Point also have Statistics (fun fact: Been inactive for almost year and i'm still on top 10 with $1,970) Make a week OR monthly whoever earn the most points/credits in week/month will be the winner and prize could be ad placement or winner can have 2 VPSes. OR you guys suggest.

[hamed]

Yes, it's great. I had long ago suggested the same in the suggestions section of this forum, but it was not approved. In my opinion, Credits should be more valuable in this forum because it shows the activity of each user accurately. Even the usefulness of each user's posts can be understood from the amount of his credits.

[fChk]

The usefulness of any 'currency'(/credit points) depends on the issuer and his goals.. So on that front, credit points usefulness is @Dynamo prerogative and its 'purchasing power' rests on what he is willing to do with it.

In my opinion, Credits should be more valuable in this forum because it shows the activity of each user accurately. Even the usefulness of each user's posts can be understood from the amount of his credits.

As for the symbolic level, there is only ONE REAL METRICS that truly reflects the value of the contribution of each member to this community. It's not perfect, but close! Especially that we're all indebted to @deanhills constant vigilance to clean up the forum from tons of useless spam/posts.

The metrics I'm talking about is: (Credit points / total posts). So if someone really wants to know the value of his contribution to this forum, he has just to do the math; that simple!

That was my 2 cents on this!

[rudra]

really awesome @fChk

i would like to say that implementing any such offers will only make things more complex and require more work to be done by the staff.

i think keeping it simple should be our aim. posting just 20 posts a month about this and that..i don't see that much of a hard work and trying to get more out of it is just silly.

it is not like we are posting some ground breaking stuff and breaking our backs and losing our hairs in the process.

but as he said, it all totally rests on Dynamo of course.

thank you all.

re.
also i want to add that... if our points are that valuable then i think Dean and HR and Dynamo's contributions .... just way tooo high... what should they get that will be commensurate to their level of effort and work and be justified.

[sAmI]

I really like the idea of the Advertisement banner, But i believe it would take time to develop such a plugin and it could create a mess for some users, There could a possibility if admins approve and (ad) before it goes live. But it would add extra burden on admins but indeed it would increase number of post as other users would try to complete posting for ads. If it's kept under control this could really be a great idea.
Other than, Points are just for giving out VPS, I believe adding some other things would effect the look of the forum!

[Sn1F3rt]

I agree with @fChk and @rudra.

We needn't do commercialization of the forum, while allowing to buying anything with those points. We earn these points for our posts, and it's best it remains bound to being a crucial factor for clashes while deciding VPS winners.

As they've highlighted it's a lot of effort to develop such a plug-in, and even then won't really be worth it. Those ads look good for the sponsors here as they are doing a wonderful job, I don't think ads between posts should be implemented at the least.

Anyway it's the Admin's call, let's see what Dynamo and others have to say on this.

[ikk157]

In my opinion, this isn’t a great idea.

Why? You may ask.

Well, first off, the beauty of post4vps is the fact that the system is so simple and straightforward... 25 posts to apply for a new VPS, 20 per month to maintain it, and $100 credit points deduction if you re-apply for a VPS after you’ve lost one. Adopting this “purchase using credit points” system will unnecessarily and pointlessly overcomplicate everything... specially for new users who would struggle to figure everything out.

Secondly, there’s really no point in bombarding the forum with unnecessary non-sponsor ads. To be honest, the only people that deserve to have their ads displayed here are the sponsors themselves as they are they sole reason post4vps exists. So having users “purchase” ad space in the forum using credit points will just make it much more annoying to use, specially on mobile where the screen space is very minimal... the last thing we (the mobile users) want is more ads stuffing our screens instead of the stuff that actually matters.

Thirdly, as already stated several times, two VPSs per person is a bad idea. (Not getting into any details on this point as it has already been thoroughly explained above.)

[fChk]

Secondly, there’s really no point in bombarding the forum with unnecessary non-sponsor ads. To be honest, the only people that deserve to have their ads displayed here are the sponsors themselves as they are they sole reason post4vps exists. So having users “purchase” ad space in the forum using credit points will just make it much more annoying to use, specially on mobile where the screen space is very minimal... the last thing we (the mobile users) want is more ads stuffing our screens instead of the stuff that actually matters.

This is indeed the major reason why I thought @Dynamo's would never agree to the OP's suggestions.

It's always a real dilemma for every webmaster to get the right balance between a website's usability and user-friendliness and hosting ADS.. As generally with ADS comes bloat!..

The business model of Post4VPS requires the presence of sponsors' ads... which we can all live with to a certain limit at least..

To be frank, I was a bit astonished from the whole OP's premise. As I not only believe that, as things stands right now, all the hosted members of this community are already having a good bargain, but I do also think that if I was in @Dynamo's shoes i would have tighten the screws a bit as to the quality of those required 20 posts, may be while decreasing the quantity to 15 or 10.

Again, the focus should be more on the ratio not the totals. Anyone visiting the forum from time to time would have known that already!..

[ikk157]

This is indeed the major reason why I thought @Dynamo's would never agree to the OP's suggestions.

It's always a real dilemma for every webmaster to get the right balance between a website's usability and user-friendliness and hosting ADS.. As generally with ADS comes bloat!..

The business model of Post4VPS requires the presence of sponsors' ads... which we can all live with to a certain limit at least..

To be frank, I was a bit astonished from the whole OP's premise. As I not only believe that, as things stands right now, all the hosted members of this community are already having a good bargain, but I do also think that if I was in @Dynamo's shoes i would have tighten the screws a bit as to the quality of those required 20 posts, may be while decreasing the quantity to 15 or 10.

Again, the focus should be more on the ratio not the totals. Anyone visiting the forum from time to time would have known that already!..

I absolutely agree on your point of increasing the quality of posts and decreasing their required monthly number as a perk. I’ve always found it unfair that someone might poor their heart and soul into each and every of their 20 posts to make them of the highest standards possible... while someone else might not be bothered and make posts for the sake of it, ones that barely meet the minimum of what would be considered as a quality post.

However, I’m not very sure on what basis a posts quality could be determined. The number of characters/words isn’t a great way to determine a post’s quality level. Anyone can easily write an essay about the TV in their living room, but would that really be a quality post? Obviously not.

As for ads causing bloat, I forgot to mention the following in my previous post:

The current ad numbers and placement in the forum is quite good actually... not too many, and don’t suck up valuable screen space on mobile. I do have to say that the ad under “Offers” in the main page of the forum is a bit oversized for mobile... it almost takes half the screen of an iPhone 11. No clue how it would show up on other devices... but honestly not a big deal.

[fChk]

I absolutely agree on your point of increasing the quality of posts and decreasing their required monthly number as a perk. I’ve always found it unfair that someone might poor their heart and soul into each and every of their 20 posts to make them of the highest standards possible... while someone else might not be bothered and make posts for the sake of it, ones that barely meet the minimum of what would be considered as a quality post.

However, I’m not very sure on what basis a posts quality could be determined. The number of characters/words isn’t a great way to determine a post’s quality level. Anyone can easily write an essay about the TV in their living room, but would that really be a quality post? Obviously not.

Glad to read your approval of the idea... I'm sure many feel the same and just NEED a tiny bit of coercion to comply with it. :-)

Not sure if you did read this: Lack of quality content, member contributions and interest (state of the community), the problem isn't new!.. It 's even the reason why I didn't start posting in here the day I registered in the forum, but waited till I saw the first thread topic that pushed me out of the anonymity to newbie status with 1 post count; the thread, by the way, was 'Controversial: Does God Exist?'.

There is no automatic(/scripted) way to assess posts quality, but SPAM is also easy to detect, be it one word or a 3-page manifest; moderators are here for that!..

The idea that I'm promoting is to hold hosted members to a pre-defined ratio (total credit points / total post numbers), be it 3, 4, 5 etc.. and why not make big specs VPSs requiring a bigger ratio than lower specs etc....

The thing this requirement brings to the table is to motivate hosted members to make more relevant threads and not just 20 posts averaging 2 or 3 sentences worth per post, saying nothing more than how happy / sorry / excited / looking forward to something or the like.... each and every month!... That's just sad!.. You can't build a forum worth checking on regularly with such content!...

Anyway, that's my 2 cents on this and it's up to the owner to deal with the consequences, ultimately.

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Edit: fixed a link.