BioCredits Review

**Man1c M0g** · 11-13-2005

Hiya peeps! The BioCredits system has been running for a while now and has enjoyed a definate success. Forum posts are up, WebIndex votes are skyhigh, and generally people are happy with the system. There have, however, been a few comments that the posts aren't nearly rewarding enough in terms of credits, and that its too easy to get credits via random webindex vote bashing. For that reason I am considering the following changes:

Each forums post and gallery comment will elicit 2 credits each. However, the minimum character limit for gallery comments will be increased to 25 characters... in line with the minimums for the forums posts.
WebIndex votes will be worth 0.5 credits each.
Downloads will remain at 1 credit each
An advance warning system will be installed to allow admins to give spammers a warning without banning them. This will also apply for other forums rules breaches.

Soooo... what do ya think? Please comment and vote as necessary.

scrowler · 11-14-2005

sounds good. may i suggest that perhaps instead of automatically giving a user points for a post that you could assign them credits much like the reputation thing? but only a designated few users could assign credits? this might prevent people posting stupid comments like "nice job." just to get credits... the kind of posts that aren't considered spam but also aren't really worthy of a credit.

perhaps you could appoint a user just to do that or something, i dunno just an idea. nice work keep it up.

**Man1c M0g** · 11-14-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrowler

sounds good. may i suggest that perhaps instead of automatically giving a user points for a post that you could assign them credits much like the reputation thing? but only a designated few users could assign credits? this might prevent people posting stupid comments like "nice job." just to get credits... the kind of posts that aren't considered spam but also aren't really worthy of a credit.

perhaps you could appoint a user just to do that or something, i dunno just an idea. nice work keep it up.

Hmmm, I gave that sort of system consideration, but its quite labor intensive and there will always be a frustrating lag between making a post and being able to download which will undoubtedly irritate many users.

At the moment I simply do it the other way around - i.e. delete all 'spam' posts and 'good job' posts, and anything that uses worthless padding to get around the character requirements. Sure, the user may get an extra download or two before we notice it, but when its deleted their download count will remain, and they will start to go into negative figures... and they will have to work doubly hard to be able to download again.

scrowler · 11-15-2005

yes that sounds good. but what if a user just wanted to download a brush pack or something, they would sign up and post some useless post then download the thing and forget about their account, they might do this each time they download rather than using their last account with negative credits

**Man1c M0g** · 11-15-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrowler

yes that sounds good. but what if a user just wanted to download a brush pack or something, they would sign up and post some useless post then download the thing and forget about their account, they might do this each time they download rather than using their last account with negative credits

Well, thats why we offer a 5 (soon to be 10) credit bonus to everyone new who signs up. Besides, you can't register with the same e-mail twice, nor sign up with the same IP in a given time frame. Its all security built into Vbulletin to prevent that kind of thing...

scrowler · 11-15-2005

sounds like its all sorted

hope it works

**Man1c M0g** · 11-15-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrowler

sounds like its all sorted

hope it works

So do I to be honest!

I'll review the system again in 6 months when I hope to have moved us over to a nice newer server with an unlimited 100mbit line. Then I really won't have to care about bandwidth... only keeping people talking on these forums!

**Man1c M0g** · 11-18-2005

Following a successful member review, I am happy to announce that the BioRUST Biocredits system has been reweighted a little to make it friendlier and more rewarding to newcomers. The following changes are now in effect:

Everyone has a starting balance of 10 biocredits, given automatically when their user account is opened.
Each forum post and gallery comment is now worth TWO biocredits. However, the minimum character limits for both systems is now 25 characters.
We have installed a new automatic rules enforcement system. Anyone deliberately posting spam or padding out their comments with null characters (i.e. commas, periods, etc), will have their post deleted, the credit of the offending post removed, and a warning given for spam.
Each WebIndex vote is now worth 0.5 biocredits each. In 2006 I also intend to add a better system for logging clicks, so that people can only vote once per entry in the webindex.
Resource downloads REMAIN at a cost of 1 biocredit each. This is not set to change, and there will not be any 'special' resources with higher costs. I will, however, be investigating other ways to spend biocredits, for those who have them to splash around. All ideas will be considered!

These changes are already in place, and are retrospective (so you may now have MANY more credits than you did earlier today). I have taken great care when making these changes to ensure that nobody is greatly disadvantaged by them, but if you are now deeply overdrawn in biocredits, just send me a message and i'll zero your balance.

Well... thats it from me! I hope you continue to enjoy yourself at BioRUST!

scrowler · 11-18-2005

so does that mean if i post something like "nice work !" so that it would pass through the 25 limit but then be cut down to shorter that i would be warned for spam? i do this quite a bit...

**Man1c M0g** · 11-18-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrowler

so does that mean if i post something like "nice work !" so that it would pass through the 25 limit but then be cut down to shorter that i would be warned for spam? i do this quite a bit...

Well, if you place a comment before the 'nice work', then that would be fine. But just saying 'nice work.................' would be considered spam, since you are using a repeating character/spacing to get around character limits. Just say WHY you think its a nice work... and you'll find yourself typing much more than 25 characters!

All existing comments are OK btw - I'm only gonna enforce this from now on...

vermontredhead · 12-08-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Man1c M0g

Well, if you place a comment before the 'nice work', then that would be fine. But just saying 'nice work.................' would be considered spam, since you are using a repeating character/spacing to get around character limits. Just say WHY you think its a nice work... and you'll find yourself typing much more than 25 characters!

All existing comments are OK btw - I'm only gonna enforce this from now on...

I personally think it is far more helpful for those of us who do the image that is being commented on if you tell us why you like it...I take my classes online and a lot of times I get the comment of nice work on an assignment and I am wondering why they think it is nice work...I am really hard on myself, and rarely fully satisfied with my final results when someone says I liked such and such about this piece it helps me see what others like about the work I have done so that I know what is working and what isn't....just my thoughts.

aestus · 12-22-2005

I like the credits system, and the idea that your post must be more substantial than 'nice...' to get credits. I must admit though that I am still somewhat confused about how the system works. I have posted a few images and been given credits for them, as well as some comments, but my credits seem to go up or down by one or two independently of my activity on the site. Maybe it's the moderators making adjustments? Perhaps I should read the rules and regs a little more carefully.

In any case, I am looking forward to watching this site grow and becoming a more active member!

scrowler · 12-22-2005

it surely will be growing! the biocredits are awarded as you become more active in the community, you get credits for posting in the forums, galleries etc, also for things like voting in the web index etc.

for more info, check out this link:
http://forums.biorust.com/announceme...ts-system.html (BioCredits System)