Funny... I was snooping around today looking for some places to drop some links. I came across a new forum, so I signed up, blah blah blah.

After I had made a couple of posts, I noticed right below my name on the right was "Such-n-such Gold: 650"

So I looked around some more trying to figure out what the heck is this 'gold' thing. Turns out, they give away free stuff every month. You use your 'gold' to buy lottery tickets. The more posting you do, the more tickets you can buy.

For you old timers, it's probably nothing new.... but it's the first time I've seen it. Pretty cool way to keep users around!

who needs e-gold when we have some of the greatest ipod contests around right here at SR ?!?! 

that is actually a pretty cool idea- again the issue becomes rewarding points on the quality of a post and not the quantity of post one can make as that leads to a lot of...well let's just say not so usefull posts

then if you judge on quality you need actual people to award points for posts...this could be done by a few judges or even by a voting system...maybe even like digg were you get to digg a post...

..would definately take some thinking

PS.

MrStitch wrote:

I was snooping around today looking for some places to drop some links.

LOL- i love it!

Nic wrote:

PS.

MrStitch wrote:

I was snooping around today looking for some places to drop some links.

LOL- i love it!

Oh come on.... I'm not the ONLY one here!

About the 'gold' thing. Ya know, if a guy was smart enough, they would probably be able to write a script based on what ever factors they choose. More than one variable? Obviously....

No system would ever be perfect, since everyone would know ahead of time that there is something 'FREE' available, all you have to do is blah blah blah.

Of course... you really don't need to disclose anything do you?

Wouldn't that be cool! Just a random prize every few months, but don't tell the users exactly how it's rewarded. User would just get a PM saying "Hey, you won a ________. Send me your shipping address."

Could be a new spin on viral marketing. You're not disclosing the rules, or even that there is a contest at all. But you could get some link love for the random act of kindness.

personaly i like the idea- only thing is last time i tought a similar idea was worth pursuing it backfired hard

i'd like to hear what some of the others in here think about this

What idea was that?

IPOD Contest

Died October 31, 2006

"Great in theory,
terrible in practice"

R.I.P.

Huh...... I believe I was around then, but don't recall getting in on that one.

according to your profile you joined on October 24 which would have marked the last few days of the contest

it was a whole month thing

basically the idea was this:

whom ever gets the most points after 1  month wins an IPOD (congrats to M1)

1pt- post you make

3 pts - per post someone you refered made

the real goal was to get new active members so if you brought people on and they made a lot of posts you would get a lot of pts quickly (3 pts per post they made)

sounded reasonable but it just let to a boatload of off-topic posts- people were posting about anything to get points and more people got pissed off at me then anything else so that was that

Hey, here's an idea that might work -- how about adding a couple of extra links under everyones' screennames -- one just to thank them, and a special one to actually put money in their PayPal account for, ummm, saaaaaay coffee, beer or candy? Might work!

yes some ideas can backfire badly eh Nic LOL

personally I think the new thanks/beer system is about the best I have seen anywhere and will work very well given time.
Presently I'm sticking just with thanks rather than directly hinting at being tipped (you know who you are ) as it would make my accounting too hard each month with hundreds of $3 deposits LOL

atwhatcost wrote:

Hey, here's an idea that might work -- how about adding a couple of extra links under everyones' screennames -- one just to thank them, and a special one to actually put money in their PayPal account for, ummm, saaaaaay coffee, beer or candy? Might work!

LOL- had to thank you for comming up with that 1 Lynn

Matte wrote:

it would make my accounting too hard each month with hundreds of $3 deposits

hehe...i did my accounting yesterday and did include the 1 beer and 1 coffee i got- didn't find it too hard- i know you can do it