A point system

[Akshtsaklani7]

Hi,

It'll be great if we could get a point system that encourages users to use the forum. The idea is:-

Have 2 scales according to which points will be awarded:-
                                                                                1) Account Age Scale:- like: 0 months- 6 months = 1
                                                                                                                          6 months- 1.5 yrs = 2
                                                                                                                          1.5 yrs- 3 yrs = 3 and so on.

                                                                                 2) Helping Nature Scale:- 0 helpful reply =0
                                                                                                                        1-10 helpful replies =1
                                                                                                                        10-30 helpful replies =2
                                                                                                                        30-60 helpful replies =3 and so on.


Explaining the scales further

Account age scale
The user gets points equal to his/her account age scale value for logging in once in 24 hours. For example, if my account age is 1 year 9 months, my account age scale will be 2. I'll get 2 points everyday if I log in everyday.

Helping nature scale
Moderators and admins will have power to mark a reply helpful. That reply will be highlighted so that readers could easily figure out.
When a reply will be marked helpful, the poster of that reply will receive 30 points, also the helpful reply will contribute to the helping nature scale.
Now, if 15 of my replies were marked helpful, I would have already earned 15*30=450 points, apart from this, my helping nature scale will be 2 (since 15 lies in 10-30 helpful replies scale). Being on scale 2 I should get 2 points every time i make a reply, that is, if I make 10 replies (be those helpful or random) I get 10*2=20 points.

Other things
25 points on starting a topic.
Ability to donate your points to another user.
Losing the points you earned if you delete topic/replies.
Admins and moderators having power to give/take away points from a person.


Redeeming these points

Admin should be able to set unlocks for redeeming the points. like, 2000 points to unlock ultimate profile, 1000 points for unlocking premium member group, 5000 points for a merchandise etc

I know this is a very complex system, but this IMO will encourage to visit the forum daily and to help others by replying. Same point system is running successfully on gamebanana.com if you wanna check out.

[Chalky]

I have never used them but I think one of these mods will do what you want:

http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1794
http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=65

[Akshtsaklani7]

I know about the mods sir, but having an inbuilt system in the future versions of smf will be really helpful. Karma is not efficient enough and mods are not compatible with all the themes and versions of smf. Also, none of the mods award people who provide helping replies.

[Chalky]

If you want changes made to the mods then you should ask the author of the mod you like best if they would do it for you.  I can tell you now that this system will never be a built-in feature of SMF since not enough forums use it to make it worthwhile.  The idea of mods is to provide optional functionality for forums that want it whilst keeping the core lightweight for the majority of forums that don't want it, enabling each forum to be customised as desired - or not 

As for Karma it has been removed in SMF 2.1 and will be available as a mod for those that want it.

[Irisado]

I'm opposed to this becoming a core feature.  For a start, it's way too competitive.  I don't participate in forums to compete with other people for points.  Also, it's overly complicated and encourages cliques and favouritism.  It's very easy for people to get upset if they don't feel that they are being awarded points when they believe that they deserve them, or for people to start acting in an elitist manner because they have points and are 'favoured' while others are not.

If any admins want a system like this for their forums, it's far better to have it as a mod.  That way those admins who have a forum which would benefit from a system like this could install it, and everyone else could just not bother with it.

Finally, just to point out that karma has been replaced with likes for 2.1.

[Kindred]

Holy mackerel

that is very complicated and very specific to your own needs....

It is definitely something. That belongs as a mod, not a feature..   I can not imagine more than 1% of the admins ever actually using it...

[Burke ♞ Knight]

Holy mackerel

that is very complicated and very specific to your own needs....

It is definitely something. That belongs as a mod, not a feature..   It can not image more than 1% of the admins ever actually using it...