Idea for the forums

[NewPoster 1337 1]

I've seen multiple forums like Spongebob Universe and they have a system called doubloons we could use here as bits. You get 2 bits for posting and 1 bit for someone posting on a topic you made. You will also get 25-50 bits per day for logging in, it will keep the people staying on the forums. So it will add a kind of currency for possible commissions for ponies who don't have money. Will it be added?

[Nohbdy 4,108]

I've seen multiple forums like Spongebob Universe and they have a system called doubloons we could use here as bits. You get 2 bits for posting and 1 bit for someone posting on a topic you made. You will also get 25-50 bits per day for logging in, it will keep the people staying on the forums. So it will add a kind of currency for possible commissions for ponies who don't have money. Will it be added?

I don't like this idea. Part of the money spent on commissions goes toward financing the site. Implementing this would hurt that system. It would also encourage spamming--a big no-no. Post quality should never be sacrificed. And before it gets mentioned, more brohoofs != better quality, so brohoofs shouldn't count, either.

 

The only way I can see a "bits" system working is if real-world money is used to purchase credits for commissions or subscriptions, similar to how some web stores let you deposit money into your account for later. 

 

It might interest you to know, however, that we're actually thinking of an achievements system, which also encourages people to stay on and participate. When that'll be ready is unknown at this time. 

[Shiki 5,855]

This forum is not extremely new.

 

This kind of idea was probably already denied before the forums was actually up, because it's not that uncommon to see sites with currencies and such.

 

Twilight Sparkle's point is a great point, but even on top of that, not every one wants commissions, to begin with (I certainly don't.)

 

The only other kinds of things are random gloating type things, such as coloured usernames and other rubbish that would make more active users seem more powerful, thus creating a feeling of being overpowered for new users. That is probably also why there aren't a billion types of badges for users to snatch (ones such as "artist" for artists or something like that). Adding more features that members can "unlock" or "achieve" means more possible elitism.

 

We also cannot give out donator perks (avatar size, signature size, and other things), because not as many would donate. Not every one actually donates because they're nice, believe it or not.

 

There's nothing to give out to our members for the system that wouldn't cause damage towards the extremely open community that uses it. The number 1 thing that kept me here was the fact that I was actually acknowledged as a user from the very start. On many other forums, I feel ignored, because I'm simply a new user. Every one just pays attention to the famous members on those sites, but that's not how it is here.

 

With nothing good to offer to the members for the exchange of their bits, there's really just no point in the system.

[~Rule 63~ Lyeco 527]

This system is kinda unfair those who pay to become subscribers you know

 

People will just go look for random topics and post and spam whatever they like that is or not related to the topic

 

I used to see another forum like that. I saw a person keep posting to other topics and keep posting about joining their group and people gets annoyed even if they don't want to join

 

If that system is up, brace yourselves for same post spam

[ReGen 1,466]

Oh, i've seen this on other forums. I really don't think that this is a good idea. I've seen people spamming and such just to get more. It also inflates the egos of the members that have more than others, and that can get annoying fast.

 

And if people get so many "bits" for just logging in, they don't necessarily have to post. Or they could just log in and log out, kinda defeating the purpose of it.

 

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Every one just pays attention to the famous members on those sites, but that's not how it is here.

 

I always thought it was like that here...

Edited July 27, 2013 by ReGen

[NavelColt 22,879]

Forum money, which leads to forum shops, are generally libel to create sense of superiority, competition and a focus on posting to get things, rather than posting to participate with the forum.

[Shift 4,272]

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....If we have bits, what could we buy? Seems like a huge ego-boosting thing to me.

[Jokuc 8,173]

As people already have said here, it will probably just make people post like crazy to get "money" so they can buy things.. And that would be really unfair in my opinion. I should not have to make a lot of posts just to be able to buy something.

 

Also, I know that I wouldn't really use the points/money/bits/whatever anyways since I do not want to buy anything on the forums.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

Others have gone over many of the social ramifications of introducing a virtual currency to the community, but I'd like to take this opportunity to touch on the financial aspects, since using this currency to pay for commissions was suggested. First of all, anything that is currently available for sale here on MLP Forums is sold using real monetary transactions for a reason: the aim is to collect money, whether it's us collecting money toward the continued existence and development of our sites or artists collecting money for commissioned artwork, "money" here being defined as a real currency one can spend outside of MLP Forums.

 

Some form of virtual currency akin to deviantART Points or similar systems is neat, but it only works in an environment where the virtual currency has no actual monetary value. Artists who run commission shops here expect to be paid in money for their services, and if one could use a virtual currency to purchase commissions, I'd end up actually paying for the commission. MLP Forums isn't exactly made of money, and we cannot afford to reward posting activity with what effectively amounts to cash. Even if we could, it would honestly be easier to find an odd job to do for $20 or something in real life and borrow a parent's credit card if you wanted to buy something here (this seems like a suggestion mostly aimed towards younger children who lack a stable income source and/or their own credit cards); the amount of site activity it would take to get even a few dollars' worth of credit would be pretty up there...

[Zygen 6,066]

Well I think that one big problem with this is that we'd see people going around posting a bunch of really short posts just to get currency, and thus post quality would decline and such.\

 

Also the commissioner want to make money off their art, not virtual money, and the money from commissions that the site uses as its share goes to keeping the site running.

 

So I think it'd be a pretty unstable addition, seeing as it could hurt the stability of the income on the forums which is required for keeping these forums up and running. Which I want.

[Night Shadow 54]

I'd say this was a good idea, but it's not really.  I'll take a few problems/issues with it that have been raised, try and make solutions, then explain why it's pointless in the end.

 

So one issue was spamming to earn bits.  It has happened before.  I've watched it happen on other forums.  Some users just don't care and are willing to do whatever it takes to earn a name for themselves.  What they don't realize, until it's too late, is that the only name they are making for themselves is a bad one.  That's why I don't like the 'like' feature.  I like the sites 'brohoof' feature simply because ... well, brohoof.  Some users form groups and 'like' each others content to build their numbers.  So, to solve these issues, you could add a higher character limit for posts to give you bits.  You could remove the brohoof option for giving bits.

 

A solution for the commission thing is ... well there isn't one.  I'd say that the users working hard to fill those commissions should earn some bits, but the money is important.  "You can't buy groceries with Monopoly money."

 

The logging on thing seems decent enough.  That's daily and it shouldn't be harmful.

 

What it boils down to though is a number on your profile that keeps going up.  It basically just became a collection to see who can make the most bits.  I don't see the need for something like that.  It's kind of pointless.  There's already post count and brohoofs.  Friend count too if you want to get technical.

 

Bottom line is this would just get torn down to something no one would pay any attention to.  It'd just be another feature on the site you happen to look at from time to time.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Night Shadow

[twilight_sparkle 53]

If your going to do this, there shouldn't be a profit for posting or starting topics. That would spam the *@(%^ out of this site.

 

If you do this, make a shop on the forum, allowing members to add things to their profile. Maybe you can use the bits to boost a topic to the front page, say about, 10 topics on the page, costing around... 1000 bits? But you get the idea.

 

This could go either way. Make it better than my version though. 

[SCS 7,535]

I honestly don't like the idea of any kind of monetary system being implemented here. I feel like people should just participate in the community because they enjoy it, and not to earn any points/virtual money.

 

It's an interesting idea, but I don't see it fitting well with this community.

[StarStreak 28]

I've seen multiple forums like Spongebob Universe and they have a system called doubloons we could use here as bits. You get 2 bits for posting and 1 bit for someone posting on a topic you made. You will also get 25-50 bits per day for logging in, it will keep the people staying on the forums. So it will add a kind of currency for possible commissions for ponies who don't have money. Will it be added?

With all due respect, I don't think it will fly with the admins plus there might be some hacker who gets bored and just gives himself tons of bits.