MLP forums birthday present to the user

[~Rule 63~ Lyeco 527]

It was my birthday today. So you know when it is a birthday, there should be a present.

 

Well maybe I wanted the forums to give a birthday present. Yeah! That is an excellent Idea

 

The presents could be:

 

1. Small Post count increase (without posting everything)

2.A birthday greeting when you Login! With awesome MLP gif.

3.1 week free donor rank (or maybe one day)

4.A mail from Mailmare for your birthday!

 

If you think these benefits are bad, maybe you can think of another one.

 

But come on, we all love presents!

[NavelColt 22,877]

Cute and fun little things like auto Mailmare PMs and such are well and good as something to think about, but we'd really like to steer clear of anything involving the giving of subscriber status to people. Generally speaking, it needs to be a tight-knit thing, kept for people who are willing to actually donate money for it, and to former staff members, who earned it for their help in running the site. The few times we've had global subscriber status for folks is already generous, and if we end up having these little freebies too much, sooner or later, rate of subscriptions could suffer, because some people will just wait for their birthday or wait for the next global status change instead of donating.

 

I also don't see any point whatsoever in post count increasing, as post count shouldn't matter to folks outside the badges, which you should be earning on your own, regardless of occasion. But, like I said, the more creative things like PMs and such are the more heartfelt things that would help make someone's day anyway, imo, so definitely should stick to those.

[Wingnut 6,743]

Birthday greetings from Mailmare?  Sure, I can file them next to the half dozen welcome greetings I got from her. 

 

If subscriber status is given, it should be for 24-48 hours.  No more than that.  Like CD said, giving it away too much can undermine subscription rate and revenue needed to keep the website going. 

[Aaramus 449]

I think a message from the Mailmare would be kinda awesome, people like their birthdays to be recognised and even something cute like a pony bursting from a birthday present would go down well. 

 

I'm not sure how this would be implemented and it may be too complicated but I wonder if you could have a birthday related badge of sorts in place of the users current one for the day? So rather than having a Dragon badge it would change to balloons or something just for the day along with a message of sorts underneath.

[Jokuc 8,172]

I like the idea about a PM from mailmare. Something like "MLP Forums hopes that you have a great birthday *awesome gif here*"

 

@@~Chaotic Discord~,

 

Also, I have this funny little idea, it would be funny if one could press a little cake button next to the user. And every time somepony presses it, the user would get a notification saying "Jokuc has given you a cake."

 

Example pic I made:

 

(The button would only appear on user's birthdays)

Edited September 4, 2013 by Jokuc

[Shiki 5,854]

Some people will just change their birthday all the time to receive any kind of legitimate gift. A simple birthday message should be fine, though such things are usually just annoying, to me.

[Sky Warden 2,243]

for people who are willing to actually donate money for it

 

I'm willing to actually donate money, but I don't have any, so... gimme dat yellow username now. XD

 

I also don't see any point whatsoever in post count increasing

 

Other than that it doesn't make any sense, that may also cause technical problems. I don't know how the counting system works, but the inconsistency caused by this birthday post count thingy may create problems.

 

But, like I said, the more creative things like PMs and such are the more heartfelt things that would help make someone's day anyway

 

Oh! Look! The Mailmare sent me a message on my birthday. Aww...

 

:3

 

"This is an automatically generated message, by the way."

 

:'3

 

 

Forgot to mention, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Edited September 4, 2013 by Sky Warden

[Harmonic Revelations 8,834]

I think that it would be cool if they got some actually balanced perks, specifically

 

-A message from Mailmare

 

-A special temporary badge signifying that it is their birthday.

[An Old Head 4,815]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it possible to change the date of your birth in the user settings? If we were to offer things like temporary donor status, people would just continually change their birthday to the following day and get an infinite amount of donor status. It should be like CD and HR said, little novelty things that distinguish the day for whoever's having a birthday.

 

-A special temporary badge signifying that it is their birthday.

 

Hey, that's a great idea And the text could be Birthday Pony. Either that or a colourful group that they get temporarily moved into called "Birthday Ponies".

[Jokuc 8,172]

-A special temporary badge signifying that it is their birthday.

 

I don't think a badge would be necessary, badges are for showing which kind of user you are and how active you have been. it had nothing to do with birthdays,  but well that's jusy my opinion.

 

I think it would be quite cool with that little give cake thing I suggested hehe

 

But I agree with the mailmare pm

Edited September 4, 2013 by Jokuc

[Harmonic Revelations 8,834]

I don't think a badge would be necessary, badges are for showing which kind of user you are and how active you have been. it had nothing to do with birthdays,  but well that's jusy my opinion.

 

I think it would be quite cool with that little give cake thing I suggested hehe

 

But I agree with the mailmare pm

We had one for Bronycon supporters, that was a special event, so is a birthday.

 

A temporary one day birthday badge can't really hurt.

Edited September 4, 2013 by Harmonic Revelations

[Twiliscael 3,960]

I think that the love and recognition you get from the community should be good enough of a birthday present. I'd rather know that people care enough about me to send me that little PM or status message, than I would have some AI doing it or members only doing it because I stick out like a sore thumb on my birthday.

 

EDIT: I fully support Jokuc's cake idea 

Edited September 4, 2013 by Twiliscael

[Shift 4,271]

First off, I must ask why Jokuc has such brilliant ideas.

 

Next, I agree with CD, since you can change your birthday, the donor status thing probably wouldn't turn out so well. Mailmare messaging probably would work well too. And I don't think the post count increase would work either.

[GhostPony750 958]

I vote for the mailmare pm and the cake thingy.

And what about a little cake beside the name to tell it's your birthday?

 

And don't give any donors status, some people will find a way to abuse this.

[The Leafeon Pinkeh 3,602]

I really like this idea of doing something for the user's birthdays! 
I love celebrating birthdays which is why I try my best to go on here everyday and send birthday messages. Out of all the ideas listed so far on here my favorite was just to have a little cake symbol or something by the username. Or soemthing like a ranking to show that it is their birthday. 

I don't know how possible or impossible it is but I remember back when I played Pictochat on my DS how happy I was on my birthday to be able to type in rainbow colors. That was cool. I dunno what you could do with that, what text would be changed to rainbow or anything.. 
As an idea.. what about having a special rainbow color available only on your birthday?
 

By rainbow font I mean like in my signature.

Edited September 14, 2013 by The Pinkeh Pie ♪

[King 5,625]

I think a PM from the Mailmare would be a nice addition to the forum. Its simple, sweet and easy to do :3

As for the other "benefits" I dont think that would really work that well.  It could cause a few issues and isnt really something we're looking into doing.

[Sky Warden 2,243]

Well, I like @Harmonic Revelations's idea. A temporary badge will be a sweet gift and it means that we treat the pony-in-question in a special manner, and a sweet level of attention. The idea works better than an automated PM which the user can't reply to. You know, people are likely to say, "Oh! Thank you, Mailmare!" I guess Mailmare won't respond to any reply to an automated PM, and it will make the pony feel ignored, and abandoned. Asking Mailmare to reply to everyone will give him a ridiculous weight to carry.

[squareyes 153]

What would be good, kind of like what @Harmonic Revelations said about the temporary badge but instead a birthday cake or a wrapped up present icon next to their name as a little reminder that it's the users birthday. How about that?

[Toon Richard 534]

A great idea is having a cake badge for the birthday.
Its an nice idea.

[NavelColt 22,877]

Birthday PM for the sake of novelty, and Jokuc's cake button idea are what I think would work the best.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,288]

How about this? On the user's birthday, their avatar picture is temporarily replaced with a picture of a muffin with a birthday candle stuck in it. That would be cute.

[Jokuc 8,172]

How about this? On the user's birthday, their avatar picture is temporarily replaced with a picture of a muffin with a birthday candle stuck in it. That would be cute.

 

Sounds pretty cute if you ask me, but I believe there will be some users who doesn't want their avatar changed and they will just be annoyed and try to change back. And if they don'y have their picture saved they will be even more annoyed. Not that I think many people would mind at all, but still

[DJShy 872]

I currently love the idea of:

 

1. special cake button

2. special one-day badge, stating that it is your birthday

 

I WOULD like the mailmare message, but then I would get to the part where it reads, "This is an automated message"

 

Also, I would like the idea of messages to all your friends that it's your birthday, for people like me who don't talk much.

[StarStreak 28]

I like the idea about a PM from mailmare. Something like "MLP Forums hopes that you have a great birthday *awesome gif here*"

 

@@~Chaotic Discord~,

 

Also, I have this funny little idea, it would be funny if one could press a little cake button next to the user. And every time somepony presses it, the user would get a notification saying "Jokuc has given you a cake."

 

Example pic I made:

 

(The button would only appear on user's birthdays)

It's a lie! that cake is a lie! jks

[Vermillion 613]

im sure a pm from someone important would do