I think this will be a good, helpful post for the club developers – great idea Gabriel!

I find that when I post comments to threads, or start a new thread, mainly from my iPad, it doesn’t keep the layout that I wrote it in. Meaning my three little paragraphs may end up as one, separation-free post. Just a minor quark, but I do like my spaces!!

I’ve had the point problem as well…not a big issue I’ve just noticed it once in a while…but good post.

Great thread here.  Yes we can talk about bugs and we will work on getting them fixed.  We are working on getting a search feature and we are tagging comment threads so that it is more searchable.  I have noticed the tagging feature not always working.  I’ll see if that can be addressed.  
Thanks for your feedback everyone!  We are working on making the Clubs better and better!

@gabriel

As I understand the “point” issue, you get points when you start a thread (20) and for your first comment on a thread (10).

Subsequent posts on the same thread as dialogue back and forth between members do not earn points.

At least that seems to be the trend that I have noticed.

Another question – there is a # sign in the corner of the posts/replies that when hovered over says permanent link to this post – where does the permanent link get stored?  Is that the same as flagging something to come back to later without having to search for it?

Whewwwwww! Points! Now that’s a big old can of worms, lol!

I’ve been here a month and I can tell you it has constantly changed. Michael recently wrote that it is SME’s intention to have the point system change, allowing for new leaders to get a chance at the LeaderBoard, but not telling any of us when and how the constantly changing “point system” is changing, has changed or will change in the future. I’m not saying this is bad or good, I’m just saying this is what has been stated.

For example, starting a Forum used to be given 20 points and more points for posting in it and more points whenever anyone else posted in the Forum you created. This encouraged Forum leaders to stick with and encourage discussion and follow up in their Forums. Without adequately informing the rest of the happy campers, that was changed to less points for creating a forum, and equal amount for posting in it, and no extra points for other people posting in your forum. When I took the time to analyze data after the first couple weeks here, I found the leaders had created and led more than a quarter of all the discussions, with Dea Irby creating a huge majority of all forums created. That’s a dang big reason she’s in her well-earned top spot and 2,000 points ahead of the rest of us. SME has her to thank for a huge amount of the discussions posted in Google.

As was stated above, it’s now back to 20 points for starting a Forum (after lowering it to 10) and 10 points for posting in a forum, but no extra points when someone posts in your forum. This wasn’t adequately announced, if at all. You just had to notice the change. Unfortunately, I’m a person who notices just about dang everything and sometimes that is just not a happy feeling. There are some things I’d rather just not know, lol.

Since they’ve added category tagging and asked us all to go back and tag our forums that we created, the mere act of “editing” your forum will deduct points from your score without adding any back for the work you just did. So where it used to be you were encouraged to follow through and nurture discussion, the point system now encourages slam dunk and run the other way lest you have points deducted. So now I’m noticing the discussions seem to be shorter and more topics are reappearing as forum leaders have no incentive to keep the discussion going, and new discussions on the same topics, like this one, pop up every day. BTW, I’m glad you started this topic. It’s sorely needed.

I also started a Forum encouraging SME to start an administrative “club” or support vehicle where we could report all the technical bugs and “game” point problems, etc., listing numerous bugs I had found, as well as helpful suggestions or ideas, just like here. Others posted as well and we had a running discussion.

But SME has since stated they do not want a support or admin section, hence the reason this Forum was created — people want to give feedback to SME in a way that others can see and comment on and contribute to so we all don’t keep recreating the same wheel. I think that’s a reasonable request. And as time goes on and this forum disappears into the depths and another one reappears with the same suggestions and reported bugs, I think you all will come to agree. A support or admin section is not only reasonable, it’s a necessity.

So in a nutshell, I have some problems with SME not telling everyone exactly how the point system keeps changing, but that’s not my decision to make. And I can quite honestly say I don’t feel entirely comfortable right now saying this out loud for all to hear. But, still, I think it needs to be said.

You also may have noticed that the LeaderBoard does not accurately display who is leading in points. This has been going on since I joined the day after Christmas, but got to a dreadful point last week and has been getting worse every day.

At one point, my picture held the top leader spot, while Dea Irby was still almost 2,000 points ahead of me. Obviously, Dea was the top spot leader, 2,000 points ahead! It has become a running joke in private messages, all light-hearted and good-natured I assure you, but still, it’s a joke. You cannot take seriously who is on the LeaderBoard, if points are what gets you there. I stopped doing anything over a week ago when I discovered this, but I am still there, and even passed Dea at one point after days of doing NOTHING!

I absolutely LOVE encouraging people to excel, laughing and cajoling all the way. But the LeaderBoard, and the way it has been run, is a sore spot because it accurately reflects nothing, and at this point Don is on the bottom rung though his points clearly put him in second place.

At this writing, Dea is in first, Don in second, I’m in third, but you’ll see my photo on the bottom rung, with Don even farther down the line. There was a point in this little “game” where it ceased to be fun. SME needs to get their board straight, their counter straight, their placements straight, their points straight, and let everyone know when and how the point system changes. I don’t want a private message about this as it concerns everyone now, not just me or any other single individual. What we all need here is a public discussion that furthers public understanding. And good will and good intentions as well.

There are too many happy campers here who’ve made a personal pledge to earn enough points to appear on that LeaderBoard. To find out that it’s now random, is just a huge letdown, especially when not everyone knows how to play this little “game.” And despite SME’s saying it is NOT a game, oh please… this is a fun little game, but it is a game… with points… to be earned… and rewarded…  by having your picture displayed among “leaders” on what’s becoming THE social media site on which to be recognized in this industry.

To be in this business and not recognize how one rises to the top of a “page” is to totally ignore what makes everyone their money in the social media, blogging, and seo business. This is the game we play every day and SME is playing it best when they allowed us to create ALL the thousands of forum pages/postings that are now being disseminated and ranked by Google, raising SME’s overall page rankings and page rank daily. The reward for playing the points game for fellow campers here is to rise to the Top 10 LeaderBoard — a really good analogy for what it takes to rise to Google’s Top 10 first page.

At one point, I even suggested if following in Google’s ocean-like, ever-changing, algo-change footsteps is going to be the model for the “point system” here, then that would even be OK, as long as everyone were told that this is what’s happening. But I’ve not gotten any broadcast message regarding this or any other change in the point system. And I’m not at all happy with being one of the few who know just how bizarre and unfair the ever-changing point-system has been. It’s a little bit TOO unfair, both to me and the few who know and everyone else who doesn’t know.

I just think things need to be a little more fair and open. I mean Don has been leading me for over a week and I’ve only seen his photo displayed in its rightful place for less than a day, then Poof, disappear down the ranks… having nothing to do with his points.

Please forgive my comments, if they sound a bit too exasperated, but these things have been discussed and commented about on end by leaders and SME and others and it appears very little has been done to make the process of “fixing” things more open or more fair. What I’d really like to see is more ongoing feedback from SME in the forums, so we can ALL benefit, not just a few.

Like I’ve written before… nothing good grows under a rock. Light and openness is a much healthier way for all. Any other way just pits people one against the other, those with knowledge and those without. We all get enough of that from Google. We certainly don’t need it here.

But I’m acutely aware this is not my site and I have no power to change things for the better here. I also do not want to have an endless private message discussion with management or anyone else about this. What I DO want is honest feedback from other members about how they feel and what they want and I hope management will encourage that, even about the point-system as it stands — past, present, and future.

I’d rather just stay a happy little camper here, sharing and caring and lol-ing all day long. So please help me keep this as happy and caring and sharing as you can, but please do comment or else this weird, contrived point system is going to continue to cause problems — you’ll just never notice or know about it, that’s all.

Robin Carlisle

Thanks, Andrea. I appreciate the open lines of communication you encourage in the forums.

One thing, though, is we now have two point systems going. One we can see — the one where cummulative points earn different badges the more points we earn.

The second point-system is for the LeaderBoard — one we cannot see, cannot monitor, and have no way to do so. If we could, it would make things a whole lot easier and fair for all.

Also, am I correct in assuming only Forum creation and Forum posting are counting toward the revolving LeaderBoard point-system? Otherwise, it appears older members will be at a disadvantage since they’ve already friended the majority of a finite number of friends.

And, too, Kristi’s guide now has no points for messaging at all. Is that the case now?

Just wondering…

And thanks for being so quick to respond and share. I really appreciate you.

Robin Carlisle

Id like to know where to post bugs and or suggestions.

My bug is, I originally logged in with linked in. but I would like a way to change my login and password so that I dont have to use linked in to login. also my facebook, twitter have different user names and passwords…if I used one of them to login instead, wouldnt it read as an error?

Katherine

@atlantarobin

The point system is clearly stated in the getting started guide and pasted above by @warrenveach

What Warren pasted is 100% accurate.  The system is working and all bugs for points have been ironed out.

A few things to note:

• 10 points for replying in a club forum (applies only to first reply. For example: As I responded earlier, I will not receive any points for this post).

Also, if you started the forum thread, you won’t get points for replying within the thread.

The leaderboard: Robin, I communicated to you via private messages and also posted it in the news section on the main page the following: The leaderboard now ONLY looks at activity over the last 30 days, not total points.

And to your point in your reply, yes we MUST adjust things as we go along.  We are in beta and nothing is set in stone.  As with any service we want to optimize this as we go along to ensure the best possible experience for all.

In addition, we are removing people from the leaderboard who are clearly gaming the system.  In fact, I just did that yesterday.

At the end of the day, this is a networking club, not a game.  We want people here first and foremost who want to partake in great discussion, help others, network and learn.  Anyone who cares more about the leaderboard than what I said in my prior sentence really ought to ask themselves why they are here.

Thanks for your understanding and support.

Hi all.  A number of people have tried to friend me and when I click over on my Blackberry to accept these the page gets 404′d and the request disappears completely.  So I really hope that all those kind people who reached out to me do not think I am ignoring them.  

Also, I have disabled the email notification as I get duplicates of every notification.  My email is getting downright scary when I look at all the messages but then discover that most are duplicates.

Thanks.  Looking forward to fully utilizing the clubs.

@gabriel @matthewoneill @fredericgonzalo have you confirmed that points not credited when you post to forum/thread you started? If so then it’s not a bug else it is. Because as per sme club guidelines, you don’t get points if you reply to post created by you that means if you have started any thread here and then you post to somebody’s post in this thread then you don’t get points. You just get points for creating new thread(+20), and replying to other threads(+10)

@atlantarobin am i right?