Hey Ian, you beat me to it! 
I just wanted to get my ideas together, so not to lead the discussion in the wrong direction.
As Ian stated, I contacted him yesterday with questions and ideas about his UM plugin. Besides having awesome user monitoring tools the thing that really got my attention was the Rewards features. Ian informed me that UM doesn't currently doesn't do automated rewards for user activities. I'm actually so interested and excited about having a automated user rewards system working with my Links SQL directory I inquired to Ian about having this custom work done. He was kind enough to take a look at adding these features as an upgrade to UM for existing users and new.
Let me explain the ideas I presented to Ian with the hopes that other Links users will find these Rewards features of great value in their directories...
In my travels around the net I've seen several extremely successful directory/portals using automated reward systems to attract and keep users. One example that I showed Ian was the system being used at http://www.vegaslobby.com/highrollers.asp . You'll see that they've branded their points system as V-Lira's. Even thought this is slightly different than the system I'm proposing it's show how Rewards incentives can give users that extra push to register and participate in the directory. Let's face it, most surfers want to uses the resource for what it's worth, not participate, and many may never return. Traffic is a valuable thing and we need to make the most of it! Giving surfers the incentives of gaining rewards points for creating that account, adding some useful reviews, and coming back another day is a powerful thing. People are willing to do a lot more when they feel their getting something out of it. However small or large that may be. Alright let me lay some ideas down....
First let me say I think the UM handles manual points rewards great. Being able to give users of different status is exactly what an automated system would need as well. The Reward All feature is great as well...
What I'd like to see in a automated style rewards system is the ability to Reward users for signup, daily logins, reviews (Validated Only), voting (Registered Users Only) and maybe even Validated Link additions/updates. With all of these the Admin should have control of turning these features on and off. Let me explain briefly why and how I think these should work....
Signup Reward Points - Why not? A surfer could look at that and say, "I like this directory/portal/resource and I'll get a few points towards something right away and all I need to do is register with my e-mail addy." Then they may want to make a quick return to get some more points.
Daily Login Points - I see there are some questions as to why this would be useful so let me try to explain. As much as possible we want our users to come back again. Realizing their getting points for coming back daily will bring certain users back time and time again. The reason I say 'daily' points is to eliminate cheaters... without capping this people would keep logging in and out to rack up more points. A daily cap would be perfect. There's no reason I can think of to make the time cap any different than login points daily. That's what we want right, daily visitors and returns? I noticed the UM is already keeping track of login times and such so hopefully this wouldn't be to difficult.
Validated Review Points - Since user reviews are so important to surfers when making decisions I think review points would be awesome. Not everyone wants to take the time to right a review so why not give them some points for writing good ones. They would have to be validated so people don't go posting a bunch of one word useless reviews. I've seen other directory sites that use non-validated review systems get into some problems. People posting things like "Hello" , "kdkjdlkajdsflkj", and other useless things instead of a helpful review. I'd probably give a much higher point value to helpful reviews that I can validate.
Voting Points - Not to sure if this one would work. It would not be able to be controlled unless there was a limit to the number of votes someone could place. Maybe a daily cap as well?
All points features should have the ability to be turned on or off.
I would also like to see some function to give different point amounts to users of different status....In my case I'd like to give users of 'Webmaster' status a way to earn point towards advertising, priority listings, keywords, ect...
Oh yeah I'd also like to suggest giving points to users ( In my case, with Webmaster status ) that add links that become validated. This may give webmasters an incentive to keep their listing fresh knowing they can trade those points for additional advertising.
Validated Link Points - Get a link validated into the directory (new or updated), you get some points. More revenue opportunities to promote to webmasters.
Please add some suggestions, questions, or comments! Hopefully if others think a Rewards System like this would be valuable to them, Ian can try to find the time to implement some or all of these features. I think it would be a killer addition to Links SQL!
Hope to here what you all think!
Boy, does that look ridiculously long.
Ryan Jonze
I just wanted to get my ideas together, so not to lead the discussion in the wrong direction. As Ian stated, I contacted him yesterday with questions and ideas about his UM plugin. Besides having awesome user monitoring tools the thing that really got my attention was the Rewards features. Ian informed me that UM doesn't currently doesn't do automated rewards for user activities. I'm actually so interested and excited about having a automated user rewards system working with my Links SQL directory I inquired to Ian about having this custom work done. He was kind enough to take a look at adding these features as an upgrade to UM for existing users and new.
Let me explain the ideas I presented to Ian with the hopes that other Links users will find these Rewards features of great value in their directories...
In my travels around the net I've seen several extremely successful directory/portals using automated reward systems to attract and keep users. One example that I showed Ian was the system being used at http://www.vegaslobby.com/highrollers.asp . You'll see that they've branded their points system as V-Lira's. Even thought this is slightly different than the system I'm proposing it's show how Rewards incentives can give users that extra push to register and participate in the directory. Let's face it, most surfers want to uses the resource for what it's worth, not participate, and many may never return. Traffic is a valuable thing and we need to make the most of it! Giving surfers the incentives of gaining rewards points for creating that account, adding some useful reviews, and coming back another day is a powerful thing. People are willing to do a lot more when they feel their getting something out of it. However small or large that may be. Alright let me lay some ideas down....
First let me say I think the UM handles manual points rewards great. Being able to give users of different status is exactly what an automated system would need as well. The Reward All feature is great as well...
What I'd like to see in a automated style rewards system is the ability to Reward users for signup, daily logins, reviews (Validated Only), voting (Registered Users Only) and maybe even Validated Link additions/updates. With all of these the Admin should have control of turning these features on and off. Let me explain briefly why and how I think these should work....
Signup Reward Points - Why not? A surfer could look at that and say, "I like this directory/portal/resource and I'll get a few points towards something right away and all I need to do is register with my e-mail addy." Then they may want to make a quick return to get some more points.
Daily Login Points - I see there are some questions as to why this would be useful so let me try to explain. As much as possible we want our users to come back again. Realizing their getting points for coming back daily will bring certain users back time and time again. The reason I say 'daily' points is to eliminate cheaters... without capping this people would keep logging in and out to rack up more points. A daily cap would be perfect. There's no reason I can think of to make the time cap any different than login points daily. That's what we want right, daily visitors and returns? I noticed the UM is already keeping track of login times and such so hopefully this wouldn't be to difficult.
Validated Review Points - Since user reviews are so important to surfers when making decisions I think review points would be awesome. Not everyone wants to take the time to right a review so why not give them some points for writing good ones. They would have to be validated so people don't go posting a bunch of one word useless reviews. I've seen other directory sites that use non-validated review systems get into some problems. People posting things like "Hello" , "kdkjdlkajdsflkj", and other useless things instead of a helpful review. I'd probably give a much higher point value to helpful reviews that I can validate.
Voting Points - Not to sure if this one would work. It would not be able to be controlled unless there was a limit to the number of votes someone could place. Maybe a daily cap as well?
All points features should have the ability to be turned on or off.
I would also like to see some function to give different point amounts to users of different status....In my case I'd like to give users of 'Webmaster' status a way to earn point towards advertising, priority listings, keywords, ect...
Oh yeah I'd also like to suggest giving points to users ( In my case, with Webmaster status ) that add links that become validated. This may give webmasters an incentive to keep their listing fresh knowing they can trade those points for additional advertising.
Validated Link Points - Get a link validated into the directory (new or updated), you get some points. More revenue opportunities to promote to webmasters.
Please add some suggestions, questions, or comments! Hopefully if others think a Rewards System like this would be valuable to them, Ian can try to find the time to implement some or all of these features. I think it would be a killer addition to Links SQL!
Hope to here what you all think!
Boy, does that look ridiculously long. Ryan Jonze
