Ideas for tweaking the point/request system

[Mr.ToadWildRider]

I guess I'm less concerned by non-posters making requests. Some people like to lurk. Some like to engage. But we can all be Disney music fanatics. Actually, that's what's great about the site, we have a common interest in the music.

I agree, if people want to lurk and Subsonic & co. are cool with that, then let them. My suggestions are based mostly on the notion that Subsonic intended for lurkers to be at a disadvantage when requesting though because that is the basis for the point system. If no one cares about lurkers anymore I guess I don't understand why the point system would even be relevent any longer. But if the admins still want there to be "perks" if you will with respect to being active in the community and being able to request tracks I'm just pointing out that that goal no longer seems to be met with the point system given the more constrictive 30 minute rule that tends to more heavily limit those with more points than those who have the base 2,000 points. Basically, the two systems seem to work against each other with the point system favoring community participation and the 30 minute system having a more profound impact on limiting the use of accumulated points.

[northernmousefan2007]

I only request on off hours, I would be really cool if the 30 min rule was relaxed for non peak times.

[subsonic]

Hi folks,
It's been a while since I really "looked" at the forums. I'm glad this thread exists. Personally, I know the request system is flawed. It has gone through several iterations.

1. First, It was simply you could only request two songs in a row every 2 hours or so. This caused a problem of people mostly requesting long tracks to get the most out of their requests
2. Then, I decided to recode the entire request system and add the use of "points". As Jacca said, one of the main reasons for this was to get people to use the forums more.
3. The 30 minute rule was instated. A byproduct of active forum users was that they had so many points they were able to dominate the queue. And simply, queue lengths were getting too long.

So here we are now, people have amass of points, the 30 minute rule, and still long queue lines.

Short term, I don't quite know how to fix long queues. The site is simply more popular and has more users to fill up the queue. Another problem we have, unlike regular radio stations with 3-8 minute tracks we have some tracks close to an hour. How do I allow people to still request these but without filling up the day with 8 45+ minute tracks?

Alas, we have been discussing how to fix some of these issues. Right off the bat, I'm going to drop the points system entirely. Again, as Jacca said, the points were mostly to get people to post in the forums. The forums have really become a community now. I don't need to motivate people to post here. In fact, those people posting just for points are not wanted. They never had been. Now, I can understand that some people might feel they worked hard for their "points" but from what I see, those high post users now post because they enjoy it, not for the points.

I think the X minute rule works well. I might lower the time so more people can get requests in. Regarding longer tracks, something just occurred to me. Perhaps longer tracks require a longer time to be requested again. Or, I don't allow the super long ones to be requested during peak times. I want the queue to feel fluid and available.

For the long term, I don't want to talk about it because I really don't know when or if I'll ever get to it, but basically just add more request streams.

I hope this answers some of the questions on what's in store for SR requests as well as what our take on the points/request system is.

[Jacca5660]

Sub, you seem to be a victim of your own success!! That is a good thing! I also don't see much relevance in the point system. On the other hand I think the request system is to restrictive.

I would love to see a modified system. Something where maybe you max out on accumulated points (say 25K) and you can request un-restricted on off hours. Figure if someone maxes out their points at a low enough level they will only be able to request so many tracks. If regen times are longer and maybe you up request prices I think the system could be a lot easier to manage!!

Just IMHO!!

Jacca

[subsonic]

The "hours" thing become a problem too because of time zones. *If* I do anything based off of hours it'll be based on server time.

And yes, a victim of my success... I can think of worse things to be a victim of though. I'm glad SR has come along so well.

[momeja]

And yes, a victim of my success... I can think of worse things to be a victim of though. I'm glad SR has come along so well.

There are worse things to be a victim of, Sub!

Btw, I want to say a big thank you to Mr.toadwildrider. Although he still likes to request hour long tracks during the day, I've noticed that he usually waits now until he sees that the early requesters are all done. In the absence of a time limit during peak hours, I think that's a very fair solution to the problem.

[figmentaholic]

I think that there would definitely have to be some sort of limit, like the 30 minute rule now. I think it seems to work okay, so it it were lowered I would hope it wouldn't be lowered too much, maybe 20 minutes at the least.
But I do like the idea that items that were shorter could be requested sooner and longer ones would take longer to be re-requested. I think that would be a great idea!

And I do have one suggestion, if you redo the whole requesting thing. Our treasures and all of the request music is listed alphabetically. I was wondering, and I think with a little bit of code it would be easy, to be able to organize it in other ways, like by the track length time, so we know if we only have 5 min left in our request time we can see what tracks are about that length?

Just a thought, but that would be really cool if we could do that.

[Satchel T]

My issue seems to rely upon the lack of points I get from posting. I try my hardest to chime in and find a decent conversation going but there are so many old posts that nobody even visits anymore. And ... I post and post and post and my points never go up. I'll post like 3 or 4 times and post count rises 1 ... what's the point?

[MmeLeota]

That is why every now and then I like to go back and try to breathe new life into some old posts. There's no law that states you can't do that and it brings back some topics that people have forgotten about.

As far as the post count goes, in order to keep people from posting just for points, certain topics have been disabled from earning points.

[mindflipper]

That is why every now and then I like to go back and try to breathe new life into some old posts. There's no law that states you can't do that and it brings back some topics that people have forgotten about.

As far as the post count goes, in order to keep people from posting just for points, certain topics have been disabled from earning points.

...such as Games, Off Topic, and Club 33.

[Amy]

My issue seems to rely upon the lack of points I get from posting. I try my hardest to chime in and find a decent conversation going but there are so many old posts that nobody even visits anymore. And ... I post and post and post and my points never go up. I'll post like 3 or 4 times and post count rises 1 ... what's the point?

As others have pointed out, not all threads garner points for posts. Anything under the "Disney" section will get you points for posting. Don't worry about bringing up old threads. I did that when I first started and people seemed to like seeing old things be revived. It is fun to see old topics come up that you have forgotten about.
Enjoy your time here, the points will come...patience young padawan

[NaCler]

Stachel T - Like Amy and the others have pointed out. Post because you want to be involved in the conversation about Disney with other Disney fans. Don't worry about how many points you are going to get. They will come with time and soon you will find that you have so many points, you can't use them all in a 24 hour period.

[mindflipper]

Stachel T - Like Amy and the others have pointed out. Post because you want to be involved in the conversation about Disney with other Disney fans. Don't worry about how many points you are going to get. They will come with time and soon you will find that you have so many points, you can't use them all in a 24 hour period.

One Sunday about a year ago I tried that, NaCler, and you're right - you can't use them all in a 24 hour period!

[subsonic]

My issue seems to rely upon the lack of points I get from posting. I try my hardest to chime in and find a decent conversation going but there are so many old posts that nobody even visits anymore. And ... I post and post and post and my points never go up. I'll post like 3 or 4 times and post count rises 1 ... what's the point?

This is why more and more I'm leaning towards removing points and only relying on time spans. All users will be created equal... perhaps. I say perhaps, because perhaps there should be some sort of perk for high post users. But overall, there won't be a points system.

[figmentaholic]

My issue seems to rely upon the lack of points I get from posting. I try my hardest to chime in and find a decent conversation going but there are so many old posts that nobody even visits anymore. And ... I post and post and post and my points never go up. I'll post like 3 or 4 times and post count rises 1 ... what's the point?

This is why more and more I'm leaning towards removing points and only relying on time spans. All users will be created equal... perhaps. I say perhaps, because perhaps there should be some sort of perk for high post users. But overall, there won't be a points system.

Or perhaps a perk as well for long time supporters, people who have been here years.