Pointlessly Polling about ActiveRain's Points

Maureen...

I voted and don't care who knows I said "No". Points keep The Members motivated. I am not so sure things would be the same around here without the points. The Camaraderie and relationships could suffer without the points. Do I know that for a fact? Nope. Just a guess on my part :)

TLW...ROAR!

I voted. Gotta learn how to post the poll in my blog and site. BTW, I voted to keep the points. Motivation. Incentive. Direction. Fun. And evidently something to post about and stir up interest.

They work. Cannot imagine a better system.

Love the poll. Hope you get many votes.

Very surprised at the percentage wanting to get rid of the point system.

Richard

If they take away points the whole blog will diminish as many people will quit participating. Our 2 cents.

I'm with TLW that I think the points are really important for beginning bloggers.   When you first start, those "thanks for sharing" comments just make your day.  So while irritating later on, they do so much good when starting out.  Totally worth the irritations of the point system.

I also think that gaining points as a beginning blogger is really important for many to stay focused because blogging doesn't have immediate rewards from a business standpoint, I think the points can help to tide some people over until they get their first clients from blogging.

Overall, points are a good thing, so they should stay.

Hi Maureen ~ I've always thought the points system is one of the best features of AR. Points keep me disciplined, they encourage participation, and they're fun.  I think they're genius actually.  I certainly don't think they're representative of how good an agent you are - that never ocurred to me - they're an indicator of how much you've participated here. I think participation would be a fraction of what it is - in terms of posts and comments - if points were eliminated. 

Liz

The point system is a way of gauging my participation, if no one elses.  I need that little prod to stay on task.  I sure that I'm not the only one.  Leave well enough alone.

Hi Maureen... I agree with TLW, but I must say that I know of at least one AR member who seems to be motivated by the points to post plagiarized info and internet jokes solely for the points.  This member has even bragged about posting 51 word posts to "game" the system to get points.  In these cases the points motivation has resulted in a deterioration of overall content quality.

Maureen,

What a great gizmo! This newbie voted NO - and got an idea for today's post. Thanks a million!

OK.. now I voted..  NO NO NO.. . oh, wait, I only voted ONCE.. that would be 1 NO.  Points keep ME motivated, I like seeing them climb.

Okay, I voted...

Came back to see how the poll is coming. Glad to see my side winning by a larger percentage. The real question though is how that POINT CHASER Michael Thornton voted.

Richard

That's a pretty cool feature to see where people are who voted and what they voted for... I'm the loner balloon in Austin!

I see the pros & cons of points....but I also see many out of business agents with a gazillion points (that continue on autopilot, due to previous AR member recruitments)