People do not reward points

[Former Member]

Hi, is it just me or do I see a decline in people giving points to answers?

More and more, it seems that people think points are something like their money that is better put on a bank account rather then spent for answers.

I personally hate it, if you spend 15 minutes in researching an answer and not even get 2 points.

Plus, recently, I have seen someone nearly writing a full page of a very good answer and not even receive a "thank you" from the requester.

I would like to ask everybody, to reward where a reward is due. It does not hurt anyone, if, in doubt, points are rather given than withheld.

Don't be a scrooge.

just my 2 cents

[former_member184494 · Accepted solution]

Holger,

I do definitely agree with you. Many a time , you spend quality time looking for possible threads and reply to the same , but then the post never gets looked at and fades into anonimity.

Not only points , closing long standing posts is also an issue. Post a question , get the answer , forget about it.

Maybe we can have something like :

for each profile : Points earned , points awarded also , that way if you need a post to be answered , the ratio of questions posed to points given should be reasonable.

My 0.02

Arun

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Interesting thought, but as you can reward "multiple" 2 points to a single question and 2x 6 points and 1x 10 (marking it solved) how do you determine the ratio.

Right now you can see how many "questions" the person asked, would it be enough to list how many "questions" the person has also marked "solved" would that be OK, the only problem being that sometimes the solution is still on going so if people were to take that ratio too seriously we'd be stopping the fundamental reason for SDN - to help each other.

/people/sap.user72/blog/2006/06/12/is-it-good-to-be-back

In my blog I offered the community several options for this issue - perhaps everyone missed the blog because so far I've seen none of the options taken.

[holger_stumm2 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for all these comments.

After reading the blog of Craig, I went back to the posts I had an issue with and was thinking of options:

My first reaction was not to beg for pints, but to tell people what i think of their attitude.

Hm, would be good for my emotional standing, but probably not fo rmy proffessional one.

Keep a personal black list - not a good idea, because with some hundred thousand members, they get their answers anyway.

Keep an excel list like proposed - too much work. I try to spend rare spare time on answering questions.

Maybe something like this:

instead of some people havng a reminder footer, why not something like a "system footer" for the thread itself - so that at the bottom. instead of some copyright remarks, a reminder for the policy like in the notification, from SAP, not from the user.

Or maybe Craig allows everyone to give people names ... just in case...

I don't care for the points itself - I am worried about an otherwise excellent community, that has always high quality answers, And if people where into chasing points, I am their most avid supporter - it helps them and me. I never had so high quality answer, not even from OSS. But if people get disencouraged from senseless scrogees, the community turns slowly into mediocre - and this would be too bad.

[eddy_declercq · Accepted solution]

Hi,

There is already a system footer in the e-mail you're receiving when the thread is updated. It doesn't seem to make any impression to some.

Eddy

PS.

Put yourself on the SDN world map (http://sdn.idizaai.be/sdn_world/sdn_world.html) and earn 25 points.

Spread the wor(l)d!

[marilyn_pratt · Accepted solution]

I'll be a tiny bit provocative because I really enjoy the writing and flavor of those participating in this thread.

This message thread was posted as a message, not as a question, so Holger, even if he likes the excellent answers he is getting here, won't be able to credit anyone.

Now, I assume that Holger did this purposely, because he seems very savvy and only wanted to make a comment here and not a question.

Others might post this way inadvertantly, and not realize that they are asking a question. Also, enabling the watch forum so that you are ensured of getting pinged when someone replies is not always intuitive.

<b>Seriously:</b> We on the SDN team, should think of additional ways to communicate this information better. I'm wondering if creating more https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/docs?rid=/webcontent/uuid/11ba56f5-0b01-0010-38ac-f96dd70c6cbf">tutorials [original link is broken] [original link is broken] like the elearning help would be good.

<b>Less seriously:</b> Where are the points for all the good responses in this thread?

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

i am sooo sad that this thread isn't marked as a question. ;-(((((

i had such a good answer - which btw took me 25 minutes of my precious time to figure it out - and I can't post it here because I wouldn't get the points I surely deserved for it and my principles don't allow me to post a comment not being rewarded...

...crying ...

[holger_stumm2 · Accepted solution]

Now this is going out of hand : I was just commenting, since I came across this issues more than once in the last weeks.

Since I had it not marked it as a questions I cannot close this thread anyway. But thanks for all your answers.

[RichHeilman · Accepted solution]

You could always mark it as a question, then you would be able to reward these fine people for their answers.

Regards,

Rich Heilman

[holger_stumm2 · Accepted solution]

are we there yet?

[marilyn_pratt · Accepted solution]

You mean you can go back and change this to a question?...oh, you mean that's what the little check box is for?...Oh, you mean, I can actually reward people for good answers...and set a watch.

Why didn't you tell me that in the first place?

End of thread.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I am a firm believer in market forces, or the "invisible hand" as Adam Smith called it. Until there is an incentive to award points, I large number of people never will bother. Don't think it is a concious decision to not award points, I think these are the same folks that take, take, take, and never give back, <b>to anything</b>. Some may think they are just "too busy", but they really just don't get it. Until it is in their interest to participate by awarding points they won't.

So we can continue to offer all kinds of technical solutions, but until we can solve a fundamental problem of human nature, you just won't get what you are looking for. So we either figure how how to make it in more people's interest to give points, or live with the understanding that any points you do get, are hard won thank yous from that small portion of the community that does make the difference on SDN.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

lol.

glad that my 'answer' was helpful.

well, I have to admit that I was lying, I didn't have a well thought of answer which I just held back because of the missing rewarding opportunity, I was just kidding.

bad, bad me. :-((

i wish there were an opportunity to spend those 2 points - say - to greenpeace or some one alike.

Message was edited by: Anton Wenzelhuemer

[holger_stumm2 · Accepted solution]

yeah, this thread was awfull expensive for me.

But, what you don't do to keep the community pleased and entertained.

Nice weekend to everyone - and if I don't miss the announcement again: I will give some free Äppelwoi the next time sdn meets again in my hometown in Frankfurt.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

If we could only power our cars and buildings with wit!

Unfortunately, wit rarely solves problems, it just tends to amuse and/or annoy.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

have a nice weekend!

[eddy_declercq · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I think that we can keep complain and nag as long as we want, nothing will help. There has been a lot of forum threads and blogs, includingh grumpies like /people/eddy.declercq/blog/2006/05/19/from-the-grumpy-old-man-the-points-of-no-return

and /people/eddy.declercq/blog/2006/02/10/from-the-grumpy-old-man-im-not-an-addict

. Additionaly there are the sticky notes by Craig, Brian and the footer in the mail, but some people remain unteachable.

Eddy

[former_member197269]

Hi Holger,

I agree with your comments and most important point over here is that people does not close their qustion even after receiving more that what they have asked for.

I think this is an awareness issue and forum member needs to be educated about it.

my 2 cents .. there should be some kind of mail send to every new joinee on how to go post a question and how to reward points for it.

Hope Moderator take this into considerations.

Greetings !!!

Message was edited by: Ravi

[marilyn_pratt]

Hi Holger,

I hear you and agree that when the expectation exists that you are acknowledged for your good deeds it is frustrating to be ignored.

I believe that "playing" well in the system is the result of experience and also education.

When you become the person "answering" questions (which for some is an evolution of their role of "lurker" or "asker") one can start to understand that it feels nice to be thanked or recognized.

Although we could blog endlessly about this, and I believe some of us <a href="/people/eddy.declercq/blog/2006/01/26/the-grumpy-old-mans-disappointment blogged about similar disappointments</a> , one can't force people to "play nicely". We can only hope that once someone becomes engaged in the game, they realize how important it is to give as well as receive.

Thanks so much for your comments!

Marilyn