Suggestion: Perks. Not just for supporters/staff?

[The Red Chain]

This morning just a few moments ago I ventured into Forever's blog to read her thoughts on supporter perks.
She made many good points, and gave me an idea along with those points :

What if those perks were given to deserving users as well, instead of being exclusively for supporters and staff?

Some users on PC are very contributing to the forum, amazing at bringing up discussions, promoting the forums they visit, are kind, and overall great users. The sad thing is that some of these users won't ever get to have supporter status because of any money issues they possibly have, and get to have all the little extras that they may deserve more than any supporter ; simply for all of the things they do for PC outside of donating. Perks are a privilege, and I think this privilege should be expanded on a bit more to others who really deserve all those neat gizmos that supporters get. I know it's a bit risky since some people may put on a facade for the potential of getting that privilege, but if this idea was under the discretion of staff members I can't see what could really go wrong..

I know I might be silly for this idea, but I just really would love to see something like this.
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[angel]

Its a nice thought but the supporters and staff deserve to have a couple other things that normal members do not have. This isn't to show that the supporters and staff are more important then the other members. It takes all of us to make this fourm one big happy family. However the supporters give their money to the site and the staffers work hard. The staff are the heart of Pokecommunity, they make it run smoothly and have to fix the mainframe whenever it breaks. Which I'm sure is hard and takes some time.

Also your talking about giving certain members perks too. Well who's to say who gets these perks?

 

[The Red Chain]

However the supporters give their money to the site and the staffers work hard. The staff are the heart of Pokecommunity, they make it run smoothly and have to fix the mainframe whenever it breaks. Which I'm sure is hard and takes some time.

Also your talking about giving certain members perks too. Well who's to say who gets these perks?

I do agree on some of your points. But see, some members go above and beyond expectations for PC. They contribute just a little above average to PC, and aren't just here to post and be a part of the community.
They help out with many things like livening up discussions, posting new ideas that could change the community, and just being a great member to have around in general for their kind hand.
These are the people that I think deserve a little more for their dedication. Despite not donating or being a staff member that helps PC in a greater way, they are doing things for PC that not many others do.

Well, my idea was for maybe staff members to give it to who they see fit.
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[Alternative]

This is an interesting idea, and I think it could go ahead, but what perks would these supporters get? Last time I checked normal members with over nine thousand 4,000 posts and those who staff thought were worthy got access to blogs.

 

[The Red Chain]

This is an interesting idea, and I think it could go ahead, but what perks would these supporters get? Last time I checked normal members with over nine thousand 4,000 posts and those who staff thought were worthy got access to blogs.

I came up with a small list for them just now cause I was asked this question too by a friend of mine.
Here were my ideas for the little things they could be given :

• Blog
• Bigger avatar
  
• At least a background picture option on their profile. [instead of being able to put a picture almost everywhere like supporters]
• Extra PM space. [300-500]
  

 

[Amore]

I can understand where you're coming from...but we'll end up with some n00bs who think to get these privelidges they just have to posts lots, leading to spam, and directly decreasing the quality of the forums.

Also, I think part of the reason we have the perks is an incentive for people to donate, no? I can relate to the money issues point (I just occasionally donate via text message), but still, if the perks are easier to access, it may deter potential supporters, which can't be good.

 

[Nick]

Guys, she's talking about established members. Not off the mill n00bs. I think we'd be able to spot the difference.

Blog: 5,000 posts.
Bigger avatar: I don't care either way.
At least a background picture option on their profile. [instead of being able to put a picture almost everywhere like supporters]: Under certain conditions, sure. They'd have to have a certain amount of posts. I don't think every member should be able to use images on their profile simply because images are uploaded into albums, hosted on the server. But yeah, I don't see why a member who's been here for so long and has established him/herself shouldn't have the ability to have images on their profile. And not just a background picture.
Extra PM space. [300-500]: +1

What other ideas do you have?

 

[The Red Chain]

I can understand where you're coming from...but we'll end up with some n00bs who think to get these privelidges they just have to posts lots, leading to spam, and directly decreasing the quality of the forums.

Also, I think part of the reason we have the perks is an incentive for people to donate, no? I can relate to the money issues point (I just occasionally donate via text message), but still, if the perks are easier to access, it may deter potential supporters, which can't be good.

The same thing has the potential of happening with 5,000 posts for blogs though if you put it that way..
If say this idea is put through the filter, it doesn't have to be stated anywhere in the open. It can be kind of a surprise type of thing, like Tier 6 used to be. That could probably reduce the risk for said spam happening.
It's a good incentive, but that shouldn't become the only reason to donate like it has now. Before, supporters were just given a colored name and a badge, nothing else. People still donated when they could.. a colored name was enough for them back then.. so I don't think it should be too bad.

Some people will still donate as I said above, mostly because they are finally defining the definition, so it's not like this idea will make too many deter. The perks I have in mind are actually fairly small compared to supporter perks.

What other ideas do you have?

I would say maybe a bigger profile picture but I'm not sure if that's really anything of value. They could just take advantage of the background picture/youtube video type of thing that makes your profile picture appear much larger if given that privilege. If the background picture privilege doesn't pass through, I think a bigger profile picture would be good in place of it.
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[Regeneration]

I agree to a large extent to the ideas mentioned in the first post.
Most importantly being the one regarding PM space. 150 PMs in my opinion, are too less. I remember when I was a non-supporter, I had to constantly delete PMs; so many of them contained old memories of mine; something I would have liked to keep with myself. Deserving members definitely should be awarded with higher PM space.

Then, coming up to the idea of allowing members to have an image as their profile picture: something which is exclusive for supporters. This needs to be extended to more members because I believe it would allow many members to showcase their talents which they cannot otherwise.

There could be many reasons as to why one may not be able to donate, they might belong to poor households or lack the ability to donate because of any other personal problems. Therefore I wholeheartedly support the above suggestions.

 

[Abnegation]

How would we as staff decipher who is a contributing and well presented member though?

 

[The Red Chain]

How would we as staff decipher who is a contributing and well presented member though?

I'm able to notice when someone is really standing out through their contributions and their dedication myself, so I don't know what to say really..
Those who just.. purely stand out in a good way for the things they do.. it's hard to describe this through words honestly. XD;

It does take a bit of "exploring" to see them, but I know I have.
If you want me to give you an example I could in a PM or something. ^^;
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[Nick]

From what I've experienced, most people who intend to spam to reach a goal end up contributing no matter what. Sure, they may spend their time posting in the DCC and other unimportant contributions like that, but they still take the time to contribute to discussion. I mean, spamming will get you so far before you start to become less spammy. There's never been a member who's managed to completely spam their way to something without getting banned because of the spam or changing their posts enough to make a contribution regardless. So spamming isn't all that a concern to me with this kind of topic; and never really has been.

Besides, I'd rather this be an automatic promotion kind of thing (like blogs) where you get X posts or meet Y requirements and you're moved to a different usergroup automatically with that perk.

 

[LightOfTruth]

Blogs are only worth it if people look at them. I see lots of blogs with no comment's :)

 

[countryemo]

Blogs are only worth it if people look at them. I see lots of blogs with no comment's :)

No comments dosent mean no looks mate. You can see a thread with post but 200 views (not the creators)

And you guys can check like how you check "should this person become staff?" yaya.
or yeah, you seem to get the point.

We already got a blog. and 130x130 is pretty big now profile pic needs increasing

 

[LightOfTruth]

No comments dosent mean no looks mate. You can see a thread with post but 200 views (not the creators)

And you guys can check like how you check "should this person become staff?" yaya.
or yeah, you seem to get the point.

We already got a blog. and 130x130 is pretty big now profile pic needs increasing

If I had a blog the comment's would mean more then views. Not to say I don't like people viewing it just more worth to me to see people putting some effort in :)

 

[countryemo]

If I had a blog the comment's would mean more then views. Not to say I don't like people viewing it just more worth to me to see people putting some effort in :)

Well yeah comments are great to see when you have a blog. But like those and social groups. are paid little attention since their not the main forum.

But, blogs are for some people to ramble about. Like you got no-one to talk to but want to talk/type it out. A blog! =O
I know I feel that way sometimes :)

 

[Abnegation]

I'm able to notice when someone is really standing out through their contributions and their dedication myself, so I don't know what to say really..
Those who just.. purely stand out in a good way for the things they do.. it's hard to describe this through words honestly. XD;

It does take a bit of "exploring" to see them, but I know I have.
If you want me to give you an example I could in a PM or something. ^^;
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Subjective, anyone can do that. I do it, but it doesn't mean I'm right. There needs to be a more hard and fast approach.

 

[Hydreigon]

How would we as staff decipher who is a contributing and well presented member though?

Well, we could go by Post Count ( I know that normally is meaningless, but a member with a fairly large amount of informative/helpful/insightful posts should be considered), Infraction history, general behavior around the forums (study their posts and posting behavior), Number of years on PC, and things similar to that.

I also think being a Veteran (3+years) should be considered for a Pre-requisite for some of the bonuses, along with overall activity.

 

[LightOfTruth]

Well yeah comments are great to see when you have a blog. But like those and social groups. are paid little attention since their not the main forum.

But, blogs are for some people to ramble about. Like you got no-one to talk to but want to talk/type it out. A blog! =O
I know I feel that way sometimes :)

I would go to the blogs sometimes as they a part of the site and its nice to see what other people write :)

Well, we could go by Post Count ( I know that normally is meaningless, but a member with a fairly large amount of informative/helpful/insightful posts should be considered), Infraction history, general behaviour around the forums (study their posts and posting behaviour), Number of years on PC, and things similar to that.

I also think being a Veteran (3+years) should be considered for a Pre-requisite for some of the bonuses.

Infraction history means I'm out. Even though they expired I still have that tab :(

 

[Poster]

I also think being a Veteran (3+years) should be considered for a Pre-requisite for some of the bonuses.

Factor the equation of activity regarding the time of 3+ years, then.

No, not my cup of tea. I am declaring stubborness. The perks seem fine by me.

Look at me, do I seem to care about having extra PM space or a bigger avatar? I'm satisfied by my standards as they stand.

But then, let's say I care about blogs. I decide to donate to get blogs, because getting to 5k posts is absurd in my case. I become a Rank 4 Supporter by giving out twenty bucks. Well, it seems like both the site and I got a benefit from this, regardless of what I think and feel.But if you do that in any other case, I see one-sided benefits. Again, not my cup of tea.

tl;dr imo version says: It doesn't matter if someone deserves a perk, we don't get what we deserve often. Instead, we get what we pay for. Common sense.