December leaderboard & prizes

I can agree with you on this.

My only remark is that if you put in place a system like this one (points and rewards) you must be ready to regulate and control it.

They already made a good step in this direction removing the points just for answering.

What is missing is someone checking what happens. If a wrong answer is given and the not experienced user mark it as accepted answer, this is gonna be a disservice for future users having the same problem looking at the thread and finding a wrong answer marked as correct. Somebody must intervene and correct it.

And, coming to where this discussion started, saying “we give you 3 points for an accepted answer (hopefully correct too) but if Mr Anybody decide to play dirty tricks and flags you we remove 10 or 20 points. And we won’t do anything about it, even if it’s clearly an abuse” it’s not a good way to manage things.

Helpers that, as you say, put so much efforts to give many correct answers seeing these kind of situations will surely lose the “excitement level”

The problem resides in the reason why they put in place this rewards system: the resources destined by NI to this forum are, let’s say it, quite low and not sufficient…and they searched a way to make volunteers users help each others to make up for this.

Therefore, the few guys working here who can’t manage to answer all the questions because they are underemployed surely don’t have the time to also regulate what is happening

What I mean, there is not only quantity. And concerning the time spent. To answer more difficult answer may require lots of time.

I agree, it is hard to measure. Still I think that those who give "expert" answers should also get some kind of reward if those who reply many simpler questions do get reward.

I agree, that is why I have suggested, that if NI wants to give away rewards from time to time, better system would be based on human decision, not just point system.

Saying that, one should contribute just for his joy, not for vouchers/point.... If one gets a voucher here and there, fine it might please, but that is all.

Yeah, you are not the one that is gaming the system. It is always clear who is and is not. All the regulars from the old forum are just as they were. I wouldn't even know if I was on the leaderboard, I asked if I could be removed from it because I don't want to be displayed up there personally and have no interest in the vouchers or tshirts, I request they are given to the newest user who has some points on the board.

One reason I use to love coming here was the wide range of opinions and input from various users and maybe I can throw in a helpful answer here and there in the limited product areas I know, has never been a focus of mine to answer every question available and i'm really only useful in KK, Tech and general stuff, use to leave Maschine to the likes of D-One who is an expert in that area and I don't know anything about Traktor. I usually now only bother to drop in when I have coffee in the morning then I don't bother anymore unless i'm super bored.

Yeah I have no issue with handing out rewards at all and believe that's a good thing for NI to do, the issue I see is the same as you that this auto point system simply rewards those that can spend the day glued to their keyboards and treat it like a game for prize since it's easy to get the top points if you offer an answer to every question. If one feels it is not worth spending all that time offering answers if they wont be rewarded, then don't spend the time, let others do it 🙄

Just feel it needs some fine tuning to help those new users that also may have some good points to share instead of only us old bar flies. Maybe if it wasn't displayed at all then people couldn't constantly check they are still on top.

The issue I have posted about is not people receiving gifts for contributing, I have stated that I think this is a great idea and it is not new, NI team members offered out appreciation and thanks personally on the old forums, I received a few thanks myself and that was great and personalised, why I am still here really.

What I have expressed my dislike with since day 1 (as have others), is this new gamer ladder system that decides who is the top dog based on correct answers and likes. Sure it may be based off how many answers are given and accepted which seems great but this rewards those who have more free time to sit, research and answer every question and penalises those who have a genuine interest to engage but simply do not have hours a day to sit and wait for questions to come in and then jump on them before anyone else has a chance. If someone looks at that board and sees most people with 60 points and then a few at the top with 200 why would they even try, it is obvious like most places the barflies will be the leaders all the time so why would I, as a new user bother to even "compete" with that?

When this new forum first started the leaderboard thing was displayed on every page all the time, complaints about it were made by numerous people that it was a gimmicky/tacky and unrequired thing, then it was only on the home page. Now it is relegated to the profile page and IMO it should just be deleted completely from user view and the forum, maybe flash it up in the monthly draw. The mods can use the ranking system behind the scenes to choose the winner of the month but it would make people focus less on their precious ladder position and losing gamer points and more on just engaging with the wider community (like it use to), not trying to just win the round.

On the last forum, no one cared if they were hit with a spam or abuse strike, it happens because sometimes what one says is taken wrong or harshly by another, you cannot say what someone else may find offensive in what is said (and demand they be punished for being offended) and it is perfectly acceptable for them to express that if it's not just based on being childish and going on a dislike rant which the mods should be able to see (but again, who really cares). Reason people care so much now is it hurts their overall score on the leaderboard and this seems an important thing to some. I've never cried about a single strike against me, and I have a rather opinionated nature that attracts it, if someone does not like what I have said, they are more than free to express that.

It's one of those things, some love the "competition" of helping others, some dislike this approach and feel it causes a degree of digression and friction and in a community forum we should be able to express these things freely as long as it is respectful.