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Interesting idea... however, I think that it's a bit too complex.
I like the idea of trophies. It could be another way to incentivize users. In particular, users who are "in between" belts would likely appreciate trophies as a way to positively contribute to the system while gaining rewards that aren't necessarily directly tied to M$'s.
I (of course) love the idea of charity. Please join our Kiva group here:
http://www.kiva.org/community/viewTeam?team_id=5048 However, I see the ability to directly transfer M$'s into Kiva gift cards as a singular, easy to understand method of donation.
Pogramatically, trophies would (likely) be difficult to implement. From what I understand, the Mahalo programming team is under a bit of stress to fix bugs and roll out critical features. While I really like the idea of trophies, I don't imagine that the time they would take to create (at this point) would be justified when compared to the other tasks that are slated.
Great suggestion. I really hope that the dev team takes note of this one.
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I did see "trophies" on the page the same way you did. And I love the idea of connecting them to charity! Maybe both could be done. Encourage good answers, and charitability at the same time
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However, I'm not averse to adding some icon to my avatar and joining a M.A. team of answerers who donate a percentage of their tips to a given charity. I don't really want it to be competitive, though. And I also share concerns about the site - and my avatar - looking cluttered and messy.
The idea is not without merit, though - good work in thinking about ideas to make a better Mahalo community!
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M$1
April 13, 2009 04:36 PM
SUGGESTION: Add "trophies" to Mahalo Answers for fun and to encourage the flow of cash-backed $M into charities and the Mahalo community.
The idea is to add small trophies to the Avatar section, between the picture and the "belt." Under the full profile view, complete, larger versions of the trophies could be displayed.
a) Mahalo creates an individual trophy for different legitimate charities; Mahalo staff create the trophies, or Mahalo members could even be "TASK'ed" by Jason to design them. Mahalo community could vote on the trophy designs.
b) The $Mahalo value is kept at .75 cents so 25% of each "real" $ still comes back into the community (subsidizing the current, enormous outpouring of M$ in the form of Mahalo-funded answers).
c) If a person continues to give $M to the same charity over time, then their original trophy changes levels. For example, imagine someone that has a "Silver Hedgehog" and "Golden Dinosaur Egg" for respective giving levels. To keep it simple, only change the color scheme of the trophy.
d) Users can lobby Team Calacanis to include non-controversial charities and create trophy designs for respective charities.
This takes care of the "how can we integrate charity giving into Mahalo Answers" issue and allows additional chances to be "individual" without disturbing the belt levels.
a) Mahalo creates an individual trophy for different legitimate charities; Mahalo staff create the trophies, or Mahalo members could even be "TASK'ed" by Jason to design them. Mahalo community could vote on the trophy designs.
b) The $Mahalo value is kept at .75 cents so 25% of each "real" $ still comes back into the community (subsidizing the current, enormous outpouring of M$ in the form of Mahalo-funded answers).
c) If a person continues to give $M to the same charity over time, then their original trophy changes levels. For example, imagine someone that has a "Silver Hedgehog" and "Golden Dinosaur Egg" for respective giving levels. To keep it simple, only change the color scheme of the trophy.
d) Users can lobby Team Calacanis to include non-controversial charities and create trophy designs for respective charities.
This takes care of the "how can we integrate charity giving into Mahalo Answers" issue and allows additional chances to be "individual" without disturbing the belt levels.
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| April 13, 2009 04:58 PM |
I like the idea of trophies. It could be another way to incentivize users. In particular, users who are "in between" belts would likely appreciate trophies as a way to positively contribute to the system while gaining rewards that aren't necessarily directly tied to M$'s.
I (of course) love the idea of charity. Please join our Kiva group here:
http://www.kiva.org/community/viewTeam?team_id=5048 However, I see the ability to directly transfer M$'s into Kiva gift cards as a singular, easy to understand method of donation.
Pogramatically, trophies would (likely) be difficult to implement. From what I understand, the Mahalo programming team is under a bit of stress to fix bugs and roll out critical features. While I really like the idea of trophies, I don't imagine that the time they would take to create (at this point) would be justified when compared to the other tasks that are slated.
Great suggestion. I really hope that the dev team takes note of this one.
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Other Answers (3)
April 13, 2009 04:52 PM
I think this is a cool idea. When I first read your mention of it on your other thread (about novelty belts) what came to mind is something like trophies for having many best answers in a certain category, like getting a little badge on your profile page with a cartoon trophy with, say, a giant dog on top for having at least 100 Best Answers in the Pets-Dogs category, or a giant syringe for the Health category. I did see "trophies" on the page the same way you did. And I love the idea of connecting them to charity! Maybe both could be done. Encourage good answers, and charitability at the same time
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April 13, 2009 04:56 PM
I hadn't even thought of this! This would supplement the charity idea and create a complete spectrum of trophies that could be earned not only by the person that simply puts the most money into charities (not that that is a bad thing!) but also people that become category experts. It is a great incentive to give answers. This really makes the concept well-rounded.
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April 13, 2009 06:29 PM
I think that trophies would be a good idea, the only problem is that this site is becomming kind of cluttered. Its not bad yet, but if new features keep being added, this site may become difficult to navigate. I'm not saying new features are bad, but I think that the focus shoud be put on further developing features already on this site and fixing any bugs that may be present. I also think that if trophies are implemented, they should be used for any significant achievement a mahalo user accomplishes, not just charity donations. For instance, if a user makes the Top Members board, they should get a trophy.
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April 13, 2009 06:44 PM
I agree. There is some clutter, but I am talking about space around the avatar and belt which is not all that cluttered, and then somewhere in the profile page, perhaps right above the self-description.
Again, I agree that there are a lot of problems and they should be the focus, and I also agree that there should be other trophies, as @tracebooks mentioned. I only meant to add a suggestion for the future, and did not mean to imply that all other business should be dropped, which seems to be assumed. I would think something like this would be 6 months to a year away.
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Again, I agree that there are a lot of problems and they should be the focus, and I also agree that there should be other trophies, as @tracebooks mentioned. I only meant to add a suggestion for the future, and did not mean to imply that all other business should be dropped, which seems to be assumed. I would think something like this would be 6 months to a year away.
April 13, 2009 08:18 PM
It might be fun, but I'd like to see attention given to other aspects of the community first (iPhone app? being able to reliably add someone as a friend?) I'm already keeping track of my stats for best answers and belt level, voting for undecided questions to move them along, answering unanswered questions, and watching for intriguing new questions. I still haven't availed myself of using the Twitter search feature, and that's my next goal. I'm not sure I'm up to pursuing or tracking another stat/trophy. However, I'm not averse to adding some icon to my avatar and joining a M.A. team of answerers who donate a percentage of their tips to a given charity. I don't really want it to be competitive, though. And I also share concerns about the site - and my avatar - looking cluttered and messy.
The idea is not without merit, though - good work in thinking about ideas to make a better Mahalo community!
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There is no current Mahalo charity initiative of which I am aware. I don't think picking charities out of a list and being rewarded with a trophy is too complex. I, for one, don't know what Kiva is, and from your suggestion, I would need to become familiar with Kiva, then transfer $M to Kiva, then into gift card form, and then use the gift card to spend money on a charity. I don't know if this is any less complicated than selecting a charity from a Mahalo page and having my $M magically disappear (and being rewarded with a trophy, huzzah!).
You're right, this would be a long-term project. Something like this would roll out over a period of say a year. I think your statement that this idea is programmatically overwhelming is more of an assumption, and it seems like something that could be tacked on. I also think that B2B technology is so incredible now that it would not be that difficult to create the backend to automate the entire flow of M$ from end user to the bank accounts of the charities. Thanks for the comments - they are always insightful.
Just a quick tidbit, I've found that selecting subcategories on Opera 9.6 for Windows works, but sometimes it takes multiple tries.