** Forum Influence & Voting System **

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** Forum Influence & Voting System **

Joshua D.Pro Member
BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes

10/23/12 UPDATE: The Influence System Has been Removed from BiggerPockets.

INFLUENCE & VOTING

We've established a point system for the forums (soon to expand to our entire site), which takes into account a member’s participation. You can gain both positive and negative influence based upon what you do on the site.

The goal of this influence system is to reward those members who not only help their fellow users, but also those who help the forums to run smoothly. As you can see from the chart below, those who participate by posting will gain influence points. The real points come, however, when others deem your posts as helpful (by voting – see below), or when you help us to rid the site of junk & spam.

On the other hand, as you can see, the impact of spamming the site, not following the rules (we need to edit or delete your posts), or worse, is severe in terms of your influence points.

Voting

Members can vote for a forum topic or reply if they find it interesting or helpful. At the top right of any post, you’ll see a vote icon. Just click the icon and you’ll give an endorsement to that post, and influence points to the poster. FYI - You can’t vote for your own posts.

Inviting New Members

By helping BiggerPockets to grow through inviting your friends and colleagues to join you on the site, you can gain substantial influence points.

Influence Point System:

FORUMS
Action: Net Gain/Loss

Each reply to your post gets you: 1
Post New Topic: 5
Reply to topic: 4
Have your Post voted up: 10
You mark a post as spam; no gain unless removed by admin or mod. If removed: 20, if edited: 10

Have your post deleted: -50
Have your post edited -10
Banned from individual forum -200
Banned from all forums -1000

NOTE: Posts in our Marketplace and Dealmaking forums will not affect influence for the positive, but if you spam or break the rules in these forums, you will lose points.

BULLETINS

Post a Bulletin: 5
Comment on a Bulletin: 4
Each Comment on your bulletin: 2
Your Bulletin Deleted (SPAM): -50
Your Bulletin comment removed: -25

ARTICLES

Your article accepted to article directory:15
Comment on an article: 4
Each comment on your article gets you: 2
Your comment deleted from an article: -25

INVITES
You invite new member who creates ACTIVE account: 40

YOUR PROFILE
You upload a profile avatar: 10
Each profile text block completed: 5

PROMOTING BIGGERPOCKETS

Write a review or tips on using BiggerPockets on your blog: 200 for off-site blog/60 for on-site blog
Make a YouTube Video review or share tips on using BiggerPockets: 100

Notes for BP Promotions: PM me after the post or video has been published so we can add your points. Blog articles must be at least 200 words and videos must be at least 30 seconds. Users are limited to credit for 10 videos and 10 blog articles. Points are not guaranteed; low quality articles or videos may not result in influence points.

Last updated 10/8/10

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Most Popular Reply

Justin S.
Residential Real Estate Agent · Chandler, AZ · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 928 votes
15y

Kevin-

You have a 10:1 ratio (approximately) of influence to posts. I have done my own non-scientific method of analyzing this and found it to be about "right" for strictly RE posters.

Here are my findings:

Strictly posters and generally top posters carry roughly a 10:1 ratio. These are your J Scotts and Mike M's. They are generally forum posters (no bulletins or blogs)

Political posters carry closer to a 5:1 ratio. I think this is because they do not get as many influential points in political forums (and now no influence). There are still some very good RE posters but they also post a lot in the political forum, which reduces their ratio. J Scott seems to be the exception to this rule, and I think its because his RE posts usually garner a lot of votes and he posts quite a bit in the RE forums as well (and was voted top Rehab poster).

20:1 ratio posters are usually posters who do other activities than post in the forums (blogs, bulletins, etc.) These are your Bryan Hancocks, Steve Babiak, and Charles Perkins). Exception to this rule is Vikram who has a high influential ratio because his posts (like J Scotts) typically are very well thought out and have high vote counts.

So, in conclusion, your 10:1 ratio is spot on if you are just a RE forum poster.

Again, this is my non scientific analysis.

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  • Kevin Lunt
    Private Money Lender · Omaha, NE · Member since 2010 · 146 posts · 47 votes
    15y

    Ahhh! I believe the culprit posts were in the Off-Topic category. Makes sense now. Thanks!

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  • Bryan Hancock
    Investor · Round Rock, TX · Member since 2010 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    15y

    @Wheehouse:

    Awesome post! I am sure the lack of influence for political posts will mess up this nice analysis now though. You may have to adjust things going forward ;-)

    It would be very interesting to see who has the highest ratio for real estate posts. I am thinking JScott, but there are others that are likely suspects too. JScott and Vikram seem to have the most "critical mass" posts that have 6+ (or whatever the magic number is) posts.

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  • Joshua D.Pro Member
    OP
    BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    15y

    Maybe we should change how we calculate influence to determine the most influential members, not by points, but by some form of Jason's algorithm. . . .

    Any of the math whizzes care to jump in and help?

    I actually think it would be a much better way o go - judging the top influencers by a more accurate methodology then using the current system.

    So . . .

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  • Timothy W.
    Attorney · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2008 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    15y
    Originally posted by wheelhouse:
    Kevin-

    You have a 10:1 ratio (approximately) of influence to posts. I have done my own non-scientific method of analyzing this and found it to be about "right" for strictly RE posters.

    Here are my findings:

    Strictly posters and generally top posters carry roughly a 10:1 ratio. These are your J Scotts and Mike M's. They are generally forum posters (no bulletins or blogs)

    Political posters carry closer to a 5:1 ratio. I think this is because they do not get as many influential points in political forums (and now no influence). There are still some very good RE posters but they also post a lot in the political forum, which reduces their ratio. J Scott seems to be the exception to this rule, and I think its because his RE posts usually garner a lot of votes and he posts quite a bit in the RE forums as well (and was voted top Rehab poster).

    20:1 ratio posters are usually posters who do other activities than post in the forums (blogs, bulletins, etc.) These are your Bryan Hancocks, Steve Babiak, and Charles Perkins). Exception to this rule is Vikram who has a high influential ratio because his posts (like J Scotts) typically are very well thought out and have high vote counts.

    So, in conclusion, your 10:1 ratio is spot on if you are just a RE forum poster.

    Again, this is my non scientific analysis.

    There's one other factor, people who were posting here for 2 years+ prior to the arrival of the influence voting system. :wink:

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  • Timothy W.
    Attorney · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2008 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    15y
    Originally posted by Joshua Dorkin:
    Maybe we should change how we calculate influence to determine the most influential members, not by points, but by some form of Jason's algorithm. . . .

    Any of the math whizzes care to jump in and help?

    I actually think it would be a much better way o go - judging the top influencers by a more accurate methodology then using the current system.

    So . . .

    I don't know that it needs changing. I've found it more interesting to follow trends of popular ideas in real estate more than a judge of an individual person. The person with no deals and 0 experience can vote up a post just as much as a person with 500 rental units in their portfolio who may happen to know a certain post is full of it. Frankly I don't think my private lenders have exceeded more than a couple hundred points, if that, in their influence counts here.

    As to tweaking the methodology, you'll never get it perfect. I would just use it for what it probably serves best as, a focus group to figure out what's popular these days.

    Tim

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  • Timothy W.
    Attorney · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2008 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    15y

    There is one suggestion I will make on the voting system. The system is currently a fiat vote, where one person can cast as many votes for a singular individual as they want, so long as they can find a post by that person. This can be such an innocuous post as "Yeah that's it" and can get the same voting value as a post that someone invested half an hour into constructing.

    By not tying the votes to a commodity of limited resources, the influence points are getting overprinted and thus devalued. Soon the community will recognize the "influence" itself to mean nothing. There is another forum I am one where a person may vote up or vote down anyone, but the number of votes a person has to give out either way is limited and they are limited in how much they are able to vote for one particular person. All of this also has some time constraints on it as well - in other words, you can only do so much voting per week. By limiting the number of votes a person is able to cast and backing those votes by the commodity of time, a person naturally grows to value their vote more and won't throw it around just for liking someone or agreeing with someone on a topic other than real estate. This also allows a lot more hands off moderating if someone is mad that someone else is getting votes in a specific forum (even if they've been been up to the very thing they're accusing other people of for 6 months) the mods need not intervene because the system is backed by a commodity of time and the impartial element of time will correct it. Right now, there's no commodity backing the influence points and everyone is an unlimited printing press of votes. Need I explain what happens in this kind of system? :wink:

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  • Bryan Hancock
    Investor · Round Rock, TX · Member since 2010 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    15y

    I would be in favor of having two scores. One score would be for activity like the current influence system measures. The other score would be for expertise within a given category. If there were more post categories it would help to develop experts in given fields.

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  • Bill Patterson
    Real Estate Investor · Portage, MI · Member since 2010 · 470 posts · 315 votes
    15y

    I glance at the number of influence points and make a mental note of the ratio and "Member Since" date. If I'm not familiar with the poster, I'll then have a quick idea of their influence. It's not how many points since some members have more posting time than others!
    Bill

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  • Justin S.
    Residential Real Estate Agent · Chandler, AZ · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 928 votes
    15y

    Very true Tim, I thought of this earlier today because I was wondering why you and Will B. did not have the ratio's and it occurred to me that most of your posts were prior to the system.

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  • Timothy W.
    Attorney · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2008 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    15y

    Yeah Will had some really good posts back a little over a year ago. If I remember correctly, he, Mike OH and I were the first heated debates about the 50% rule...lol

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  • Marc Freislinger
    Flipper · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2009 · 973 posts · 679 votes
    15y
    Originally posted by Bryan Hancock:
    I would be in favor of having two scores. One score would be for activity like the current influence system measures. The other score would be for expertise within a given category. If there were more post categories it would help to develop experts in given fields.

    I kind of like this idea. Yahoo Answers gives out a sort of "badge" when you are a top contributor for a certain category. This could work off some ratio of posts:votes for each category. Say JScott has 100 posts in the flipping category, and a total of 300 votes, in that category he averages a 1:3 ratio and should get a badge. I'm thinking you may have to tweak the ratio to find what's right though. Somewhere between 1:2 and 1:3 I'd imagine.

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  • Bryan Hancock
    Investor · Round Rock, TX · Member since 2010 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    15y

    The only problem I see with that sort of system is that people may be unwilling to post for fear of damaging their ratio somehow. The algorithm would need to be carefully thought out.

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  • Kevin Lunt
    Private Money Lender · Omaha, NE · Member since 2010 · 146 posts · 47 votes
    15y

    Are people really THAT preocupied with their points & influence here? Seriously? Like I mentioned, being new on this site, I just thought it was fun to watch the numbers grow, which it does quickly when you are new.

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  • Justin S.
    Residential Real Estate Agent · Chandler, AZ · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 928 votes
    15y

    Kevin, people use the points and influence to drive business. Someone who is considered reputable will generate business from this site. Hence the name Bigger Pockets. If you linked your website in your signature, you would see how much traffic is driven to your website. It may surprise you.

    Some people are here to just talk Real Estate and do not care about the points.

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  • Kevin Lunt
    Private Money Lender · Omaha, NE · Member since 2010 · 146 posts · 47 votes
    15y

    I understand the idea of generating more business from your contacts here, but do people seriously do more business with 1 person than another because they have a few more points on this site?

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  • Marc Freislinger
    Flipper · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2009 · 973 posts · 679 votes
    15y
    Originally posted by Kevin Lunt:
    I understand the idea of generating more business from your contacts here, but do people seriously do more business with 1 person than another because they have a few more points on this site?

    Yes and no. Most people (I'd imagine) will first look at the quality of your posts, and try to pick up on the extent of your knowledge and how successful you may be in your field. Having quality posts though, will get you a higher influence.

    Also, the amount of influence you have accumulated will be a good indicator of your "staying power." Most people want to work with someone they've seen around for a while, who has a good reputation, and who they foresee staying around for a good while longer.

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  • Kevin Lunt
    Private Money Lender · Omaha, NE · Member since 2010 · 146 posts · 47 votes
    15y

    Marc--- Ahhh, so in that sense, given your second paragraph, it is a barometer to measure by, in an effort to avoid fly-by-nights, so to speak. Got it!

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  • Sam Rymer
    Real Estate Broker · Boston, MA · Member since 2011 · 28 posts · 1 vote
    15y

    Iv been on Bp for about 15 days now and I'm just now finding out what influence points are..... yea maybe i should read the rules.... ;-0

    BTW, Best site ever. I check my BP before i check my FB.....

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  • Joshua D.Pro Member
    OP
    BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    15y

    Thanks Sam!

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  • Bryan Hancock
    Investor · Round Rock, TX · Member since 2010 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    15y
    Originally posted by Sam Rymer:
    BTW, Best site ever. I check my BP before i check my FB.....

    Me too :mrgreen:

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  • Will BarnardPro Member
    Moderator
    Developer · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2008 · 15k+ posts · 10k+ votes
    15y

    Me 3

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  • Will BarnardPro Member
    Moderator
    Developer · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2008 · 15k+ posts · 10k+ votes
    15y
    Originally posted by wheelhouse:

    Very true Tim, I thought of this earlier today because I was wondering why you and Will B. did not have the ratio's and it occurred to me that most of your posts were prior to the system.

    That is true and also correct for Josh D. and Jon Holdman.
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  • Bill Gulley
    Investor, Entrepreneur, Educator · Springfield, MO · Member since 2009 · 21k+ posts · 12k+ votes
    15y
    Originally posted by Diane J.:
    I really like the point system. I've been using it on my husband for years. :lol:

    Josh, thanks for explaining how points relate to posts. I was too lazy to look up the significance of "influence".

    LOL! I had someone who I just knew, not related, who I assisted. I introduced her to the site. She voted for me (as a way to say thank you on some of my posts) but she did not vote too often for others. She told me her voting previligaes had been taken away as it looked like she was just pumping mine up I guess. I had no idea as we could not see who voted for our posts then. It wasn't really significant in the scope of things according to her. Haven't heard from her for months. :roll:

    But often, seems like there is a degree of popularity about the person rather than the content of what they say. Some can talk about almost anything, with no real RE content and receive votes.

    I've noticed too that I might say something, then others may simply rephrase what I said and it becomes solid advice, LOL.

    As alluded to above, it can be more of a popularity contest than about solid advice. Especially when votes are given by those who may not have a clue. A weighted vote would certainly help I would think, but one very important aspect with a weighted vote is, IMO, the person who has more weight should not be aware of it!

    If the weighted votes were unknown it might help. If someone knew my their votes had a greater influence, they may withhold a vote for a comment that they felt did not warrant that much weight, but still was a positive comment worthy of something....it also could skew the influence of favorite folks.

    I know of another system that grades on a scale of A, B, C, D and F that assigns positive and negative values, but does not reveal who voted. Many times I'd like to vote appropriately for a comment instead of just a thumbs up.

    I doubt there is a perfect system. I check out the profiles and can judge from what is said. The popular consensus will prevail, right or wrong. A good example is the use of birddogs, paying for someone to facilitate a deal between others. People don't want to hear they should not do something or that it might be illegal, seems they just don't want to hear it.

    So, if you go to a weighted voting system, don't tell us who has what, IMO.

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  • James Vermillion
    Lexington, KY · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    15y

    I think I would deserve points for paraphrasing for you, that way people do not have to read your entire posts, just the cliff notes. Now, quit reading already and vote me up! :)

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  • Bill Gulley
    Investor, Entrepreneur, Educator · Springfield, MO · Member since 2009 · 21k+ posts · 12k+ votes
    15y

    Very good point James! LOL

    I am a talker, and I write like I'd say it.

    I also failed to mention, if anyone was wondering, when that person voted for me, my influence "points"were significantly adjusted, so there are no pumped up votes there.

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