** 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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  • James Vermillion
    Lexington, KY · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    15y
    Originally posted by Financexaminer:
    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.

    I was just kidding of course; your posts are very informative and helpful. I am guilty of sometimes agreeing of paraphrasing, especially when it is someone asking for advice and I am not sure if they have a clue...some people need 10 people to tell them they are about to make a mistake instead of one. You are correct though, sometimes you can see the popularity show in the voting and a weighted system is a good idea.

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

    I think the voting system is fine as it is. Trying to make it so much more is really unnecessary in my opinion. It gives others a "feel" for one member and is just one of several means for one member to juge/rate/from opinion of another member. Post count, information provided in posts, activity levels, etc. are several other means to juge another member. The influence system is a fun and great tool. Anything can be better, but in the grand scheme of things, I think there are other more important items that Josh can add and work on rather than this.

    Now James can paraphrase my thoughts and receive all the votes instead of me. :)

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  • James Vermillion
    Lexington, KY · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    15y
    Originally posted by Will Barnard:
    I think the voting system is fine as it is. Trying to make it so much more is really unnecessary in my opinion. It gives others a "feel" for one member and is just one of several means for one member to juge/rate/from opinion of another member. Post count, information provided in posts, activity levels, etc. are several other means to juge another member. The influence system is a fun and great tool. Anything can be better, but in the grand scheme of things, I think there are other more important items that Josh can add and work on rather than this.

    Now James can paraphrase my thoughts and receive all the votes instead of me. :)

    The voting system is adequate :mrgreen:

    Done!

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

    I really don't understand the negativity toward the voting system. It works pretty well from what I have seen and I think things balance out over time for active members. Some of the posts I take a long time to produce get very little votes although I think they have great content. I also receive "garbage votes" for trivial things too...it balances out over time.

    The key is that people have to be active enough for the law of averages to runs its course!

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

    While I may have sounded a bit on the down side, I think overall it's fine too, I would like to give "F"s though, LOL, but a thuimbs upis adequate. I don't mind seeing myself being paraphrased, It is flattering if people repeat your advice.

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

    Looks like I converted us to a bandwagon of pro - "point system is fine as is"

    Now I just need some garbage votes for this short paraphrase as I have not balanced out yet Have 5500+ posts and 10:1 ratio would need me at 55,000 influence so I need 15k in influence pronto!

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

    I gave you a charity vote Will. Perhaps others will follow suit ;-)

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  • Rich Weese
    Real Estate Investor · the villages, FL · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    14y

    Nick – thank you for sending me the link to this thread. I wonder if it is time to revisit this subject. It looks like it has remained the same for nearly one and a half years. Here are the reasons for my concern. Josh – I hope you'll take this in the spirit that it was given. There are a lot of posts in this thread questioning the method of determining"influence points".

    I've been on the board for a few years and would like to mention the following items.

    #1-in the old days, I was actually taught by a member on BP how to scam the system and rushed to the top in influence points. I was actually the first one to 14,000 points, just to see if his method actually worked. It did.

    # 2-I was told by a member of BP that he would always be number one in influence points because he needed it to use to generate business. I need to mention that this person is not number one.

    #3-I was also told by another member on BP that he knew how to "scam the system"and would soon be number one.

    I'm not sure whether there is a better method to use to determine influential points but I certainly think other options need to be considered. Many of those options were listed previously in the same thread.

    What it seems to of turned into now is not really what it was originally intended for. Instead of calling it most influential how about just stating who has the most posts numbers one through 10. I did a little research on this and here is what I found.

    Of the top five most influential posters, for also have the highest number of posts. Does this really make this individual influential? The one missing out of the top five in influence is number three, Steve Babiak. Even though he is missing from the top five, he is currently number 10.

    Just because someone posts the most posts every week doesn't make him influential in my mind. Some of the most influential posters in my mind are BP members with many fewer posts but I look forward to reading theirs because they are always going to be to the point.

    You receive points for various things including number of thread you started, number of replies to that thread, number of bulletin posts you have for the week and also for the month etc.

    I checked on the bulletin posts and found that the top person for the week has three times as many bulletin posts as the next nine people – – all put together! I also found that the top person in bulletin posts for the month has twice as many as the next nine – – all put together!

    I can assure you that this system can be used. I know because I did it simply to see if it would work as a BP member suggested, and it did, as I proved by being the first one to 14,000 posts.

    What I am concerned about, is that we are constantly getting a large turnover of BP active members. All you need to do, is look back through this thread to see you that is accurate. I don't want newbies to assume that those scoring high in influential points are necessarily the most knowledgeable posters on BP.

    I have received private e-mails asking me about members on BP that have contacted them about loaning money or placing money in various programs they are pumping. They have used their status on BP in this regard.

    I hope no one feels this is sour apples on my part. I have neither the time nor the interest in trying to compete for influence points, and actually was quite surprised to find I was still in the top 10. I went back and researched the method to score these influential points and question whether this is the best method that could be used or even whether we need this method any longer. Once someone is on BP for a certain period of time, they are going to gravitate towards those folks that post items they are interested in. I hate to see them swayed by something that may not tell the complete story.

    I know there are other methods that have been suggested to calculate these points, but in my opinion, I'm not sure that"influential points"are really that. Maybe as someone else suggested, take a percentage of the points received from the number of posts placed on BP. I'm sure there are other ways of doing this, but having been a member of BP, and as someone seen how the system can be misused, I question whether it has served its purpose. Rich

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  • James Vermillion
    Lexington, KY · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    14y

    Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?

    I cannot understand the continued obsession with the point system. Of all of the features of BP, I do not understand why people continue to worry about. The system serves a purpose but is not perfect. I for one do not care one bit about my "influence". I care that I learn more about real estate investing and hopefully pass some of that information on to others.

    When I first got to BP I looked at "influence" points of others to get a quick glance at how much they have contributed, nothing more, nothing less (for the record it is a good tool in identifying people who have contributed a lot to the community but is an even better tool to tell who can’t follow the rules).

    If someone is not "influential" in your eyes than they are not influential to you...who cares if they have a lot of points (they have been active in the community). I am sure Josh and co. could change the name or re-work the system, but people are always going to complain...no system is perfect.

    Let’s all continue to make BP the best community for real estate investors on the net!

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  • Rob Gillespie
    Specialist · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2011 · 1k+ posts · 852 votes
    14y

    I have ben away for a while working on some big stuff, so when I came back I was a little lost. This makes SOOOOOO much more sense than the old way. Nice work!!

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  • Dale Osborn
    Mobile Home Investor · Spanaway, WA · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 578 votes
    14y

    This system seems to be a slap in the face to some. An individual with 257 posts has a 61 influence and another individual - (myself) with 1300 posts end up with a 65 influence???

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  • Joshua D.Pro Member
    OP
    BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    14y

    For those users looking at this thread, today we killed the BiggerPockets Influence System. For more information, go to this thread.

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