Updating the BiggerPockets Influence System

Joshua D. · 2012-03-13T10:22:57-07:00

Hey All - One of our upcoming projects is to update our influence system to one that better reflects a user's influence on the site. We will be transforming the system from the current limitless influence scale to a 0 to 100 scale, where all new users start at 50, and can work down or up from there. Active users who have influence points currently will be placed in the new system based on their current influence. That said, one of the important factors of our new system will be a time decay of influence, so those people who may have been active in the past, but who are no longer active, will slowly lose points over time. Ultimately, we're interested in hearing from you, what makes you trust OR NOT trust someone on the site? We want to take as many factors into account as possible so this system has some meaning and shows at any given time who the influencers are, and I'm looking to you for your feedback. One of the things I'm most interested in hearing about is user feedback on negatives and the drivers of a user losing "points" on our scale. Thanks and I look forward to a lively and respectful debate.

James Vermillion

Lexington, KY · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes

14y

I was just glad to see this thread back at the top! It makes for a great review every now and again.

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Jon Klaus

Developer · Garland, TX · Member since 2008 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes

14y

Originally posted by James Vermillion:

I was just glad to see this thread back at the top! It makes for a great review every now and again.

1000 posts, James!

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James Vermillion

Lexington, KY · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes

14y

Originally posted by Jon K.:

Originally posted by James Vermillion:

I was just glad to see this thread back at the top! It makes for a great review every now and again.

1000 posts, James!

Dang, I wasted it on a smarta** comment!

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Steve Babiak

Real Estate Investor · Audubon, PA · Member since 2009 · 13k+ posts · 8k+ votes

14y

Originally posted by Nathan Emmert:

Originally posted by Uwe S.:

Great work Joshua Dorkin, vote from me :).
But there is a question who has 100 influence points actual? Jon Holdman has 95, Will Barnard, Jon K. and you have 91-92 points, Rich Weese only 88 ;)

-Uwe

100 - Perfection - The unobtainable goal... a goal to strive for, but never to be reached! What would one do after having achieved perfection anyhow? It would be depressing, there's only one direction to go and that's down! No... there shall be no 100... simply the dream of 100!

Nathan,

Take a good look at Bill Gulley and his 100 influence score - turns out to be obtainable after all.

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Bill Gulley

Investor, Entrepreneur, Educator · Springfield, MO · Member since 2009 · 21k+ posts · 12k+ votes

14y

After that, the only way is down!

I hear the fall from grace can be long and hard.....

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James H.

Investor · Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2011 · 1k+ posts · 450 votes

14y

Originally posted by Bill Gulley:

After that, the only way is down!

I hear the fall from grace can be long and hard.....

Hey Bill Gulley,

To go back and read your belly aching comments in this thread it looks a little out of context with you having 100 influence as compared to when you had like 70 or whatever it was. LOL!

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Vanessa Brown

Contractor · Washington, Washington D.C. · Member since 2011 · 29 posts · 9 votes

14y

As with a couple people I've noticed, I'm not necessarily clear on how the current system works. I look forward to learning the new system and doing well.

Will's list looks like a good one and I gained insight as well as some advice.

I'm not sure about this whole "scamming the system thing". I wouldn't base my trust in someone's opinion on points in the first place. Any system is worth only as much as the effort that an individual puts into it. When I want to know about someone I look at previous and current posts by them and judge it against my own personal sense meter. The ratings are just a guide and should be used as such.

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Bill Gulley

Investor, Entrepreneur, Educator · Springfield, MO · Member since 2009 · 21k+ posts · 12k+ votes

14y

Brian Hoyt, LOL! Yep, you're right, I wasn't too happy as I was under the impression the "rating" thing was something all together different and all of that as been discussed here......bringing things to light.

I guess it's about activity even though as Will has said we have a counter for the posts. I have no idea how the "score" went up except that I have been pretty active. I don't think it has to do with a high ratio of votes to posts as the old system.

It is what it is.

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Will BarnardPro Member

Moderator

Developer · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2008 · 15k+ posts · 10k+ votes

14y

Bill Gulley - Your 100+ posts in the past week alone certainly has something to do with your 100 score! :)
As in this example, Josh has accomplished what he wanted to with this system - to get people super active and Bill is one example of that!

I hit 100 for a day or two, then went on vacation out of the country and lost like 8 or 9 points. I have been super busy the last 3+ weeks and my posting has been limited due to time constraints so my score is much lower today (93) then 3 weeks ago, even though I still hit BP with content.

I like what Vanessa Brown said - judge people from the content they post and not by the "influence score". Of course, if one hits in the high 90's, they obviously should be looked at as a likely strong and influencial contributor. This would include Bill with his 100 score. He didn't get their from junk posts and anyone going back reading many of his previous posts will let you know he is very educated in this field.

I can see how some dislike the drops in scores that appear to be more rapid than members would like, but keep in mind there is a reason behind it.

My suggestion is to pay more attention to engaing your commmunity here and learning from others (or teaching others, or both) and pay less attention to "influence scores"

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Jon Klaus

Developer · Garland, TX · Member since 2008 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes

14y

I think Bill has averaged over 100 posts a week for at least each of the last three weeks. And as you say, Will, there are some real gold nuggets in there. Will and Bill, you both add a lot of good stuff. Just last night I was perusing the archives on SD IRAs and read good content from you two, Jon H, and other influential members.

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Bill Gulley

Investor, Entrepreneur, Educator · Springfield, MO · Member since 2009 · 21k+ posts · 12k+ votes

14y

Well thanks for the kaddos! :)

I agree that the influence points should not be viewed as an indicator of good advice, I hope mine is taken on its own merit from my experiences.

As most know I was gone for awhile and got back and I guess I have been working the forums alot, I had no idea it had been that much. I recently past 5000, thought I'd try and catch Josh (LOL)...maybe not.

BP is addictive and should come with a warning label!

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James H.

Investor · Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2011 · 1k+ posts · 450 votes

14y

Now if we can only get Bill Gulley to change his avatar so we can see his ugly mug. In case it's really bad, I don't think it will result in a loss of influence points....

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James Vermillion

Lexington, KY · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes

14y

I think Josh put a governor on my influence that won't let me get past 75. :)

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Mark UpdegraffBusiness Member

Real Estate Broker · Rochester, NY · Member since 2010 · 1k+ posts · 690 votes

14y

#Fail on a new member trying to solicit help in the Pro section. As you know I cancelled my pro account when my influence started dropping with the new system. We'll I tried to respond to him not realizing it was in the pro section. Then I tried to send a message to him which was also denied as we're not colleagues. I immediately closed the window with all the content.

It's getting harder to help people here on BP!

Take off my governor or my engine is going to BLOW

:D
Mark at less points than last time

Podcast Guest on Show #112

Updegraff Group Realty4.746 Reviews

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Joshua D.Pro Member

OP

BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes

14y

Mark Updegraff - If someone posted a question in one of the dealmaking threads, simply reporting it would alert us to the issue and we'd move it to the right place so everyone can respond. Any forum that requires a PRO membership for posting is labeled that way and you shouldn't even be able to reply at all. If there is some kind of bug that allowed you to, I'd love to know about it so we can make a fix right away.

Since you weren't able to send a PM, you could have sent a PM with your colleague request, which is actually an enhancement we've added since this thread started.

As for your comment about it getting harder to help people here on BP, nothing has changed to alter how you communicate or connect in some time -- certainly nothing detrimental since the time of this thread's posting except the change to our relatively meaningless "influence" number.

If you're having issues with the site's functionality, you're welcome to start a new thread about the issue or send me a PM.

Otherwise, I'm going to close this thread because frankly nothing that hasn't already been said in the past 190 posts seems to be coming of it and I've already had numerous complaints about it just being an annoyance at this point.

Thanks to everyone for the discussion!

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Updating the BiggerPockets Influence System

Updating the BiggerPockets Influence System

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