Get paid to answer questions - Page 4

[GliderPilot]

Just a suggestion for those threads which do not get marked as solved. I would set it up as a 2 teir system, first send out a reminder to the OP once there has been no new posts in the thread for a set time (like 48 hours) something along the lines of "Was the DW community able to answer your question? IF so, please let us know but marking your question as solved here" If after say another 48 hours the thread still has not been marked as solved by the OP, then it can go to a vote for a set time and the highest voted naswer gets the bounty.

[Dani]

I didn't see anything on the page that said those were the numbers for me so I assumed it was a generic "this is a sample page with sample data".

LOL, no. Not sample data :)

Although if I ever get to Stony Brook to see my son I might want to hit you up for a coffee mug or some other token.

Absolutely!! Although we are far closer to Manhattan than we are to Stony Brook :)

What do the asterisks on the months mean?

Hover over them to see :) The first greyed out one is an indication that points expire after a year and so some points in the first month of the list may not be displayed. The last one(s) are indications that points are currently estimates only and not yet final numbers or available for cash out.

[Dani]

GliderPiolet, two features are currently in the works:

Firstly, after replying, there will be an option to 'nudge' the OP to mark their thread solved. You can only nudge them once.

Secondly, there will be an option to donate a bounty to anyone's thread that you want to see answered, effectively turning it into a solved thread. (However, the person who donates the bounty will be ineligible from profiting off of a response to it.)

[Dani]

Incidentally, these are both still ideas I'm thinking of, and neither is set in stone yet. Still working things out and paying close attention to how the system is unfolding in a live environment.

I like the nudge idea.

[TrustyTony]

You would also need to decide what to do us mods giving 10 newbies per day our lmgtfy.com link RTFM answer: give double reward or none :)

Nice... How much swag do I need to get a mug and get it shipped to the UK.

[Dani]

To be determined.

[<M/>]

So... if points expire in a year, why is it that I have recieved 10 points in May of 2013 and not in any other month? I am kind of lost on how we recieve points and what 500 points equals to... I am trying to keep up with all the changes that are being made but unfortunately, i am not here often.

[Dani]

You receive points by replying to threads within our Q&A forums (i.e. not Business Exchange or Community Center) that are marked 'Sponsored' or 'OP Kudos' and having those responses upvoted by others. Lots of factors influence how much money is made on each post, anywhere from a single point up to over 500 points for a single post, depending upon the number of votes, who voted, who asked the question, whether the question was ultimately marked as solved, how many other people participated in the discussion, etc. etc etc.

Points expire after 12 months. It seems you earned 10 points in early May of last year, and those points have just expired because they just crossed the 365-day threshold.

You need to earn at least 500 points within an 11-month period to cash out (because points earned within the last month are just estimated and not considered earned yet to give moderators a chance to spot and delete posts that were made only to try to beat the system).

As of right now, 500 points can be cashed out to PayPal for $5, but in the near future, other swag and gifts will be available in exchange for rewards points.

[<M/>]

Oh i see, but how many points do you earn per upvote on a non bussiness exchange/community post? If i do recall, i do have a decent number of posts that I have answered that were not in the business exchange/community center. Also, I know for a fact that it wasn't too long ago. Also, i do like this new feature, its a good way to steal users from other big forums :D

[Dani]

You only earn rewards points for helping out with Q&A discussions that are marked 'Sponsored' or 'OP Kudos'.

There's not a specific amount that you earn per upvote. It's a complex algorithm and so many factors go into it. There's currently no cap on how much can be earned per post. The most I've seen so far has been a little over 500 points off of a single post.

[Dani]

I should add, though, that you are a high kudos member, and therefore any question that you have is an OP Kudos thread. Therefore, to thank you for being so active on DaniWeb and helping others, whenever you have a question yourself, other people will flock to answer it because they will earn rewards points for helping you.

[<M/>]

You only earn rewards points for helping out with Q&A discussions that are marked 'Sponsored' or 'OP Kudos'.

Oh i see, that is what i failed to notice! But why are we getting points off of those posts only? Getting points on non-sponsored or non-op kudo posts don't have no value? Oh well, i do see a lot of oppurtunity to answer a sponsored post and a op kudo post ;)

[Dani]

But why are we getting points off of those posts only? Getting points on non-sponsored or non-op kudo posts don't have no value?

You still earn kudos points for helping in any question in the form of reputation, post quality score, upvotes, etc.

However, rewards points can be cashed out for real money. As a result, it needs to make business sense ... We can afford to reward people who answer sponsored questions (i.e. when the question asker donates money to DaniWeb, we put that money into a pot, and it eventually gets handed out to people who ultimately provide the help to the people who donated.) It's done as an incentive to get people to donate to DaniWeb, because they get faster, better answers since people will flock to help them because they can earn money for doing so.

So, in other words, there's a big pot. People who donate contribute to the pot, and people who help the people who donate earn money from the pot.

The second half of it is I decided to pay out of my own pocket to people who help our members with a lot of kudos themselves. So, members like you who have earned a lot of reputation, endorsements, solved a lot of threads, etc., and are awesome contributing members ... whenever you have a question, I want to make sure that you get your answers solved good and fast, because even if you don't donate your money to DaniWeb, you certainly do donate your time. Therefore, I pay the people who help you out of my own pocket.

[Dani]

Getting points on non-sponsored or non-op kudo posts don't have no value?

When you help out everyone, you earn kudos in the form of rep, post quality score, upvotes, etc., and having a lot of kudos is what earns you the right to create OP Kudos threads, which is what gives you the opportunity to have the people who help you earn money. So that's how we reward our most helpful members :)

[<M/>]

Oh i get it now, thanks for clearing up the confusion that i had!

[Dani]

So I know how to phrase and explain it better myself, where was the confusion for you?

[<M/>]

The confusion for me was how to points are distributed and why they go to certain places.

[mike_2000_17]

when the question asker donates money to DaniWeb, we put that money into a pot, and it eventually gets handed out to people who ultimately provide the help

Wow, that sounds exactly like Socialism. Cool. Thanks Comrade Dani. ;)

It's a complex algorithm and so many factors go into it.

Yeah, I'm sure it is.... (rolleyes).. I'm sure you just made up a simple little equation that combines a few metrics together.

[Dani]

I'm sooooo not a socialist, though!

OK, so rewards points are calculated via a near-100 line function that includes an eighty-line SQL query that pulls data from a whole bunch of other places. Not that line numbers are any indication of the complexity of an algorithm, but, eh.

I think you hit a sensitive issue with Ms Marx-Horowitz :)

[Dani]

OK so I might as well ask, what do you guys think of how the system was conceived compared to the original ideas in this thread?

[mike_2000_17]

I think it's perfect. Pretty much. All it's missing is fitting in a hammer and sickle somewhere on the UI. ;)

Great. Not what I was expecting. Much better.

[Dani]

Oh, I forgot to mention!! Contributing editorial articles and code snippets also earns you money when people vote on them.

[Dani]

BTW I'll take all of your socialism comments to simply mean that I know how to do the running a community thing well :)

[<M/>]

Oh, I forgot to mention!! Contributing editorial articles and code snippets also earns you money when people vote on them.

Looks like i found something i should contribute to more often. I have a few snippets that i will post shortly. I just need to tweak the codes a bit so they are readable.

[pritaeas]

Just a quick question, which might be a bug. Just received an email that I gained 500+ points, but nothing is showing in my reward page (0 points in the green cashout label).

[Dani]

Points earned are not immediately available to prevent gaming the system. We give moderators sufficient time to handle trolls, spammers and people voting up their own posts from multiple accounts.