Dear friends,
As everyone know there is new hosting credit system has been introduced. May be some persons had liked it as me and there can be some who did not liked it. So tell your choice. It will be better if you write some lines about your view also in the post with voting in the poll.

READ THE DETAILS HERE : http://www.trap17.com/forums/trap17-file-no-6147.html

I think that it is a very good idea, it is a good way to keep track of active members and delete unused accounts, and reducing server load.

It will also encourage members to post more often and make fuller posts too,
The is a downside too, people will bable on to reach 300 characters.

Hi,

This poll will really help to know the views of the members regarding this new system. I dont really now how members will respond to it. But, I feel that this system will definately help to cut down on SPAM.
I feel proud about my forums and my admins, mods.. I go and check my competitors site which show large number of Signed up members 5000+ members, and thousands of posts. But i still pity them bout thier community and the amount of Spam they have. When I introduce people to my website, the first reaction I get is, you got one big bunch of quality members there. How did you manage to get them ?
Anyway, I would sincerely respect your views and opinions about this system.

Regards,
OpaQue

i think that it is a very good idea but just one question if you are away for some reason say a holiday will your credits still go down or will it be frozen till you come back and secong if it kept going down would you have to make a lot of posts before you go away to make up for the time. Also how can you find how many credits you have

Please read the following post which will give you more idea about the Hosting credit system.

http://www.trap17.com/forums/trap17-file-n...getnewpost.html

This page will try to explain why we did it. Some advantages and disadvantages.
http://www.trap17.com/forums/trap17-file-no-6186.html

-OpaQue

I think 300 characters are a bit too much :S. Maybe, you can try 150 - 200 characters. The system is kinda buggy I guess because I have already posted 5 posts by now.

xboxrulz

For me i think its not that good. I am the only one who said no. I've been a member of community for a couple of months i am not as active as i was in the begining when i started.
- I am already a member of 5 communities so i am kind of busy.
- I am not here for the post count or how big is my posts. The bigger the better?
- I am here to help people, some of my posts can be 2 lines or 5 lines. If my posts help some than i've achieve my goals.

It my be great system for most of the members but every single member have different problems.

the simple fact is that quantity does not equal quality. why even bother implementing a character count at all? you've got some mods calling posts spam simply because it is under "the limit". Why not just give spammers warnings and ban them when it gets out of hand? 3 strikes rule. Put it in as part of the profile, how many strikes you have... and maybe you can work off the strikes if there haven't been any complaints for a certain period of time.

I just think forced character/line minimums for posts will not stop spammers. They will just keep typing. Quality posters will always make good posts and spammers will always spam.

Also, I would like to know what this board considers spam. What if I say thanks to someone for helping me? That's basically 2 words (thank you). Is showing appreciation spam? Do I really have to make a BS post like:

thanks for helping me out cause I am a newb and can't really do anything right. you really helped me a lot and now i can get it done real fast. thanks again. you are really helpful.

^^ that doesn't really say anything... why is it not ok to post short posts? I simply don't get it.

I haven't even gotten into other posts that don't require 300 characters to be useful.

no9t9, Your above post reveals that fact that your active only for getting your post count up. This is wierd, why members want their post count to rise for a post like "Thank You".

By making a post like that, Are you CONTRIBUTING? The sole purpose of this forum is contribution. You Contribute, and you get hosting. So, now, suppose you make 15 posts, you go on posting Thank you for each one of it. And again expect that to give you hosting credits... this is wierd.

When you Post a message like, "Thanks", "ok", "yes", Our system DOES NOT count it. Because it is not a post or does not help our information base at all. Simple as that. So instead of BLAMING a member for Spamming, we simply DONT count that post and allow you to post it. We dont like deleting every other posts. Its a headache.

And just like you mentioned it out, Yes, next time you want to spam by saying "Thank You", you will have to write nice brief text and thank him. As mentioned, This Rule does make it difficult for Spammers who want to increase post count by saying "Thank You" :-D

Reputation points are there for these small reasons. Say thanks by giving reputation points. That is more valuable than just a small thank you post.

Now you might say that, SMALL POsts necessarily dont mean SPAM. I agree. But, it is a fact and also mentioned earlier that most of the small posts are spam. This is from our own personal experience.

There is yet another downside too. We Do not want to rate members by the number of posts. But we want to rate by the type of post they make. Suppose, you make a good post and did dedicate some extra time for it. Previously, it was considered just a normal post. But now, it is considered more valuable. You get more credits for it.

Revealing a small secret, Some members at trap have so much of hosting credits that they can now remain inactive even for more than a month. And another secret! That list includes You too. (no9t9). The same system which you are blaming has given you so many credits. The above post which you have made has been recognised as a good post by our system. Naturally you recieved points for it.

Believe me, This system is as lienent as it can be. It is very very generous when giving Hosting credits.

:: ONE COMMON MISUNDERSTAND :: A SINGLE HOSTING CREDIT DOES NOT MEAN, ONE EXTRA DAY OF HOSTING. HOSTING CREDITS ARE CONVERTED TO "DAYS". SO WRITING AN ARTICLE CAN GIVE YOU HOSTING CREDITS ENOUGH FOR ONE ENTIRE WEEK OR EVEN MORE THAN THAT.