by OldGuy » 27 Jul 2018, 16:00
I first joined ForumCoin because the name lead me to believe I could learn something about crypto Currency. I had heard of Bitcoin and others, but knew nothing about them. I learned a lot about it, but I also saw questions asking about reputation points. At the time, there was nothing about it in the FAQ pages. That got me curious to see what they mean to the members and the site.
I have extensively studied site statistics since then. It just so happens I enjoy studying stats, and often use website stats to develop my own versions of a video game for my own entertainment. The more complex they get, the higher the level.
Reputation Points continue to be a mystery to many members. I have been trying to share what I learned to help members see exactly what they mean to you, and to the site itself.
Reputation Points do not really reveal quality. As most know, if someone likes what you wrote, they can give you a positive reputation point. If they do not like your content, they can give you a negative reputation point. Most members do not give out negative reputation points, but it can happen.
Most negative reputation points come from administrators or moderators. If you really upset one of them, they can (and often do) give out 50 negative reputation points in a single hit and can ban you from the site. 12.6% of all registered members have been banned for site infractions over the life of this site. They are really nice guys, but they don't mess around if you post content that violates site rules.
Although your collection of reputation points does not currently affect your earnings, they do give you a good idea of how the rest of the ForumCoin community views your content. Generally speaking, if you post high quality content, you earn more positive reputation points. If you are not earning at least 1 reputation point for every ten posts, the community is telling you that you need to do better. A negative reputation point screams it.
This site was originally designed to discuss topics in the primary categories, including:
CGT - Computers, Gaming & Technology, which includes the subcategories about hardware, software, computer gaming, mobile devices, the Internet and other technology.
Webmaster Questions, Discussion & News, which includes the Webmaster forum and discussions about Website development, design & management. Graphic design. Blog / Forum Set-up, Management, Admin & News.
and Business, Money & Wealth - BMW Forum, with Questions and discussions related to business, making money online, cryptocurrencies, etc., and the Subforum: Revenue Targets & Payment Proofs
It is the content in these categories that attracts visitors who come to learn about these topics. If the content is low quality, it is a disservice to the site, to the visitors and to Fergal himself, since he has been funding most of the costs of this site out of his own pocket.
Search engines seek quality content to sort the order of results. Higher quality content brings the site to the top of the list while junk content pushes the site to the end of the list. Sites that rise to the top of search results get a lot of visitors and qualify for higher paying advertising. It is those non member visitors that are needed to click on ads during their visits that help pay for site expenses. High quality content is needed to attract and to retain them. If the site is loaded with junk, they leave before they bother to look for the few gems in the mix.
Quality content seems to elude most contributing members. A quality post actually contributes valued content that adds value to the thread. Although length is not really a measure of quality, your posts need to be long enough to actually write something that adds a valuable statement to the topic. Further, a quality post needs to be on topic, not ramble into unrelated comments, and be written with proper spelling, punctuation, spacing, Capitalization, with correct English Grammar all in complete sentences with the correct sentence and paragraph format. Anything less is junk content that is keeping this site from rising to the top of search results.
Quantity is not the same as quality. The site recommends 10 or fewer posts per day. Although exceeding that limit is not a violation, a review of the content of those who consistently exceed that limit reveals that most members with more than 10 posts per day are contributing very low quality content. Slow down and take time to post higher quality content.
Fergal and the gang have generously added in categories to entertain the members while they come to contribute valued content, and the ad section allows members to display their own enterprises, even including exchanging ForumCoin in payment for services.
This site currently has a huge problem. Just the Games category topics have nearly 10 times the activity of the rest of the site. Many members are playing games, but not bothering to contribute much if any valuable content to the main categories.
Based on a recent review, I discovered the following:
In the BMW Forum, there were 5710 topics when I did this review. There were 213540 posts, which means there were an average of 37 posts per topic.
In the WebMaster Forum, there were 1567 topics and 32826 posts, which means there were an average of 21 posts per topic.
In the Computers Forum, there were 1405 topics and 22799 posts, averaging out to 16 posts per topic.
The content is getting old. There is not much new for members to comment on and not much new to attract visitors. Content needs to be high quality so the search engines will move this site to the top of search results. Everyone should try to post at least one new topic in one of these ForumCoin categories for every ten answers you contribute in an effort to show your support of this site.
The Gen Topics section is primarily an entertainment section for the members. There is not much here to promote the site in the search engines. As of that review, there were 6161 topics with 147420 posts, or an overall average of 24 posts per topic. That count is misleading.
Just the Games subcategory by itself had a measly 247 topics, but there were 63427 posts, which averages out to a whopping 257 posts per topic on average. Is this site supposed to be a games site?
That means everything else in the General Topics category has 5914 topics with 83993 posts, or an average of 14 posts per topic.
Too many members are playing games and not contributing value to the main topics. How is Fergal supposed to continue funding that activity? This site needs to become profitable to be able to continue beyond Fergal's deep pockets.
Well, I have gone on longer than planned. The point of my offer of FC donations to improve the quality of your content was to encourage members that are stumbling along with lower than average quality. I have no interest in cashing in my collection of FCs and thought this might be the best way to use them. Work on improving your quality and the rewards will come to you.
233 reputation ÷ 1921 posts = 12.12909942 scores above the average. It means you're doing great here. 
Congrats! 
