Newcomer of the Month and New Member rewards flaw

[Richie]

brb creating a new account so i can win vip for my new colourful name.


I understand why it's there but I'm against singling off a group of people because of their rep, registration date or current post count.

[Catzsy]

I've just taken a look at the thread detailing these (Just curious) and I've noticed a fatal flaw.

NCotM: ill win 1 month Forum VIP and a "Newcomer of the Month" forum award."
100 Post Reward: rewarded with 2 weeks Forum VIP!

The problem that I see with this is that these are both forum related prizes, however, a new member has VERY limited presence on the forums and therefore incentives for something they do not often use is not really much of an incentive at all. However, what we do know about the typical habboxforum newbie is that they play on habbo, and therefore a prize on habbo (Such as credits or furni) would be far better received and a far better incentive to start posting since it's for something they already enjoy, retaining VIP is a good idea though as it is a good incentive to keep posting once they've started or at the very least keep visiting.

Another thread where you really don't know the facts and are just making assumptions. I monitor the new members on the forum, quite closely, and have done since the start of the promotion. In fact the idea for this was put forward by myself (VIP) and MissAlice (Newcomer of the Month) . The posting and retention of new members has gone on tremendously since this started and many new members have actually achieved the VIP and stayed on the forum. There are competitons already for them to win furni and credits etc. The aim was for them to stay long enough to browse the forum fully and appreciate it and I feel that it has been quite a success in doing this. If it hadn't worked I would have been the first to call for it to be re-evaluated as I did with the 'New Members' forum which is an idea I had which didn't work. You need to have a knowledge of the the posting on the whole forum, regularly, to see this though and not just 'think' it is the position and say something has a 'fatal flaw' with little foundation to support the argument.

[lTraditional]

brb creating a new account so i can win vip for my new colourful name.


I understand why it's there but I'm against singling off a group of people because of their rep, registration date or current post count.

I agree with that tbh. Them: "I get free vip because I made 100 posts". Me: "Well what do I get for 1000 posts which is 10x100, apart from a badge?"

It just doesn't seem fair tbh. Yes, it may motivate them a little more but is it worth it considering other people without this implemented have been loyal to Habbox Forum without the free VIP. Newbies may think "FREEBIES LETS JOIN" and then after they get the free VIP, they might leave because it isn't interesting to them.

[Chippiewill]

Another thread where you really don't know the facts and are just making assumptions.

I suppose you possess a magical method for me to attain such facts and not lead on to assumptions based on logic?

There are competitons already for them to win furni and credits etc. The aim was for them to stay long enough to browse the forum fully and appreciate it and I feel that it has been quite a success in doing this. If it hadn't worked I would have been the first to call for it to be re-evaluated as I did with the 'New Members' forum which is an idea I had which didn't work.

It's quite clear that VIP and a badge is an incentive to keep posting, and I can see that works very well.

You need to have a knowledge of the the posting on the whole forum, regularly, to see this though and not just 'think' it is the position and say something has a 'fatal flaw' with little foundation to support the argument.

I suppose then that you take into account those members who just make an account and perhaps just make one post but don't invest time into it? VIP, to them, means nothing, and why should it? Of course the members who post go to that target, those are the members that always would have made 30 posts and then either stayed or left (Mostly left) and it is now getting to them to 100 posts (And more) with far higher odds of them staying at Habbox in the long term. This IS an accomplishment, however, what I am pointing out, through reason is that if those members who make just their welcome thread have at the top of their screen in big capital letters "MAKE 100 POSTS and WIN 5 CREDITs" (Slightly more delicately put) they will actually take the plunge and try posting around on the forums for a bit and if they enjoy they will stay, if they do not then they are unlikely to even make it to the 100 post target in the first place. Also as a slight point you could start the month to make the 100 posts at the point of their second post as many might have an old account they used once (You might already do this?), as I have just seen that Showder made one post on their account in June and the rest of them in the last week or so.

The problem which is worrying however is that there are three new(er) members in this thread who do not even know what VIP is, so you can hardly put their retention down to the two weeks VIP incentive for posting and so the welcome PM does need reworking and there does need need to be an effective way to get information across to them without them feeling bombarded with information.

Also you have about three stickied threads in the welcome forum which could probably be merged into one.

Them: "I get free vip because I made 100 posts". Me: "Well what do I get for 1000 posts which is 10x100, apart from a badge?"

Posting rewards have never scaled in a linear fashion, you don't get an award for every thousand posts, I have to wait until 10,000 for another award. I don't feel hard done by because I already had the thousand post one. Unfortunately the "New Member" rewards are a recent addition, otherwise you might have gotten those also.

I understand why it's there but I'm against singling off a group of people because of their rep, registration date or current post count.

I'd say it's more a counteraction of the fact that older members tend to single them off negatively anyway.

Besides, there's anniversary VIP, based off reg date. Very high rep power for those with large amount of rep. It's all give and take.

Edit: Just curious, do new members get force read for forum specific rules because I've seen a lot of new members recently who don't get the point of a spam forum.

[scott]

Maybe it would be better if we gave out a Habbo furni prize as well/instead of VIP but I personally don't have enough stuff to use and I doubt that Habbox would want to use it on this either. For making 100 posts on the forum they get rewarded with something on the forum which I think is fine as it's also an incentive for them to continue to post on the forum. The competitions department run competitions on the forum for members to win habbo furniture and also sometimes there's forum specific competitions where the prize is Habbo furni. Personally I think most of the people who get contacted about it much rather the VIP than they would get furni. Many times people have contacted me telling me that they are just coming up to 100 posts just to let me know for their VIP

It is mentioned in the welcome PM that they can win VIP from making 100 posts, but when I contact them after they have made their 100 posts I do include a link to explain what VIP is incase they didn't know but most if not all the people I have contacted know what it is.

[Catzsy]

I suppose you possess a magical method for me to attain such facts and not lead on to assumptions based on logic?

Why make a thread when you really don't know what the position is? How are your assumptions based on logic?

It's quite clear that VIP and a badge is an incentive to keep posting, and I can see that works very well.
I suppose then that you take into account those members who just make an account and perhaps just make one post but don't invest time into it? VIP, to them, means nothing, and why should it? Of course the members who post go to that target, those are the members that always would have made 30 posts and then either stayed or left (Mostly left) and it is now getting to them to 100 posts (And more) with far higher odds of them staying at Habbox in the long term. This IS an accomplishment, however, what I am pointing out, through reason is that if those members who make just their welcome thread have at the top of their screen in big capital letters "MAKE 100 POSTS and WIN 5 CREDITs" (Slightly more delicately put) they will actually take the plunge and try posting around on the forums for a bit and if they enjoy they will stay, if they do not then they are unlikely to even make it to the 100 post target in the first place. Also as a slight point you could start the month to make the 100 posts at the point of their second post as many might have an old account they used once (You might already do this?), as I have just seen that Showder made one post on their account in June and the rest of them in the last week or so.

You seem to have contradicted yourself here in the first part that I have put in bold.I am sure Scott can tell you that many members have received this reward and how do you actually know that the 2nd part in bold is true? You just dismiss what I tell you when I have taken a great interest in closely monitoring the new member retention for many months and I can categorically tell you that this system works and there are many more new members staying on the forum than there used to be. Are you going to just dismiss this again? You also seem to contradict yourself here:

Edit: Just curious, do new members get force read for forum specific rules because I've seen a lot of new members recently who don't get the point of a spam forum.

All new members need to get a grip with the rules - it is a learning process that doesn't happen overnight.

[MissAlice]

I am glad the incentive for ‘Newcomers’ is working, it’s encouraging to see that new members are sticking around, getting involved with the community, as I think it can be quite daunting as a newbie around here. Posting for the first time on the forum can be for some an anxious time. It’s not easy for everyone to just slot in. Many will lack confidence.

I've not posted to comment on the value of the reward, as I had no part in that, but what would be interesting to know, is what newcomers think of their reward? Perhaps Habbox should be asking them! Is it of value to them? Would they have preferred furni?

When I suggested a ‘Newcomer’ reward I also suggested a badge type reward (personally I don't care for them) for donators, donations on and off the forum. Did this happen?

[Chippiewill]

You seem to have contradicted yourself here in the first part that I have put in bold.I am sure Scott can tell you that many members have received this reward and how do you actually know that the 2nd part in bold is true?

You seem to absolutely refuse to read my post properly or just not understand the fundamental difference between STARTing posting and KEEPing posting, and how do you suppose it's not true.

You just dismiss what I tell you when I have taken a great interest in closely monitoring the new member retention for many months and I can categorically tell you that this system works and there are many more new members staying on the forum than there used to be. Are you going to just dismiss this again? You also seem to contradict yourself here:

I never said it wasn't working, I said it could work better. I went into great detail about those members who used to make just THIRTY posts and quit who are now staying on after they enjoyed upto those 100 posts which is great, but less likely those members who only ever made ONE post do not go for those hundred posts for an accessory for something they might not even enjoy (VIP (Accessory) for use on the forum (Activity)) whereas credits (or even just plain old furni) rewards is something which they will almost ALWAYS want. Please read my posts properly in future, I don't like explaining myself twice.

All new members need to get a grip with the rules - it is a learning process that doesn't happen overnight.

Thank-you for answering my actual question to it's fullest extent rather than going off topic and telling me something I didn't ask for.

[AgnesIO]

Why make a thread when you really don't know what the position is? How are your assumptions based on logic?

To be fair, I think you just hold a grudge against Chippiewill. OF COURSE HIS THREAD HAS TO BE BASED ON LOGIC. Almost every single idea posted by a member has to hold some assumptions, since you are right. We don't know absolutely every fact about how things are run.

However, I do sort of see what Chippiewill means. As to be fair, a habbo user who joins this forum is generally fairly new (to have only just joined) - so would often want furniture.

Perhaps, instead of doing it for every user who reaches 100 posts, why not just do it for the NOTM? That way you will not be given loads away each month, and they deserve a special prize anyway..

[Catzsy]

You seem to absolutely refuse to read my post properly or just not understand the fundamental difference between STARTing posting and KEEPing posting, and how do you suppose it's not true.

I never said it wasn't working, I said it could work better. I went into great detail about those members who used to make just THIRTY posts and quit who are now staying on after they enjoyed upto those 100 posts which is great, but less likely those members who only ever made ONE post do not go for those hundred posts for an accessory for something they might not even enjoy (VIP (Accessory) for use on the forum (Activity)) whereas credits (or even just plain old furni) rewards is something which they will almost ALWAYS want. Please read my posts properly in future, I don't like explaining myself twice.


Thank-you for answering my actual question to it's fullest extent rather than going off topic and telling me something I didn't ask for.

Well all I can say is that what you perceive to be a problem isn't one. My opinion which is backed by hardwork and a very proactive stance taken by Habbox Smods, mods and staff in general is that the incentive works and it costs nothing to Habbox whereas it does not have a neverending supply of credits & furni. There are many new members who become active sooner and stay so we retaining a lot more than before this was introduced. You can see that by the amount of threads we now get in the 'Welcome Forum'. Also once on the forum there are many competitions where members can win credits and furni although in my experience the ones that offer VIP or Donator are very popular. I do not think there is another forum who pays so much attention to new members to make sure they are well looked after. Also I was on-topic in that I was explaining that new members need time to get a grip on the rules whether it is spam or not.