Pay-Per-Post being discontinued

[Blackshirt]

What is changing & why?

Effective immediately the Pay-Per-Post incentive will be discontinued. We knew it couldn’t last forever, and tried to offer it as long as possible, but the fact is that our bandwidth is going way up as a result of the huge spike in activity over the past several months, which of course has increased our bill.

 

With this being the case, it just doesn’t make sense to continue blindly paying money for every post made, when it would be easier to manage & more fair to offer the rewards through other means, i.e. Game prediction contests, Riddles, Fark-offs, Caption Contests etc. -- which the payouts will all increase for.

 

We also received an overwhelming amount of feedback from our members in every discussion we had about the PPP topic - stating over & over that it had nothing to do with the reason they visited the board, and the future of it would have no effect on their loyalty to the board.

 

So based on these reasons, we felt it was the best direction for the board -- to ensure we are able to keep the lights on, and prepare for the steady increase in activity that continues to rise, which is obviously a direct result of our excellent members – the main reason we have emerged as the fastest growing Husker message board over the past 2 years, and will continue to climb while continuing to offer premier content for a FREE price.

 

For those not familiar with the PPP offer, you can read more about it at the link below - but overall it will have no effect on your membership, which is remaining 100% FREE. http://www.huskerboard.com/forums/index.ph...?showtopic=1022

 

Other benefits of the change:

1) Allows a wider number of members to be rewarded for a variety of contributions, instead of just sheer post volume.

2) Does not encourage people to post “just to post”. We still don’t mind if members make inane comments or simply post a “yeah that” every now and then - but I think this will really increase the overall ratio of quality-posts to “filler”, higher than it’s ever been.

 

Why did you ever offer Pay-Per-Post in the first place?

Many said that we should have our heads checked for ever offering it in the first place – but the fact was that we wanted to give back to our members and encourage discussion - b/c as you know without discussion a message board is worthless and will never grow. And if that meant taking a hit financially to get the board off the ground, then so be it. But I think it’s safe to say that we now have a very active & regular member base, which continually amaze me with the overall knowledge & depth on a variety of subjects that you guys have – Husker & non-Husker alike.

 

I think it’s also safe to say that our PPP incentive was unprecedented in message board history, and no other board I know of has ever attempted an incentive like this to reward their members. Because of that we’ve received some nice praise from quite a few people who were impressed & appreciative of our generous yet brazen approach, which very well could’ve sunk the board before it even left the docks - but instead it's been the exact opposite result.

 

What will happen to my existing post-points?

We will still honor the points you have accumulated. I will make a list in the "Member Point Totals" thread with a count of all members current totals, and these can be added to your future “point winnings”. After the post-record is created, your member title will no longer reflect “hboard points” – you will need to refer to this thread for your current totals.

 

I’m sure you guys understand the reasoning behind this change, and know that many of you will actually prefer this change. But if anyone has any questions about this feel free to let me know.

 

Thanks again to all of our loyal members & guests.