Rewards

[Scott]

A lot of the posts so far in her have been about dealing with problematic users, but how do you reward those members which have made a commitment? IMO, this is can be harder than dealing with troublesome members, but I'd be interested to hear what techniques you use. :)

[B33R]

I don't see a point in rewarding members. I've been a productive member on plenty of forums, I've never gotten "rewards" from any of them. There's always a promotion to moderator but that's a responsibility that some people don't want or just aren't cut out for.

As long as you keep the forum running, spam free, clean and on-topic, that's all I expect. Good topics and friendly conversations will keep most members happy.

[Tyler]

Just try and interact with them on a personal level as much as possible. An occasional PM asking how their day was, what was happening in their life etc. :)

[Banana]

Ya, being a forum admin can set you as a scary person in people's minds sometimes :)

[Aussie Bob]

I don't see a point in rewarding members.
Being rewarded is a yearning for all humans, deep down. I see a HUGE point in rewarding active participants in a forum. It's essential that they're treated well and rewarded for their contribution, as they're the oxygen of the forum and keep things humming along.

How you go about that is another matter. :)

:soapbox:

[B33R]

I think the reward for most people is being able to chat, make friends, help others or learn from forums.

Most people won't expect or want any more. What do you have in mind anyway? What kind of rewards?

I think so long as the forum is healthy and contains enough to keep people happy/entertained/educated/whatever they'll stay interested and will keep coming back.
Keep your members part of the forum too - give them some input about its future and make them feel that they're a part of it.

I don't think anyone I know will want "rewards". Most people just want to have fun and make friends.

[Scott]

Most people won't expect or want any more. What do you have in mind anyway? What kind of rewards?


I was thinking something a long the lines of more PM space, choice of skins, etc. I was wondering whether anyone did something like this for active members.

[Lurker]

One forum I am on has slightly different permissions for member groups. After x amount of posts, they can use an avatar, after xx amount of posts their PM box size increases, after xxx amount of posts and longevity, a larger avatar and a larger PM box again.