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TechPoints: What's the Point?

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by tomsal

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Ok I know this is a unique discussion to have..but what's the point of TechPoints on this site?

Do they serve a purpose or just some valueless "deed scale".

And if they ARE good for anything, when is this going to happen, 5 years from now?!Finally, the system is easily subjected to lamers. I'm assuming the points are good for something, so when you help someone in Q&A and then they don't give you any points - that's lame. This happened to me twice now. I've answered the person's question and gave lots of detail, they write a comment that it solved their problem..but they close it out as rejected so they don't "pay" any points. How lame is that?

Sorry for venting, but it just is messed up how there is a system in place (supposedly) to reward those that help others and then you help someone and they don't "pay" you the points.

Anyway...my 2 cents on that...

122 replies

by syscokid

1. There used to be a whole page explaining about Techpoints, how you earn 'em, and stuff. It said "In the future you'll be able to trade 'em for cool merchandise from our partners. Because of tax implications it'll be limited to $600 per year."I emailed 'em once to ask when that was going to happen. They didn't have an answer but they sent me a t-shirt. BTW, that page is gone. Maybe the IRS scared 'em.

2. I think they have a major flaw in the design of Q&A. I've had many people say they meant to accept my answer, but messed up and ended up rejecting it instead. The really nice folks post another q just to give you the points. So it's got to be the design. I emailed 'em about that too but never got a response (other than the auto reply).

by klingon

in your account info - near the bottom of the page there's a link that says "Go to the TechPoints Program Guide". It details how the points are awarded and mentions redeeming them for merchandise.

by syscokid

It used to be right on the front page. I'd have never looked there. Thanks.

"Soon, you'll be able to spend your points at any of our participating merchants and travel providers."

Uh huh.

by e-fellow

Someone supposedly did a study on Techpoints and found that in order to compensate for lost work time for employees playing on this site they would have to give each member 1.8 trillion dollars. Can I get mine in a lump sum please?

by syscokid

I stumbled on this by accident while searching for "TechPoints" to see if I could find taht missing page. I rarely come to Discussions, because most of the stuff here seems to be things that more properly belong in Technical Q&A.

by syscokid

How come you don't get a notification when there's a new comment in a discussion you're following, I wonder?

by syscokid

Yes I noticed that later on. I subscribed to it. I have yet to receive any notifications, however. Nice feature!

by russell cohen

If you "subscribe" to the discussion, you do receive a notification of new comments. Or did I misunderstand your question?

by dragon katie

SUBSCRIBE TO THIS DISCUSSION
Click here to subscribe to this discussion, and we'll send you periodic e-mail updates about new postings. To view all the threads to which you've subscribed or to unsubscribe to any conversation, visit the My Discussions page.

by admin

If not, this will help. I've found the whole points thing pretty intriguing and done enough research to know it's open to abuse, as are the discussions.
Sometimes I think there are really only about 45 members here, rather than the 1730000 advertised.

by syscokid

I spend a lot of time in Q&A and don't see any abuse. What's the point if TechPoints have no point, other than to offer points for answers?

Though there were those instances last year where some people figured out how to offer millions of pointsfor questions.

By the way, has everybody noticed that since the upgrade last weekend, you're not accumulating your 50 points per day?

by admin

It seems you are well aware of this, but I've found it's actually the first 3 (generally) posters that sink or swim a new topic here rather than the validity of the topic itself. Some people have felt badly that their "good topic" didn't make it, but it really has little to do with their post. More a little luck in timing and a lot of luck in the "reply".

by syscokid

That brings me back to a previous question: Why don't people get email notifs for a thread they're involved in? That would keep a discussion going.

by csmith

I disagree,
"Hot button issues" wil generate disussion in IT as they will in any field, and each field has its different "Hot button issues".
Regards, Chris

by generalist

There was a discussion not long ago about the same topic. It covered a slightly different range of answers.

Personally I consider the points to be a kind of ego thing with little value. If TechRepublic actually had 'prizes' for points, it wouldbe nice.

Better yet, if some of the advertisers would pony up software/hardware goodies for 'purchase' using the points, it might be worth something.

Trading points for chances to win a prize might also work. Prize winners would drop to zero 'trading' points but be able to keep their 'earned points' for the little blue boxes that appear beside their names. Non-prize winners would keep all their points.

It is something to think about.

by lakhini

I agree with what you're saying. The current systemis fine for me, as I will use my points to try to get answers from the more knowledgeable members, but what do those members do? They rack up tons of points by helping us out, and really, get nothing in return but the little blue number next to their name. Hardly seems fair...

by syscokid

...as Roberto DeVincenzo once said after signing an incorrect scorecard at the Masters.

You have to "subscribe" to a discussion, just like a Tech Q&A. A notion that irks me. If I take the time to participate, naturally I want to be notified of updates. "Subscribe" should be the default. "Unsubscribe" should be an option after the fact.

But TechRepublic says subscribing by default is "spam".

This all off topic, of course.

by epepke

I think that awarding points for correct answers is one of the points for points.

If you believe that it is correct to offer points for answers but not award them, then I can see how you might not see any abuse. However, if you believe that it is correct to award points that you have promised, then there is plenty of abuse.

by syscokid

I previously said:

"2. I think they have a major flaw in the design of Q&A. I've had many people say they meant to accept my answer, but messed up and ended up rejecting it instead. The really nice folks post another q just to give you the points. So it's got to be the design. "

But no doubt there are fat losers who do reject perfectly good answers intentionally.

by lakhini

It's possible that although you've given them a lot of information, it may not be exactly what they're looking for so they reject it.

by epepke

Go try it some time. There are a lot of instances where exactly the correct answers are given and the person even says "thank you" but the answer is still rejected.

Other sites use a different system. There is a time span within which you can award points (actually money). You have to divide the awards up amongst the respondents.

by mckaytech

A couple of times I have attempted to award points and the system has thwarted me, but I'm also one of the people who will re-post for the points if I'm made aware there has been a problem. Unfortunately, in one recent case, I was unable to notify two people that I was re-posting because their alias' were dead-ends so only one of the three intended recipients was aware of the re-posting and picked up the points. The other two probably still believe I deliberately stiffed them so I consider that a problem because I try to live my life, on-line and off, with fairness and civility.

On the other hand, there are definitely people out there for a free ride. The check and balance is supposed to be the profile where it shows what percent of answers an individual has accepted or rejected - I suppose I might be disappointed less often if I checked the "points credit rating" before offering an answer but that is too time-consuming and can be easily circumvented by having several identitiesin the forum.

For the most part, the points are a measure of activity and, to some extent, of the perceived quality of my answers. So I do see some value there, even if I can't trade them for a Capt'n Crunch secret decoder whistle. But for me, the far greater value (and the real reason I participate heavily)is the feedback I receive by comments or e-mail about what was bad or good about my answer.

My irritation begins when every answer (not just mine) is simply rejected with no explanation - in that case, my investment of time in thinking through and preparing an answer hasn't paid off either in points or in knowledge.

paul

by wayne m.

As Drew Cary says every week, "The Points Don't Matter." If you simply ignore them, you will save yourself a lot of anguish.

If you know the answer to a question, give it and forget about it. I will occassionally check back and see if someoneelse has posted what I feel is a better answer, but I don't get too concerned about whether the poster uses my reply or not.

In many ways the points do more harm than good. Ignore them and you will be happier.

by syscokid

pmwright said: "But for me, the far greater value (and the real reason I participate heavily)is the feedback I receive by comments or e-mail about what was bad or good about my answer."

I think I get more satisfaction from someone who rejects my answer but leaves a comment like "Thanks , I tried that but it didn't work because..." than from someone who accepts an answer but leaves no comment.

by curlergirl

The points can be fun but don't seem to be much good for anything except giving them away to someone else if you need an answer. That's OK, I guess, and it gives you an idea of participation level of various people. I agree with you that the far greater value is in knowing whether your answer helped the person who asked the question. I'd much rather get a quick response indicating that my answer was either useful or not, than get some quantity of points.

Like you, I get really irritatedwhen someone rejects every answer, or accepts one answer but rejects others that are seemingly just as good - yes, especially when the rejectee is me. I want to know WHY?? Otherwise I don't learn anything either. And isn't learning the REAL purpose and the points just a sort of carrot for those of us who need something extra to bring us back to this web site day after day?

There is a lot of abuse of the points system that I've seen. It seems that some people are just abusive of others, just like some people create destructive hacks and viruses. My opinion - when someone is caught doing this, they should be banned from the site, or at least from the Q&A!!

by csmith

I agree.
People should not be allowed to dump all answers without an explanation or comment on the Status or Solution of the problem.

As another comment:
I have had people email me back that my answer was correct after all, and then ask me to trouble shoot a different problem on a private basis. (No cash, no points)
It takes all kinds.

Regards, Chris

by syscokid

That's why I dropped my complete email address from my alias! People still contact me thru the peer directory here, but the numbers have dropped off.

by tomsal

Well, judging that you have the most points in the community - I'd say your view of the point system is valuable.

I also dislike it when people reject an answer without any explaination. This is only all the more disturbing when the question itself gives VERY obsecure details. So essentially, and this happens often, the question contains very vague facts of the problem so as the guy/gal trying to offer a solution you do your best with what you got - then you get rejected with no explaination.

Its like ..um....ok...I was sincerely trying to you buddy, but you give me no information to go on. Even the best whiz kids and gurus in the world need a starting point of at least basic facts.

Finally, the thing that I laugh at is that for over the past year now they been saying that the points will have some "trade in value"...well WHEN?

If you don't want to give points thats fine with me. I'm just saying don't say you are doing something and then keeping saying "soon. soon. soon. soon. soon." ;)

Anyway, thanks for your feedback.

by mat_vishal

Well to me it seems that these Tech Points are good for nothing, and I don't expect any advantage from them.
It's only the content which is driving the users to this site..

by curacao_dejavu

Well, I started last week in the q/a. I quickly figured out that people even if you gave a proper solution they just leave the question open (there are open questions since ... with the proper answer.)
Also others start by offering lots of techpoints to attract your intention and when they get a solution they just close the topic.
The value for me right now is, by answering a techpoint you will have to do some research. If it is something that you have not experienced your knowledge will increase.
You are able to share your knowledge with someone and even if I don't earn the techpoints it will make me feel good in some way. Techpoints only reflect how I rate between my peers (if we don't cheat).

by freddy2k1

For crying out loud they've been keeping track of points for what - three years now? where's the beef? why does'nt someon from techrepublic post a reply about this?

by Member 20404847

People use Techpoints in our Technical Q&A as a way of assigning value to getting their questions answered. Also, some people like to prove their technical expertise by answering those questions, and amassing a ton of points.

What kinds of thingswould you like us to do with the points?

Bob Artner
VP Content Development
TechRepublic

by peyison

Bob,

First off, to quote ya'll at TR ? "Soon, you'll be able to spend your points at any of our participating merchants and travel providers." So, one thing that would be nice is to be able to spend points at your participating merchants and travel providers. At the very least, it would be nice to use them to get discounts on Tech Republic books. But actually, I think if the points were really worth something it would cause a lot more problems than there are now. When members breach the process by not awarding points to correct answers, it will be a bigger deal if the points actually have value.

While you're listening though, there are some other things the could be addressed:

* There needs to be a less confusing way to close a question and accept answers. It seems pretty easy, but there are a lot of people who still close and reject all answers by mistake.

* It would be nice if the person posting a question could reply to an answer to ask a follow-up question or get more information without having to reject the answer first. At the very least, it would be nice if when the asker posts a comment to the original question, anyone who has answered gets an email notice.

* It would be nice if you could post an answer without losing the white space (e.g. indents in code snippets), and without gaining white space in long pieces of text (e.g. URLs).

* It would be nice if questions with only one answer were auto-closed the same way that questions with multiple answers are.

* It would be nice if I could see a listing of all of the questions I've answered, or at least all of the open ones, instead of only 20.

* It would be nice to get the 50 points a day back ? or at least to have some notice of the fact that they are discontinued. In fact, any notice of anything going on with the site would be nice.

Thanks for listening. Great site. It's the only site I go to every day.

by yagar

Bob

First off I want to thank you for finally answering to this discussion. I followed another discussion, which I asked for TR to get involved and they never did. What it caused, with myself, as well as others, is a loss of faith that TR even cared.

The Q&A section of TR was the driving force for me my first couple of months. Of course what has happened to others happened to me.

1. I saw a very large tendency, not only with my posts, of people posting an answer to a question exactly the same as already posted, just worded different. (I am guilty of this but did e-mail the person I did it to and apologized for stepping on him).
2. I had a large number of questions closed that all answers were rejected.
3. I followed an earlier discussion and it went on for a great deal of time with no response from TR.

End result, very few answers posted to Q&A. I still answer to Q&A but very little.

What needs to be done.

1. There needs to be (as indicated on the Q&A FAQ page) something to do with the points.
2. A "cost" for asking a question needs be implemented, more than likely paid back to TR if all questions get rejected.
3. Set a number for open questions, that will prevent any further posting until questions are closed.
4. Set a number for persons closing questions and rejecting all answers that will remove them from being able to post to Q&A.
5. Either send a message to all TR members announcing the removal of the daily points or fix them so they work.

These suggestions are in addition to Peyison post, which contained some very good suggestions.

JP

by syscokid

Thanks for checking in, Bob. As far as points go, I don't really expect to get anything for them, though I did get a coffee mug once, and a T shirt. I think if they were actually worth something, there would be a lot of abuse in Technical Q&A. Maybe you could check out the system at Experts-Exchange.com, where you get a free T-shirt each time you reach a certain point level.

But I have to wonder why it still says "Soon, you'll be able to spend your points at any of our participating merchants and travel providers." If that's not the case, just remove it.

And I echo all of Peyison's suggestions about improving the site, ESPECIALLY
"* There needs to be a less confusing way to close a question and accept answers. It seems prettyeasy, but there are a lot of people who still close and reject all answers by mistake."

Thanks for listening.

by mr. rellik

I very rarely keep up with the Techpoints that I have accumulated. I can see where T-shirts, mugs, small nick-knacks could be nice to receive. I use this site for the content. The points seemed great for a while but I realized there wasn't reallyanything to use them for except the Q&A.

I feel like some people on this site treat Techpoints like money because they feel that they may be able to get something out of them in the future, like mentioned in the ?Techpoints Program Guide.? It seems that if they can keep their points AND get the answers that they need then they will. I look more at this site as a reference for a wide Varity of IT knowledge. When reading through the Q&A section if I know an answer or feel that I can be of help I will try to pass my knowledge on to others. I don?t worry about the points that I may get or not get depending on if someone accepted or rejected my answer. I still like the idea of receiving points for helping someone or being able to awardpoints for the help that I received but I feel that the knowledge is worth more than the points. I would like to be able to put my points towards books or other useful.

I hope that this discussion will help TechRepublic choose a better course of action for our points. There seems to be some disgruntled users on the site. I do try to refer friends and other members of the IT industry to this site. I usually refer them based on the content but the extra perks would help them to remain asmembers.

by tomsal

This is a joke right Mr. Artner?

"What kinds of things would you like us to do with the points?"

Now perhaps I'm jumping the gun because its been a few monhts before I read your page on the "TechPoints Guide", but unless that changed (ie. you pulling back on your former statement) , it was YOU (TechRepublic) who said the points would be good for merchandise.

It was YOU who implied they'd be worth something.

So now then, you are basically saying "they are just Ego points and we lied, they aren't worth anything of material value.".

;)

LOL...this is too funny.

by joshg

If you are able to redeem points for merchandise, why would you give yours away? I think you will have more of a problem with "Lamers" than you do now. TR needs to put some safegaurds in with regards to better distribution of points.

And another thing. I am guilty of this as are most of us, we don't close questions in a timely fashion. Some of this is due to the lack of a usable answer or lack of response. If your question falls of the first few pages you seldom get an answer. Then those of you who have answered don't get a reply right away. I have a 5505 pt question on the list right now that I have solved but none of the answers I have recieved fixed the problem, Though some were close. I am waiting to give the points to thebest answer.

by rcaine

The daily 50 points did stop Monday after the upgrade. I had done an Excel spreadsheet of my points just to update my Excel skills so it was easy to see it stopped. I reported it but only response is an auto reply email.

by ngunity

Stopping the points is going to make it tough on inexperienced IT people, or new members to rack up the points they might need to wave in front of potential answers.

I don't think it's a good idea.

On the topic of the discussion:

a) I wouldbe far more interested in pursuing points if they were redeemable for IT prizes. Satisfaction in dealing with some of the good members of the site is fine though.

b) It's a shame Techrepublic Admins don't get more involved in Discussions of theirsite.. They could have a monthly feedback discussion where members could make suggestions, ask questions, make requests for the sort of information we want....

BTW, regarding discussion subscription I think even when subscribed Techrepublic will only e-mail every other new comment, often when I check back to a subscribed 10 comments have snuck in while I only received 2 mails.....

by russ werner

What is the sense of complaining about the lane members refusing to honor their committed points, TECHREPUBLIC has agreed to award 50 points for logging in and they haven't honored their commitment either. Since Friday June 1, 2000 I have not received points for logging in. I have sent 2 e-mails to the TECHREPUBLIC and nothing has changed. For what ever good they are, I have lost 400 points?

by wayneinreno

I feel better now that I know it is not just me getting robbed of the points that "The Republic" does not pay. I log in every day, and I am lucky to get the log in incentive. So,I ask you too, What's the point? I mean is it that if you have 400 thousand you are some kind of Upper Class? At the rate I get points I guess I will be considered just another whinning unfortunate.............
Did you hear? he;'s got 5k? WHAT? YEA, It's 5k, and there is no cure yet. Poor dude, 5k, what a shame.

by admin

It's kinda funny really. People like Sysco have about 100,000 and get little 10k's next to their name too.
I also get a kick out of all the false modesty here. If those little blue boxes are really a disease, you'ld think more people would get rid of them. I'll believe the first person who heads over to Q&A and dumps all their (5000+) points on a really easy question like "what is PC an acronym for?". or "who is the current president of the United States" or "what is your name" <= my favorite.

It's just human nature. Watch the "Star Bellied Sneetches" by Dr. Suess again if you don't get it. We're all overt or covert slaves to the little blue squares we complain about, here and everywhere else :)

by csmith

Russ,
You really shouldn't be complaining about minor things like login points.
This site is NT based. It is a wonder that they manage to keep it functioning for the percentage of time that they do.
TR techs deserve an attaboy or other compliment.

I remain logged in. This prevents the 50 points per day, but it is more convenient.

Did you check this on your machine?

Regards, Chris

by loraine

What do you (plural) think TechPoints should be? I think the idea was to have them be exchangeable for something -- coupons, gift certifications, I don't know what -- but what do you guys think the function of the techpoints should be?

by csmith

Hi Loraine,
As you have noticed there is a pool of IT talent represented in the members.
This might be put to profitable use by Gartner (TR) using this talent for software and equipment beta testing.

This comment may rile some members, but remember they (Gartner) (TR) has to pay salaries, electricity, rent, etc. to keep this site up. Ad revenue is down right now.

Regards, Chris

by epepke

However, TechRepublic does sell books, and they seem fairly pricey. Gartner presumably charges for custom studies, etc. in much the same way non-computer think tanks do. I don't know if they get a cut on books that they refer people to. Also, TechProGuild is a subscription service that a lot of people pay for. It isn't as if ads were their only source of revenue.

by loraine

Gartner sold us to CNET. The deal is final July 1. And you're right about revenue being down...

by wayne m.

Let me propose the radical approach, why not just eliminate TechPoints?

Reviewing the post in this discussion, I see a lot of unnecssary anger based on the awarding or not awarding of TechPoints and no real positive reasons for having them. Let me also speculate on some advantages which might result from their elimination.

1) Technical Questions could be merely closed, without the original questioner havingt to choose to either accept or reject questions based on some unknown criteria. Let people submit their ideas without having to be rejected.

2) The underlying software between Technical Questions and Discussion could now be merged. There is no need to keep track of TechPoints or the accept or reject status. Discussions would also gain the ability to be closed after some set period of time.

TechPoints may have been a neat novelty when the site had a small number of users, but as the site approaches 2 million, the effort to support the TechPoints and the conflict theyseem to cause just does not seem worth it.

by yagar

Loraine

As I mentioned in an e-mail to you, I have some major concerns with the take-over of this site. I am one of the over-50 people (don't tell anyone :-}), and I have seen many good things go by the way-side because they are no longer "cost effective". Cost effective today does not mean it has to make a profit, it means it has to make a certain % of profit in order that it will still function. A businessman once told me that the business has to make more money than putting the money it takes to run it in a high interest account would make. Business no longer looks at the hardship of the employees that will loose their jobs should they fold up the company, it is only about money. It has been stated several times that ad money isdown, makes me wonder about the future of the site. Is it going to have to change to be "cost effective"?

I have heard a few folks suggest that they just do away with the point system altogether and handle it all in discussions. Take a look at the large % of discussions that have not been replied to, is that going to change, will the folks that respond to the Q&A start responding to the discussions?

All in all there are problems with the Q&A, but the problems are not really with Q&A, but with the small percent of dishonest people abusing it. (remember that old saying "one bad apple spoils the entire bag"). As with all the hackers out there and folks that think they need to write viruses, any "fixes" you come up with today someonewill find a way around them tomorrow.

Keep up the constructive discussions, they are healthy.

JP

by lakhini

You're right, since the upgrade i haven't received points for anyhting, logging in, "accessing member level...", emailing articles, etc. What an EXCELLENT system!

by e-fellow

They cause you to ask questions about them and waste your time.
They serve no other purpose than to give you a type of false hope toward benefits from using this site.
They are like arcade game points except you do not have to pump in quarters toget them, only your valuable time.
Hey did I mention that they were cool?

by e-fellow

Hey I just traded 2000 points for a small pony,,,,,
THANK YOU TECHREPUBLIC, I LOVE YOU

by e-fellow

A good friend of mine got caught stealing points and got like 800 years in jail. Hey all you point grabbers beware or the TechRepublic Police will put the SMACK DOWN on yo ass!!!!!!!!!!

by e-fellow

I was just barred from TECH REPUBLIC for gaining to many TECHPOINTS. They said I had to retire or put them into a 401K plan. Damn my luck.

by e-fellow

Recently my dog got worms or something and the vet. said "HE NEEDS TREATMENT" and I said "HOW MUCH FOR THIS TREATMENT" and the doc. said "288.67" and I said "I DO HAVE THAT KIND OF MONEY!!!" and he said "GOT TECH POINTS". Turns out that TECH POINTS saved my dog's life,,,, thanks again TECH REPUBLIC.

by e-fellow

While I cashing my TECHPOINTS to convert them to my 401k a crazy ass mob of TECHPOINT fans mobbed me, I had to sign 453 autographs and kiss three old woman and a small goat. My life is ruined and the goat's in therapy.
I hate you TECHREPUBLIC.

by e-fellow

My mother caught me touching my TECHPOINTS, she said to me "SON YOU FATHER NEVER TOUCHED HIS NOR HIS FATHER AND I WILL BE DAMNED IF YOU ARE GONNA TOUCH YOURS IN MY HOUSE"
Thanks TECHREPUBLIC, NOW IM HOMELESS, THANK GOD FOR WIRELESS.

by e-fellow

Someone supposedly did a study on Techpoints and found that in order to compensate for lost work time for employees playing on this site they would have to give each member 1.8 trillion dollars. Can I get mine in a lump sum please?

by keyboard cowboy

damn e-fellow, you have GOT to get a real job.....mebbe somewhere where you have to mebbe like, do real work and stuff.....

by admin

Pardon me. I was trying to wander into the "coffeehouse", but heck of a "Hot Topic" you got going here :)

by dbertsche

Hey E-fellow, did you hear a recent Doctor's study revealed that responding more than 3 times on tech points can make one 10 times more suspectible to serious diseases!

I think you made your point, now give it a rest!

by e-fellow

OH -------MY-------GOD you were right, I just got diagnosed with TPVD (TECHPOINT VENTING DISEASE.

THERE IS NO CURE. I have only 6 months to,,,, to,,,,,,, ah,,,,,, .

Ladies and gentlemen our first TECHPOINT casualty. May we have a moment of noise please.

Thank you
e-Fellows last words;

"I have seen all my TECHPOINT flash before me and then a white light" Is that,,,,,, yes,,,, I believe,,, it is,,, Elvis is accepting my quantity of TECHPOINTS as a type of payment for my sins. L.O..NG.......LI..VE......TECH...TECH POINTS..................." LAST BREATH

by tomsal

1.8 Trillion?
How the heck did he/she/they come up with that number?

And how can that possibly be equated to techpoints or time spent with even the most remote level of accuracy?

;)

by e-fellow

HAVE YOU CRAPPED YOUR PANTS?
IF YOU ARE JUST JOKING THEN YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR IS BELOW THAT OF HITLER'S.
IF YOU ARE SERIOUS YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO THE SONG "BISCUIT HEAD" BY THE SPIN DOCTORS, AND CONCENTRATE REAL HARD ON THE WORD'S.

WE ARE ALL ONE BIG IT FAMILY AND I HOPE THAT AS A FAMILY WE CAN RID THE WORLD OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE RATHER LARGE BUGS UP THEIR ASSES.

by dkpalmer

I've only posted one question - closed it but the system did not assign the points like I wanted it to so the person who replied didn't get them. I suspect this happens more often than we realize.

by kdrungilas

Good points (no pun intended) by all in this thread. I recieve a good deal of validation when I receive points for correctly answering another user's questions. Both from the points awarded and from solving a technical challenge.

Since all of us are different, we will always have some 'abuse' in giving points for answered questions. I've seen my answer rejected along with others, and have received private emails later thanking me for solving the problem....makes you wonder! I've also seenpeople go above and beyond in assisting me to solve a problem (thanks Peyison) to include sending me fixes and emailing code.

I use points to measure technical expertise of my peers and have also sent a potential boss to this site to check out my troubleshooting skills and my points. It gave him an opportunity to review the answers I had posted. And although all my responses did not solve all the issues, he was impressed with my thoughts and logical answers.

The benefits of a technical peer exchange like Techrepublic can be much more than points.

by dr. strange

This is interesting.... was this announced anywhere? I noticed that Gartner's reports started becoming more prevalent on CNET during this year....

So, will TR be disappearing and resources folded into their Help.Com? Or, Vice-versa, I wonder? That's what happened when they acquired ZDNet and shut down their Gaming Center in favor of their newly-acquired GameSpot.

by freddy2k1

so....you started this techpoints thing, now you don't know what to do with it??? see lorain lawsons' comments below. you mght want to delete this entire thread as it makes you guys look pretty stoopid...

by lizal

When I go to other newsgroups and do a keyword search for my problem, I get dozens and dozens of answers all of which are different solutions. There is no way to tell which ones work. Sometimes people just ramble on with suggestions even though they've never even seen the problem before.

I believe that the whole point of the points system here is for reference's sake. When I go to tech republic(or any other group), 95% of the time I will look for answers rather than post a question because I don't think I'm the first with any particular problem. I like seeing an answer that was accepted among half a dozen rejected answers because then I KNOW that it was tried and it worked. At least I HOPE that people try the answers before acceptingthem.

Also, the more points you offer, the better chance of lots of answers, so you have more control over your question.

In other words, I think we should all be doing this for the sake of information, not points. If you are doing it just for points, then go to a casino site.

As far as the lamers go, there will always be someone ruining a good situation, no matter what the situation is. That can't be helped.

by syscokid

You'll miss a lot of good answers if you look at questions where all the answers were rejected and just pass them by. Because of lame people who reject everything, and the apparent TechRepublic design flaw that makes people think they are acceptinganswers when they are really rejecting them, many perfectly good answers lie in rejected questions.

by admin

From a social standpoint, since the best answers usually do not survive in a democracy or dictatorship, which, depending on how you use it, the Q&A section is.

People are always asking questions (including myself) from within their own understanding. Answer it quite properly, yet outside my own ability to understand and I will reject it. Why? Because I am not capable of understanding the answer, at least not at that moment.

by marence

That's what the points are, just massaging my overinflated sense of know-it-all-ness....
I am a Tech Goddess!!!! Bow down to my 10K!!!!!

But seriously folks, do any of you remember the early Internet days of the 80's and early 90's (why, yes, you youngin, it really WAS only text back then)? The revelation of having a world-wide network where free dissemination of information not only existed, but was appreciated and encouraged, moved my career choice from rock-n-roll star to computer geek. (I still wanna be a rock star when I grow up, but until I do, I'll just keep playing with my computers.) When I came to TR the first few times, I was astounded at how many people were still willing to share information and knowledge.
But I'd reallylike a t-shirt...

by tomsal

Does it matter if its one of those Half T-Shirts ...oh yeah theres a picture of a beer can on front of it too... LOL..

by admin

Which family membership position are you most likely congruent with?

Just Curious :)

by e-fellow

Follow me my IT children and I will lead you into IT/Business alignment, into the bliss of lean effective processes, into a world of respect due to ontime/in-budget relevant projects and into a world called IT that seems to be the least respected ofall mankind,,,, but thanks to all of us and our zeal we shall change all of that.

Now grab your Palm, your Cell, your pager, your Nextel 2-way, your notebook, your cd's, your mp3 player, your Play Station, your tool kit, your digital camera, yourcam, your mouse, your collapsable keyboard, your wireless nic, your auto adapter, your extra batteries, your headphones, etc and throw them in the trash, grab a pen and some paper and write 10,000 times "I WILL NOT FORGET COMMON SENSE IN ANYTHING I DO" GOOD CHILDREN, NOW REST

by generalist

I think that e-fellow might be the crazy relative that nobody wants to acknowledge.

Hmmm, DOES the 'e' stand for eccentric in this case?

by sparky4

Some comments and suggestions regarding Tech points and about tech republic:

We need to get some points, even if it's only 5 or 10, for things like logging in or posting to a discussion. Otherwise, why surf in more then every couple of weeks.

We don't really need prizes for points, but logo ad promo merchandise wouldn't be all that bad, you know, a gallery of items like mugs, hats, shirts, pens, golf balls, and the occasional product provided by a vendor/advertiser.

How about a semi-valuable item (book, software, hard drive, etc.) that is awarded randomly to one person whose answer was accepted during the month?

There needs to be a threshold for certain things such as the number of outstanding open questions and how long they've been open. Also there needs to be a requirement to rate answers before continuing to use TR (for example, you log in to use TR for whatever reason, and you have to rate all answers to your quesiton that are more then 1 week old first).

At the time of ranking, there needs to be a requirement that an explanation why be listed.

regarding subscribing to discussions is concerned, I've noticed that after reading a lot of posts in a discussion, it starts saying that I am subscribed. But I don'treceive any notices about it, and it isn't listed as one that I am subscribed to when I look at my info page.

Probably beyond TR's control, but sometimes when I'm reading a message, Exploder will suddenly change to an error message saying it can't display the page thatit was already displaying??

I like Techpoints and answer the questions so that I can gain points and to find out if I'm right when I pffer a solution. I also often learn somehting by reading other' solutions. I like to buildup points for when I need an answer.

by e-fellow

Folks I ma sure that TR really appreciates these comments, they should all of your ideas is helping to build a better site. I think that as you rech certain levels, 500, 1000, 2000 and so on, that it would be cool to receive ad items like a coffee cup or mug or whatever.
I am not sure how this site is completely funded or if its owners have big profits in mind, but at any rate, this site is, I beleive, gaining the momentum to become a great site for us "THE IT PEOPLE"

And eventhough I jokearound a lot to ease my stressed mind, I am very appreciative to any and all assistance and I am very dedicated to results.

TECHREPULIC IS LISTENING TO YOU, IF NOT THEY ARE MISSING OUT.

by wordworker

I hate that TR has never figured out what to do with TechPoints ("what do *you* think they should be for?" is about the lamest post possible, LL!), but the system nevertheless has helped me out many times. Recently I posted a question worth 7,000 points, knowing it would garner attention, and it worked. A fellow TR member not only offered a suggestion, he and I "talked" via e-mail and he fixed a file for me! I couldn't get faster, better service anywhere else on the Web. Points for information works, in spite of the few players who abuse the system.