MGoPoints - Benefits and Problems?
Hello All MGoFanatics,
When I am not obsessing over Michigan football, I do research on online communities for a living. I have been talking to Brian about studying the MGoPoints system we have here - and I need your help.
I am specifically looking for your perception of how MGoPoints system has changed the behavior of people who visit this blog. What are the positives (less spam?) and what are the negatives (trying to inflate MGoPoints?). What improvements would you like to see in the MGoPoints system? Do you think overall it is worth having a reputation system of this kind.
All comments are welcome. If you wish to send your comments to me privately - please send me an email at [email protected]
Looking forward to your thoughts.
PS> Is this OT?
February 26th, 2010 at 6:34 AM ^
It's not "OT," it's "Meta." Get your labels correct!
February 26th, 2010 at 7:27 AM ^
+1
Yes. Yes I did just do that.
February 26th, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
i have - 18 points; I can't start a new topic. From the Sporting News college Football. "He made some decisions, and everybody makes mistakes," former Michigan receiver Toney Clemons said. "Now, this is year No. 3, and he's got another great class coming in. It's his show, and he's got to win games."Clemons, who transferred to Colorado before speaking out against the workload Michigan football placed on its players. "They're not going to change too much," Clemons said. "Any Rich Rodriguez-Mike Barwis (director of strength and conditioning) team will work to the limit. It's all about fast and physical."
February 26th, 2010 at 9:49 PM ^
Any Rich Rodriguez-Mike Barwis (director of strength and conditioning) team will work to the limit.
Any team or organization that wants to be successful will do the same. Nothing new about RR and Co in that dept.
Also had to neg you for putting in something that OT in this thread since my reply will + you.
February 26th, 2010 at 7:28 AM ^
You've been a member since Feb. 2009. How often do you come here? There are regular conversations on this topic. Especially off season, after signing day, when people are bored.
I'd suspect if you search "mgopoints" you'll find the threads on this topic. The other kind of thread to read, if that's your kind of thing, is on "banhammers."
People get irritable with those who post all the time, and comment all the time, especially with nothing to say, other than stupid speculation. But you know, if that's what their life consists of, (amassing mgopoints,) what can you say? Shrug your shoulders and pity them? I don't know. People get irritable with new posts that rehash a topic that was posted on very recently. People get irritable with over the top rudeness, or the proverbial "meltdown." People get irritable with ridiculously bad grammar.
All this "irritation" lead to negbanging. Occasionally, someone will break some news that people want to hear, leading to posbanging. (cf Demar Dorsey and inside info posted by Raback Obama.) People will also posbang intelligent analysis on football (from one of the coaches) and posbang new recruiting info (see Tom VH.)
My only irritation is when people negbang someone bringing bad news, or negbang those having a legitimate different opinion. I suppose "legitimate" is in the eyes of the reader.
I am slightly irritated because it appears that even though you've been here more than a year, you haven't figured this out yet. I'm not going to neg you, but want to encourage you to spend more time reading old threads and then ask more intelligent mgopoint questions.
February 26th, 2010 at 7:36 AM ^
I was under the impression he wants to draw attention to a poll he's conducting and implied he had Brian's approval. But your reaction works too, I guess.
February 26th, 2010 at 7:42 AM ^
This was my interpretation as well.
February 26th, 2010 at 7:47 AM ^
And just talking to here yourself talk and not adding anything to the intelligent conversation.
I'm with the guys above dude has BRIAN (AKA GOD ON THIS BLOG) approval and was pointing toward a poll that he's doing because he does this shit for a living. This is hardly a re-hashing.
Frankly you were just a dick.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:50 AM ^
doesn't mean you need to be one.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:35 AM ^
this negbang?
February 26th, 2010 at 1:33 PM ^
It's a good thing he doesn't care...
February 26th, 2010 at 6:03 PM ^
1) And take my negbang like a man.
2) Don't ever write something when you're:
Tired
Crabby
3) Think twice before you save.
4) At least it isn't as bad as watching investments tank.
5) How long will it take this thread to fade into oblivion where my idiotic response will not be as visible for ridicule and continued negbanging?
6) Its pointless to defend yourself . . . once the negbang train has worked up to speed, you're sunk.
7) Be very, very, careful about doing anything that could be perceived as critical of Brian.
8) I wonder who has racked up the highest negbang on a single response? (Emo?)
9) Signing off and avoiding posts is a good thing right now, and thus
10) I tempt fate (and further negbangs) by responding, however
11) Upon re-reading, I deserved the negbang, so just take the point hit, and be thankful for no banhammer.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:50 PM ^
It will be soon forgotten, it wasn't THAT bad. It would probably help to make nice with the op.
February 26th, 2010 at 7:57 AM ^
Do we get bonus mgopoints if we do the survey? It's all about the points right?
February 26th, 2010 at 8:33 AM ^
i hear that he who dies with he most points wins.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:01 AM ^
but Magnus is fucked... To the strip clubs in the D!!!! Wait.... you mean I can't touch the girls anymore?!?!?!!! Just kill me now
February 26th, 2010 at 8:35 PM ^
Thanks for the heads up about the rule changes at Detroit strip clubs. Looks like it'll be more trips out to Vegas for you.
February 27th, 2010 at 11:23 PM ^
i earned a free cremation package at 7000
February 26th, 2010 at 7:58 AM ^
as how it has changed behavior for me specifically, it makes me hesitant to post very much. For example, the roomate of our Olympic ice skaters posted a great thread on their win. I simply asked the OP he was expecting to be in the next Olympics and I got neg-banged for it.
I don't complain, it's the nature of the beast, but it's that kind of bullshit that makes me, again, personally hesitant to post very much.
So, on one hand, I care about the points. I think in a way they 'validate' a poster. But on the other hand, points themselves can be misleading. If I post 10,000 times, I'm going to have 10,000 points if my post have some substance to them.
Maybe a better system would be to not get points just because you posted, but rather get points based on getting pos-banged because of the quality of your post.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:11 AM ^
I'm just thinking out loud here, but if people are encouraged to post because they'll get 1 point per post, then perhaps that increases Brian's site traffic. This would in turn help him create ad revenue.
I don't know if that's accurate or not, but it might be some food for thought.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:48 AM ^
I'm not the one who neg-banged you for your post, but I don't think that's accurate. I think the way Brian explained it before, he gets credit just by us visiting or viewing the site, has nothing to do with whether or not we actually post or not. I know tons of people who read this place daily but have never posted or even registered. I'm sure Brian still gets credit for those views.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:53 AM ^
I know those visits count. What I'm saying is the page that I'm viewing right now counts as 1 hit, right?
When I hit the save button below to post this message (and earn me 1 point), the page refreshes. That's 1 more hit, right?
So rather than closing the browser or going to cnn.com or something because I'm not going to comment, the fact that a person wants to post because he'll get 1 more point adds 1 page hit, which would potentially increase Brian's revenue.
I'm not saying this is wrong or that Brian is evil or anything. And maybe my understanding of ad revenue is incorrect. Like I said, I'm just thinking aloud.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:26 AM ^
You are correct.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:08 AM ^
If people are posting more frequently, they are probably visiting the site more frequently, as well. I would expect a strong correlation over the long term .... unfortunately, though, I'm lacking the means to test this hypothesis
February 26th, 2010 at 9:18 AM ^
However, Brian does receive a benefit when quality content is created. Each forum topic and each Diary creates a page on the site. If the information refers to a topic that may be searched on a search engine then MGoBlog will receive increased traffic for content that Brian doesn't have to create himself.
If the MGoPoints system encourages posters to create quality content then that improves the overall site and increases visitors. I'm very confident that the majority of visitors to this site never register, but their traffic pays.
I've read several articles about an internet multimillionaire named Markus Frind. He started a dating website called "Plenty of Fish." He makes $10 million per year and creates no content of his own. His visitors post their information and every page created gets ads placed on it. MGoBlog gets the same benefit from us on a much smaller scale. While Brian does create a great deal of content, the appeal of this site is that there's so much quality content added at every hour of the day by members. I really respect what Brian has done and I hope he is being rewarded enough that this site never ends.
BTW if you want to learn more about Markus Frind you can google his name for an abundance of articles, but this one gets into how his business works: http://www.doshdosh.com/learn-from-adsense-millionaire-markus-frind/
February 26th, 2010 at 8:10 AM ^
MGoPoints cause me to pause and think before I hit the save button. Probably not a bad thing.
February 26th, 2010 at 6:05 PM ^
Definitely not a bad thing. Think before you post.
February 27th, 2010 at 2:33 PM ^
Welcome back, Stephen! America loves a comeback story. A posbang for your 11 item mea culpa list above.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:22 AM ^
as you would expect in any populist system: Regression to the mean
February 26th, 2010 at 8:30 AM ^
The system was well intentioned, but it doesn't make the forum better. The mogpoints system encourages groupthink and that's not what you want in a forum like this. People don't get mgopoints based upon how thoughtful or insightful their posts are. People get positives if their posts agree with the hivemind and people get negbanged when they post an unpopular opinion.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:19 AM ^
I would have to say that neg bangs mostly occur because of one stupid or ignorant post that someone does and then the neg banging/meltdown ultimately ensues because then that person is "black balled" and no matter what they post no matter how insightful is going to get neg banged to hell because of that comment.
It's like any other system that are used by humans. Human emotions play a part in it and humans generally have a short attention span and once a few days passes they'll forget about the mishap.
There is nothing wrong with differing viewpoints and while I agree that the forum has IMO encouraged more of the group think mentality if there were no points and no way to "get someone" for posting something stupid this place would turn into every other forum (or god forbid) YouTube comments or MLive. The problem comes in because most people who offer a differing viewpoint do it in a snarky, asshole manner. So it's not their idea that gets neg-banged it's how they present it.
What I have also noticed recently (and this is with the influx of new people who can now up-vote/down-vote is that really stupid posts sometime get up-voted. (I'm particularly talking about the posts blasting Morgan Trent that were stupid, ignorant and childish. Those were up-voted and Magnus' were down-voted. The reason because Magnus' presentation was more ass-holey but his ideas were logical. That to me is the problem is that the board has kind of degenerated with it's comments and more bs comments are getting up-voted (just look at my point total).
February 26th, 2010 at 9:44 AM ^
I don't think blasting MT was "stupid," nor do I think it was "childish." I don't think anyone on either side of that debate was "wrong;" it was just an exchange of opinions. Some people were pissed at MT for undermining RR and some weren't. C'est la vie.
One of the main problems in any forum or group of people is that there is always someone who thinks that anyone who disagrees with them is "wrong," "stupid," or any of many deragtory adjectives. This often shows up in mgopoints, but more often shows up in the comment fields.
In a group with probably one of the top ten collective intellects of any football forum, there are going to be plenty of people with very strong and firm opinoins, and that is great. But those opinions will often differ, and it doesn't give carte blanche to anyone to believe that their opinion is the only one that matters.
I prefer to learn from differing opinions or at the very least respect them. My opinion has been changed quite a few times by well-reasoned arguments on this board. It makes it a lot more fun.
As for the points system, there are occasional abuses, but it pretty much works. I agree that there is a groupthink involved, but that could be merely a matter of semantics; one person's "groupthink" is another person's "standards."
Most of all, though, I can't really think of a way to tweak it to make it any better.
February 26th, 2010 at 1:38 PM ^
How he was blasted was. You can say "he shouldn't have said that...here's why...I don't think as highly of him as I used to...", kinda like Brian did, is fine. 4 pages of "huh huh huh he sucked at football anyway" is stupid. That's not an opinion. That's just how civilized people act. There's no way any of them would have said that to his face. The former? Quite possibly.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:43 AM ^
People don't get mgopoints based upon how thoughtful or insightful their posts are.Also depends on how much funny is contained within the pictures they post.
February 26th, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^
I'm going to preface this by saying I rarely ever post and, when I do, it's usually something short and silly. So basically, everything that follows could be completely wrong.
I wonder if the 'Group Think' phenomenon on this blog is less a function of the point system and more a product of our football program's recent stuggles.
Much of the main page posting, diary posting and forum posting is invested in the idea that RR must be given time to fix the football team. Because of this, when we see an article in the MSM or a poster criticize RR for something in an uninformed way, people tend to freak out and attack that source of criticism because (1) it goes against a widely accepted belief of the blog community, and (2) they're usually ill-informed or emotion based criticisms ("I can't take this anymore!!"). Since this is a community of football fans who, through the efforts of this blog, are more educated about the team and about football. Also, a lot of us are Michigan Grads and, as such, cocky, arrogant dbs who care about grammar and syntax.
While I'm sure the point system allows people to express this Group Think, I don't really think that it uniquely adds to it. If anything, it probably cuts down on the amount of people who write "You, sir, are wrong and I take severe umbrage at your suggestion!" reply posts - people can just negbang and move on with their day and feel like their voices have been heard. People are going to express their distaste for those posts one way or the other.
People still post unfounded criticism regardless. And sometimes, people post valid criticism that is not negbanged to hell.
Also, under the point system, you can watch a Troll crash and burn in a blaze of glory. That has it's own unique entertainment value that you can't get on a blog where Trolls are just allowed to exist.
The end.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:27 AM ^
i would like to see, is who pos and neg votes your posts in a thread... if you start a thread you get to see who pos and neg votes you... but if its a regular post you have no idea who is doing it... by doing that i think it would some what curve the "serial negging" that goes on here sometimes... i would also like to see which of my posts got pos or neg voted so i know what to work on when i post in the future...
as it was said above i also think before i hit save... i also try and proof read my posts because grammer and spelling will get you neg'd... also if you have a opinon that differs from the masses (magnus understands this...) and its well thought out and its not jibberish you'll get neg'd bombed... i have no problem with people getting neg'd when they are trying to stir the pot...
February 26th, 2010 at 10:39 AM ^
I can also see how that would just lead to incessant back and forth bitching, and even more mogopoint conversation.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:42 AM ^
I see no problems with MGoPoints, except for the occasional hurt feelings from having gotten negbanged.
The main positives are that we police ourselves, that we feel more involved in this online community, and, whether intended or unintended...
I'm just thinking out loud here, but if people are encouraged to post because they'll get 1 point per post, then perhaps that increases Brian's site traffic. This would in turn help him create ad revenue....I think this is true too. Which would make Brian smarter than his hair is long.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:41 AM ^
positives - i have 1881 some odd mgopoints
negatives - i have been fired from my job, left by my girlfriend, got scurvy and am so pale you can see through me from trying to earn said mgopoints constantly.
wasn't here before mgopoints though, so i can't compare
February 27th, 2010 at 11:25 PM ^
the value of the positives balance the negatives. i'm not a math major or anything.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:46 AM ^
MGoPoints also
Have improved the quality
Of people's haikus
February 26th, 2010 at 9:02 AM ^
I used to be for learning who is negging whom; I've often thought it would be useful to determine if it's just some random thing, or a problem with a particular post.
I also have no problem letting others see who I've negged.
The problem however is that it still wouldn't solve the biggest mystery . . . why?
Many posts contain more than one point, some have grammatical errors, some are just unpopular, and some come close to breaking Brians MGoRules.
How the hell is anybody going to know WHY a particular neg was received unless the negger decides to explain themselves. And if someone gets negged a few times are they going to challenge every person to provide an explanation? I'm WAY too lazy for that shit to happen.
Knowing who might be nice, but not knowing why makes it pointless.
I'd say most posters who get negged can pretty easily figure out (at least vaguely) why they may be getting one, two or 100 negs.
You know if an opinion is very unpopular, inflammatory, or if you're just too drunk to spell properly. You'll also notice that many of us aren't too shy to tell you exactly why we are negging you; although again, sometimes I just don't feel like explaining myself every time.
It would probably add an unnecessarily Titanic-level of complexity, but I suppose you could have a quick multiple choice thing that pops up when you neg that gives you the option of checking:
a) I don't agree. (but I'm sick of forum wars)
b) Too political/religious. (can't you read the rules buddy)
c) Poor grammar/spelling (if you think in english, please respond in kind next time)
d) Old News. (do a search you lazy bastard/are you new here?)
e) Other (I'm too lazy to reply, feel free to neg me back.
sorry for the length, I guess tl;dr should be an option too!
February 26th, 2010 at 9:09 AM ^
but learning who negs would turn this place into a bloodbath. The urge to neg back and head hunt would consume all.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:13 AM ^
but I was negged . . . OH WWWWWHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
February 26th, 2010 at 9:12 AM ^
for the use of the word "negger."
To quote Michael Bluth, "there's got to be a better way to say that."
February 26th, 2010 at 10:36 AM ^
+1 for the Arrested Development reference.
February 26th, 2010 at 11:30 AM ^
Great show. RIP.
February 26th, 2010 at 12:45 PM ^
but I actually do think that "negger" should be done away with completely. I'm pretty sure that I have used it in the past, I'm not judging.
February 26th, 2010 at 1:12 PM ^
I am joking AND think that term HAS to go. I cringe every time I see it.
February 26th, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^
If you do neg people, is it ok for you to use it then? The I can use it, because it removes it's power, but you can't theory? ;-)