Scoring evolution: Blog post scoring changes

By
Real Estate Technology with ActiveRain

Scoring evolutionWe are constantly evolving how we award points in order to reward the members who make the best contributions to the growth of the network.  We have decided to change the awarding of points for blog posts from being an automatic process (200 pts for every post) to a manual process done by us and moderators.  This will allow us to reward points based off quality instead of simply quantity.

This means that when you make a post you will not instantly get points, but posts will get reviewed and scored, probably within a hour or two.  The members who make thoughtful, quality posts will end up getting more points under this structure, while posts that are purely advertising will not be rewarded.  This change is not retroactive meaning all previous posts recieved 200 points.

Guidelines for awarding points:

0 points: Purely advertising, not informational in nature, spam, only one or two sentences.

100 points: Post qualifies for points but was added to all channels ("For real estate professionals", "For consumers", "Regional news and information" regardless of the posting guidelines.  Please read the posting guidelines before posting to these channels.  For example, all of them prohibit blatent advertising.

200 points: Typical blog post, most posts will fall into this catagory.

400 points: Very informational, well written, obviously put some thought/effort into writing it.  Generates a good discussion.

Bonus points: We will continue to award bonus points when we feel it's appropriate based on member contributions.  Bonus points should be considered an exception rather than a rule.

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Staff
993,628
ActiveRain Real Estate Network
ActiveRain - Kirkland, WA

We can probably add the points earned next to your blog post.  I also changed the scoring view to show exactly what blogs the points were earned for. 

Yes, we realize it could turn into quite a task to review and score blogs as the system grows, but it seems like the best option for the near future.  We can always evolve scoring again if a better option comes along.  Several of us tend to browse every posting on the site daily so clicking a checkbox to score it doesn't really add much time.  We've also had several people volunteer to help us moderate that we trust to do a good job.  Ultimately we want to create a community that can effectively police itself.

Aug 12, 2006 08:36 AM #23
Rainmaker
1,454,054
Donna Harris
Donna Homes, powered by JPAR - TexasRealEstateMediationServices.com - Austin, TX
Realtor,Mediator,Ombudsman,Property Tax Arbitrator
Can you please subtract points for those VERY long blogs that are dragged out way longer than they should be.  Does anyone actually read those?  I ususally skip right over them.
Aug 12, 2006 01:25 PM #24
Rainmaker
590,725
Jim Lee
RE/MAX Shoreline - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Realtor, Portsmouth, NH

"100 points: Post qualifies for points but is blatently miscatagorized.  For example all the channels were checked without reading the guidelines."

Could you elaborate more exactly on what this means???

Thank you in advance.

Aug 13, 2006 09:33 AM #25
Rainmaker
1,469,650
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate

Donna Harris wrote: "Can you please subtract points for those VERY long blogs that are dragged out way longer than they should be.  Does anyone actually read those?  I ususally skip right over them."

Does that mean long blogs don't have any value to anyone else?  Is your tolerance the standard?  Do you have a number of words, characters, lines that we should keep in mind?   I agree many blog readers have short attention spans.  Not all blog readers have short attention spans.  Too long?  Don't read it.

Aug 13, 2006 05:28 PM #26
Rainmaker
277,161
Toby Barnett
KW Northwest - Marysville, WA
Toby Barnett
I like to read the long posts if they are worth reading. Some are better than others but deleting the blog would be a dis service to the author who took the time and effort.
Aug 13, 2006 05:49 PM #27
Rainer
6,204
Ann Marie Pedevillano
Prudential Florida WCI Realty - Englewood, FL

I like the point system, however, who is to say one post is better than another. For example, most of my posts are to get opinions from others about specific things I am doing. Maybe that kind of thing would be better directed to a Forum?? I am not sure.

And the miscatogorized thing confuses me a bit......can you be more clear on that???

Aug 14, 2006 08:06 AM #28
Rainer
1,092,387
Matt Heaton
Timu Corp - CEO, ActiveRain - Co-founder - Bothell, WA

We've tried to create guidelines that aren't very subjective.  Almost all posts will get 200 points, if we see something that is generating a lot of comments or appears that the writter really put a lot of time/effort into it will get 400.  We aren't scoring based off the subject or what we think of the writter.

I think the quality of posting has improved very dramatically in the last few days, simply because people know someone is going to look at their post before they get a score.

As far as catagorization...  When you make a post you'll noticed 3 checkboxes for different catagories or channels.  "For real estate professionals", "For consumers", "Regional news and information" These channels are used to help seperate posts and allow members to get at what they want to read.  They each have a set of posting guidelines to add your post to them.  For example they all prohibit posting blatent advertising to them.  We've had a problem of people clicking all the checkboxes whether or not their post fits the guidelines. 

Aug 14, 2006 10:37 AM #29
Rainmaker
1,454,054
Donna Harris
Donna Homes, powered by JPAR - TexasRealEstateMediationServices.com - Austin, TX
Realtor,Mediator,Ombudsman,Property Tax Arbitrator
This is ridiculous and someone is judging the points handed out.  I've got two blog entries that haven't even been given points!  Our blogs should be "our" blogs and we should be able to talk about whatever we want.  A blog doesn't always have to be exactly about real estate.  As long as you're talking about your market, all that market stuff effects real estate in that market. 
Aug 15, 2006 06:49 AM #30
Rainmaker
1,469,650
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate

Donna Harris wrote that two of her blog entries "weren't given points." Is it "weren't given points yet" or were awarded 0 points? 

 

Maybe on AR we do need to just post RE posts if THAT is the rule.  I don't see that as being totally unreasonable but my experience with my blog,  Columbus Best Blog is that I have to mix in non real estate with real estate to get more people to read it.   I am finally getting to the point where my real estate categories are firmly  beating out my Food and Restaurant, Events  categories.   The non real estate categories were a much higher % earlier in my blogs life. 

 


Aug 15, 2006 07:09 AM #31
Rainmaker
1,454,054
Donna Harris
Donna Homes, powered by JPAR - TexasRealEstateMediationServices.com - Austin, TX
Realtor,Mediator,Ombudsman,Property Tax Arbitrator

One blog was entered yesterday morning and one yesterday evening. I've received points for a blog that was entered in between those two blogs.  I've checked other's points summaries and can see their points.... so they either inadvertantly skipped over mine, which is not a good method for reviewing them if some get skipped, or I'm getting 0 points.

I completely agree that you have to mix things up in order to get different users.  The rules are not currently set to say that they must be completely real estate related.  If that would be the rule, boy would the blogs get boring as everyone would just keep writing about the same thing, but in different words.

Aug 15, 2006 07:21 AM #32
Rainmaker
612,698
Sharon Simms
Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL
St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS
May be just a glitch when going to a new system, but some of my blogs for the 11th - 13th were just missed. If they got a 0 would be great to know that, rather than wondering if they got lost in who's looking at what. 
Aug 15, 2006 01:32 PM #33
Rainer
43,113
Please visit LinkedIn Instead
This social network is no longer updated. - Autaugaville, AL
I did notice a bug with the scoring, if you navigate away from a blog posting page, or comment post too soon, sometimes the points won't be scored.  That could be what you saw, Sharon.
Aug 15, 2006 04:03 PM #34
Rainer
461,574
Maureen Francis & Dmitry Koublitsky
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty - Birmingham, MI
SKBK Sothebynulls - Metro Detroit
Didn't realize you are reading them all before giving a score!  That's a lot of work/
Aug 17, 2006 02:28 AM #35
Rainer
30,466
Wynne Achatz
Real Estate One Westrick - Marine City, MI
Michigan Realtor and Notary Trust,Care, Experience
I agree with this. A log should be from the heart and something of interst to someone. News, updates, etc. Thanks for creating this lovely medium to stay informes and "in touch"
Aug 20, 2006 09:59 AM #36
Rainer
30,653
John Rogers
Century 21 APD - El Paso, TX
Wow you are going to read every single post? That is a lot of work and shows just how committed ActiveRains is about there services
Aug 22, 2006 12:46 AM #37
Rainer
153,578
Scott Gormley
Oak Valley Mortgage-California Home Loans and Refinancing - Chico, CA

This seems fair. It seems unrealistic that you will be able to read every post. But if you are able to, I think it will keep things clean and the website won't get bogged down with useless info...

 Scott

Aug 25, 2006 08:14 AM #38
Rainer
15,176
Joanne Brown
Rockland County Real Estate - Nanuet, NY

What do these points do?  It's not like money or does Google care about how we rank in AR?  I think the payment is all of the wonderful and informative information I've attained since I joined.

Sorry, I really don't know what the points do besides rank me higher here.

Nov 17, 2006 01:22 PM #39
Rainer
41,053
Frank Jewett
tech4REpros - San Jose, CA

Using points to unlock cool features like expanded profile page, RSS chiclets (I cobbled together some html myself), and even additional blogs (if I was an agent, I would never mix my "localism" SOI/farming blog with my peer-2-peer blog) would take the points system to the next level.

I've apparently hit my ceiling on "automatic" 200 point blog posts for the week, but as I am trying to build an audience, I will continue posting daily.  The points are a kick, but meaningful participation is my goal.

Nov 13, 2007 07:05 AM #40
Rainmaker
1,469,650
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate

Wow Frank this is an ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooold entry.  There may have been a bunch of changes since this post to limits on blog posts.  The way they are scored now has nothing to do with how they were scoring (by hand) in 8-2006.

I like the idea of spending ActiveRain points. I worried about mixing peer to peer with Localism when I started ActiveRain but I don't care anymore.  ActiveRain is what it is.  It is a mixture. That gives it transparency IMHO.  Maybe when they get Localism up to speed  (there was not a Localism in August 2006 although there were Local posts on ActiveRain) it will be different.  Very few people on AR are doing local posts. Separate blogs?  As in separate memberships?  Separate memberships for the same individual is mostly just used to game the ActiveRain point system IMHO. 

Nov 14, 2007 01:29 AM #41
Ambassador
1,260,061
Dagny Eason
Dagny's Real Estate - Wilton, CT
Fairfield County CT, CDPE Homes For Sale and Condo

Wow!!!   I just bumped into this post, and couldn't believe what I was reading, until I saw the year!  Very interesting evolution!

Jun 28, 2010 02:30 PM #42
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