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Starting now: No more points for likes on comments/replies

former_member181931
Contributor

Hi everyone,

In an effort to further encourage the creation of quality content, we are making changes in point assignment.

Effective immediately:

  • The author of a reply in a discussion thread will no longer receive 2 points when this reply is liked by someone.
  • The author of a comment to a blog post or document will no longer receive 2 points when this comment is liked by someone.

When we decided to give these points a couple of years ago, we wanted to encourage feedback on meaningful replies and comments, but we see that the desired effect is not happening.

  • We see comments or replies being written solely for the purpose of getting these like points
  • Some of these comments or replies do not add any value and may not be encouraging for the author either
  • There are groups of people who appear to be liking each other's comments and replies in order to earn a large amount of points quickly.

Please remember that SCN is a professional community and we are looking for added value. What is adding value? It's making contributions - a perspective, content, etc. - that are original, insightful and helpful to others in this community.

If we find that points are encouraging low-quality contributions in other areas (for example, copyright infringement in blogs), we will consider changing the points awarded further, and could consider eliminating points completely.

Whenever the Rules of Engagement are not respected, we will continue removing points and disabling accounts.

I hope we will all see value in this change. Thank you for your attention as always.

Laure

Accepted Solutions (1)

Accepted Solutions (1)

Former Member

Anyone else appreciate the irony that everyone replying to this wonderful post are those who won't actually be affected by the change, and those that it is targeted at are conspicuous by their absence?

Cheers,

G.

JL23
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

No.

But I am just replying now  to not be among the conspicuous

nitin_jinagal
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Ha Ha Ha

Then let me post another comment

anshu_lilhori
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

They must be filled with despair after this announcement ...

Former Member
0 Kudos

Those guys probably won't see this announcement. Prepare for a new batch of questions like "POINTS ASSIGNMENT NOT WORKING PLEASE ADVISE".

former_member183424
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

I am also quite sure...

We will receive discussion thread about "POINTS ASSIGNMENT NOT WORKING PLEASE ADVISE"

RamanKorrapati
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Yes, surely this kind of question will be raised soon.

they may say like issue with scn like button or bug.

Former Member
0 Kudos

I think we can't find such posts because they will be surely following the About SCN space and they will surely read this discussion.

RamanKorrapati
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Yes, but seems like not  online today. so they may missed this news.

nitin_jinagal
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

I think we all need to make & save a draft response for all those query along with this thread's link

ntn

midhun_vp
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

++1. Lol.

midhun_vp
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Here you go,

Former Member
0 Kudos

Yes I too just saw that post and replying here but you did it in before

Former Member
0 Kudos

Omg, please get back with points assignments so I can get to platinum with this funny comment lolz

Matt_Fraser
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Well, then you can earn some points by answering why the points assignment isn't "working". 

audreystevenson
Community Manager
Community Manager
0 Kudos

OK, Juergen, you just made my morning. ROTFL over here.  😄

Answers (41)

Answers (41)

steverumsby
Active Contributor

One thing I have noticed in the aftermath of this decision (which I wholeheartedly support) is that it becomes even more important that people properly mark helpful and correct answers to questions. I get lots of likes to answers, even from the original poster, when a helpful or correct answer would be more appropriate. I've also noticed that related, and sometimes unrelated, questions get asked in comments and answers to those can only be rewarded by likes since only the OP can award helpful or correct answers. These answers no longer earn you points.

I wonder if we need to find a way to encourage more awarding of helpful or correct answers? And if anyone has any suggestions for how to deal with the "related questions" problem...

I'm not especially driven by the need to accumulate points, but if the points system is meant to encourage people to contribute obviously some people are so motivated and the points system needs to work properly.

Steve.

former_member181931
Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi Steve,


Yes we want to create a mission to encourage people to close threads. Haven't found the best way to do it yet, but and I are thinking about it.

Thanks for the feedback.

Laure

Matt_Fraser
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Very good idea.  I recently came across an old question/discussion thread from 2008 in which I provided the correct answer, and the OP even replied that my answer had worked for him, but he never closed the thread.  The OP has been inactive since 2010, so that one's probably a lost cause, and too far back to worry about anyway, but it illustrates the larger issue.  The reason I came across it again was because a few days ago someone else 'liked' my correct answer.

former_member181931
Contributor

Hi everyone,


Thank you all for the feedback. It is mostly positive and I appreciate the support and replies.

A couple of comments:

you are spot on. It is, indeed, sad that we are removing points for replies liked in the discussion forums. I thought these like points would be a good way for anyone (not just the original poster) to express their appreciation for good content that helped them. But unfortunately there was so much cheating that the negative impact was perceived as greater than the positive impact. Unfortunately this is life. C'est la vie. People with good intentions suffer for decisions made because others don't respect the rules. This doesn't just happen on SCN, right?

To be honest I'd rather see less noise in the forums - and maybe less helpful content - than all the point cheating that was recently going on. But I'm an observer and community manager, and I don't rely on the SCN forums to solve my problems at work, so maybe I have no right to say that!

Thank you for mentioning Stackoverflow Henrique, because I'm a big fan. In case you don't know it yet. Stackoverflow is where I think we should go, and it's been the topic of discussions when we talk about reputation systems. Stackoverflow is a true reputation system, and it works: giving certain rights to people who have accrued reputation after posting quality content… This gets my vote any time!

interesting thought that has already crossed our mind: showing only badges and levels. Audrey and I had discussions and that's all I will say for now 😉

More generally there have been discussions here and there around the content of messages and replies. Is "thank you" valuable or not? I don't think we'll all ever agree on this, and my opinion is that it depends on the context. And as you can imagine it's difficult (impossible!) to automatically sort between the useless comments/replies and the useful ones. Recently I was reading Vijay Vijayasankar's post published on his personal site when he left SAP, and I couldn't help but notice that he was replying to every single comment, sometimes with just a few words. On SCN this may sometimes be perceived as "noise" when it may just be courtesy. In general I would advise everyone to wait a bit (a day or two) and observe comments received on a post, and then reply to more than one person in one comment/reply - like I'm doing it. It reduces the notifications and - hopefully - pleases people worried about the noise. Nowadays with the speed of internet and everyone connected via mobile, we expect others to reply to us right away. When there is no urgency, why rush? OK, I'll have to say it... I used to pick up the phone or wait a few days to get news from my friend in Paris when I was in high school. Yeah, it could take a couple of days to hear from her via - hum - a letter! Some of you remember these days, I'm not nostalgic but I think we can still pace ourselves. We're going very fast now and may miss important things in life. (oh my I'm getting too philosophical here).

To finish on this, the context is what matters. If I'm a newcomer on SCN and I publish my first ever blog or document, a Thank You for someone will mean a lot and encourage me to continue.

Happy to debate on this last paragraph, maybe over a beer/glass or wine than on this thread, since we could digress 😉

If you feel a question in this thread has not been answered, or you want to hear from me, please let me know by replying here! There's quite a lot of things to read here 🙂


Greetings from Sunny California (today at least).

Laure

Jelena
Active Contributor

I agree 100% with everything said above. Rather disappointed about likes in the discussions (which was a great way to reward someone whom the OP forgot to recognize), but as we say in Russian "so is the c'est la vie" ("такова селяви").

Also great point by (finally someone said it out loud!) - many members confuse SCN with a chat and it does create a lot of "noise" and, most importantly, blasts out emails to everyone following the content. I doubt everyone expects a personal thank you note for every comment, so let's keep niceties within reasonable limit. Also check out the item number one on 's blog.

Of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to throw "let's get rid of the points altogether" into the mix, but what if we had, say, a "point-less" month on SCN? I wonder what would happen...

Former Member
0 Kudos

I have for several years been suggesting to deactivate the points system in the security space as a pilot. To see how quality, moderator intervention and general chemistry improves.

If the reaction to that is anything to go by, you will be ignored for some time. If you persist then you will be told that you can forget it. If you gather sufficiently significant community support for it, then a project will be invoked for a platform upgrade to a version of Jive which no longer makes it possible to realize these wonderful, but in the end pointless, ideas.

My 2 cents...

Julius

henrique_pinto
Active Contributor

Hi Laure,

while I do agree with the overall concept behind these changes (I've been a long supporter of "quality over quantity" on SCN, as one can imply from my personal comments in the Moderators private space), I do think you've got two different situations and applied the same solution, which still leads to a non-optimal scenario.

  1. One problem is the "point for comments" hunting in the articles, blogs and documents. Some people basically post comments with the intention of getting likes and, while several comments do add value to an ongoing discussion (and some blogs even ask for them), the objective of these kind of content (articles, documents and blogs) is to share what was posted in the original content in the first place. Hence enforcing (i.e. giving points) to any additional comment is not really necessary from a community engagement perspective. The main aspect here, from the gamification perspective, is to properly pay forward the original author and not the commenters.
  2. A discussion is a completely different kind of engagement. On these, you want (actually, you need) to have the replies. The main purpose of these contents is not justified on the question alone; a discussion is only complete if there is, well, discussion. This implies that, from a gamification perspective, you want to enforce (and thus pay forward) both the author and the repliers, since a question without replies is not really a good discussion, no matter how good the original question was.

We know that both scenarios might potentially lead to point gaming, and that's why there is need for a robust community platform, that provides tools for the community managers to fight that.

While I agree that simply removing the points for likes on comments is a viable approach for solving point gaming issues in scenario 1 above (since paying forward the comments was not really necessary from a community engagement perspective), it is not the optimal solution for the outlined scenario 2, since it might potentially lead to less engagement on the very core requirement of the discussions. Less replies mean less good discussions (since a discussion is the final result of a good answer and one or more good replies), while less comments does not mean less good blogs/documents (which are whole by themselves).

Thus, IMHO, simply removing the points for discussion replies might solve one problem (point gaming) but could potentially lead to a very undesired side effect (less community engagement on discussions). Hence I do believe that a more sophisticated solution is required here.

One very elegant solution (and that has been overwhelmingly proved successful in several other online communities) is the dislike button for replies in the discussions. This has been discussed for ages on the Moderators private space (i.e. to follow StackOverflow's pointing system) and was formally proposed in the Idea Place by (link: Dislike / thumbs down button : View Idea). With that, you give negative feedback capability to the community and, with it, the capability to auto-regulate. Point gamers might still attempt it, but in a healthy community (which SCN is) the number of negative votes on any hunting reply would kill and gaming attempt without any community manager intervention.

<techie rant mode=on>

Anyone with an engineering major knows that any system with only positive feedback tends to the chaos.  😉 In order to be controllable, a system demands negative feedback, and that is what we're talking about here.

<techie rant mode=off>

That being said, I do understand that in the real world, we have to work with the existing limitation of Jive and try to solve the additional problems on a demand basis. As a temporary solution, I do believe that disabling points for replies is better than leaving it indiscriminately activated, in order to solve the urging point gaming situations we're facing now. Kudos for you and the team to embrace quality over quantity as we have been demanding for so long. But this must be seen, as I've said, as a temporary solution. Letting points enabled + the dislike button (or any other solution, for that matter, that enforces the engagement of both authors and repliers on discussions while giving the community a way to autoregulate and eliminate point gaming by itself) is mandatory on the long term for the community to stay healthy and really perform close to its full engagement capacity.

Sorry for the long post.

I just had to let go what was in my chest. 😉

Best,

Henrique.

PS: again, kudos. Quality over Quantity FTW.

eduardohartmann
Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi Henrique,

how would the 'dislike' work regarding points? Remove points??

I was really looking for it this last days....

regards,

Eduardo Hartmann

Former Member
0 Kudos

A dislike button removing points is a good idea!

eduardohartmann
Contributor
0 Kudos

Good and dangerous

There could be a bunch of people angry with someone and take some points away "for free"...

Former Member
0 Kudos

yupe.. that true!

henrique_pinto
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

If we say the likes give points, the dislikes should remove them.

But that's just one possible implementation.

Other would be to create a separate count of likes and points, though I think it'd just add complexity.

I'd just consider 1 like = 1 point (instead of the 1:2 ratio today) and 1 dislike = -1 point.

henrique_pinto
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

That's true, but the implementation could be such as that someone could not get "negative" points for a given content. Meaning:

#likes > #dislikes : #points = #likes - #dislikes

#likes <= #dislikes : #points = 0

Matt_Fraser
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

I think Henrique's suggestion bears thinking about.  While the idea of a "Dislike" button has been raised often in regard to Facebook, and Facebook has always said they will not implement it, SCN is inherently differently from Facebook in intent.  The 'Dislike' function obviously implies negative connotations, but in the sense of making the site more self-policing, or self-correcting, by having them only reduce the influence of spurious 'Likes,' it may work.  I'm not personally familiar with how it works on StackOverflow, but if there are examples of technical or business forums where such systems are successfully used, then that bears looking at.

Former Member
0 Kudos

Agreed on the points you raise but I'm not a fan of the dislike button because in the past year I have seen the dark side of SCN, meaning users trying to negatively impact those who are trying to do something positive. In my opinion users who do not comment on a blog/document or reply to a discussion thread because there is no possible point gain in sight, are the ones we are trying to discourage to begin with. If I have something to contribute, I do so without the expectation of getting any points for it. Maybe that's just me or maybe it's the kind of attitude that should be promoted.

Former Member
0 Kudos

I also agree that the dislike button would give more power to the community, so we could decide which content is better.  However, don't you think that Jive's plataform design is an issue to implement the feature?

Let's take StackOverflow as an example. Their whole UX is based on the voting system, where content up voted by community have priority over less voted content. It's easier to find questions and answers with a good amount of up votes because platform's design is strongly based on this featured.

I'm not familiar with the boundaries and limits of Jive, but if dislike buttons are implemented someday, I think a lot of things would have to be changed from the design perspective.

Colleen
Advisor
Advisor
0 Kudos

With all this scn data there is potential for tracking of user point chasing. I'm waiting for "SCN powered by HANA" to come out and guestify them.

Former Member
0 Kudos

Just get rid of the silly points completely. Then this problem is solved automatically as well.

Cheers,

Julius

henrique_pinto
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

To be successful, the like/dislike concept demands a healthy community where the "good guys" outnumber the "bad" ones. If we're saying that we have a few good guys, a few more bad ones and a bunch of "I-don't-care" guys, we're clearly not a health community. Yet.

Maybe the problem that is being attacked is just the symptom and not the root cause of the disease. I do agree that less is more and I'd like a pointless (or point minimum) community, too. You don't need points to be recognized, it's just the way americans do things - they like to put numbers on everything. If you're truly contributing with good quality content, you'll still get stopped in SAP events by people asking "are you XYZ? coz your blog helped me very much and I'd like to shake your hand" even if you get 0 points for it. I'll tell you, that's worth 100k points everyday in my book.

Cheers,

Henrique.

former_member182997
Contributor
0 Kudos

Truly well said Henrique...!!

Regards, Aparajit..

Jelena
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Henrique Pinto wrote:

You don't need points to be recognized, it's just the way americans do things - they like to put numbers on everything.

Hey, hey, hey, let's not pin everything down on the Americans. I've heard that numbers are more of a German thing, cough, cough.

henrique_pinto
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

LOL!

Last I checked, it was the americans that put a number on how many of your bills you can pay.

SuhaSaha
Advisor
Advisor
0 Kudos

I've heard that numbers are more of a German thing, cough, cough.

Efficiency is what they strive for, hence the world has SAP

moazzam_ali
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Numbers are not linked with a nation. They are linked with individuals no matter they are Americans Germans Indians Russian or Pakistan. This is what I believe.

Thank$

former_member182378
Active Contributor

Members,

Sometimes in a thread, I ask "connected" questions, when a members gives quality input to my query; I would like to give him/her well deserved points - by press the Like button.

Now, my appreciation would not give him/her the points!

anshu_lilhori
Active Contributor

Wonderful decision Laure Much awaited one..Really appreciate..Hoping that the noise will be little less than earlier..Some people just commenting on each and every blog to get those 2 points.Sad indeed !

This is a technical forum and the focus should be more on answering the queries of the OP rather than earning points just by commenting on blogs--Good doc..wonderful blog..Nice document..Oh come on.

One more thing i just want to share if we can make Pay It Forward Badge unrepeatable mission.I can witness some people getting the badge twice in a day that simply means misuse of the mission.

Regards,

AL

former_member183424
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Anshu Lilhori wrote:

One more thing i just want to share if we can make Pay It Forward Badge unrepeatable mission.I can witness some people getting the badge twice in a day that simply means misuse of the mission.

I agree with that..

Instead of Pay it forward badge, Super answer hero badge should be repeatable...

nitin_jinagal
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

I mentioned about it indirectly.

ntn

Colleen
Advisor
Advisor

Hi Laure

Wonderful news on this one. I doubt it will stop the endless thanks but will cut down points gaming.

I'm starting to wonder if blogs needs a "thanks for contributing" button (separate to the like) and put a counter there instead of everyone writing 'thanks' and 'well done'

Regards

Colleen

custodio_deoliveira
Active Contributor

Hi Laure,

As I said on Twitter, it's definitely good news, but I would rather see the down voting option.

Cheers,

Custodio

Steffi_Warnecke
Active Contributor

Hello Laure,

Julius will be thrilled!

It is sad, that is has to come to this, because this platform should be - like you said - used in a professional manner, but I am really glad that the team behind the gamification on SCN is reacting to the issues and I think, this is a good reaction.

It kind of feels like a warning shot, too, and maybe some users will now start to re-think their motivation for posts and use their time more wisely.

Regards,

Steffi

former_member182378
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Steffi,

To understand (confirm) these rules, did you get points because members liked your reply?


  • The author of a reply in a discussion thread will no longer receive 2 points when this reply is liked by someone.
  • The author of a comment to a blog post or document will no longer receive 2 points when this comment is liked by someone.

Or the (four) likes are just "text" and do not add to your points?

Thanks!

cc

steverumsby
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Yes, those likes are now just a sign of appreciation, and don't earn points for the commenter.

Steve.

Steffi_Warnecke
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

TW Typewriter wrote:

Steffi,

To understand (confirm) these rules, did you get points because members liked your reply?

  • The author of a reply in a discussion thread will no longer receive 2 points when this reply is liked by someone.
  • The author of a comment to a blog post or document will no longer receive 2 points when this comment is liked by someone.

Or the (four) likes are just "text" and do not add to your points?

Thanks!

Since you asked me directly and I don't want to look rude by not answering: yes, it works. ^^ No points were earned through the likes, just a warm feeling of acknowledgement.

Former Member
0 Kudos

Hi,

Thanks for the updation in LIKED points sharing,

Earlier i have seen the OLD SCN Version having three stage points distribution that support Answer,Helpful Answer and Answered with points 2,6 and 10,

You could also update such point distribution status,

Best Regards,

Devendra


former_member181931
Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi Devendra,

The platform now offers only two kinds of feedback: "correct" or "helpful", and no longer "very helpful", so it won't be possible.

Best,

Laure

Former Member
0 Kudos

Hi Laure,

Nice to update status,

Best Regards,

Devendra

Florian
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Perhaps a mission aimed to the Like is a possible scenario.

I imagine something like 200 likes for helpful or correct answers in all spaces (without coffee corner) offers a badge.

But the hole SCN team are doing a great job and I'm looking forward.

~Florian

Former Member
0 Kudos

For me this is great, I already have found a guy that have more then 1000 points in just posting in Coffee Corner and receiving Likes in his comments. It will be very helpful to have a more realistic score in profiles.

former_member183073
Active Participant
0 Kudos

Nice to hear that, a good step towards better SCN.

former_member182378
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Earlier when I got some value from a post, I expressed it with a "Like" (which also meant some points to the one who "helped" me)!

Now, there are no points for Like, I feel obliged to write Thanks!

which in a way increase the noise which this initiative was created to stop; in the first place (also to stop points cheating).

bruno_esperanca
Contributor
0 Kudos

I think "Likes" on the document/blog post still award points. Only the points for likes in the comments have been disabled.

But this brings me to another point (heh)... which is... aren't bookmarks more important than likes? Somehow I feel it's silly not to be awarded for a bookmark, when it is much more meaningful than a "Like" (and, surprisingly, I get more bookmarks than likes in my content for some reason...).

BR,

Bruno

ThomasZloch
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

I don't see points as a prerequisite for a "like" to express "thanks" (or much more often, "agreed"). I also think there is no problem with occasional, sincere "Thanks" comments. The problem was the vast overuse which was fueled by...points.


Thomas

former_member182378
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Bruno,

I had asked the question related to bookmarking & points -

Jelena
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Bruno, it might just mean that your content is "over the head" for most SCN users. Sometimes I bookmark blogs and documents for future reading. After I had a chance to read them and understand better, I might remove bookmark and replace it with a 'like'. Or I use both when appropriate. "Rated, liked, bookmarked" (c) Otto Gold - is the maximum amount of recognition we can give to an author on SCN.

@TW - unless it's an extra special "thank you" (nothing wrong with that) 'Like' is still very appropriate. The best thing about it is that we can see all the people who liked the content and it also appears in the Activity stream.

former_member212941
Participant
0 Kudos

Hi

in these intresting you prefer no points and many like you question which may lead to points

and but everyone need some reward and little push when they do good job

and many consultant take the issue posted by other  and try the issue in their ides like there own issue

so in that rewarding point is must  like motivating and making a helathy competation

points should not be reduced

but little restriction can be made

regards

Leo

umashankar_poojar
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Very good decision and initiative, let points be removed for liking the comments & discussions(replies) but keep the button. So that it will give/highlight the real purpose (if the comment/replies is informative and encouraging).

Hope SCN don't remove the points (which author gets if somebody likes the blog)?

Normally I use like button to encourage the person who comments and that is the way to say 'Thank You' for taking time to comment & it encourage them too instead of commenting back and saying 'Thank You' :-).

Also I use like button to discussion when it is really good answer/out of box solution.

Conclusion: I agree to remove the points on liking the comments (in blogs & documents)/replies (in discussions). But keep the button.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks,

Umashankar

former_member182098
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Now it is the time to donate the whole points. I feel like donating my whole points and start myself at zero. My two cents here.

SAP should wipe out all the points of all the members at the end of each year. This gives an inner strength to each member how to start afresh in life. We would clearly see how many passionate and committed people left out on SCN.

I do not comment on the decision, but, I strongly believe it is something good for the Community, only quality stuff would prevail. Unless, SCN takes a drastic steps like this, it would humanly impossible for moderators to control the postings on SCN. Sometimes, I feel SCN is becoming like sister of Facebook

Let us hope this change would help us to build a quality SAP Community Network.

Best Regards,

Ravi


former_member182997
Contributor
0 Kudos

Hello SAP Mentors and SCN moderators,

With due respect  i would like to express thought of mine.
I think its an important step taken by moderators to restrict lavish distribution or gain of points in terms of likes in comments. To some what  i too thought and agreed yet  to confess to all of you i am not happy.   (may be there exist many I's)
So with no motive to disregard your decision
I want to present you an idea of mine. Lets not this point assignments be not stopped in terms of likes in a comment. But let it go on and go on in a different methodology

I  thought this way:- for a comment which gets at least two likes 1 point is assigned. And if the same comment gets 4 likes  assign 2 points or any such assignments. ^^
Which will mean that the comment which really contains value content will be liked multiple times and  the author in that way  is rewarded for his/her valuable input.
So this will be motivating for the authors and all who would comment further.

So Moderators I know
and other respected Mentors please do suggest what you think of this.


Regards,
Aparajit

former_member182378
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Aparajit,

So your suggestion is 2 Likes = 1 point and 4 Likes = 2 points etc.; so you want to still keep the points for Likes but with a diminished value.

I think Like and its points is a good functionality but (what members have discussed) some have exploited this "loophole" and milked points. So with your suggestion that avenue would still be open but harder and more tedious ...let me now get point by point....the good old days of single click and +2 is gone! ha ha

I would say forget about the points, leave the recognition (and its system) for good. Gather the knowledge, get your business problems solved and go and earn real money and real appreciation (probably...tricky comment but you know what Likes don't carry any points any more )

TW

JL23
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

I think many people do not even imagine how bad it was.

I give you an example, I just searched for a discussion having the word "thanks" and having many likes. I share 3 screenshots from ONE discussion

The question: Got 10 likes and 10 five star ratings

a reply to his own discussion:

7 likes and marked as helpful (which did not give points)

a second reply to to his own discussion:

8 likes and again marked as helpful

in total 25 likes and 10 5* ratings = 100 points (for asking a question)

Florian
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi Jürgen,

that makes for me the step very clear. In my opinion all should be happy about the reward system here. It is a nice feature and motivates people to share things.

So go on with the good work and I'm happy in any case, getting points or not, this is an awesome platform.

Regards

Florian

former_member182378
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Jurgen,

Thanks for the example!

But something not earned in the "correct" way would not be appreciated (by self) and would not give the satisfaction / fulfillment.

What do that 100 points mean?

We are all reading the content and then ascertaining the "quality" of the member.

JL23
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

TW, I could only reply with a Woody Allen quote from his movie Annie Hall in order to rebut this presumption, but I don't want to post it here.

moazzam_ali
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Its clear that these kind of users are responsible for this change in points system. I am thankful to this guy

Former Member
0 Kudos

OP of that discussion is not disabled yet. A very nice example to show the extent of abuse.

JL23
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

....or just the weakness of search engines. Btw, the number went up again

former_member181931
Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi Aparajit,

The problem is that if you make it harder for people to get points, they work harder to get them (e.g. in groups of people). So for messages and replies in discussions that's what we had to do: remove the points altogether.


Laure

Colleen
Advisor
Advisor
0 Kudos

they work harder to get them

If only they could redirector their motivation and efforts into meaningful contributions

Former Member
0 Kudos

This is treading on dangerous turf IMO...

Some folks still experience SCN as a resource they primarily want to use and contribute to for nifty useful things they want to share. Make contacts that way with people who like it and have interesting discussions. They want to learn and do clever things and use SCN as a medium for it.

That it is occupational therapy for the bench and an "air bag" for insufficiently trained call centers has not been realized yet by some contributors I know.

That some folks dont want to share knowledge and just like is omni-present and perfectly OK to rate the content based on likes.

But many knowledgable folks don't stay for long or contribute because they have more than enough work to do and easily don't find anything particularly clever on SCN anymore because of all the noise from the points system.

Just bolt the points system and give search preference to likes. That will sort it out.

-> no points, like weighting, status of the asset and a decent search on it within sap.com.

Who would want anything else to use SCN and contribute to it with useful information only?

Cheers,

Julius

Former Member
0 Kudos

Nail on head hit.  Never understood why people seem happy to plough all of their efforts into obtaining stuff in the wrong way but just balk at the opportunity to earn stuff in the right way.

I blame the parents.

Former Member
0 Kudos

"noise from the points system" - like the fact this thread alone is generating more interest and discussion than most, if not all, other quality technical content that was posted in a similar time window?

I've always been a strong proponent of the points system but am beginning to question my perspective - I could put a lot of time and effort into writing a blog and get maybe 3 comments or I could post about a points issue and get hundreds.  Something is very wrong with that picture...

Cheers,

G.

bruno_esperanca
Contributor
0 Kudos

Funny you should say that Gareth,

10 minutes ago I was thinking about clicking the "unfollow" button on this thread... as it is generating too much noise in my communications channel

Best,

Bruno

JL23
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

i would not really say it is very wrong, you are just reaching a different audience.

Less likes on a technical blog does not mean it is a bad blog, some are just too specific to get a bigger audience, some are so deep technical that you are not able to justify immediately if it is good or bad. I have documents with 3 times more bookmarks than likes, and I am actually more proud of this late bloomer and long runner than on other seasonal stuff which is just forgotten when the time is over.

And here you actually hit the nerves of the community, many people who feel the same, many who are interested in the opinions of others.

Jelena
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Gareth Ryan wrote:

I blame the parents.

Not sure if it's parents but it does seem that some members just have never matured from the ego-centric point of view that is typical for toddlers. Me-me-me-me, give me an answer ASAP, give me a pat on the back just because I "shared", etc.

henrique_pinto
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

You forgot "give me my EDI field mapping".

LOL, jk, I couldn't resist... XD

Matt_Fraser
Active Contributor
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I like the idea of giving more search weight to more heavily liked answers.  Again, a way to (hopefully) help the cream rise to the top.  Of course, this only works if likes don't earn points, so the likes are genuine and not part of some gaming/cheating.  So, if ideas like this are promoted, so that the likes actually do mean something (besides points), then I might be starting to come around to the idea.

former_member182378
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Gareth,

It is easier to read a novel / story than to read a study journal. Also one can show his creativity, humor etc. in general topics like this...and be sure that it reaches to a big audience (not sure if many are reading posts by others )

Jelena
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Henrique Pinto wrote:

You forgot "give me my EDI field mapping".

Well, just shows I'm only human too.

@Matt - we're coming back around to the 'dislike' option raised by Henrique few pages ago. If we had a 'dislike', it could've balanced out the point-gaming 'likes'. Right now neither likes nor ratings can really serve as an indicator of quality. As Jurgen pointed out, some content is either too "out there" or could just be in a less "inhabited" space.

After struggling for over a year on SCN I ended up using my own mini-network to "vet" the content. There are some authors I'm following that consistently post good stuff. If someone I know liked something, I'd go and read that too. Unfortunately this way I might be missing out on many things, but otherwise dealing with the "noise" just becomes unbearable.

Matt_Fraser
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

That's pretty much what I'm doing too.  When I come across someone who posts smart things in fields relevant or interesting to me, I follow them, and my Activity feed becomes the main source of finding new things for me as a result.  I admit I've had to unfollow one or two folks, even though they write great things, because they simply write too much every day and it's not directly relevant to me.  Yesterday I also made the decision to turn off email notifications on communications updates, admittedly because of the traffic this one discussion thread is generating!  Yet I'm not quite ready to unfollow the thread, as there are some interesting ideas being bandied about.

former_member182354
Contributor
0 Kudos

Fantastic decision!!

Sure some point hunters would be disappointed by this decision.

Raghav

former_member182378
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

In the yesteryear, everyday you login with an excitement...to see how slowly but (almost) surely your points increase! and then the excitement of searching which post (recent or old - nevermind) gave me those 2 points...(if time permits) reading that post and probably the entire thread.

Those days are gone...unlike the ticking of time...points have stood still! Not even a feeble breeze of a 2 point increase.

Anyway...let me wait a little while longer...maybe by some stroke of magic a member would mark my post as helpful or (let me be really optimistic) as correct!

Colleen
Advisor
Advisor
0 Kudos

Anyway...let me wait a little while longer...maybe by some stroke of magic a member would mark my post as helpful or (let me be really optimistic) as correct!

If only! Not to be seen as being right but for members to close out their threads!!!

former_member182378
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Colleen,

Even if the OP has closed the thread, helpful even correct answer can be awarded!

I have awarded helpful answer to one of my closed thread, after the development of the object was done. At the time of initial analysis, a post did not look helpful but in the long run it did help.

Colleen
Advisor
Advisor
0 Kudos

Hi TW

That's good to know... but I'm surmising that an answer has been provided  (or issue resolved) when the "eager" OP goes from urgent and responding quickly to suddenly disappearing from SCN with thread left open. I guess some of this depends on the forum

I am glad the points have been removed from the LIKE status but starting to wonder if they remained for questions so other community members could acknowledge helpfulness when the OP doesn't.

Colleen

Matt_Fraser
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

That's the problem.  Only the OP can award points on the comments, by marking them Helpful or Correct.  Other community members cannot, so if the OP goes silent and fails to properly close the thread, then there is no point reward for helpful answers.  Of course, it was a problem when they could, too, due to the abuses which led to this change, so I don't think there's an easy answer.

Still, helpful answers that acquire likes, while not awarding points, still have the visibility afforded.  Perhaps a system that pushes 'most-liked' answers to the top, similar to how 'helpful' answers are today, might provide more visibility to the best unrewarded answers?

Jelena
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

TW, yes, that's what many members are pointing out - this will hurt the members who are replying to the discussions, especially in the cases when OP doesn't bother to mark any response as helpful. But, unfortunately, that's what the point gamers have been using and there is no way for us to tell which "likes" are genuine and deserved.

Well, I'm guessing we still get likes for the blogs/documents, so you might want to write one and I promise to like it.

Colleen
Advisor
Advisor
0 Kudos

Hi Matt

Maybe each person who has had an active account on SCN (say 1month+) could have a quota of points they can award at discretion for someone's comments/answers in threads? It might be a way to balance out a bit. Though, it's a case of a patching a symptom instead of fixing the cause.

Points aren't that important to me. I only sit on SCN to keep my technical skillset up. But I can see those who like their rankings and progressions. It will be interesting when the topic leaders are announced at the end of the year at the "likes" will reduce for a few people on the rankings. Although, this may not be a bad things as it encourages leaders to start publishing documents, etc.

Cheers

Colleen

former_member182378
Active Contributor
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Colleen,

Exactly, probably this "initiative" would make us authors...let us wait and watch if quality increase or just quantity decreases or any of the other permutations, combinations

former_member182378
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Jelena,

Your posts bring a smile...great skill or should I say talent!

Keep up the good work - Like or no-Like or (probably round the corner) Dislike

Matt_Fraser
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hmm, a quota system... I think you might be on to something here.

bruno_esperanca
Contributor
0 Kudos

Yeah, some forums I participate in have a limited number of "likes" per day.

Could be an idea.

Best,

Bruno

Jelena
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

In CityData forum we can only give 1 reputation point to the same person per day. Wouldn't hurt to create an Idea for "limited likes", although I'm skeptical about Jive's abilities...

Still I'm very curious about the root cause here. Why do these people need all these points? What do they do with them? Seems like too much of an effort for the bragging rights alone...

former_member182098
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

You are right what all we do with these points.

SCN should wipe out all the points at the year end make everybody points to zero.

Now, they will know what they are up to.

bruno_esperanca
Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi Jelena,

Yeah I don't understand what all the fuss is about either. Actually, I know feel a little bit like a "cheater", as newcomers will not get points for liked comments, so if we don't get points when people like your comments anymore, I think those points should be withdrawn.

Best,

Bruno

midhun_vp
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

People with higher points are generally recognized as knowledgeable or contributors. But gamification made a change in this. Those who know about gamification well, can identify real contributors, but those are few. Point cheaters are using the opportunity to become top contributors in few weeks or month. This really discourages the real contributors sometime.

Midhun VP

Former Member
0 Kudos

Quotas are government intervention style systems.

Just bolt the silly points system and focus on quality content.

The noise will take care of itself and knowledgeable content will have more focus.

Cheers,

Julius

moazzam_ali
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi guys.

I just want to know that now when we are not getting points on likes then how do we know which of our post has been liked by someone? Before this we could see that in our reputation page but now how can we check this? Is there a way?

Thank$

JL23
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

go to Activity,

there open the tab for followed activity.

Here you may find a section "Latest Acclaim"

the more recent you got a like the more it is on top of the page

if it is already some time ago, then you may not find it at all among the followed activity.

Alternative you may want to look at your content, section participated.

Here you can see if a thread got a like, unfortunately you have to open it to see if it was for you.

moazzam_ali
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

I have checked it sir and it is working the way you have explained. Although we can see who has liked our post but still it is complicated and lengthy process. There should be some kind of notification bar like we have in facebook or in many other websites. Just click and see who liked your content, when and which content was liked and it can be for bookmarks as well.

Thank$

bruno_esperanca
Contributor
0 Kudos

So, if I like a comment or reply there are no more points?

Wouldn't it make sense to remove all points from liked comments/replies to people?

Regards,

Bruno

srinu_s1
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Really it is welcome decision for some areas.However, because of this we may also lose some valuable documents prepared by experts in their respective technical  Forums, they may feel that when there is no motivation why should we need to waste time.

I feel these likes should not be applicable in technical forums and also those who are giving valuable inputs for the OP question where OP might ignore updating the Tread after he/she is getting the relevant inputs, this is happening with many cases.So in this case at least those who are giving valuable inputs which can be liked by many others even though OP ignores updating the tread with correct answer/helpful answer, at least some other may like the useful inputs so that the real/knowledgeable contributor will get motivated.

I feel if this( no points for likes) can be exceptional for the technical forums would be nice.

Thanks,

Srinu.

Message was edited by: Srinu S

JL23
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Actually this missing feedback from the OP was in some cases the reason for fake users who then had to give the likes to answers where the cheater was the opinion he had given the correct answer.

Maybe an initiative to make the OP aware that he should close his questions as expected could be an alternative 

srinu_s1
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi Jurgen,

Maybe an initiative to make the OP aware that he should close his questions as expected could be an alternative 

Yes the above would be really helpful .

thanks,

Srinu.

Prasoon
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi

nitin_jinagal
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi AKPT,

I would partially agree to this since I'm not sure what actually you intend to say by saying this. Disagree/ Dislike option should be there but it shouldn't relate to the points system again .

Other than that, when you hit Disagree/Dislike to a comment, there would always be arguments over this. Since in SAP, there are many out there (with the experience & data) who would claim it to be true or at least not false.

Therefore, the motto behind it may not put the desired impact but too many new discussions in the SCN.

This is surely required but need to implemented, if considered, very carefully.

ntn

Prasoon
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi Nitin,

   I agree with you and I didnt meant it to relate to points...It should show just number of dislikes / disagree's.

Regards,

AKPT

nitin_jinagal
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

And that makes my partial agreement to full

As I said, this is needed but should be carefully done. Else you wouldn't be able to stop any one from hitting that button. May be a one line mandate statement could do better.

If you disagree, kindly bother to say why?

ntn

Prasoon
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi Nitin,

   It would be really nice!, superb idea. Let the SCN team review it!

Regards,

AKPT

Steffi_Warnecke
Active Contributor
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I think, if you see an answer you think is wrong, it won't help anybody just to press a button to flag it for the OP, because then he won't know what is the actual right answer to his query. ^^

Wrong answers should be corrected and that means if you spot on, answer in that thread and point out what is wrong and what is the correct one. Only this way it's really a help for the OP.

nitin_jinagal
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Very true!! That's why stating a short reason should be a mandate.I said this in my previous post.

Dislike button would have several side-effects if it comes in simpler way, and more discussions would occur in future to get views on the misuse of dislike button.

I read somewhere in the thread about the bunch of jealous & angry people out there. It's like awarding them a silent weapon. Go & hit and take it out!!

In a thread, there could be multiple posters and someone let's say, 11th user comes and hit dislike. Is that Enough? I don't think so!!

Either the latest one is smartest or the earlier ones are not aware.

In both situations, If you don't like it, justify or state a reason so that OP along with other users and poster itself get to know what's wrong with the content.

ntn

Steffi_Warnecke
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Yeah, but why have another functionality with a button and a display and a mandetory comment when you can achieve that right now by just clicking "Reply"?

Former Member
0 Kudos

Hi Nitin,

If possible it is better to have only like and dislike buttons for a blog or document without rating section. Comments section is common. Points for only posting the document/blog.

That blog/document exists only if you get 10 or 15 likes otherwise it will be removed.

Regards

Sudhir Sadhu

nitin_jinagal
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Haha

Then don't just go for Dislike button

If you're thinking of it, you got to think of its repercussions as well. Right??

nitin_jinagal
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

I do not agree Sudhir.

First of all, Rating is something different. It is an anonymous stuff which is given by SCN. I have had discussion over this & I don't find any problem with that (at least none I can think of now)

Other than that, Existence of blog/document on the basis of likes, NO Sudhir!!!

Not every good blog/document receives that much likes, so it doesn't mean it should be removed. No, Not at all.

ntn

Steffi_Warnecke
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Of course. But also about what I want to achieve with it and when I can achieve the same with what is already there, I don't see the need for another button and counter.

@Sudhir:

Uuuuh... you know, a lot of blogs don't get the recognition they deserve, because the topic is too special. That doesn't mean they aren't great and don't deserve to stay here on SCN. Deciding if a blog or document can be deleted just by their count of likes is a sure way of losing good content in specilized areas. Also... what about the great older content from back before likes where introduced. They would also fall under this category and get deleted.

nitin_jinagal
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

That's the best thing to do.

Whenever something is proposed, don't just put it forward. Think, discuss and think again before you make it real.

I don't want it. But If it is on the way, I don't wanna see it alone

ntn

Former Member
0 Kudos

Hi Steffi,

We came to know that the like is misused but coming to ratings we don't know who rated us.

So next there maybe chance of misusing the rating section. As said they may create fake accounts and they may rate themselves and get more points or even some gang also.

That is the reason why I mentioned about this rating section.

Coming to this document/blog section, I am not speaking about old blogs/documents. 

For now on words, for posting the document/blog assume SCN increased the points system. Ex: 20 to 50 points.

That blog/document exists only if you get 10 or 15 likes otherwise it will be removed.

Please exclude the above sentence of mine.

I think we can consider like this:

There will be like and dislike buttons which don't add any points.

If you get 5 or 10 dislikes that content will automatically go for Alert Moderation section.

The respective blog will be reviewed by moderators. If it is useful then that blog/ document exist otherwise deleted.

Regards

Sudhir Sadhu

eduardohartmann
Contributor
0 Kudos
...May be a one line mandate statement could do better.

If you disagree, kindly bother to say why?

And if this gets also possible for likes? So, that "thanks, thank you, et.al" could just be written there, and we could have a filter to get these by mail and to hide them from the threads, if one doesn't like to see them.

The Dislike could be mandatory, as to explain why this opinion - it would prevent to just throw negative flags without saying why, and if there is not a good reason, probably the dislike will be left aside.

Former Member
0 Kudos

This is what makes SCN so unique..!

Better than anything out there.

moazzam_ali
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

So we can use this Like button now without having any interruption from moderators? Thank God

In my opinion points should be hidden for users. SCN should calculate and maintain points on background and show only badges and levels. May be some day they will think about this.

Thank$

former_member182378
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

MoazzaM,

In essence the "Like" button has the same "importance" as before i.e. you like the post! Why now - without points - would you use it differently (initial reaction is to use it without that much thought, as before - for me too.   but I think it is just the initial, short term reaction)

Interesting idea about points to be hidden - this might lead to less transparency and members trying to grab...pluck....snatch points in the "dark"

TW

moazzam_ali
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi TW

I was asked from some moderator not to use like button the way I wanted to use so that is why I was very careful about it. And interesting thing is that if someone else likes your posts and that someone is doing this on his own consent then again you are guilty. Doesn't it sound senseless?

Although points are not important for me but for some some users/moderators it is of immense importance that they see everything with a points eyes and can mis-judge someone just because of this points games. If we hide points and just show badges and current level (Dimond, Gold etc) then it would add value and no one will be running behind points. I am saying this based on my own perception and this is my opinion which may or may not be correct and Laure Cetin could may be think about it.

Thank$

former_member182378
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi MoazzaM,

Thanks! I feel the same problem of points would persist if we have badges (without points), as badges are a higher level of points

In the long run points don't mean anything! (bold statement)

I have seen posts from previous years where posters urge for points (If helpful reward etc.) but those members have left...one time points meant a lot...spending time (toiling) for points...but ultimately...what use does it serve them?

http://scn.sap.com/thread/3298967

And interesting thing is that if someone else likes your posts and that someone is doing this on his own consent then again you are guilty. Doesn't it sound senseless?

Did not understand this remark! You cannot be accountable for other users’ actions. Unless you are indeed the other user (having multiple ids)

Probably you can create a question / discussion, to get this clarified.

moazzam_ali
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi TW

Since like points have been no more there so its useless to open a discussion. I was saying this based on my past experience. Anyways its good to know that we are free from points now at least with Like button

I was part of this discussion which you have shared

Thank$

Former Member
0 Kudos

Yes. Collect it like cyber-dust and then send it to the moon on a CD every now and again...

You should add this to the IdeaPlace as a first start.

Cheers,

Julius

moazzam_ali
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Sir

I am thinking to have a discussion on this in Coffee corner first and I want to see how users think about it. It came in my mind in a sudden but now I think it will improve posts and eliminate noise in SCN forums.

Regards

hasan_ahmed1
Active Participant
0 Kudos

Hope no point system will serve the purpose. 

To be honest as a new comer I wish points reward system would have continue.

former_member184657
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Wooooohooooo!

BenedictV
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Last week the same wooohooo would have got TWO points

former_member182997
Contributor
0 Kudos

Mixed Feelings ... ...
Even not sure to how  like this change ...
But one thing came into notice, the points aggregation has suddenly stabilized..or has become stagnant rather  lolz..

regards,
Aparajit

former_member184473
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Very good change Laure!