So I was thinking .. I did not notice how many points I really had with them split between PTS and ATS (and a debt that was forgiven on my BTS) but now that I see that I have so many..

What the hell am I supposed to do with them?!?!?!

Seriously.. I would have to change my profile around quite a bit.. I may buy access to the Really Above Top Secret site.. though I have been told its not worth it.. I have a lot of extra ATS cash layin around and nothing to buy.... When the profile color change is only 250 points and I have almost 140k ... you see what I mean.

So I was thinking of a constructive way to use points..

We have stars.. ok, thats nice.. we got a star. We don't keep tallies of how many stars we get, we do however with flags.. but flags are not used say "the author did a good job" but usually just a topic that you agree with.

Then there is the Moderators who can applaud, which I think is a great way for the senior staff to say "hey good job you really added value to ATS" ..

But in the end, even an applause is someone opinion..

So I propose this:

Make an option within a post to "member applaud" a user.. a "donation" if you will of ATS or BTS points. If your reading a post, you really like the content, and you have 140k points like me.. donate 250 or 500 to the user who's content you liked so much.

A great and personal way to say "thanks" and "good job" if you will.. and it will give us something to do with these extra points! ... it will create a nice cycle of users gifting points for good threads instead of mass hoarding for no reason.

So the system would be set up with a button, like the star or flag, and a 250 or 500 point donation would be made, then a U2U would automatically be sent says "such and such has commended your work"

No tally or anything like that about how many times someone has commended you.. but your points should tell it all.

Anyone else think this is a good idea?

Or are you all greedy and want to keep your points for your self?

I like your idea. There's no possibility for me to spend all my points and quite frankly I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with them anyway. Once you break 5K for RATS access, everything after that is overkill (not that I want my points taken away ).

If I had the opportunity to give them away...well that would be another story. Sounds like a worthwhile way of giving to charity, sharing the wealth with the less fortunate ATSers without turning this into a communist state. We wouldn't want an equal playing field, would we ?

I like the idea, I know I have more points than I could ever use.
I've bought almost everything the store has to offer, and even spent over 50,000 points on ATS Upload Space.

I don't think a member's kudo should give the recipient 500 points, but maybe 50 points would be a nice gesture for a good post or thread.

Great idea Rockpuck! I really like the star and flag system, but I think this would add great value to the social side of ats. Do you think such member applause should be anonymous?

I don't think it should be tracked like Flags or Applauses.. but I don't think it should be anonymous. I mean, for one, as a recipient, you would want to know.. and then on the other side if your giving a member YOUR points, they should know it was YOU giving YOUR points to THEM. An automated U2U would be the best imo, maybe with the option to add a small bit of text like "I really liked your point on such and such"

I get to give away points every day, but they're not MY points, so it's not as personal. I do like the idea, so if it comes up, I'll support it.

BUT, it would have to be that you couldn't give over X number of points to any person within X time frame. This way there wouldn't be the tendency for some ATS rich person to give a ten thousand point windfall to a troll, just to make a statement. And it should be an automatic 5,000 point loss for giving a "bonus" to a second personna.

But aside from those caveats, I would see no reason this wouldn't encourage new members to post. And it would also build "fellowship" in the ranks, much like the friends list does.

if anyone really wants
you can always give the Points to me, you can never have to much points

just a suggestion

on a serious note cool idea

I guess there would have to be an option, where the person giving the applause could select how many points they would want to give (in reason). I mean a newer member may want to applause a post but may not have enough points to give.. or.. scrap the general point idea and just give a friendly pat on the back! Don't get me wrong i'm not being greedy, I just think i'd appreciate the personal thank you more than the 50 odd points! But either way it's a good idea!

Hey rockpuck. I like that idea. I've seen quite a few great, well-thoughtout, articulate posts that seem to go unnoticed. And I certainly understand that is just the way that it is sometimes. But it would be nice to reward those with more than just a single star.

i like the idea rockpuck

i don't mean to hi jack your thread but this is just something i've been thinking about for a while but never posted a thread about it. this one seems suitable

what if we got points for stars? like a point or two per stars? i think that would be pretty cool too and make sense

I think optional points tied into the amount of the holder, 50-100-200 for us "newbies" with low points and 500-1000-2500 (or what ever) for the more "mature" ATS'r. That is a reward for time in service as well as the ability to keep the points in reason.

this would be most helpful to those that strive for better content.

Can we do the opposite and say here's 50 points for being ignorant.

Just kidding. I like the idea but I don't post enough to get alot of points and was wondering if I could borrow points from someone?

I'm sorry, I'm just in a good mood tonight and hope you all are too! It's a good idea Rockpuck. It just might make members more friendly if they know a member might give them points out of the blue for contributing a good post to our community.

I'd just like to toss in that for every ten dollars you kick into my paypal account, I'll keep applauding you until you have 5000 points and can get that much desired access to RATS without putting in the hard work required of others.

Hell, I'll podcast my points up to a million in a week or so and just turn this into my full time job, selling points on ATS.

I agree that there needs to be some sort out outlet for massive points, being able to pass them off to others could cause some serious drama (IMHO.)

Shades of WoW.....

I envision Asian sweat shops churning out ATS points to resell on the forum.....

Or, you could be like me, aggravate a moderator ever now and then and get points deducted.....it's a no sweat way to get rid of some useless digits.

lol .. MrPenny.. firstly I have had one to many run ins with the mods.. and also, it would take a heeellll of a lot of warns to dent my numbers.. and for some of the members who have far more then I .. well I can just envision that profanity, the vulgarity and utter chaos that ATS would be in if we all chose to anger mods into point deductions..

I think this is a great idea... lets be honest, now that PTS points are gone the points just don't look as cool anymore. Might as well give them away. Kidding.

I agree with anxiety in that the gift should be small (50-75 pts sounds reasonable). This will keep the abuse down and allow the Mods and FSMEs to still dole out the biggest gifts.