Dear ITalki Community,
You probably have noticed that there're points on Community Activities (you could only see it on the website version). I assume that it shows how active you are in writing notebooks, asking questions, and bringing up topics. It would also display how active you are in correcting notebooks, answering questions, and taking parts in others' discussion.
I was thinking, what if the points used as filters? Here is my idea on how the system would work:
(1) 10 points for writing notebooks, 20 points for each correction, 5 points for an upvote.
(2) 5 points for asking questions, 10 points for each answer, 5 points for an upvote.
After getting a certain amount of points, then one could have some privilege, like:
(1) one or two postings on a discussion forum.
(2) one or two personal messages to the language partners (limited to the selections of one's the target languages)
What about the teachers and tutors? They certainly get the privilege to post on a discussion board.
Once again, this is only my imagination.
What is your idea of using ITalki's Point?
Brilliant minds think alike.
Just yesterday I was thinking about italki's point system.
I thought:
- What's the point of the point system?
- What's the purpose of the point system?
- What's the reason for tracking activities?
- What's the intent?
- What's the benefit to the italki member?
I have ~72,000 italki points
Does that mean that I'll get a free pizza or maybe a free piece of pizza?
Inquiring minds need to know...
The fact is that the point system only shows how active someone has been on the site, so it's not surprising to see that Su.Ki. has 293,000 points
I like your idea of putting italki points to good use. I also wrote about it in another discussion.
@Adam
I think the video introduction is a nice idea. Turning italki points into italki credits would be nice but since that would italki cost money, they won't do it. But I could imagine that one could become a premium member for a certain time with a certain amount of italki points. Wouldn't cost italki a thing but would give an active user the advantages of a premium membership.
@Richard
Extremely helpful users like Su.Ki deserve some free classes though. There can't be many users who have that many italki points. Unfortunately, the most active German corrector has abandoned italki long ago. Back in the days when the old italki website still had the rankings, he was not only the corrector with the most German corrections but also the most accomplished of all correctors. He even surpassed the busiest English correctors. He definitely deserved a reward.
Edited for ridiculous typos.
Adam
I like your idea of exchanging a certain number of points into credits. There's one thing you should consider. If postings and messages were also counted, then there's a possibility by merely writing hundreds of partner requests and flirtatious messages would easily get the advantage of it.
Any further suggestions?
Free trial classes would be nice but users might abuse the system and only take trial classes, jumping from teacher to teacher. And if the student doesn't book a class with the teacher after the trial it means a financial loss and waste of time for the teacher. Many teachers depend on their income via italki. The OOPT is a standardised test and I guess every institution that offers it has to pay a licence fee. I saw that several European universities offer it now and the testing fee for taking the OOPT at a university ranges from 15€ to 30€.
