@Ozzy What is level 18?

[SEODEV#338055]

@Ozzy

I was sent a notification

You have reached level 18

What does it mean?

Why have I been notified of something which doesn't come with an explanation?

Will I continue to receive notifications for level 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29...............?

 

[Ethan39]

Since the site overhaul in December, we've introduced an achievement and level system which acts as a way to track your involvement on the forum. Measuring how active you've been and recording notable feats which you can proudly display to your peers here on the forum.

We also have a leaderboard in place. Currently, you're in 5th place for XP earned this week:

Leaderboards

www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk

 

[fisicx]

@Ethan39 - but what does level 18 mean. Is there an upper limit? Is there a list showing what you need for each level or is it just random numbers?

 

[Ethan39]

I'm not aware of any imposed upper limit, but the number is stored in our database so there will be an upper limit, likely somewhere in the range of 2147483647.

The levels are earned when you meet a certain threshold of XP, the threshold for the next level can be found on the below page:

Achievements

You can earn achievements by carrying out different actions. This page shows a list of the achievements that are available.

www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk

XP is earned from participating in the forum, with different amounts for different actions. Having a higher number than someone else means that you've participated in the forum more since the introduction of XP.

 

[SEODEV#338055]

Is there a tangible benefit to being level 19 over level 18?

If there isn't, how can I turn off these notifications?

 

[fisicx]

The levels are earned when you meet a certain threshold of XP, the threshold for the next level can be found on the below page:

Achievements

You can earn achievements by carrying out different actions. This page shows a list of the achievements that are available.

www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk

XP is earned from participating in the forum, with different amounts for different actions. Having a higher number than someone else means that you've participated in the forum more since the introduction of XP.

This just means someone with lots of low value posts will get XP and levels but a less frequent but high quality poster won’t. Its a meaningless achievement. Not something to be proud of and display to my peers.

 

[fisicx]

If there isn't, how can I turn off these notifications?

You can disable all notifications in your settings. Makes things a lot quieter. I don’t get any emails or alerts.

 

[SEODEV#338055]

less frequent but high quality poster

Now you're making me blush

 

[SEODEV#338055]

How about you get a free account when you reach a certain level

Not saying paid accounts aren't worth it

I don't have a paid account because I'm not soliciting business here

 

[Ozzy]

Not something to be proud of and display to my peers.

Then again, the Expert and the Upvoted awards might be worthy of some tangible benefits and prizes in the future.

 

[fisicx]

Then again, the Expert and the Upvoted awards might be worthy of some tangible benefits and prizes in the future.

Indeed. But the upvotes need a bit of promoting for them to be something sought after.

 

[UkAppCoder]

XP is earned from participating in the forum, with different amounts for different actions. Having a higher number than someone else means that you've participated in the forum more since the introduction of XP.

Aaah ... okay, now I see!

Split the X down the middle and you get > <, which are the mathematical symbols for 'more than' or 'less than' respectively.

And the P obviously stands for 'Participation', and so we have a score for 'more or less participation' in UKBF!

Deeerrrrr, silly me. As if I shouldn't have realised this in the first place!

Genius algorithm! LOL!

 

[Ethan39]

Aaah ... okay, now I see!

Split the X down the middle and you get > <, which are the mathematical symbols for 'more than' or 'less than' respectively.

And the P obviously stands for 'Participation', and so we have a score for 'more or less participation' in UKBF!

Deeerrrrr, silly me. As if I shouldn't have realised this in the first place!

Genius algorithm! LOL!

Close! XP is a shortening of Experience Points and is a common element of gamification:

Experience point - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A lot of other online communities have similar systems to gauge user engagement. Reddit has Karma, Stack Overflow has Rep, etc.

 

[UkAppCoder]

Close! XP is a shortening of Experience Points and is a common element of gamification:
...
A lot of other online communities have similar systems to gauge user engagement. Reddit has Karma, Stack Overflow has Rep, etc.

Thanks for that, Ethan. Take no notice of me, I'm just another stubborn old git who can't get into this new-fangled terminology!

Anyway, I find that the number of messages posted is enough for me to estimate a member's experience.

 

[Ozzy]

Anyway, I find that the number of messages posted is enough for me to estimate a member's experience.

Oh god no, don't use that as a measure ??

 

[UkAppCoder]

Oh god no, don't use that as a measure ??

Perhaps I wouldn't if I understood how this XP score is calculated; i.e. how it is modeled, or what exactly it is modelling.

All I have right now is a Wikipedia article and something about role playing games, and so it is all pretty much meaningless to me in the context of a set of discussion forums.

I've looked around for some information about it here on UKBF, but I can't find anything.

I assume it must have some importance for your website in terms of increasing the activity which occurs on the site, so I'm not dismissing it out of hand, it's just that I don't understand it.

 

[fisicx]

Oh god no, don't use that as a measure ??

Unfortunately that’s how most of XP seems to be calculated. Unless there is some special sauce xenforo uses to magic up the number.

 

[Ethan39]

Perhaps I wouldn't if I understood how this XP score is calculated; i.e. how it is modeled, or what exactly it is modelling.

All I have right now is a Wikipedia article and something about role playing games, and so it is all pretty much meaningless to me in the context of a set of discussion forums.

I've looked around for some information about it here on UKBF, but I can't find anything.

I assume it must have some importance for your website in terms of increasing the activity which occurs on the site, so I'm not dismissing it out of hand, it's just that I don't understand it.

Almost every action on the platform provides XP. Creating threads, having your post liked by another user, participating in discussions, etc.

At the moment we've done little to tweak the values that these actions provide in terms of increasing your total XP.

The idea is that competing with other users incentivizes users to partake in more activity on the platform in a healthy but competitive way. Alongside the achievements we introduced last year, we're trying to encourage positive engagement with the platform, and the gamification of online communities has been shown to do this.

For the time being XP is effectively just an indication of the raw number of actions a user has ever taken. In the future, we may end up using this for other purposes, but if any changes come into effect you can be sure we'll publicize information about what it means for the community.

 

[fisicx]

The idea is that competing with other users incentivizes users to partake in more activity on the platform in a healthy but competitive way.

Really? Or is it more likely nobody cares about XP. I don't post in a 'healthy but competitive way', I post because I have a question or because I think I can add something useful to a thread.

Some of them don't even make sense: "User created a post on Dia de los Muertos ". How is this relevant to a UK business forum?

 

[Ethan39]

Really? Or is it more likely nobody cares about XP. I don't post in a 'healthy but competitive way', I post because I have a question or because I think I can add something useful to a thread.

The majority of communities these days promote activity using some form of progressive numeric tracking. Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube all use follower counts and push these as a way to recognize success which in turn encourages their users to post high-quality content with the only reward (outside of "influencers" that can earn revenue from the platforms) being an increase in subscribers or likes from users.

Reddit encourages its users to post content using "Karma" a number that increases when a user's content is upvoted and decreases when a user's content is downvoted, hence encouraging them to post content that appeals to Reddit's audience and is more likely to be upvoted. Having a high Karma value is recognized in the community as an accolade of high standing.

UKBF might not be using this as a primary means of driving content, but the benefits of gamification across other online communities are visible and tangible.

For the time being, XP isn't something that our users are really connecting with, and that's fine. If you're not interested in trying to increase your XP there's no need to change your behavior at all, but as an avenue for increasing user engagement we haven't written it off.

 

[fisicx]

The majority of communities these days promote activity using some form of progressive numeric tracking. Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube all use follower counts and push these as a way to recognize success which in turn encourages their users to post high-quality content with the only reward (outside of "influencers" that can earn revenue from the platforms) being an increase in subscribers or likes from users.

Look at how XP is increased on UKBF. I could login everyday, like everything and follow everyone and contribute nothing and still increase my XP. High quality posting is rewarded but only if other members agree and take action (which happens vary rarely).

I don't have a problem with XP if some want to use it as a measure of something but many of the rewards don't seem relevant to a business forum.

 

[Ethan39]

Look at how XP is increased on UKBF. I could login everyday, like everything and follow everyone and contribute nothing and still increase my XP. High quality posting is rewarded but only if other members agree and take action.

I don't have a problem with XP if some want to use it as a measure of something but many of the rewards don't seem relevant to a business forum.

I agree with all of this, as XP stands it's not having a measurable impact on how users interact with the platform.

The point is that XP is a very small part of what we're doing on UKBF and isn't something we're actively working on or indeed relying on to drive engagement.

XP and achievements do have the potential to drive the userbase forwards, but only if nurtured and managed in the right way. At the moment we've introduced it and left it alone.

In the future, perhaps we'll do more with the system and perhaps we won't, but as it stands it isn't in our focus at the moment and isn't scheduled to be addressed anywhere in the foreseeable future.

I do appreciate the feedback though, I think we're on the same side in terms of how the XP system is currently working and its lack of impact, I just believe that there's more we could do with it in the far future.