Question

Proposal by @inkyvoyd and @Disco619 :
All medals are created equal, but some are more equal than others.

tl;dr of why we should implement this: If we encourage users to give out answers quickly without good explanations, the users that prosper are not the ones that take time to make openstudy better, but the ones the harm both the openstudy ideals and the asker themself.

Answer 1

@yasmin123 " i spent thrity minues typing up a answer an guy come in at the last second answer the question and gets the medal"

Answer 2

there should be places where people can get plain old awnseres.....and plain old explantions but the explanations are worth more

Answer 3

I have spent hours explaining one guy something. At the end, what i get is 1 medal.

On the other hand, a person comes and just Speaks out the answer. He gets a medal in 5-10 secs without any explanation.

A worth of a medal according to how many times we wrote in the thread and were helpful perhaps?

Answer 4

I agree. I think that medal scoring should be OPEN, and based off of the amount of times BOTH parties reply to a thread, and the amount of TIME both parties spend ENGAGED in the thread.

Answer 5

that way, if a person asks 10 questions in 3 minutes and give out 10 medals, they might only be worth as much as if a person asks 1 question in 1 hour and gives out one medal.

Answer 6

also there should be a limit to people answer a question

having 5 people racing to answer a question justnot cool esppecilly to smart people who type slow and people should all explain there answers as well otherwise we can't tell if there right or wrong i saw someone get a medal once for a wrong answer.

Answer 7

For example:

http://openstudy.com/users/violabra000#/updates/52a41f27e4b0256dd09825dc
I spend a whole day explaining this poor guy something. And even though I got 5 medals. If I had got only 1 medal from the person who asked, would it be worth it?

Answer 8

and there is also multiple people awnsering so you should be able to give multiple medals like a first place......second place and a third place and there are all diffrent points

Answer 9

How I answer questions is with COMPLETE Diagrams, maybe repeating a Diagram again and again changing variables. Explaining out all the Aspects of the Problem so the person who asked understands it. And this takes me like 10-15 mins to write it all. In the mean time, people come in, write something like...

An example: x=10/5, x=2

And to some people this is confusing as hell. Dozens of people come in and do that. In the mean time im a sitting duck explaining out everything.

Answer 10

unrealistic idea

Answer 11

^ pretty much. There seem to be a lot less updates now that the developers are significantly less active than they used to be.

Answer 12

How about a rating system instead? Like, rate answers instead of giving medals. Or give medals with ratings.

Answer 13

It would take a while to make this update. I am speaking of at least a couple of months.

Answer 14

Although, for sure it's a good idea!

Answer 15

Hi,

Here at OpenStudy, we don't work for medals, fans, or testimonials. We believe that everyone deserves help, and you should do your best to asset the situation. Selflessness will ultimately be rewarded, in one way or another.

Everyone should help one-another, it is not the moral or ethical thing, nor the just and righteous. It is not a problem that can be solved with numbers and figures. We should all help one-another not in that sense, but in the unity of humanity.

I never ask for medals; nor any type of reward. We just help, and be a good person. all you need is a little motivation and compassion.



OpenStudy Ambassador; Compassionate.

Answer 16

@Compassionate , if we don't work for medals, then why can we award people medals? And if we can award people medals, why should the system champion answer snipers? You are providing a non sequitur to this discussion, unless you propose that we take out medals altogether.

-all you need is a little motivation and compassion-
This is a great line, but has nothing to do with what we are saying.
We are saying that GIVEN the CURRENT EXISTING MEDAL SYSTEM, maybe we could IMPROVE it, or like you suggested, take them away since all we need is motivation and compassion.

While we're at it, let's take away money, because capitalism is unnecessary. HEY I GOT AN IDEA LETS EQUALLY DISTRIBUTE OUR WEALTH AND HAVE THE MODERATORS DO IT.

Seriously man, don't plop irrelevant honeyed criticism of a post if you don't expect the same >.>

Answer 17

If you don't get a medal, don't sweat it! Move on to the next question, you'll get plenty of medals if you use the site enough. It never crosses my mind to get a reward for helping a user, and honestly, I wouldn't care if this was an Anonymous Image board where I'd never be known and never have any stats, I'd still help.

With that line, I was saying that, people should be motivated by their compassion and care, and not their desire for statistics. I get medals routinely for just being myself - and I'm sure you do, too. Sometimes I may spend 15-20 minutes writing a response, and no one even looks at it. But that's all fine, because I know one student will Google the same answer, and find my response, and he may find it very helpful. Who knows, he might even sign up for OpenStudy!

I feel we should just all help each other instead of playing, "she did, he did." I've been here two years, and I can honestly say, that the greatest award is the feeling you get when you've really helped a student, and students to come. :)


Cheers ~

Answer 18

@Compassionate , you are not being relevant to the discussion, nor "compassionate" to the cause. I would suggest you reread what we are trying to say if you have something to add. I hate to be so blunt, but we aren't talking about not getting medals. We are talking about properly awarding people for helping.

I would like to be able to give someone a better medal if they spend more time helping me than if they spend less time helping me. We aren't playing "she did, he did", and I REALLY do not like your passive aggressive attitude towards our discussion.

If everybody could give another free food, we wouldn't have world starvation. Yet we do. I wonder why incentives exist in this world.

Answer 19

It really breaks my heart that people like to watch their brethren suffer. I donate to several charities to feed children in the Middle East and Africa :(.

Re-routing to what I was saying, no one deserves more than anyone else. I feel it's a cool idea, yes, and if implemented then it would help some users who feel the need for such, but, like @Ashleyisakitty , it may not be implemented due to it's complexity. Several algorithms would have to be written, and to be frank, it's not a huge issue currently.

I understand your stance quite well, and I'll repeat myself over and over if I must, but no one is entitled to a medal, nor is it a requirement. I can also see this system being abused easily. The user could just make a lobby of several users, and each of them just copy and paste a response, or sit on the question for awhile, talking or having fun, and then the OP gives someone a medal.

To be honest, if anyone would stay in a thread for awhile, they're eligible for a your "medal system," even if they're trolling.

I just feel this is unnecessary. Please - don't attack me with ad-hominems, instead address the central point of my argument. In Laymen's, we should all help one-another because we're compassionate and kind, and expect absolutely nothing out of it. If you get a medal, awesome! If you don't get one, move onto the next question and be eager to help! :)

Answer 20

Thank you for finally discussing the topic that I have wished to address

As for the ad hominems, I hope they bring a point about the red herrings :)

Answer 21

Haha, sorry if I was vague before. Anyways, I hope you argue your central point with the developers, and get your idea implemented! :)


Best of luck!

Answer 22

>and honestly, I wouldn't care if this was an Anonymous Image board where I'd never be known and never have any stats, I'd still help.

>anonymous image board

>5chin

Answer 23

pls

Answer 24

k

Answer 25

Medals are already weighted differently. Medals from the person who answered the question, or from a highly ranked user or expert in a subject, are worth more. And the ranking system actually gives only token merit to medals - most of the actual level advancement on the site is from other metrics more reflective of the quality of interaction between each pupil and tutor.

So yes, the student-tutor pair who list through ten multiple choice questions in ten minutes get some cred for it. But they get a lot less than the student-tutor pair who spends ten minutes working through the same problem.

Answer 26

Thank you for the information @blues .