If we are going to have a points system, why not use it as a currency?
I got this idea from Stackoverflow: Basically, if you have a question you want answered, you can put a bounty up for it from your own points.
Why not have a system like that here?
If I were a newbie, who have only 10 points.
What should I do when I have a question to be answer?? ???
Will I be able to get any help??
What’s the point?
I’m mainly talking about slightly more involved questions. Not just typical questions, but maybe those that require some real expertise to solve. If someone wanted to work their way up to MVP, for example, they could pretty quickly just by answering as many questions marked with a bounty as they could.
The idea is good, but this is about helping each other with a great product, not becoming a MVP. 
I have a better idea. When someone ask how to do x, you can add code snippet to the code exchange for them. This will help him and will give you points
It’s not always going to require a code snippet though, and that code may not be the right way to go about it either. The bounty would only go to the “best answer” such as the MS forums have, ExpertSexChange… i mean experts-exchange, stack overflow and other sites have.
This way, people who make valid contributions to the forums and help users get more points, and those who make lots of useless posts to get points will still get points, however it will occur more slowly.
As users become more experienced they’d start receiving points rather than giving them out to get questions answered.
not sure about this but i still like the "thank you " points
Thank you points would be along the same lines. Maybe it should take a minimum of 2 “thank yous” for points to be given?
I still don’t get it. We all love FEZ. We all try our best to help everyone who comes along. Why should we get points for that? We are doing it for the community
I think you are getting the community and the company mixed up. The company is GHI, the community is ALL of the NETMF forums.
We get points for participating here because we help support their products, in the return they give us points which translate into extra privileges.
It’s a very nice system, but some times I wish I could bounty off 500 points or so to get some chunk of tedious coding done when I don’t have time to do it myself. 
Yes you are right… I still see this as a community too though…
Everyone here is so nice and always helping each other or ghi (tinyclr) the best they can… ;D
GHi definitely does their part to maintain and contribute to the community, just as Secret Labs…
The GHI guys impresses me time and time again.
I have no experience with the people over at Secret Labs. I while back i got this message on a youtube video;
[quote]I see that you are doing some pretty awesome stuff using .NET Micro Framework. Very cool.
I thought I’d drop you a note and see if you’d like a free Netduino (normally $35). It’s the first 100% open source electronics platform using .NET Micro Framework. I’d love to see what you could put together with it.
If you’re interested, just send us an e-mail at … or respond to this message.
Either way, keep up the great work!
The Netduino Team @ Secret Labs LLC[/quote]
I responded and said that I would very much like one and sent them my address. Haven’t heard a word sins then…
that’s just awful marketing 
They also offered me a Netdunio Plus when it was first announced to be part of their public beta. I was trying to buy a Netduino regular off them at the same time however found that they’d go from replying instantly to my messages to not replying at all. I’ve sort of given up. I have 2 dominos, 4 pandas, and now i have Panda Tinkerer, Chipworkx and Mini + robot kit on the way from GHI… Netduino certainly have a well presented product as far as their website and packaging but GHI’s offerings are so much more powerful (look at ChipWorkX).
As another idea for Points Exchange. Perhaps a code included with each device that would get the user $x*5 points (where product value is x… so a panda would get you 175pts) when the registered on the website. This would:
a) get people knowing that TinyCLR is here to help - increasing the size of the community
b) give users some points to get started on so they can use the points in the points exchange.
c) give people a reward for buying a GHI product
1000 full colour glossy flyers printed in china or india with a randomised code would only cost a few cents per flyer.
Existing members could send a photo of a code or QR Code (downloaded from the website) printed out with a photo of their GHI devices to get additional points.
Sending out a little info sheet with each device could also double as a quick reference guide and mention to people about the ebook and such too. This may help people get into FEZ faster. An A5 size flyer would be fine, it wouldn’t even need to be double sided. Alternatively, a sticker with the code could be made and GHI could start using boxes for their products - the sticker would then be attached.
[quote]I responded and said that I would very much like one and sent them my address. Haven’t heard a word sins then…
[/quote]
For balance, I’d like to say that I do not share your experiences. Both Gus Issa from TinyClr and Chris Walker from SecretLabs have been very responsive in their communication and generous with their gifts.
@ MarkH, points for evangelizing the product is a good idea.
When GHI were busy with maker faire, i had a pretty hard time getting a hold of them, but no problem getting SecretLabs… now i can get GHI quickly and easily - but will get 2-3 emails/PMs back and forth to secret labs then they just don’t respond. I want to support their products with my code but it’s not easy…
It’s not so much points for evangelising, but points for buying their product to get you going. Power users may not need help very often, so wouldnt bother looking for this site, but could be great assets this this community. Beginners may need help but don’t know where this site is. People like free stuff… “get 250 GHI points for buying this product” may sound good to people and get them to come and take a look.
And besides - I’m going to get so overweight sucking this lollypop!!
(Oh for another 380 points) :>