Sorry i have blew it up now but i can’t stand it anymore, i can’t stand with the cheating that is happening there in the intros, i have been monitoring this for a long time & i have been quiet about it & it is damn pissing me off so now it is gone too far so stop with the cheating there dammit!!!
I might as well just stop doing intros now due to this as this is frustrating & irritating 
Care to elaborate Phats?
Phat I sent you a PM - but if you think something is wrong send Tisha a PM and explain what you think is going on.
If it deals with “short” responses - one or two lines - Tisha has said before they will not count.
I agree with daddkins, you should tell tish about it, I think tish told me that they could see what the member “editted” (something along those lines), I don’t remember. But yea, they should get caught lol
Very inappropriate for you to post this. I think you owe an apology
Phat, I’ve seen how many points you have. Free points. Points that allow you to redeem for FREE PRODUCT. I’m not about to point fingers at anyone, but it is the height of tackiness to complain about something that’s free.
I’m thankful for receiving the points I got, though I’m not entirely sure why I was given them. If I’ve helped someone out here it’s because the posts I’'ve responded to have inspired me enough to offer advice, help, thoughts, and opinions on, and not for personal gain.
Show a little maturity, guy. It’s not the end of the world, for one thing, and making these accusations publicly only makes you like an entitlement jockey.
-D4
Sorry, but I’ve got to agree with Steve and Jon.
What are you doing m*onitoring *threads? Did Jasmin or Steve make you a moderator? Or do you just feel that you have the right to undermine their authority?
I believe that you owe Jasmin, Steve and Tisha an apology, as well as all the members that you have accused of trying to cheat the system.
If you are in the intros section racing other members for the first response bonus points that’s your business. If you’re not happy with something that’s going on in the forum then you should be sending PM’s to Steve or Tisha, not publicly ranting about it and making accusations!
I did go through the last 60 new member intros just to see what might be going on though, and I did not see a single intro where you got beat out of reward points because someone edited their post.
What I did notice is that your welcomes are all short and except for a few intances damn near could have been copied and pasted. Even the smilies were the same, but I had to delete 6 of them because you can only place 8 in each post. Let’s have a look at a few:
Re: Hi from Cali
Re: I am new and somewhat skeptical but
Re: wooohooo a whole new line of thinking
Re: Hello from the nations capital
What exactly is the problem PS?? I can’t see no problem…
I’ve just browsed through some intro threads - from 5 threads where you’ve posted something you were 3 times one of the first three…
Is that still not enough money?? The one time in the last months that I got some points for welcoming you gathered 55$ in 2 weeks!!
If you are that greedy and do it only for the money anyway, I’d say stop greeting all together - the forum won’t crash down because you’re not posting for free products anymore!
i dont see anything wrong with venting,kiddo.
it can be frustrating on a forum where we rely on typed words to tell others what could easily be said with a glance.
frustration comes from knowing your part ,what you are doing,
and not knowing/understanding what the others are doing.
i think its in your best interest to contact someone who works on the forum rather than post here,
simply because clarification will not come from the source your looking for.
you are a great contributor to the forum
and also happen to have alot of stuff going on in your life right now.
with that said,
try to be patient
and allow this to work itself out
I’ve got a suggestion that might just ease this race for points a little:
There’s this new function where the newbie can nominate the reply that he thinks has helped him most, right? Why not screw the ‘the first three decent helpful replies get some reward points’ rule and give some points to the writer of the post that is nominated for the best answer?
This would make sure that the ones replying really can think about the best options for the newbie rather than trying to be among the first three.
Unfortunately only few of the newbies make use of the nomination function - maybe a nomination for the best reply could be made a precondition for the GC?
This isn’t the first time that this issue has come up - maybe this suggestion is worth to be thought about…
I really like Bubblebob’s suggestion… it would work even better if the GC’s could be handed out but were somehow linked to that user’s intro thread - upon trynig to use the GC the system would ask the user to choose the best answer from their intro thread.
First responder always goes to the “best answer”
There’s a newbie who posted 25 minutes ago, MFG welcomed him about 10 minutes later, Jamesbonded has just made the second reply, some 20 or so minutes after the thread was started. Doesn’t seem to be much of a race despite there being 20 or so people online ( plus those that choose to hide their ID when online) who regularly post welcomes.
Yes, if a newbie posts an intro, I will respond to it, if I get reward points for doing so then all the better, isn’t that the whole point of the points system? Sometimes, if they haven’t given enough information, my welcome will consist of saying hello and pointing them to the gift certificate thread, perhaps I should just recommend they buy A314 and Ammo without bothering to try to find out what they want.
I have to agree with bubblebob regarding points for best answers though, aren’t we supposed to be about quality, not quantity?
Now, a couple of times yesterday, I posted replies to introductions, when I hit the submit button, for some reason, only half the post appeared, so I went back in and edited to fill in the missing portion. If that is what PS has referred to, then I’m going to have to take issue.
Besides which, as has already been mentioned, if a welcome post isn’t long enough, Tisha and Steve will not include it when calculating points.
This is a global forum. Most of the people are on at different times, now suppose I got upset because JB was still online at 5am in his timezone and started replying to intro threads when it should be the ‘turn’ of the Europeans. Equally, BH, MFG, data4 could also get annoyed because I’m online at OMG it’s late and it’s their ‘turn’. Then again, I don’t think MFG ever sleeps 
Guess what, Lukester got a shitload of points this month, I never see him online, shall I sulk?
Phatsounds, I know you’re having it a bit rough at the moment, I’ve been there myself and it sucks, don’t take it out on the guys and girls on here 
I most definetly think you should sulk Diamond… I think that would be an interesting sight
Sleep is for the weak, my good man! I inject caffeine directly into my body, it saves on the processing time… No, but seriously, i actually salute people who take the time to answer responses at odd hours, since it’s obvious that SOMETHING has them up that late, and they are still trying to help out. For me there are no turns, although i do know when different people are more likely to post… Diamond posts in the mornings, while James posts late night or early early morning (from my timezone, at least). And since i can’t be up ALL the time, it helps to have people willing to respond at different times, so no new member goes unloved.
As for the best answer reward idea, it has some merits, but some definite drawbacks as well. I mean, there are people who nominate themselves… i’d be willing to bet that would happen more if we gave the points to the nominated post. And look how many answered posts Tisha has, for goodness sake! No one would EVER get reward points with her around. 
But i do agree that taking the time to actually greet a new member is very important and is THE spirit of these points. I’ve been so busy trying to get ready for this Orlando seminar, schoolwork, work-work, etc. that i haven’t had close to enough time to actually read and respond to some of these new members. So you know what? I let them go. I figure someone else deserves the points if they can take the time, ya know? So be scared if i ever DO have the time, since i don’t answer all the ones i could… 
But i think before we have any more uproar over this matter, maybe we should come to realize it’s possible there was a misunderstanding here. Like diamond mentioned, there have been some forum flukes lately that may have been misinterpreted. So let’s all chill a little and give Phat the benefit of the doubt. If something is really wrong, he’ll tell Steve or Tisha and they’ll fix it. If not, it was a mistake, and we all make them.
Well, not me…
Ok i realised that’s what you guys said there make sense so i’m sorry to Lady Tisha, Lady Jasmin & Mr Steve for my actions there. Once again i repeat i’m sorry to you guys. I’m not in any position to tell you guys off there. I’m also sorry to anyone who i accused of but those who have done it, you know yourself.
And i have make my decision not to do any more intros anymore as i don’t want to cause any more conflict & i’m sick of this situation. I will be still posting my reports or my opinions in the other sections there
That is all i got to say now…
Yeah - we’ve been meaning to talk to you, Diamond, about cutting into “our time” but we did not want to cause an international row or tea party or anything.
And do not try any legal jargon. We still keep tar, feathers and rails handy …
BTW - on a serious note here - speaking of our good cousins across the pond - anyone heard from Emmie lately? Just when I was getting used to all the ink …
Lors right, about venting, that is OK. I have no issue there at all and I think some members now are also taking this a bit far. Yes I do absolutely enjoy your posts and want you to continue to be an active member on the forum. I think some members owe you an apology now about some comments.
That is what I am talking about. Its the spiral down that a thread like this will take. A broad statement like this makes it seem like most members are cheating. Tisha has handle of it, I assure you. But all of a sudden the members who are doing a good job think OMG he’s talking about me. Then someone accuses someone else, then words are heated. A thread like this can take only one direction.
That is not the idea and design of a forum with so many valuable members. We care about each other. I’m not mad at you Phat at all. I just want you to be proactive and respond. Reactive minds are those who act on bad habits. Responsive minds respond on deep thought and a place of higher understanding. I appreciate you apologizing and would love for you to contact me so that we can better monitor the system. Especially if you have suggestions.
Phat
For one Steve is correct, This is not the venue to vent your displeasure. Since I am in charge of the GC area you should have contacted me or Steve for that matter since he is technically my boss. (Don’t let it go to your head Steve LOL)
You are one of the highest point earners in the forum. How may I ask are people cheating ? I can not help you if I do not know what the problem is. I went over this with the frequent responders before. If you have a issue you do not post it on the forum and you do not confront the member in question. Report it to me and I will do it.
Send me a PM and tell me who it is that’s cheating and I will look into it. Keep in mind posting faster then you. Spending all your time in the intro section, Not giving a recommendation you agree with etc etc is not considered cheating. Another thing I would like to point out is that every member who responds in the first three doesn’t get points. Sometimes they don’t qualify but I am not going to announce it so everyone knows and embarrass them. I deal with it privately and then if they don’t correct the problem I post a PB in the edit section of their post. This indicates “points bypass”. New members just learning get some leeway till they learn more. Half the time they don’t even know about the points bonus until I point it out. They are just giving back to the community. I wait to post last and correct anything the new person is not sure of or has been mistaken with. Many times people think I am being critical but I am doing my “job”.
All in all the members do a excellent job and I am happy and grateful to have them there helping me.
This would not work or be fair. Many times the best answer is not really the best answer. I can tell you having 48 or so myself that a lot of them are just because I give the GC out. Many new members just vote for the first person who answers them or gives them the answer they want to here. There are new members who have voted for themselves.
The system is fine as it is and it works. Yes its competitive at times. Yes there are those who spend most their time up there and rarely post in the forum itself. If I were to change it I would limit the amount of points one member can earn in a month. This will give other members a chance to answer the posts as well. Perhaps when Steve returns I will go over that with him and see if its possible. I know I can manage it on my end with no problem.
Tisha
How about limiting how many first responder bonuses a member can get to a percentage of their total posts in any given period?
That would insure that people aren’t lingering and posting only in the New User forum, while still allowing folks like Bosshank, who is extremely active and posts all over the place and all the time, not to be penalized for greeting to many new users.
Naaa, it’s because of your avatars Tish!