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Thoughts about members drawing from FW & PL

Discussion in 'Forum Owners' started by fr0z3n, Jul 13, 2015.

  1. fr0z3n

    fr0z3n New Member

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    I am noticing that several of my members are presently active and getting posting credit from both PostLoop and The Forum Wheel.

    What are the thoughts and concerns of other forum owners to be paying twice for content? How are you handling this and do you only run one service as active at one time?
     
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  2. KenBrace

    KenBrace Well-Known Member Administrator

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    If we had access to PL's database then we could engineer a system that would prevent users from subscribing if they already had an active subscription to that site on PL. They would have to either cancel their PL subscription or be unable to earn credits via TFW.

    But unfortunately we can't access PL's database (for obvious reasons). So it is more or less left up to the site owners to ensure that members aren't getting double credit.

    One idea is to place a note in your rules list stating that double subscriptions are not allowed. You can only post via TFW or PL and not both at the same time. If you already have an active PL subscription then you'd have to unsubscribe before subscribing via TFW. You can also state that if a writer is caught using two active subscriptions at the same time then they'll get a low rating.

    It might be possible to design a system that allows forum owners to create a list of usernames that are already posting for other sites. Writers from TFW would then be unable to subscribe via the usernames on that list. So they could either create a new account on the forum or transfer their current account. If they want to transfer from PL to TFW then they could submit a removal request for that username block and the forum owner could then delete that username from the blocked list and ban the user's subscription on PL. This would ensure that no one is getting credited on both sites. The only problem is the inconvenience of having to list the usernames of all your PL subscribers. If we could find a fast way to import the names then that would be great.

    What are everyone's thoughts on the above idea?

    Are there any other suggestions?
     
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  3. fr0z3n

    fr0z3n New Member

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    I have actually just added a custom user field that only the staff can access. It lists the affiliation of the member regarding pay-to-post services. I did this to narrow down Notices to this group. In this way, we can check if a member is already registered using PL or TFW. Of course, by using a different email address on the two services, this can be circumvented.

    For now it seems that it comes down to your comment above about adding text to the rules section. Thanks!
     
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  4. KenBrace

    KenBrace Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Since you already have paid-to-post user groups set up then I could design a custom script for your site that would block users from subscribing via a PL account. Let me know if you'd like to take that route and we can discuss the details in a PM.

    All we would have to do is block subscriptions linked to accounts under the "PL" user group. It wouldn't matter what their Forum Wheel email address was.
     
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  5. Fawk

    Fawk Well-Known Member

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    I have an excel sheet with a formula to detect duplicates based on 2 criterias:

    1. PL & TFW usernames
    2. PL & TFW forum usernames

    It's a tedious in the beginning because I have to copy each and every username and put it into my excel sheet. If a username is a duplicate, it means I'll be paying twice for a post. I will then contact the writer and explain this and I give them an option to use whichever site they earn more on. All writers that are subscribed to both TFW and PL have responded positively.

    I don't want to block PL users from subscribing to my forums via TFW. They may earn more from TFW so that's a decision for them to make.

    @KenBrace, would it be possible to create something so we can import the exported list from PL then match the forum usernames and perhaps put an icon or some shit to show its a duplicate?

    Below is an example of the exported data.

    3,example_forum_username_1,Active,2015-04-17 14:43:45
    4,example_forum_username_1,Active,2015-04-17 18:49:21
    7,example_forum_username_1,Inactive,2015-04-18 02:17:59
    5,example_forum_username_1,Active,2015-04-18 09:53:34
     
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  6. KenBrace

    KenBrace Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Great idea. That certainly would be possible. I will start on the development process as soon as I can.
     
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  7. Fawk

    Fawk Well-Known Member

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  8. KenBrace

    KenBrace Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Not yet. There are currently around ten new features on my list that need to be developed so it might take a while. Thanks for the reminder though.
     
  9. KenBrace

    KenBrace Well-Known Member Administrator

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    I think it's time I began work on this project. Will try to have it complete within a few days at most.
     
  10. Fawk

    Fawk Well-Known Member

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    Long overdue if you ask me, you've been slacking Ken :p
     
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  11. KenBrace

    KenBrace Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Yep, it's time I got back on my toes with this. I've still got a bunch of new features to work on after this one. Hopefully I can get them all knocked out in the next couple of weeks.
     
  12. KenBrace

    KenBrace Well-Known Member Administrator

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    I'm finished with most of the work. Just need to develop the notification features and it should be complete. Hoping to finish by tonight.
     
  13. Jattitude

    Jattitude Member

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  14. KenBrace

    KenBrace Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Thanks for letting me know. That user is currently not subscribed to any other forums. I sent the user a warning so hopefully it won't happen again.
     
  15. Jattitude

    Jattitude Member

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    I didint send this user any messages or warning, simply removed his ID from PL and let him work here. It makes sense for me to do that :)
     
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  16. Kaynil

    Kaynil Well-Known Member

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    Well... as a new user I have concerns.

    You see, long ago I made an account in Post Loop and I used this same account name. Kaynil is basically my online nickname to go. However it never crossed my mind that there might be forums repeated in both sides. I am avoiding to use Kaynil in the communities themselves as I've noticed usernames of people that can recognise me just as easy as I spotted them. Considering the wide variety of communities, I want to be able to open up without worrying too much. The link between those usernames and Kaynil stays between the employers (forum owners, the loops and wheels) and myself.

    I honestly think it is very crappy people would try on purpose to cheat the system by trying to subscribe with the same account in both sites in order to be paid twice for the very same posts. I agree that should as much as possible be cracked down. It is no fair. Maybe as something of mutual interest, the PL might be interested in cooperate in a shared system that check both databases to avoid this.


    Reading all this has got me thinking: What if a user makes two different accounts? So their NickA is subscribed PL and their NameB is subscribed to TFW. This means the user would still have to fill the proper quota of each service. They would be paid once for each post and in the community itself it would look like two accounts. Would this practice be frowned upon?

    At this time I have no intention to do the above scenario, I can barely keep up with one account and I am slow poster, but I thought it would be worth to throw the doubt in the air, to benefit other people having the same thought and to cover another possible hole of being a writer simultaneously working for both, the PL and TFW. As a beginner in paid posting services the last thing I would want to do is to risk clipping my wings for something stupid like this. It is not worth it when you have other forums you could join instead.

    As a writer I think the right thing to do is not to join twice the same site.
     
  17. Jattitude

    Jattitude Member

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    I won't have a problem with such a user.
     
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  18. Kaynil

    Kaynil Well-Known Member

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    Thank you for responding.

    I've been thinking a bit more on this, as a writer and prospect member it is imperative that before I even consider the idea, I check out their forum rules in case they mention anything against having multiple accounts. We shouldn't just suppose we can be on top of their rules for being paid; we're blending in and as such we should accept them before joining..

    I suppose if something like this was to happened, it would be a good practice to talk with the forum owner before proceeding, and have them decide if they are fine with you doing that. It is their community so they should be fully aware of your intentions, since you're going to be paid for it with their credits.
     
  19. KenBrace

    KenBrace Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Most forum owners want you to do this.

    So no, it definitely wouldn't be frowned upon.
     
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