Re: [UG-ADMINS] Karma System

A while back, the idea of community "badges" sounded appealing to me, but
after giving it a lot of thought, I'm not so sure it will work well at the
local level.

We have a duty as user group leaders to ensure that people feel welcome at
our groups and to understand that each person participates at the level
they feel comfortable. Just because someone participates at a "lower" level
than us doesn't make their participation insignificant.

Over the years, I have seen people who have only attended one or fewer
meetings a year, who have lurked on the mailing list and IRC, posting very
little (if at all). Yet, that passive participation still makes them feel
like they are a part of the group; it is still THEIR group. They often read
the messages and follow along, even if they don't appear active to us.

I like having these people as members of the group. I want to encourage
them to be more active, but even if they choose not to become more active
(according to my definition of "active"), they should not be punished for
their passive involvement. I think gamifying the user group would hurt
their involvement and they may see it as a punishment for participating in
their own way.

This has led to a loose definition of "membership" for me. In fact, I try
to keep it as loose as possible. In short, if you're signed up for the
mailing list (or Meetup.com, or the forums, or whatever), then you're a
member. It's that simple. (It also means I don't have to worry about
defining what an "active member" is.)

Just my $0.02. :-)

Cheers,
Ben