Do you prefer quality or quantity when it comes to forum interaction?

So Ive been browsing this forum for the past few days and trying to get myself to user group level 2 and I keep coming across this same feeling - that this forum prioritizes quantity of engagements over quality of engagements, and I think your credit system is the reason for this. Without bias, I would like to discuss this with fellow forum users to see what everyones thoughts are on whether or not the forum is better for this.

Ill start off by giving my opinions.

I understand why the credit system is implemented in this forum, and I understand why engagement is being so prioritized, but I think the quality of engagement is severely lacking because of this system. If you look at a majority of posts in subforums like the various craft Diaries or the pattern forums, a good half to the quarters of them are just "very nice" - which is at or close to the least amount of characters youre allowed to post. A large portion of the rest of the comments are things like "thank you for sharing".

Dont get me wrong, these are lovely sentiments to share, and I feel like a portion of the reason why these stock phrases are so common is because a large portion of this forums userbase seem to have English as a second langauge, so stock phrases are convenient for them to convey thoughts in a language that may not come as naturally to them, but beyond that it feels like these are stock responses thats only purpose is to grind credits. The kindness of the words are cheapened by how hollow they feel, and this is immediately apparent as a new user. Whats worse is that if you want to start actually and sincerely interacting with this forum and benefit from its community youre sort of forced to do the same sort of stock responses. This results in people not commenting because they have something honest to share, but because they want to grind out levels, and this is especially apparent in the amount of accounts you see no longer making threads or comments just after they reach level 2, which is the level you need to reach in order to have read and download access to the highest level of restricted patterns.

This community is definitely positive, I take no issue with the kind of comments Im seeing around, and you all have been lovely and kind, I take no issue with any of you, but the system that this forum is built upon seems to encourage spammy stock responses that feel hollow rather than genuine, and while on paper it seems like this forum gets a lot of engagement, very, very little of that engagement is actually meaningful, insightful or goes toward building a unique and enjoyable community and I think its ultimately hurting this forum.

That being said, as I said before, I completely understand why the credit system exists and I do think it benefits the community in some ways, but I think the setbacks outweigh the good. Id like to hear the thoughts of everyone else here, both old and new, and hopefully get some discussion going.

DMCrafter

It is what it is.  It takes a long time to get to the next level, each level.  The interactions may seem stock because as you wrote each replied post garners points.  Im surprised when I see people post lovely finished projects, and commenters dont rate the posts.  Rating posts is a "give back" to the poster for having given everyone the opportunity to reply and garner points.  Particularly, when users are in higher levels.  Or the reply to someones beautiful work is "thanks."  Thanks?  Thanks for what?  But, again, I dont run the place.  I think the admins/moderators do a good job.  As they say "you cant fight city hall" - so, I look to the posts and rate, make a reply that I feel is genuine, post some "chat" myself and only recently started posting some of my work.  I dont know what to tell you except we are visitors here and when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

BingleMcDingle

                               
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DMCrafter

                               
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2020-1-28 09:51
It is what it is.  It takes a long time to get to the next level, each level.  The interactions may  ...

I feel quite similarly. I like a lot about this forum, the users and moderation team all seem great, and it provides a lot for its community in the way of patterns, but the credit system I feel the impact of the credit system can be felt all throughout the forum, in some ways for good and in others for bad. Ill pay by the rules and do the grind necessary to reap the benefits from this forum, but I cant help but feel like its so close to being a lot better of an experience for its userbase.

kurokat

i didnt vote because im kinda in 2 minds, i agree with you but i myself am an awkward person and social interaction is hard for me so having the generic replies takes some of the stress away from me. but this site is run by credits and the only way to get them is interacting and after a while youll probably run out of things to say (in my opinion)  it would be nice if you could buy a user group but then i think the interaction will go away or reduce alot in return and possibly arm the site. i think this free talk session is meant to be the place where the non generic interaction takes place.

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kurokat

                               
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2020-1-28 13:23
i didnt vote because im kinda in 2 minds, i agree with you but i myself am an awkward person and soc ...

Thats something I hadnt considered. I see how it could be easier to interact for people who are a bit more socially awkward. Im quite outgoing and talkative, and I enjoy conversation a lot, so I suppose I notice the stock responses because there isnt as much chances for me to chime in and spark some interesting conversation from them. Appreciate your input!

Silvarea

Lovely thought

mephala87

I think you summed up the forums issues perfectly. Its a mixture of a need to grind to earn coins and the majority of users not being fluent in English, or not even trying to use it. I guess, the alternative to grinding is paying real money via some sort of paypal service, but... eh, Im not sure its wise...
I get that not everyone likes to interact with people, so I guess its a good thing you dont necessarily have to. It just takes so much more time to earn credits that way. As for leaving more meaningful feedback, I tried doing that, but it seemed futile so now I usually put something less generic in threads where people show their works or if they need help. But yeah, sometimes is it difficult to communicate when its obvious the other person doesnt speak English well.
But, to be completely honest I see all those issues as a price for free resources, which are shared in not exactly legal way. And there are some very nice users here, some of them among the most active, and even if there is a language barrier Ive never had any negative interaction with them.

bs.frog

It would be nice if spamming wasnt the term being used for everything. On this forum is is fine to say thank you to people for sharing patterns, it is also the way to work through the levels. You dont have to say thank you if you didnt actually download the chart, its your decision. I could never download something someone took time to upload without saying thanks. Glad I am not forced by rules to think of new and interesting ways to say thank you so as not to be spamming. Language barriers also are a big deal here. Never want to scare away members if they can speak or use translation well enough to get around. If you are just writing thank you in the free talk area or in the diaries then I agree that is spamming. Those are the areas where writing something a little more meaningful is nice and makes for relationships.. if members want them. Just my thoughts :)

Kaynik

I have no complaints.  This is a great site with great people ❤️.

SallySue

Well, another way to look at it is that out in the "real world" you seldom run across people who say thank you!  
I do appreciate the members who have taken the time to post personal comments about the works Ive shared.  I try to do the same when Im rating someones work but I dont always have the time.
I think that the "pricing" structure on the forum is the reason for the grinding for coins that you mentioned.  The amount of coins that some people are charging for their patterns is ridiculous.  I ran across a cross stitch book/magazine that I was interested in the other day.  It would have cost over 2000 coins to download.  I have plenty of coins and could easily have forked over the 2000 coins but it just seemed wrong to do so.  
So, maybe if download costs were limited members wouldnt be pushing so hard to earn coins and have more time to simply enjoy the forum.