OK, this is obviously not finalized yet since I'm the only mod doing this currently - but here are my (semi-proposed - I've already went through many old posts) rules. Comments welcome
This forum runs a custom version of PHPBB that has a reward system in place. After a question of a poster is answered, the poster first assigned assisted answers - people who helped with the answer, and the accepted answer to the person who really had the best answer or helped the most (this can include the poster itself if the poster answered its own question).
Keep in mind that a lot of our more knowledgeable posters don't post a whole lot because they have busy jobs or related work, so the award system isn't perfect (and generally should be taken as a form of entertainment).
- After you choose the accepted answer you cannot chose any more assisted answers - so choose the assisted ones first
- Moderaters will not modify the answers unless there is very strong indicator that they were done incorrectly, so if all else fails send a Moderator a private message and they will most likely correct it for you
- Threads with no responses after a week from the original poster that appear to have been solved are marked as solved from posts a Moderator deems appropriate
- After a month, if there is no update and no answer to a thread, the thread is either bumped by a moderator or marked as solved by the original poster
Have fun!
Edit by upCASE:
To clearify a bit more, here's a description of how the wxAward system works and what it does.
Apart from the standard phpBB posting types "Normal", "Sticky" and "Announcement", this forum implements a new type, "Question". This type is set by default when starting a new thread. Setting the type to "Question" means, that
1. The posted text is a question you need an answer to.
2. Subsequent posts to this thread can be marked as full answers or assisting answers to the problem.
3. Marked posts will award wxAwards (points) to the ones who posted them.
Post with "Question" types show up a bit differently in the list of threads.
This icon will be shown for question posts
This icon will be shown for question posts with answers
This icon will be shown for solved posts
This icon will be shown for solved posts with new answers
In general the system is pretty easy to use. Let's say poster A has a question, poster B has an assisting answer (meaning not a full solve, but a partial answer) and poster C knows the exact answer to solve the problem.
Poster A opens a new thread, writes his question (please be descriptive here) and marks the thread as "Question". Posters B and C simply answer to the thread as they normaly would.
When poster A comes back and read the thread, he'll see this at the right side of each answer to his post
For each post he has the choice to mark it "assisting" or "accepted".
When clicking "Assist" next to B's post, the "assist" icon will not be shown anymore. B will be awarded 1 wxAward for his assisting answer.
When clicking "Accept" next to C's post, *all* "Assist" and "Accept" icons will go, as the whole thread and thus the question will be marked as fully answered. C will be awarded 5 wxAwards.
Each time A replies to this thread, an informational text is shown to remind him to close posts.
If one has open questions that should be marked, the user will see this on the forum index in the top row.
The inner wrokings of the system:
1. Only the original poster (the one who started the thread) can mark posts and award wxAwards, as he/she is the one that can decide wether an answer helped or not. For other posters the standard phpBB forum shows up. For administrative purposes, Moderators can mark posts, too.
2. The original poster can select *his own* follow up posts and mark the accepted. This means that he found the answer himself. Whoever he won't get any wxAwards doing so. You can't award yourself wxAwards.
3. Post can only be marked once as "assisting".
4. After a post is "accepted" as an answer, no mor points can be awarded. The system is closed then, as a full answer was given. So, if you want to give assisting wxAwards and accept a posting, firstly mark the assisting ones, the accept the post.
5. Only Moderators can "unaccept" answers.
6. The member ranking system is linked to the wxAwards. So, to get a higher rank it's of no benefit to post many times, but get many wxAwards. Higher rank means "better problem solver".
7. There's an automated pruning system for open questions. Users with open question can see a notification as soon as the log on to the forum. Admins will reset the state of questions when they are not marked accepted for a certain amount of time.
8. "Assist" awards 1 wxAward, "Accept" awards 5 wxAwards.
9. To see your own wxAwards, either watch your profile, or, even simpler, scroll down in the forum index to see the wxAwards stats.
10. Solved questions can be searched for via the search panel.
Why did we do that?
Good question...
1. It's a neat feature that leads to better ranking than just simply count the posts of a user.
2. It may stimulate users to help each another, as they get wxAwards in return.
3. Solved questions can be separately searched for, so one can find solves to problems more easily.
I guess this sums it up. For questions and comments, feel free to post here or contact me (upCASE) via PM.