Points, News Tips and Community

We’re growing. We’re getting bigger and we’re trying to implement some unique features for our community that really set us apart from any other similar sites. We recently launched the TSA Points Store which allows you to trade in the points you earn for being an active and constructive member of our community.  So, now that your points are actually worth something (there is more planned on that side of things too) we have to be more proactive about handing them out and more harsh about deducting them from people who abuse the system or annoy and offend the community.

Let’s be honest about it, TSA points are a great incentive for you to become involved with the site but they are also open to abuse and we can’t be giving out points to people abusing the system while other members of the community are diligently doing their best to honestly contribute. With this in mind we are giving you a few friendly pointers.

Points have previously been automatically awarded for commenting on articles but from today we have scrapped that system. It was too open to abuse. Now our writers have the ability to award some points for good comments and deduct some points for a bad comment. That should cut down on spam. We can all only click a comment once so if I’ve already awarded or deducted your points on a comment you can’t be awarded or deducted any more by any other writer on that comment.

We may also deduct points for multiple instances of pointless posting (we see this as spam). This is not because we want to punish anyone and it’s not because we don’t value your opinions. It’s simply because that sort of thing annoys other people. So if we get multiple complaints about people’s activity on the comments or in the forums we will be deducting points (after a look at what’s being complained about). We will also deduct points and consider bans and suspensions for anyone using racist, xenophobic or homophobic language. The same thing applies if you’re being an intolerable fanboy. We’re not going to allow this because it will end up ruining the close-knit community we’ve become.

We like your news tips, when we use them we even give you points. Not all of our writers get the tips in their inboxes and not all of our stories are sourced from the tips you send us. Sometimes we’ve found the story ourselves and started writing it before you send us the tip. So if we write an article that you’ve sent a tip for but you don’t get credit it’s not because we dislike you or want to scam you out of points. It’s because you didn’t actually supply the tip, we already knew about it. We are also looking at a way to automate the points for tipping. Previously Liam has had to scour every story and give points based on us writing in that article where the tip came from. It has been laborious and tedious and there has been a slim chance of mistakes being made. So we’re going to make it easier and quicker and hopefully remove the possibility of errors or delays in getting your points to you.

While we’re on the subject of news tips, it’s worth remembering what counts as a tip. If it’s wild rumour and speculation posted on someone’s blog then it isn’t news. If you can’t (or don’t) supply a link to the source where you heard the information then it’s not a news tip. If it comes from a news aggregator (like N4G) then guess what? It’s not a news tip. So if you don’t have a link to a reliable (and professionally written) source then we will just delete your email. If you repeatedly send tips that aren’t sourced then we may well deduct points. The same rule applies to news tips that we get for stories which are already on the site, sometimes for hours or even days before someone sends us a tip. I’m still waiting for one that actually quotes TSA as the source but it really wouldn’t surprise me.

Basically what I’m trying to get across to you is the need to think before you comment, either here or in the forums. Read the site and be reasonably sure that we haven’t already reported on your well-sourced news tip before you hit “send”. Most importantly, think about what you’re about to post, in public, for the whole world to see before you actually do it.

We really want to give you points, we want you to have loads of them so you can spend them on all the lovely things in our Store. We don’t want to take them away from you but if you annoy the greater proportion of our community then we have to. It’s the best way to keep the community feel that you all love.