Hello!
I think it is very bad idea to limit period of action points. I lost all my point and very dissapointed.
So good buy and good luck.
You should have read the rules before: Points FAQ
I also don’t like the point expiration, but if you are a member here you must accept the rules — or leave (what you have done already).
I replied to this on the getsatisfaction list in the following way.
If you pay for classes in a school, you don’t get your money back if you don’t show up. If you join a fitness club you pay every month whether you use the club or not.
We have this rule to encourage people to use the points for discussions or writing correction. 3 months is a realistic time. The confiscated points go to compensate content providers.
We are not going to change this.
Points I earned for providing content are not the equivalent of a monthly membership fee in a gym, my content doesn’t expire either. The 3000 points I had last fall expired. Now that I know more people here, I wish I still had them and could use them now for some skype conversations.
I really don’t see the logic of that rule, first of all it goes counter to Steve’s mantra of power to the learner. Why do I need the lingq clock breathing down my neck? I can decide myself when I want to learn!
Secondly, what does lingq have to lose if points do not expire? Would people be less inclined to use and/or purchase points? I don’t think so. In fact I think the current rule can actually backfire and cause people to leave over that. After all this is not the first thread on this topic.
Needless to say it won’t probably change anytime soon.
@Friedemann: “…my content doesn’t expire either.”
Fair point. (But I guess you could take it down after 3 months, if you wanted to…?)
It all goes towards the content providers. The expiration of points is kind of like “re-cycling”. If we did not give the content providers the points, then we would have very limited lessons at LingQ. We also have to remember that LingQ is a business so they will want people to buy points.
The overwhelming majority of expired points are points purchased for the purpose of learning the language, like fees paid at a school. In fact people do study more if there is a time limit. If people sign up for a course where there is no time limit, chances are that many would keep putting off going to class. " I don’t feel like it today" etc.
Any points earned from content, Friedemann’s gripe here, are already recycled points. If points did not expire there would be no points to redistribute to content providers. We do not charge for content and we do not pay for it.
@James
"We also have to remember that LingQ is a business so they will want people to buy points. "
If LingQ were not a business how would you suggest they pay for staff, programmers, servers, and other overhead expenses? Can you arrange a government grant?
I don’t know if that last bit was genuine curiosity Steve or sarcasm, but if I could arrange a government grant I would. I personally do not mind paying money to LingQ as these payments ensure quality, something which LingQ has never failed upon since the time I have been here (however small that time is).
Have you ever getting sponsored by the way? I found this on wikipedia with regards to Livemocha:
“In January 2008, Livemocha announced that it had secured $6 million in funding from the venture capital firm, Maveron Capital. In December 2009, Livemocha received an additional $8 million in Series B funding from the venture capital firms August Capital and Maveron Capital.”
I also seem to remember that one newspaper did a review of Livemocha in one of their supplements. Surely you could contact different newspapers as well? I am sure you have already tried though.
James, my only point was that someone has to pay, either the users, or some third party source that does not want to be reimbursed, like government which uses captive funding from tax-payers… Any venture capitalist will be looking to make money, not donate money.
Sponsorship? Who?
We have had the odd newspaper article but it does very little.
James, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate your helpful attitude, but it is not that simple.
Also, I get a lot of resistance from anyone connected with the public education sector just because “LingQ is a business”. In fact those employed in public education are paid for their labour, yet somehow feel that they are offering a free service simply because someone other than the user is paying their salary.
Does Lingq send out an email alert for expiring points?
I think that’d be a good idea.
Personally I can’t really imagine myself ever having them expire. I use them within 2 weeks of getting them.
LingQ sends me so many emails, why not sending me an email 2 weeks in advance that points will expire?? Good idea and helpful too. Please…!
Let me get this right, Livemocha has secured a total of $14 million in funding?
You gotta be kidding, right?
Livemocha is a complete joke! Where on earth did all the money go?
Probably making poor translations and making the most user-unfriendly site I have ever used!
Following Steve’s original example, a university or fitness club will not send you an email or give you a phone call informing you that your class is still going or your membership is still active. It is the responsibility of the student/customer to keep track of this.
In my opinion, the best thing about the points expiration system is that it allows us to continue to reward our excellent content providers and motivates many of them to continue adding excellent content to the Library.
And, as SolYViento demonstrates, as long as you’re somewhat active on the site you should have no problem using up points within the ~3 months. If you find that points are expiring, it’s a sign that maybe you should get more active and start signing up for some conversations or submitting some writing.
Most money raised by Livemocha and Rosetta Stone goes into promotion. Promotion is expensive, very expensive. We cannot afford to do it, so we spend our resources on improving LingQ.
Alex wrote: “it’s a sign that maybe you should get more active and start signing up for some conversations or submitting some writing.”
Well said! If appropriate French and Chinese tutors would offer conversations between 8:00 and 10:00 h CET, I would be happy to sign up. Later I cannot plan my time in advance. So I will write more, but it’s something I don’t like very much.
It’s not exactly the easiest thing to keep track of. It’s more difficult than a recurring bill, which Lingq also has.
Sure, one could write “I got 350 Lingq points today” in one’s calendar, but I think an alert would be a lot nicer.
But the whole thing doesn’t really apply to me so I suppose I shouldn’t mind too much.