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webpanda on May 05, 2007

i wish i could just give you some of mine...

lparziale on May 05, 2007

Me too!! LOL What ARE all the possible ways to earn stamps anyway?? Do we have a FAQ somewhere outlining that?

ChickAzul on May 05, 2007

I have one here

webpanda on May 05, 2007

somehow i knew you'd have one :)
very impressive!

lparziale on May 05, 2007

Thank you ChickAzul! It is sad though to see that I will now not be able to get many stamps. To me, having the stamps IS the fun! Get's your point moving. Guess I will have to go OUT and make friends to get more signups!!

iconmaster on May 05, 2007

Hmmm. We've tossed around ideas for other ways to earn stamps. What sorts of activities would you consider stamp-worthy?

lparziale on May 05, 2007

Ooooooo... hmmmmm..... well, I certainly thinking certain badges attained could earn stamps.

Also, perhaps stamps could be traded as well. I know I would certainly trade some TOKENS for stamps...

Let's see what others come up with!

lparziale on May 05, 2007

When you get your token refresh, also getting some stamps would be good. Say 25 stamps for each 10 tokens.

lparziale on May 05, 2007

And another idea (can you tell I am stamp deprived right now?) - like the Chefs gift sets from time to time, maybe we have a STAMP FAIRY!!!

mitten on May 05, 2007

It could be something as simple as getting a small allotment along with tokens each month. It seems like those are the ongoing IBer 'needs' - receiving and giving - and having at least a few stamps (giving) get replenished every month along with the tokens (receiving) would encourage ongoing generosity.

Hoshichan on May 05, 2007

Yeah, I'm desperately out of stamps, I'd love to see a small monthly "allotment" or other ways to earn. Please?

Xerxes on May 05, 2007

Or, you could make it so that it costs a little bit more stamps to just send. Then, if the recipient accepts, you get 175% of the stamps you sent back. But, if he/she doesn't accept, you lose the stamps. It would make everyone actually interact with their recipient to make sure they will accept instead of just sending out bronze sets en masse.

That would be a good system to go with a monthly allotment.

gswd on May 05, 2007

@Xerxes: Sort of like the Post Office. I send a letter (I know - who sends letters anymore), and if it is undeliverable or returned for whatever reason, I do not get to re-use that stamp. It is gone - used up so to say.

But even so, I really don't like the idea of the bonus stamp rebate.

However, we could take a cue from the US Government and base a monthly allotment of stamps on the number of points that you have. The more points you have, the fewer stamps that you get. Just like the tax system, the wealthiest pay the most in taxes. Or not. I don't know. I'm just babbling again.

grantneufeld on May 05, 2007

I think community participation would be something that could merit stamp ‘earning’.

Perhaps some bonus stamps upon reaching certain friend thresholds (probably either fans or mutual friends—not just people you friend who don’t friend back).

It would be nice for there to be some reward for participation on the blogs/discussions. However, it would need to be handled in such a way as to prevent encouraging people to just spam the blogs to get stamps.

Perhaps there could be a badge for friendly/useful contributions on the blogs. This would require some sort of selection system (maybe as simple as the chefs arbitrarily assigning it based on posts they like, or as complex as some sort of digg/slashdot style user rating system).

jmnovak on May 05, 2007

Really, the balance between stamps and tokens depends on how many of the icon sets you have; me, I would rather trade some of my stamps for tokens, 'cause I need more icons.... :-)

lparziale on May 05, 2007

jmnovak - I agree. I have ALL but 2 sets (incl. the about to be released) and about to get 30 tokens (please, no offers!). I would gladly TRADE tokens for stamps right now.

Jen on May 06, 2007

I've felt the deprivation too lately. :) I've invited all the people I know and I'm out of tokens so the stamps that I have, were returns. I tried to stay at zero most of the time, but then I couldn't fill requests. It was a little frustrating so I've been sitting on my stamps to see how many come back to me, and then wait for some requests. What about for each accepted set, you receive back one stamp. The stamp refresh also sounds like a good idea, but I also think there should be some sort of activity that allows for stamp earning too - I just don't know what it would be...

SuperLlamel on May 06, 2007

I think that the idea of 25 stamps for every 10 tokens would be a good idea too. I'm currently at 3 stamps and I've invited everyone I could think of and I don't get tokens until May 24th, so it will take a while for me to get any more stamps. There should also be another way to get stamps though I'm not sure what that would be.

josh on May 06, 2007

Hmm... an interesting discussion indeed. Thanks for sharing your ideas everyone. We're continuing to look for ways to continue to juice the system.

LoopyMind on May 06, 2007

the ability to cash in 1 token for, say 5 stamps? `IB Postoffice` ? :)

lparziale on Jun 06, 2007

BUMP

BUMP

CHEFS

STILL THINKING OF GIVING US STAMPS IN SOME WAY?

HAVE JITTERS

NO STAMPS

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(IB Anonymous President)

Spongefile on Jun 06, 2007

I have more stamps than I know what to do with. Never seem to get in there fast enough to send people icons..

Lunargent on Jun 06, 2007

Is it just an impression, but it seems to me that both extremes exist... People with over 200 stamps who find it hard to find people willing to accept a delivery, and people in desperate need of stamps...

If you have friends who want a set you can't deliver for lack of stamps, wouldn't it be possible to introduce them to one of the IBers with too much stamps?

I am not taking points into consideration into this, I know.

iconmaster on Jun 06, 2007

There's a careful balance we have to hit here, and we're still figuring out how to strike it. It's not fun to run out of stamps; but at the same time, people are finding that it can be hard to find recipients for their deliveries.

The ratio of global stamps to tokens is pretty healthy right now, with stamps maybe being a bit more plentiful than I'd like. We've already boosted tokens by providing bonus tokens for points and VIP referrals, and we're happy with the token allotment for now. Increasing stamps would put further stress on the token supply, which might make senders less happy.

It's complicated.

KatieK on Jun 06, 2007

What if I could trade some of my extra tokens to someone with extra stamps? That would still keep the total number of tokens/stamps at a constant. The Chefs set the exchange rate, so they could still drive the IB economy as needed.

JBVisions on Jun 06, 2007

How about making stamps for sets not accepted expire in less than 7 days?

pinuga on Jun 06, 2007

0 stamps, 0 tokens... now what can I do till next refill on july 03? :-( I like the "IB postoffice" idea!

Stratification on Jun 06, 2007

It'd be interesting if the token->stamp rate changed based on some stats for the site (tokens/stamps available, etc.) If people knew the rate could/would change it'd allow for tweaking things without disrupting the whole virtual economy. Just a thought.

Forevagrey on Jun 06, 2007

you shouldn't run out of stamps, unless you are quiet unwise and wasted them to get more points. I agree with iconmaster that we don't need more stamps

Stratification on Jun 06, 2007

Isn't wasting them to get points kind of, um, the point? I'm not really sure what else you're supposed to do with stamps besides use them to send icons, at which point you run out.

SpamDog on Jun 06, 2007

I had a long post typed... and it expressed exactly how I feel about the issue...

Short Version is : I think the point ratio is not only fine.. but better than the way the old system worked.