Point System for the forum and rules to get answers

[Amit Goyal]

Dear Aspirants,

This forum is for you. And it will be better if all those seeking benefits from the forum also help serve the requests posted by their fellow participants. Since i have finite time and the forum deserves only the proportion of my time, i may not be able to meet the endless demand for answers posted by you. So, how to meet this demand? An interesting real life economics problem, isn't it?  Well can you think of some solution to such a problem. I guess you have seen something very similar to this problem in Micro Economics. Yes i am talking about public goods. Here the individual who knows the answer to a particular problem either does not want to reveal that he knows it or its costly for him to do so(in terms of typing costs, time costs etc). Well i guess we live in the world of exchange and incentives. So, let me propose some mechanism to facilitate information spread at a larger scale by introducing the following incentive scheme. Any comments/ suggestions/improvements is most welcome.

Here is what i have thought.
Rule 1: Student's response to other students' queries will earn him points. 5 points for the wrong response, 20 points for the right response (only first right response).
Rule 2: To get answers from me, you need to spend 10 earned points per question asked (you can do it either by email or by a post on the forum). If you got correct answers from any of the fellow participant that will leave your earned points unchanged but if you direct your question to me and i answer it then 10 points will be deducted from your accumulated points.
We will maintain the record of points you earn and consume on a daily basis though the following sheet.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=r1rt4zN9mbVPNiFP0oPzuXw&hl=en

In short, if you want answers from me, start responding to other students' queries.


All the best with your preparation.

[Amit Goyal]

Please let me know if you want to participate by replying here, i will add your name to the list.

[Kamal1]

[bhumika]

:D
i have to point to make..
what if somebody is dumb enough or lets say to make it more realistic the opportunity does not arrive and strictly needs guidance?
what happens then?

idea appreciated! but the question is can you apply the competitive market eqm structure here?
u are presuming other person reasons to not reply are to keep the solution from the other!
well..

having said this i'd just like to add count me in..:)

[Amit Goyal]

Dear Bhumika,

I think what i mentioned above does not rule out the possibility for such students (i won't call them dumb) to get their questions solved. They can do the following: post questions themselves and then answer them correctly to earn points :)
This will ensure that students are putting in some effort.

[bhumika]

Hey,

1) the use of the adjective dumb was to site a hypothetical case (may be to dramatic, is something you could add.. in principle the debate on whether its appropiate to address anyone   with it, is a little lengthy for this forum, so if you permit i'd omit it :) )..

2) the solution you are presenting, in my view is a superflous scenario, which is time consuming but what i doubt is its productivity.. my argument is as follows..:)
 a) the person who would present a question to solve it himself/ herself would have clearly solved it before or would know the procedure to do so, so in a scenario of time constraint its wasting time on something you know vis a vis utilising to learn something new..

b) the person who is posting doubts in the first place is clearly solving questions or reading theory therefore the very fact they have posted doubts which are genuine doubts, ensures they are studying, lets not be judges or hold ppl accountable to study.. in my view, i believe we are nobody to ensure or judge how much effort the other is putting in..

[Amit Goyal]

Signals are costly. They come at a price. I just proposed a way to differentiate between someone who cannot solve the problem posted by their fellow students and someone who don't do it willingly.
And i am not saying that its the first best solution. I told you suggestions are most welcome. We are free to make changes as we go and as required based on our experience.
Happy preparation.

[Khushboo]

add my name also

[bhumika]

hey hey,

thats not done! i was having a healthy discussion..
i stated initially i appreciated the idea, i was just objectively engaging in a discussion so that may be the little loopholes present could be worked upon.. my intention were pure, thats all i can say..

sorry..

[nidhi]

add my name

[namrata]

add my name too Sir