47

Bonus for doing work on the tree

Job Waterreus

September 18, 2011 20:13

None

Follow

A lot of non PRO users feel frustrated by the recent changes made by Geni,

It would help if Geni would make a bonus system where you earn point for doing work on the tree (like adding profiles or adding documentation)

and then give you a amount of time as PRO (or PLUS) user depending on your earned bonus points.

In this time as a PRO or Plus user it should be possible to earn new bonus points.

In this way active non PRO users could still work on the tree without having to spent money on Geni. They would pay with work on the tree.

5 comments

• 0
  
  Job Waterreus September 19, 2011 22:26

  http://www.geni.com/people/David-Prins/6000000002764837879

   

  made a relevant remark in http://www.geni.com/discussions/80793.

  If someone who otherwise would have paid  now gets free membership Geni would loose money.

  It will take continual effort for a user to earn new bonus point, so I think that risk is not very big.

   

  But it does not seem fair to only have a bonus for basic customers.

  For a PLUS user the bonus should probably be some time as a PRO user.

  For a PRO user it could be an free extension or free gifts a PRO user can give to other users (when the user has a  lifelong contract)

• 0
  
  David Prins September 20, 2011 22:15

  Thanks Job.  To quote more fully what I said at http://www.geni.com/discussions/80793?msg=739629

  I think a reward system does have merit to be considered, including a grandfathering in of recognition of previous work.

  But Geni needs to consider carefully what those changes will mean to its revenue. If Geni rewards someone who isn't otherwise paying anyway, there's no net loss of revenue. If however, rewards mean someone who otherwise would have paid now doesn't pay, that is significant.

  Many of us think that Geni did not think through properly before implementation the effect its recent changes to Pro / Basic would have on users and what their reactions would be. Future changes, including perhaps introducing a rewards scheme, will hopefully be thought through better.

• 0
  
  Drs Jacobus Frederik Theodorus Bergman November 24, 2011 17:51

  There is at least one user who received a free pro membership, but I doubt it that that user earned that gift.

  There are basic users who translated the English texts in their own native language, a work that tooks more tan one year work.

  Disappointed leavesw this man Geni, he should receive a free pro membership, in my opinion for lifetime!

• 0
  
  Will Chapman (Vol. Curator) December 21, 2011 19:27

  Of course it is true that a free or discounted membership will be a cost for Geni. However, to suggest that cost might be purely negative is not necessarily true. I suspect that the number of volunteers is a small fraction of the number of total and even new customers. If so, one must assume that the benefits accrued from the work performed by volunteers has little impact on cost. Afterall, whatever improvement/contributions made by volunteers  will improve the overall appeal of Geni to potential paying customers. Additionally, one could argue that only way that Geni could get that additional appeal (currently provided by volunteers) is by paying someone to do the work.

• 0
  
  Barbara Rubinstein, Ⓒ December 25, 2011 08:25

  No, free PRO membership in a bonus system would not be a cost for Geni. It would prevent many users leaving Geni, and taking with them other paying users. Geni is not the only one on the market.