I'd like to make a feature requests for a Reward system similar to the Bounty system. You can call it an Award feature if you like, but I'll refer to it as a Reward below.
The Bounty system is good at advertising questions that needs answers (and its variants, like improved answers and canonical answers); but it performs rather poorly for folks who want to say "thank you" and reward a user for timely, good answer.
Above, a distinction is being made between the user and the answer they provide. The current system works well for questions and answers, but has some room for improvement when making the user a first class object in the point system.
When rewarding a user for a good, timely answer, I would like to:
- enhance the points beyond an upvoted and accepted answer
- provide the reward to the user immediately
- decouple from a Bounty's time lag and advertising
- decouple the user from their answer
Bounties perform poorly at the number of points as an award. The minimum points required for a simple "thank you" are 50 or 100, depending on whether the system identifies the bounty as overly promotional. In contrast, a reward is a small "thank you" to a user for an exiting answer, so either (1) a single selection should be provided; or (2) a selection of smaller point values should be provided. For a single selection, perhaps 25 points would be a good choice (2x an upvoted and accepted answer). For multiple selections, perhaps 25 (2x an upvoted and accepted answer) to 100 (4x an upvoted and accepted answer) would be a good choice.
Bounties perform poorly in timeliness. If a user provides a good, timely answer, then the "thank you" for an answer could be delayed up to a few days. The first delay is due to waiting for the question to be eligible for a bounty; and the second delay is waiting for the bounty to expire. In contrast, a reward should be available immediately because it acknowledges a particular user's actions and answer. And the insight is: a Reward is for a user based on their answer, while the Bounty is for a question.
Bounties perform poorly due to the coupling of question to advertising. In the case of a bounty, the person providing the bounty may want the question answered (or answered better), and likely want to advertise the question. In contrast, a reward is for a user and their answer; and it requires no advertising. And the insight is: a Reward is for a user based on their answer, while the Bounty is for a question.
Bounties perform poorly as Rewards because entry level awards cannot be awarded equally. Multiple bounties on the same question "cost more" in subsequent awards. See, for example, Accept Multiple Answers or Split Bounty among Several Users (ymar's answer) and Bounty Reasons and Post Notices
Bounties perform poorly as Rewards because its confusing and cumbersome to use. See, for example, Can I award bounty to two answers? and Bounty as reward, award to two recipients.
Bounties allow users to game the system on a large scale with few events. See, for example, What's the most reputation that anyone has earned on a single day?. Rewards could allow users to game the system on a small scale with more events. But the larger number of smaller events should be easier to detect. See, for example, What is serial voting and how does it affect me.
Rewarders should not need the help of a higher authority. For example, at Undefined symbols SystemRuntimeMacOSX::Initialize and SystemRuntimeMacOSX::Terminate, the question needed to be flagged in an attempt to award a bounty to two recipients.
Rewards as Bounties can be difficult for moderators to navigate and accommodate. For example, at Undefined symbols SystemRuntimeMacOSX::Initialize and SystemRuntimeMacOSX::Terminate, a simple request was made to split the bounty between the two user's for their answers. The moderators were not able to fulfill the simple request, and the 150 point bounty that was supposed to be a reward was lost to the bit bucket.
The reward system could help fill the gap where a user would like to accept multiple answers. In this use case, the person would award the users who provided the timely, good answers even though he/she could only accept one as the "correct" answer.
The reward system would fill the gap identified by comments like "I'd like to upvote this answer twice". While the comments usually mention the answer, the genuine thanks is to the user.
Rewards could help with the negative perceptions associated with some of the Stack Exchange sites. See, for example, Could we please be a bit nicer to new users?.
Rewards would also help folk commit rage quits efficiently. Rather than waiting for bounties to expire, a rage quitter could burn though all their reputation immediately.
Some thoughts on the system and its implementation (in no particular order):
A Reward should not be coupled to a Bounty because they are different features. The Reward should not be a sub-selection inside a Bounty workflow.
Rewards apply to user's and their answers. If there are no answers, then there are no users eligible for a Reward.
Rewards should NOT be hindered by the various time delays that encumber Bounties.
Rewards should be easy to apply.
Rewards apply to other users; and do NOT apply to one's own answer(s).
Points for Rewards should be deducted immediately like a Bounty.
Points for Rewards cannot be retracted like an upvote or downvote. One does not retract "thank you" in real life, and it makes no sense in this context.
Rewards do not need advertising.
Rewards can be as simple as a "thumbs up" icon on a user's answer. If a single point selection is available, just prompt the rewarder similar to "are you sure you want to thank this user for 25 points".
Rewards provided to a user do not need to be "counted" on a particular answer. There is already a system in place for that.
If desired, place a entry in the history of the person who provides the Reward, and the person who receives the award.
Deleted questions and answers don't factor into this system because Rewards are provided to users; and not answers. The recipient keeps the reward even if the question or answer is deleted.
