"Opt Out" of free month through MozPoints

[SteveOllington]

This is probably going to sound a bit strange but I'd like it if I could "opt out" of the 200 MozPoints in a month giving a free months worth of membership. The reason being that I am enjoying using the forum but feel like every time I click on a thumbs up for my stuff to get MozPoints, it's like I'm trying to take advantage of the offer... when in actual fact I have no interest in that.

Don't get me wrong, I want MozPoints because I want an SEOmoz t-shirt lol, and maybe one day I'll get to find out what the "something really special" is (I don't want to have one of whatever it is, I just want to know what it is.... the curiosity is killing me!)

Anyway, what I'm saying is that I would feel more free to use the forums without having this kind of uncomfortable feeling that it may look like I'm just in it for the points to skimp on cash lol.

I use the service, I love the service, and so I am happy to pay for the service... not only that but the forums are part of the benefit of the service, so I'd rather not worry that every comment I make may look like I'm doing it for reasons of greed, rather than reasons of interest.

So, can we have a thing where we opt out?

[SteveOllington]

Thanks Doc

Yeah I think I have a problem accepting any kind of reward for anything to be honest. Even when I get paid by a client I feel bad for taking the money, even though we've done a good job for them. I don't know what that's about lol.

But anyway thank you very much. It's good to hear someone had the same worries and paranoia before. I'll stop worrying about it now

[Dr-Pete]

I wanted to comment as a long-time community member (and not as a Moz Associate). I used to feel a bit self-conscious about getting credit for my participation, too. I mean, I was learning a ton and felt like I was getting more than I was giving. To get points and rewards on top of that just seemed selfish. I've learned a few things over time, though:

(1) Your participation (in any professional community) is often more valued than you know. I frequently learn even from newcomers, especially when they're willing to more openly share data or take risks that established experts won't take (myself included). It's easy to see everyone else as the teacher and yourself as the student, but we're all learning all the time, and your contributions are essential to that.

(2) It can feel strange to bring game theory into the mix, but it's ok to have fun with it. Will Critchlow and I had a mock feud over MozPoints a couple of years ago - it was ironic, because neither of us are the kind of guy who goes out questing for glory, but we were active and found ourselves climbing the ladder. Over time, though, I think it took our contributions to a new level, and we got to know each other as professionals. If it weren't for the points, that might never have happened.

(3) The community (and the staff) can easily tell the people lusting for points vs. the people who really contribute. It's sometimes hard to code that knowledge and easily fight spam (as we all know in this industry), but it's often transparent to people. People see your responses and the quality of your interaction - not the points.

[SteveOllington]

lol okay, I'll have to get the number of a branch of Dominos in Seattle, I don't the local branch over here does cross-Atlantic deliveries

The thing I worry about really is that I'm a bit addicted to the forums, so I'm in there a lot and at that rate I'll end up always getting 200 MozPoints per month just from me giving thumbs up on my own comments, or the auto one when that's working. Like I said, I do want MozPoints but I don't want to end up keeping getting free months just because I'm making use of something which benefits me as much as SEOmoz... I'd feel like a freeloader... especially since I'm not as experienced as some others on these forums, so whilst I enjoy answering questions to help, I'm certainly not as good at answering them as some others (i.e. the other people who have commented on this thread for example).

Anyway never mind... I'll just have to get a lot of those fruit baskets lol

[jennita]

Wow. It's times like this that make me feel so proud to be a part of this amazing community. Unfortunately there isn't a way to opt out of the free month, but I do appreciate where you're coming from! It's interesting to hear that it makes you feel uncomfortable to know that you could be rewarded for your efforts. But think about this, the reason we offer rewards is to help keep the Q&A forum at the top of its game. And from what I can tell, that is exactly what you help do by participating. I might not be able to change your feelings about this, but I hope that not being able to opt out, doesn't mean you'll stop adding to the community. Because we need more of you.

Oh yea... and pizza and fruit baskets would be a hit in the office.

[SteveOllington]

Hehe, okay thanks guys.

I'm just not keen on dealing with the strange feeling of guilt that seems to come with the use of the forum due to the reward of using it... if that makes sense.

But good idea EGOL about the fruit basket or pizza hehe.

[AlanBleiweiss]

To add to EGOL's perspective, which I agree with completely, I contacted tech support on this topic the other day - according to Miranda, we're actually supposed to get a thumbs up automatically - not getting one currently is just a minor bug in the system.  So don't feel bad.

On the other hand, I actually don't give myself thumbs up for the reasons you state.  but once it's automatic, I'm not going to mind getting them as it'll be a level field and everyone will get them.

[EGOL]

Steve,  I am confident that most of your MOZPoints are coming from other members giving you the "thumbs up" because they enjoyed your post or it made them think.  So, you can consider the points to be "earned" rather than "manufactured".

You can bet big money that members here will give you the "thumbs down" if they see any BS or blasphemy out of you. 

If they can't find a technical solution for opting out you can always send a fruit basket or pizza to the team.