Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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COST-BASED COMMUNITY FEEDBACK
Inventor:
Pierre Omidyar
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
[0001] The present invention is directed in general to a cost-based
feedback
mechanism for online communities. In particular, the present invention
encourages
good user behavior by rewarding users who are well-respected by the community
and who are active participants in the community with credits useable towards
further participation in the community.
Description of Background Art
[0002] Online communities provide participants an opportunity to exchange
ideas and information about topics of mutual interest. For example,
communities
exist for the purpose of online auctions, discussion of scientific research,
swapping
furniture, finding apartments, and the like. The online communities eBay,
WebMD,
and Craigslist are some of the many that provide subsets of these functions.
[0003] Conventional online communities suffer from some drawbacks,
however. First, to varying degrees they require policing by operators of the
community or their designees. Objectionable content is often removed after
other
members complain to those in charge, or after it is discovered by the
operators
themselves. Frequent violators of the community's rules or terms of service
are
typically banned from the site. This policing operation can be labor-
intensive, and
requires certain value judgments to be made by the operators of the community.
[0004] Some online communities provide members with the ability to rate
some
content as useful or not. For example, many communities dedicated to providing
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do-it-yourself help to members include a voting button next to each article
asking
members to indicate whether the article was helpful to them. Other
communities,
such as eBay, invite members to provide feedback on participants to a
transaction.
These feedback opportunities in conventional communities suffer from a common
drawback¨providing feedback has no associated cost. A first member can
therefore give positive feedback to a second member, a third member, a fourth
member, and so on, without consequence to the first member. While not
completely eliminating the utility of the feedback, such a method clearly
dilutes the
value of positive (or negative) feedback.
[0005] Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for providing
feedback in online communities that enables a more useful measure of content
value, allowing the community to manage itself and reducing the need for
community overseers to monitor the community individually.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention enables a community in which feedback is used
as
a value metric for members and content. Each member of the community has an
initial supply, e.g., 10, of "bank units֬credits that can be spent in the
community
to perform activities and to provide feedback about other members and the
content
they produce¨discussions, groups, etc., as described more fully below. Certain
activities in the community have associated costs¨a user must have at least
the
minimum number of bank units available for an activity or else the user cannot
perform the activity. Because bank units are limited in supply, they acquire
value
within the community. Members therefore have an incentive both to spend their
bank units judiciously and to act in such a way as to earn more units for
themselves.
[0007] According to the present invention, members earn bank units both by
gaining the respect of others, i.e. having increasing feedback scores, and by
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WO 2007/005016 PC
T/US2005/023506
participating in the community. Participation in a preferred embodiment means
creating content for the community, e.g., creating or participating in
discussions,
contributing to workspaces, and the like. Therefore, members who participate
to
the fullest extent in the community and who earn feedback points from others
end
up with the greatest number of bank units. Conversely, those members who
"lurk"
from the sidelines instead of participating will receive few or no bank units
for
participation; those who earn disdain of their fellow community members will
receive either low positive feedback scores, or even negative feedback scores.
In
one embodiment, as feedback scores for a member get lower and lower, the
member loses his ability to participate in the community, ultimately leading
to a
total loss of ability to participate significantly in the community.
[00081 Feedback can be assigned to members or to items, allowing the
creators
and the contents to be rated distinctly. Feedback given to content is not
reflected in
the score of the content's creator and the reverse holds true as well:
feedback given
to users is not reflected in the score of the items created by said user.
[0009] A system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention
includes a feedback engine for determining when feedback scores are to be
incremented or decremented and for determining whether members have sufficient
bank units to perform requested actions. A bank unit module is responsible for
incrementing and decrementing a user's bank when requested by the feedback
engine. A feedback score module increments and decrements feedback scores of
content items and other members as requested by the feedback engine. A member
database stores user records including feedback scores and bank unit amounts
for
each user, and an item database stores item records including feedback scores
for
each item.
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[0009a] In accordance
with another embodiment of the present invention there
is provided a system for adjusting the prominence of an item having an
associated
feedback score, wherein the feedback score is associated with each of a
plurality of
users of an online community, and wherein the item is viewable on computer
monitors of the users of the online community, the system comprising: a
processor; a display device configured to display an item created by a first
user at a
first location on the computer monitors of the users; a feedback engine,
executable
by the processor, for receiving feedback from a second user concerning the
item;
and a feedback score module, executable by the processor, for adjusting a
feedback
score associated with the item based upon the nature of the feedback of the
second user, wherein the display device is configured to display the item at a
second location on the computer monitors, wherein the second location is, at
least
in part, dependent upon the feedback score associated with the item.
[0009b] In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention there
is provided a system for adjusting the prominence of an item that is viewable
in an
online community having a plurality of users, the system comprising: a
processor; a
display device configured to display an item created by a first user to be
viewable
by the users of the online community; a feedback engine, executable by the
processor, for receiving negative feedback from a second user concerning the
item;
and a feedback score module, executable by the processor, for lowering a
feedback
score associated with the item based upon the negative feedback from the
second
user, wherein the display device is configured to fold the item, based upon
the
lowered feedback score, so that a user seeking to view the item must expand
the
item to see its contents.
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[0009c] In accordance
with another embodiment of the present invention there
is provided a method performed on a computer system that is configured to
adjust
the prominence of an item having an associated feedback score, wherein the
feedback score is associated with each of a plurality of users of an online
community, and wherein the item is viewable on computer monitors of the users
of the online community, the method comprising: displaying an item created by
a
first user at a first location on the computer monitors of the users;
receiving
feedback from a second user concerning the item; adjusting a feedback score
associated with the item based upon the nature of the feedback of the second
user;
and displaying the item at a second location on the computer monitors, wherein
the second location is, at least in part, dependent upon the feedback score
associated with the item.
[0009d] In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention there
is provided a method performed on a computer system that is configured for
adjusting the prominence of an item that is viewable in an online community
having a plurality of users, the method comprising: displaying an item created
by a
first user to be viewable by the users of the online community; receiving
negative
feedback from a second user concerning the item; lowering a feedback score
associated with the item based upon the negative feedback from the second
user;
and folding the item, based upon the lowered feedback score, so that a user
seeking to view the item must expand the item to see its contents.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the a system for providing feedback in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0011] Fig. 2 illustrates an online community in accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0012] Fig. 3 illustrates an example of a group record in accordance with
an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0013] Fig. 4 illustrates an example of a user record in accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0014] Fig. 5 illustrates an example of an item record in accordance with
an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0015] Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating how bank units are earned and spent
in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0016] Fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating how credit is added to a user's
bank in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0017] Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a process for giving feedback in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0018] Fig. 9 illustrates a method for processing activity costs in
accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0019] Referring now to Fig. 1, there is shown a block diagram of a system
100
for providing feedback in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.
System 100 includes a feedback engine 102, bank unit module 104, feedback
score
module 106, member database 108, and item database 110. Feedback engine 102
determines when feedback scores are to be incremented or decremented and
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whether members have sufficient bank units to perform requested actions. Bank
unit module 104 maintains the bank units in each member's account,
incrementing
or decrementing the units as directed by feedback engine 102. Feedback score
module 106 maintains a record of the number of feedback points each user has,
increment and decrementing the feedback count for the user as requested by
feedback engine 102. The feedback engine 102 bank unit module 104 and feedback
score module 106 are described further below. Member database 108 stores
information for each user of system 100, as illustrated more fully below with
respect to Fig. 4. Item database 110 stores items such as discussions,
comments, and
the like that make up the content of system 100, illustrated further by Fig.
5.
[0020] Fig. 2 illustrates an online community 200 in accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention. Online community 200 includes a plurality
of users 204 and a plurality of groups 202. As illustrated in Fig. 2 users 204
may be
members of one or more groups 202. In one embodiment, a user 204 need not be a
member of any group 202 in order to still be a member of the community 200¨for
example, a user who joins the community and wishes merely to view content
accessible only to community members may be allowed by the community rule
makers to do so without having to join any group 202.
100211 Groups 202 in one embodiment cover broad topics¨for example, a
group might be titled "Restaurants in San Francisco," "African Famine," "The
Beatles," etc. The make-up of a group is further illustrated in Fig. 3. In
Fig. 3, each
group is identified by a group record 302, which preferably specifies a name
of the
group; a group ID (GID) number; the number of discussions, workspaces and
polls
associated with the group; the location of files associated with the group;
and the
user ID (UID) of the group's members. In the example of Fig. 3, group 302 is
named
History of Computing and has a Gil) of 21. The group has 6 associated
discussions,
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2 workspaces, and 1 poll. Its files are located in the directory
/usr/localigroups/21/,
and its members have LTIDs 22, 37,360 and 4210.
[0022] Each group preferably includes one or more discussions. A discussion
is
a conversation thread initiated by a member of the group 202 and commented on
by any member of the group wishing to speak to the presented issue.
Preferably, a
cost is associated with the creation of a discussion¨for example, 1 bank unit.
Similarly, the creation of a group has a cost¨preferably a much higher cost
than
the cost for creating a discussion, which reflects the relative value of a
group as
being a major category within the community. In one embodiment, for example,
creating a group costs 10 bank units.
[0023] Groups may also include one or more workspaces. A workspace is a
collaborative area in which group members can contribute thoughts and ideas.
Unlike a discussion thread, in which each contribution forms a comment in the
thread, a workspace allows each contributor to change the content of the
workspace, typically allowing others to view not only the final product but
also the
revisions made along the way. Collaborative workspaces are also known to those
of skill in the art as "wilds".
[0024] In one embodiment, groups also include support for polls. A poll is
simply a question posed by one member of the group and which includes
responses that can be voted on by other members, potentially with an
associated
cost. Preferably, there is also a cost associated with creating a poll¨for
example, 1
bank unit.
[0025] In one embodiment, members of a group can upload files for use of
the
other members. As noted, the group record 302 preferably specifies a location
for
files associated with the group to be stored.
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[0026] Fig. 4 illustrates an example of a user record 402 in accordance
with an
embodiment of the present invention. A user record 402 includes a user ID
(UID),
the user's Name, the user's feedback score, the aggregate feedback score given
to
comments authored by the user, number of bank units in the user's bank, and
the
GIDs for the groups of which the user is a member. In the illustrated example,
Charles Babbage has UID 4210, a feedback score of +8, 21 bank units, is a
member of
groups with GID 3, 21, 109 and 221, and has received +4 feedback points from
UID
37, -2 feedback points from UID 360, +5 feedback points from UID 3987, and 22
feedback points from UID 22. Tracking the aggregate feedback score given to
comments authored by the user provides an indication of how much the user's
content contribution is valued by the community at large.
[0027] Fig. 5 illustrates an example of an item record 502 in accordance
with an
embodiment of the present invention. An item record 502 includes a type field,
for
describing the type of the item, e.g., discussion, workspace, etc.; the UID of
the user
that created the item; the name of the item; the feedback score of the item;
and a list
of users from whom feedback has been received. In the illustrated example,
"Analytical Machines" is a discussion thread created by UID 4210 (Charles
Babbage), and has a feedback score of +2. UIDs 44, 622 and 4 have each given a
feedback score of +1, while UID 4901 has offered -1 of feedback.
[0028] Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating how bank units are earned and spent
in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Bank units are earned
through a bank unit revenue generation activity 636. In one embodiment, these
activities include creation of a discussion item 602, which generates lA unit;
creating
or editing a workspace page 604, which generates 1/20 unit; posting a comment
to a
discussion thread 606, which generates 1/20 unit; and receiving positive
feedback
608, which generates 1/2 unit. When a user performs any bank unit revenue
generation activity, bank unit module 104 increments the user's bank 620, as
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described further below with respect to Fig. 7. Note that the number of bank
units
credited based on each activity is variable by community according to the
individual preferences of that particular community.
[0029] In one embodiment, a member cannot earn more than a maximum
amount of bank units by participating in community activities. For example, in
one
embodiment the number of bank units earnable by a member is three times the
member's feedback score. Also, in one embodiment even if a member's bank has
reached its activity cap, the member will continue to accrue bank units each
time
she receives positive feedback from another member. Allowing bank units to
accrue from positive feedback while capping growth based on participation
reduces the benefit to a user of contributing a large amount of content with
very
little value to the community.
[0030] A user of system 100 can also spend bank units by providing feedback
about a member or item. Fig. 6 illustrates various feedback costs 634 in
accordance
with one embodiment. For example, providing feedback about a member 610 costs
1 unit. Similarly, feedback about a workspace 612, a discussion 614, a comment
616
or a user's personal news section 618 each costs 1 bank unit. A process for
leaving
feedback is described further below with respect to Fig. 8.
[00311 In one embodiment, certain member activities also have associated
costs.
These activity costs 632 are illustrated in Fig. 6 as well. For example,
creating a new
group 622 might cost 10 units; sponsoring a new group 624 5 units; creating a
new
discussion 626 1 unit; creating a new poll 628 1 unit; and voting in a poll
630 1 unit.
A method for processing activity costs is illustrated further below with
respect to
Fig. 9.
[0032] Fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating how credit for activities is
added to a
user's bank in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Feedback
engine 102 monitors 702 a user's activity to determine 704 whether it is an
activity
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636 that generates bank unit credits. If not, the process terminates. If so,
then bank
unit module 104 determines 706 whether the user's bank is already at a maximum
activity cap. If the user's bank is already at the cap, then the process
terminates. If
not, then bank unit module 104 adds 708 credit to the user's bank 620.
[00331 As a user browses the content of the community 200, she encounters
items such as workspaces, discussions, contents, groups, and the like.
Associated
with each of these items of content in the community is a feedback score,
evidenced
in one embodiment by a score next to a hyperlinked "A-1-" symbol. Similarly,
next to
the name of the author of the content is a similar report of the user's
personal
feedback score and a hyperlinked "+1 -" symbol. If the browsing user wishes to
leave feedback for the content author, she clicks the "+" link to provide
positive
feedback or the "-" link to leave negative feedback. A similar technique is
followed
to leave feedback about the content itself. In one embodiment, in addition to
providing numerical feedback, a user is offered an opportunity to send a
message
to the member receiving the feedback, either anonymously or with attribution.
In
one embodiment, a member can view names of people who have offered positive
and negative feedback to the member's content or to the member herself. In an
alternative embodiment, the member can view names of people who have provided
more than a threshold level of feedback, e.g., more than 5 positive or 5
negative
score points to the member. Also in an alternative embodiment, the list of
people
who have provided feedback to the member is viewable by the entire community,
not only to the member herself.
[0034] Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a process for giving feedback in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Initially, feedback
engine 102 receives 802 a user request to provide feedback about an item or
member. In one embodiment, certain items and members may not be able to
receive feedback according to rules established by the community overseers.
For
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example, a rule might specify that a member cannot give herself feedback; or
that a
new member cannot receive feedback until she has been a member for a certain
length of time; or until she has posted a certain number of messages, etc. If
804
the item or member is not capable of receiving feedback, the process
terminates.
Otherwise, feedback engine 102 next checks 806 to see whether the user has
sufficient bank units available with which to leave feedback. If the user does
not
have sufficient bank units, the process terminates. Otherwise, feedback engine
102
instructs bank unit module 104 to decrement 808 the user's bank, and instructs
feedback score module 106 to update 810 the feedback score for the member or
item being rated. If 812 the feedback is for an item, then the process
terminates. In
one embodiment, since receiving positive feedback increases one's own bank, if
812 the user has left positive feedback for a member, feedback engine 102
instructs
bank unit module 104 to increment 814 the member's bank as well.
[0035] Fig. 9 illustrates a method for processing activity costs in
accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention. Feedback engine 102 receives 902
a
request from a user to perform an activity, such as creating a group or
discussion,
posting a comment, etc. In one embodiment, a user must have a minimum
feedback score in order to perform certain activities, regardless of the units
in the
user's bank. For example, a community rule in one embodiment requires that a
user must have more than a feedback score of -25 in order to create a group.
This
ensures that users who are highly disliked by the community as represented by
their negative feedback scores, are limited in their freedom to participate in
the
community. Accordingly, if 904 the user does not have a sufficient feedback
score
to perform the activity requested, the process terminates. Otherwise, feedback
engine 102 determines whether 906 the requested activity has a cost. If there
is no
cost, then feedback engine 102 allows 912 the activity. If there is a cost,
then
feedback engine 102 determines 908 whether the user can afford the cost by
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requesting the user's bank unit level from bank unit module 104. If the user
cannot
afford the cost, the process terminates. If the user can afford the cost, then
feedback
engine 102 allows 910 the activity and instructs bank unit module 104 to
decrement
the user's bank by the appropriate number of units.
[0036] In an alternative embodiment, bank unit revenue can be generated by
activities in addition to or instead of those listed in Fig. 6. For example,
reading a
discussion, reading a comment, performing a search, creating a poll, voting in
a poll
and uploading a file could each generate bank unit revenue for a member of the
community.
[0037] In one embodiment if, after a certain period, e.g., seven days, an
item
has not been modified¨updated, edited or commented upon¨feedback engine 102
decays the feedback score for the item at a rate of one point per day, for as
long as
the item is inactive. Preferably, an item's feedback score will never decay to
a score
less than zero. Also, in one embodiment comment scores do not decay.
[0038] In one embodiment, the number of bank units available to a member is
made known to all other members of the community. The member's bank unit size
may be displayed in the member's profile page, and additionally may be
displayed
next to the user's name and feedback score associated with any content
published
by the user in the community 200.
[0039] As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, by giving
positive
feedback in accordance with the present invention, members can "bubble up"
items
of interest to the rest of the community. Conversely, by providing negative
feedback, members can reduce the prominence of items.
[0040] In one embodiment, if the feedback score of a discussion, comment or
workspace turns significantly negative, feedback engine 102 adjusts the
prominence
of the item to make it less viewable. For example, in one embodiment at a
feedback
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score of -5 an item is folded, and browsing users must affirmatively seek to
expand
the item before being able to see its content.
[0041] Similarly, in one embodiment if the feedback score of a member falls
below a threshold amount, that member will lose certain privileges in the
community, including the ability to comment or post new items, or send private
messages. For example in one embodiment if the user's feedback score falls to -
10,
all of the user's comments and any discussions she has created are folded, no
matter
the score of the individual comment At -25 feedback points, the user loses her
voice, except the ability to update the user's own profile area. In one
embodiment
the user at such a level of feedback can continue to edit comments or
discussions
she already created, but cannot create new public content, or spend any of her
bank
units on providing feedback.
[0042] The present invention has been described in particular detail with
respect to a limited number of embodiments. Those of skill in the art will
appreciate that the invention may additionally be practiced in other
embodiments.
For example, the functionality of the feedback engine can be provided in other
embodiments by other modules.
[0043] Within this written description, the particular naming of the
components, capitalization of terms, the attributes, data structures, or any
other
programming or structural aspect is not mandatory or significant, and the
mechanisms that implement the invention or its features may have different
names,
formats, or protocols. Further, the system may be implemented via a
combination
of hardware and software, as described, or entirely in hardware elements.
Also,
the particular division of functionality between the various system components
described herein is merely exemplary, and not mandatory; functions performed
by
a single system component may instead be performed by multiple components, and
functions performed by multiple components may instead performed by a single
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component. For example, the particular functions of feedback engine 102, bank
unit module 104 and feedback score module 106 and so forth may be provided in
many or one module.
[00441 Some portions of the above description present the feature of the
present
invention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on
information. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means
used by those skilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of
their
work to others skilled in the art. These operations, while described
functionally or
logically, are understood to be implemented by computer programs. Furthermore,
it has also proven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of
operations
as modules or code devices, without loss of generality.
[0045] It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar
terms
are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely
convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated
otherwise
as apparent from the present discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the
description, discussions utilizing terms such as "selecting" or "computing" or
"determining" or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer
system, or
similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data
represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system
memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or
display
devices.
[0046] Certain aspects of the present invention include process steps and
instructions described herein in the form of an algorithm. It should be noted
that
the process steps and instructions of the present invention could be embodied
in
software, firmware or hardware, and when embodied in software, could be
downloaded to reside on and be operated from different platforms used by real
time network operating systems.
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[00471 The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing
the
operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the
required
purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated
or
reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer
program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but is
not
limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs,
magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories
(RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, application specific
integrated circuits (ASICs), or any type of media suitable for storing
electronic
instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, the
computers referred to in the specification may include a single processor or
may be
architectures employing multiple processor designs for increased computing
capability.
[0048] The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently
related
to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems
may also be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it
may
prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the
required
method steps. The required structure for a variety of these systems will
appear
from the description above. In addition, the present invention is not
described with
reference to any particular programming language. It is appreciated that a
variety
of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the present
invention as described herein, and any references to specific languages are
provided for disclosure of enablement and best mode of the present invention.
[0049] Finally, it should be noted that the language used in the
specification has
been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and may
not
have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.
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Accordingly, the disclosure of the present invention is intended to be
illustrative,
but not limiting, of the scope of the invention.
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