Scrolling through the latest posts I noticed Priest001’s post about earning through post promotion and that Eyal thought it was a good idea… I’ve actually been kicking around the same idea for quite some time and have a system worked out to use post buying as another way to incentivize both publishers and non-publishers alike.

    It all starts with allowing each board’s Owner/Admins to select each individual post that they feel is an example of that board’s desired content and should be rewarded with CPM bonuses. This would have a two-fold benefit…

     The first benefit would be that any registered  user can start to earn cashable income on their very first day on BBS without the hurdle of becoming Partnered. As we all know the path to Partnership is not easy, let alone understood by all users on all boards when they first get to BBS. IMO, if an any registered user makes a post that is an example of the desired content on that particular board they should earn from that post regardless of if they have been Partnered or not. Allowing users to earn cashable from day one should incentivize users to both publish quality, desired content and return to the boards to use/spend that income on tips and buying posts.

     The second benefit of being able to select each individual post that can earn CPM bonuses is each board can expand the types of content the board allows to include content that isn’t necessarily about the board topic but about the board community and it’s members. 

    For example, on StarWarsTheory we award and Partner users that create what we call “Original Content” posts. These would be posts where the content is entirely created by the publisher. These would include but aren’t limited to theories/speculation on Star Wars content, original works of Star Wars fiction stories, content/game reviews, and more. Since the Flair  system was implemented we have expanded the board’s allowed content to include what we call non-OC content which aren’t considered for Parnership or rewarded but enrich the community nonetheless and offer a lower bar so new users can post while learning what the board’s desired content is. This would include Facebook type posts or questions for the community (we call Community posts), any linked videos or articles without added content from the BBS publisher, or any appreciation posts like fan art. 

    The way I envision post buying is dependent on individual posts being selected to earn CPM bonuses. A post would not be open to be purchased unless it has been selected to earn CPM based publishing bonuses. Meaning, the post must be quality, original content desired by that board and selected by its Owner/Admins to earn CPM bonuses before users could purchase it with BBS or cashable. If is done with cashable income instead of BBS tokens any user that wants to buy posts must first publish quality content in that particular board to earn the funds to do it.

I also think it would be possible to eliminate Partnership entirely by selecting which posts to reward instead of which user.🤔 This would also remove any obligation users may currently feel to post regularly to maintain their partnered status. Most of us have seen how post quality suffers when quantity is the goal and once partnered, users earn no matter what content the publish.     If folks are against eliminating Partnership then partnered users could still benefit from having all their posts automatically selected to earn CPM bonuses (and to be purchased) , as it is now, and be the only users able to cash out their earnings. 

     The post buying could be a secondary economy on the boards and another use for the BBS token both increasing its use and the value of posts. IMO, this economy should be solely between publisher and users with no percentage going to the board owner.

     I understand that there’s still a lot of earnings tied up in old posts so to avoid that in the future a limit on the time posts are available to purchase could be implemented. For example, after 7 days (or length of time determined by board owner) the post closes for purchase (but not for CPM bonuses) and gets cashed out to the final purchaser and publisher so no funds are ever tied up in posts.

    Speaking of funds tied up… bringing back post buying might free some of the cashable locked up in idle profiles when those users see they can use it to buy posts again. 🤔

     Without a doubt people were the most excited to use BBS when post buying was a part of the system. I dare say this could reinvigorate the platform and give people a reason to be active everyday again.

      I’m happy to answer any questions (as I’m probably leaving something out) or debate with anyone about the merits of this suggestion. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

BTW, this is not a suggestion to replace the CPM system… just to open posts to purchasing in addition to it. 😉