The most obvious solution to this is not to count posts of less than 50 words towards post count. (19 words)
Problem solved. People can still make short, one word posts - they just won't contribute to post count. More importantly, the required '50 posts' that people need to make won't happen nearly as quickly, as short posts won't bump the number. (40 words)
Barring that, penalize the advertisers. If an advertiser is generating enough income from posts here, then they can do a better job of checking people using their signatures. (28 words)
(87 words in total)
In the case that pay-per-post will remain allowed, I think your idea is simply wrong.
Please let me quote myself, just as one of many and better examples, with a post I wrote some minutes ago:
Bitcoin is not a safe investment anymore.
FTFY.
I wrote one single word (5 characters, full stop included).
Why shouldn't it be counted as valid post? Should it be cosidered spam or valueless?
I don't think so, and with only one word it carried my message, what i want to make explicit, quite well.
Because, in a pay per post world, you're paid for quality posts. The post you listed doesn't meet the criteria I would apply to a 'quality' post. It would not count towards post count or spam count - but it would also not count towards brand placement.
Think of it like this...
Adidas wants to pay you to place their brand, but they're only going to pay you for placement that reaches a lot of people. In the advertising and marketing world, this means that your 'quality' placement payments factor in all of the lower quality brand placement work you'll do part time.
For example, when you walk out to check your mail in an Adidas sports suit, you aren't going to get paid for brand advertising, but when you run a few k, go to the shopping mall, or give a speech, you will get paid for brand advertisement. Those are 'quality' brand engagements.
The guy who sits at home on his couch and plays Nintendo all day in an Adidas suit, just ducking out to check the mail or order a pizza isn't making any quality contributions - so the easiest way to level the field is to simply eliminate such actions - or in this case - posts.
That doesn't mean there is anything wrong with short posts - just - they don't contribute to the brand in a meaningful way.
Put another way, you pay your promoter to give speeches. When he is just chatting with the guys backstage or in transit, he's not getting paid - but he's still supporting your brand.
The changes I've put forward would result in increased payouts to those who are making good posts, and eliminate those who are promoting crap content. It would also be much easier to nuke spammers, because there would be less 50 word posts (they take longer to write), making them easier to target and eliminate.
Edit: Also, I have no idea what FTFY means - so I completely skipped it and your signature in my initial read through. That makes it less than effective advertising, as I just asked myself, "Do I have the time to look this up, and if I do, is it meaningful enough to do so, or do I care?"
No offense intended at all, but the answer was a resounding no. It just does not matter to me what FTFY means. I have never heard it before, or seen it that I remember. My assumption is 'Fixed That For You' - but then I still don't see that post as being a 'meaningful contribution' in terms of brand placement.
It's still a
valid opinion, and a valid post - but it is not something anyone who isn't an A List celebrity would get paid for writing. Throw in a tweet from Rhiannon or KK, and then you could call that good brand placement. Otherwise, we're not turning heads with out signatures - period. Not at all to dismiss your posts - but I have made some posts today that absolutely should not count towards brand placement / payment.
This is my opinion - no more and no less. It is just as valid as your FTFY post - but still below the 50 word limit (50 is just a random number - could be 25 - but only the Mods have those statistics and can comment on them), and further, just not an example of good brand placement:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=431195.msg5389420#msg5389420Anyway, just tossing in my $0.02. Several good suggestions out there. I just happen to work with a lot of writers - some of whom pay pennies for content, and know for a fact that higher word counts per payment would eliminate a huge number of the spammers, because they would make more money writing crap content for Google (the king of crap content).
