Yes, we've been thinking about Gold for a long time
পদক are nice, but they are too coarse-grained to give feedback on contributions (you only know after আপনি earn a medal, and আপনি don't even know which contributions in that club caused আপনি to earn a medal and which contributions were a waste of your time).
This is where স্বর্ণ comes in. Your hottest contributions will earn স্বর্ণ each দিন (think of them as micro-medals), and আপনি will have a private console that shows which are your hottest contributions.
Basically: পদক are earned per club, but স্বর্ণ is earned for each জনপ্রিয় contribution আপনি have made since joining ফ্যানপপ and dumped into your piggy bank for আপনি to hoard like Smaug অথবা spend on various preciouses.
জনপ্রিয় contributions will earn a lot of স্বর্ণ each day, contributions that are semi-hot will earn less, and unloved duds will earn zero. What is "hot" will be determined দ্বারা our dedicated army of humans and benevolent robots analyzing all activity on Fanpop.
We've worked hard to make sure স্বর্ণ is fair. Don't worry, users who spam a club with a thousand identical crappy screencaps অথবা আবর্জনা দেওয়াল posts will not earn gold, and cheaters will be utterly... well, আপনি don't cheat, so no worries there.
It's clear that there are many veteran অনুরাগী that have contributed across a wide array of clubs... Maybe they haven't earned a Legendary medal in one particular club, but, when added up, they have done a huge amount for অনুরাগী in dozens of clubs.
Since পদক are per-club, but স্বর্ণ is earned from all of your contributions, স্বর্ণ is one of the best ways to recognize and reward those widely-spread-out veteran অনুরাগী with numerous contributions across many clubs. আপনি don't even need to be a অনুরাগী of a club to earn স্বর্ণ for a great contribution in that club.
We'll be launching the first phase of স্বর্ণ in the পরবর্তি several weeks. Your contributions have already been earning স্বর্ণ as we speak, so once it goes public, many of আপনি veterans will start out with a nice fat balance.
Here's another perspective: আপনি don't need to use Gold. If আপনি just want to use ফ্যানপপ the way আপনি always have, nothing will change, especially if you've racked up a few medals. You'll have enough স্বর্ণ to do anything আপনি want normally. আপনি can just ignore that yellow number on your profile. But, if you've always wanted to deck out your পরিলেখ অথবা send someone a nice thank-you gift, now আপনি can, and because আপনি earned it, it will be all the আরো meaningful.
Gold can then be spent on:
-profile customizations like geocen's পছন্দ সংগঠন module, user পরিলেখ banners, background colors, and custom modules (each of these are very inexpensive, gold-wise). দ্বারা now, you've certainly seen the trio of rodent engineers we employ here at ফ্যানপপ HQ snacking in the staff kitchen. Imagine your own পরিলেখ super-banner taking their rotund prairie dog places!
Users who are already big contributors with red Fanatic পদক and higher will be swimming in gold, Scrooge McDuck-style, due to their countless hot contributions earning shiny new স্বর্ণ every day, so unlocking a পরিলেখ skin অথবা banner will be a drop in the gold-bucket. আপনি could probably buy it every ঘন্টা of every দিন without making much difference in your স্বর্ণ balance.
New fans, on the other hand, should learn the ropes and get some experience with what the community is about before immediately going and blinging out their profiles.
For new users, it will also help guide them to the idea that ফ্যানপপ is about contributing and collaborating with other অনুরাগী to build great অনুরাগী clubs, and not about inciting drama.
We'll first launch with these পরিলেখ features as they are among the most requested. After this, we'll add:
-User name changing. Yes, apparently, a few people want this for some unknown reason. What the heck is wrong with bonerAlert89 ? স্বর্ণ will keep this from going too crazy as it's hard enough to keep up with your 1,000 অনুরাগী and all their new names each week.
-voting for replacement club banners, icons, skins, and themes (very cheap in terms of voting per club, and users with পদক in that club will be able to vote for free). Giving অনুরাগী control of club প্রতীকী and banners has been one of the most requested features, but the concern was that the small percentage of nasty people may try to rig মতামত and vote unfairly if it was just implemented using a regular ফ্যানপপ poll.
The reason for spending a little স্বর্ণ to vote on club banners/icons/skins/themes is multi-fold: it will reduce vote cheating as cheating bastards will have a tougher time working the system, and it also makes sure that people voting really mean it, versus just spam-voting ugly banners on every club they come across. People with new/fake accounts won't have enough স্বর্ণ to rig the vote. Of course, if আপনি have a medal in that club, আপনি have earned the right to vote for free. Club elections for banners/icons/skins/themes will come up every two weeks if new candidates are দাখিল হয়েছে দ্বারা fans. The current "incumbent" banner/icon/skin will always be a candidate, along with any new candidates.
-profile skins, পরিলেখ themes, পরিলেখ super banners, and future items that are আরো expensive, Gold-wise. আরো on this later, but we are talking about পরিলেখ videos, gifts to other fans, fully-unlocked profiles [enter your own HTML] and much more.
Yes, পরিলেখ স্কিন্স্ could look amazing অথবা fugly, depending on one's taste, but in the opinion of the ফ্যানপপ staff, any user who has achieved veteran status has demonstrated pretty good judgement and probably won't উঠিয়ে রাখুন a vomit-inducing skin. In any case, if you've earned thousands of Gold, you've definitely earned the right in our book to customize things a bit.
-Another one of many new items: the "Rose-Colored Glasses". Do আপনি despise all skins, themes, etc? Does individuality and personal expression make আপনি want to puke? This high-value স্বর্ণ item lets আপনি customize the ফ্যানপপ world to how আপনি want things to look. As the name implies, it only affects how আপনি see things, not how other অনুরাগী see stuff. Unless, of course, আপনি have enough স্বর্ণ to gift your entire army of অনুরাগী minions Rose-Colored Glasses...
-There will be an option to প্রদর্শনী অথবা hide your total Lifetime স্বর্ণ earnings, which will be public দ্বারা default. Lifetime স্বর্ণ earnings is just the sum total of all the স্বর্ণ you've ever earned, regardless of how much আপনি have spent. The শীর্ষ অনুরাগী who প্রদর্শনী it will be ranked on a leaderboard.
Even if আপনি spend some অথবা all of your Gold, it does not reduce your Lifetime earnings number since that is all the স্বর্ণ you've ever earned (and is not your current স্বর্ণ balance, which is a private number shown only to you). আপনি can also think of Lifetime স্বর্ণ earnings as one's সামগ্রিক total ফ্যানপপ score.
-new cheat-resistant মতামত and quiz! মতামত rigging is a bummer. We'll give মতামত creators two new options (they are optional and not required):
1. poll/quiz voting to people who have earned at least X Lifetime স্বর্ণ অথবা at least X medals. Voting is free.
2. This option requires people to spend a few স্বর্ণ to vote in a poll/quiz (along with free ভোট for medal holders in that club). Don't worry, that স্বর্ণ does not go into the মতামত creator's wallet. মতামত cheating will be dramatically reduced because cheating bastards won't have the স্বর্ণ and পদক to rig মতামত (since they are too busy trying to cheat instead of building real অনুরাগী clubs). We don't see this option being used very frequently, but it can be used for important polls.
-new cheat-resistant 5-star ratings! Veteran অনুরাগী will remember 5-star ratings. If আপনি vote something a 3,4, অথবা 5, it will count the same as being a "Fan of it". অনুরাগী will be required to have earned at least some স্বর্ণ to rate stuff and prove they are a real অনুরাগী and not just a cheating bastard. We could rating to someone with medals, but that is hard on people who are real অনুরাগী but spread out all over Fanpop, so we'll go with a minimum Lifetime স্বর্ণ number. Again, rating is free. It won't cost any স্বর্ণ to rate; আপনি just need to have earned some স্বর্ণ at some point in time to prove আপনি are a real fan. Aside from stopping cheaters, do আপনি really want a n00b who knows nothing about ফ্যানপপ and who has earned zero স্বর্ণ to have the power to downrate your stuff? If they are real fans, they will be able to rate soon enough, and দ্বারা then they will hopefully have learned the ফ্যানপপ culture.
Nothing is 100% cheat proof, but it will greatly reduce cheating, and it makes it much easier to nail cheaters and ban them for life. Yes, cheaters can try to earn স্বর্ণ on their cheater accounts, but that can take a long time if they have a lot of accounts, and it's easy to catch and ban them in the process. Cheating is certainly a lot harder with স্বর্ণ than just creating a bunch of fake accounts instantly as is done now.
-spam-resistant walls and private messages! আপনি will have an option in your পরিলেখ to block users trying to message আপনি অথবা write on your দেওয়াল who have earned zero gold. This is in addition to the existing filters and block lists. Goodbye, spammers!
Your personal স্বর্ণ console প্রদর্শিত হচ্ছে your hottest items that day/week/month will be hidden/private দ্বারা default, but আপনি can share it if আপনি want to help teach new অনুরাগী what is hot and what is not.
Your contributions will earn স্বর্ণ every day, and at the end of the week, আপনি simply make one contribution to automatically collect your gold.
The first phase of স্বর্ণ will be launched in the পরবর্তি several weeks. We'll be starting with অনুরাগী পরিলেখ customization and then roll out club banner/icon voting.
