How To Earn Points on HowToDoThings

HowToDoThings members and contributors receive points for staying active on the site. You’ll get a certain number of points for each action you take, including getting an article published, commenting on another contributor’s article and rating other articles. Below is a breakdown of which actions will earn you points and how many points you’ll receive for each.

• Sign up as a contributor: One-time reward of 10 points.
• Publish an article: Each time you write an article, you have the option of using one of our suggested titles, or creating an article topic on your own.  When you write an article using a suggested topic title on our site, the published article earns you 50 points.  When you create an article topic on your own, the published article is worth 20 points.
• Editor bonus points: HowToDoThings editors will award bonus points for exceptional articles.  When we feel that an article is exceptional – for excellent written quality, thoroughness, the inclusion of a good-quality picture (or pictures), and/or the inclusion of a good-quality, relevant video clip – we'll reward the article with bonus points.
• Comment on an article: 1 point.
  Note: If your comment is rejected by an editor, you will be deducted 2 points.

By remaining active on HowToDoThings, you can advance through the contributor levels outlined below and gain access to special rewards as you achieve each new level. You’ll receive a badge in your public profile that indicates what your HowToDoThings level is.

1. Novice: 10-29 points. When you sign up to become a contributor for HowToDoThings, you’ll earn 10 points and immediately become a Novice Contributor. When your first articles are published, they will appear on the homepage of HowToDoThings in our “Most Recent” list of articles and will have the opportunity to appear on the homepage in the “Most Popular” list. After writing 4 articles, you will move on to become a Writer.
2. Writer: 30-99 points. Writers begin to see the benefit of the points system. As a Writer, you will qualify to have your articles featured on the HowToDoThings homepage and/or an appropriate top category page, have your profile featured in the member spotlight on the homepage and your articles will be included in the “Most Recent” article list. The articles you write will also have the opportunity to be included in the “Most Popular” article list.
3. Enthusiast: 100-249 points. Becoming an Enthusiast gives you all the benefits of a Writer, plus you’ll qualify to have your articles featured in the #1 spot on the homepage and the top category pages. These are the pages on the site that are most heavily trafficked and will offer your article the most exposure.

   So, not only will you qualify to be featured in the member spotlight and have your articles featured on the homepage, category pages and “Most Recent” articles list, you’ll get top billing in those featured areas.

4. Authority: 250+ points. Authorities are the most active HowToDoThings contributors. They’ve written close to 50 articles and have participated on the site in a variety of other ways. Once you become an Authority, you’ll get featured in the #1 spot on the homepage and category pages AND get your own dedicated RSS feed to your HowToDoThings articles. This will alert your readers as soon as you publish another HowToDoThings article and ensure that people who like your writing will have access to everything you publish as soon as it’s live. This is a great way to build up an audience and ensure that what you have to say is reaching the world.

To learn more about the points system, visit the points explanation page.