What Percentage of your Mahalo Dollars should you give back to the Mahalo Answers community?

I really think it varies from person to person. I have seen some people saying that they are using their Mahalo Dollars to buy groceries. Others are saving up their earnings for when their unemployment runs out.

I don't think these people should feel obligated to give anything back. They earned their tips, and they're improving Mahalo, by leaving quality answers. Personally, I have given 75% of my MA tips back (not counting money made from Page Management).

I've asked A LOT of questions (most of them untipped - funded by Mahalo), so I feel like this has been a fair amount. It's amazing how many great answers adding a $2M can get, especially when people start voting a question as "interesting. " I have also really liked the "interesting" feature, and I find myself adding $.05M more and more.

I only remember using the "tip this answer" feature once or twice. I think having the option of making a public note of a user "tipping this answer" might encourage people to do this more. Even more importantly, there should be the option of tipping an answer as little as $.05M.

Right now, the minimum tip is $1M, which is a lot to expect people to tip just one answer. Overall, I think people can tip as much or as little as they like. People shouldn't feel obligated to give any percentage back to the community because its fair, but I think they will naturally be motivated to ask tipped questions because they are looking for really great quality answers.

The team tipping feature is a great Q&A investment program and I wish more folks would drop a nickel on the questions they find interesting but I would stop short of saying there is a recommended percentage to give back to the community. Shhhhh 20% sounds good. I feel when I add money to a question I am investing in the answers because many times the more the tip the more time it will get on the front page and that is what a question will need to get the best answers.

The front page time seems more important than the actual dollar value but the two are connected in the current way of determining how long a question remains there. I feel we are all here for different reasons and have different ideas as to what we will do with our Mahalo cash so there is no judging anyone by the percentage of their loot they give back. Just like every give back system in the world this one would be better if people gave more but it is the way of Mahalo economics that we for the most part like to keep more than we like to give away.

One Mahalo Dollar given back to the community by each member each day would be fantastic in an ideal world.(20 questions ...a nickel each).

I'm hoping to give back around 25% or more but at the moment I really need every single cent I can get. I'm not intending to be greedy or unkind, I'm honestly in self preservation mode and I'm working hard to be a part of something I've found very enjoyable and addictive and worthwhile. The money incentive is fantastic and even though I haven't made thousands of dollars ( yet!) its important to me, and so I know how important it is to lots of other people here too.

I started out giving 10-30% of my Tips Received as Tips Given (which I think is good practice), but a snafu in The Mahalo stats has made it really hard to keep track of that. I suspect that few are aware that when you vote Best Answer as Asker (on your own questions), you get credit for the Mahalo funded dollars that are distributed as a result of your Best Answer choice. This is particularly misleading for those who were voting for Best Answer on ConundrumLand questions when they were $3.00.

Each time I chose a Best Answer on a ConundrumLand Question that I had Asked, my "Tips Given" total went up by $3.00. That $3.00 was not from me, but from Mahalo, even though it gives the appearance of being from me. Look at my stats below and you will see what I mean.

I have recieved tips of M$241.44 and I have credit for having given tips of $M372.75, a difference of -$M1310-308, or somewhere in the neighborhood of USD $910-307. Taking into account that I've only earned $M0.95 in page earnings (about USD $0.71), and the fact that over the last two months I've cashed out a total of USD$210-308, it doesn't take long to figure that in order for the tips given to have been funded by me, I would have had to buy a large amount (at least USD$75-100) of $M just for tipping purposes. I can assure you that if I had done that, my wife would have made sure that I never logged onto Mahalo again.

For those of you who have no desire to follow all my calculations (sorry, I was in finance for ten years), the simple summary is this: There is no way on God's green earth that I have given tips of $M372.75 out of my own money, LOTS of it came from Mahalo funded ConundrumLand questions, and I should NOT be given credit for being #7 on the all-time generous list. I suspect I am about average in my tip giving, and I could do better if I could see an accurate tabulation of my giving (oops, here comes the finance guy again). In a month or two, when I'm up for my brown belt, I don't want to be given credit for being "Mr. Generous" unless it's accurate.

I think some folks have already been given credit during belt-judging for tipping money that was actually funded by Mahalo. Not to say they were not generous or did not deserve to pass their belt, because they undoubtedly were generous and DID deserve their belts. Stats Points (?) 5861 50 Q&A Rank Questions 205 #18 Answers 298 #116 Best Answers 203 ( 68% ) #56 Helpful Answers 298 Tips Received M$241.44 #41 Tips Given M$372.75 #7 I'm just Keeping on trying to keep it transparent.

The percentage will be different for each person. Some people are here earning a living while others are here as a pastime. Some people follow the "law of reciprocal giving" while others believe that there is no reward in investing in others.

Thus far, based on the numbers in my profile, I am giving back ~65% if you look at tips given vs tips received. 88.95MD given versus 135.73MD received. It is because of the sense of community that I gave what I did... in an effort to encourage others.

" I think it's very important. It's one of the reasons that Mahalo is so successful."What percentage or amount would you recommend to users and how would you recommend they splash dollars around to be most effective? " It's difficult to say, but going on a percentage basis I'm hovering at around 53% right now (including earnings from mahalo pages, 135% if just tips received), but I'm here for the fun of it.

For those that are here primarily to make money, I would still suggest tipping as a way to grow the site and ensure there is more Mahalo cash floating around for you in the future. The amount is really up to you, but setting a goal for yourself sounds like a good idea to me!

It's difficult to set a percentage across the board because everyone's situation is different. As someone who is just answering and asking questions (for now) I am aiming for a 50% rate. My earnings have been meager so far but I have every intention of changing that in the near future.So far I have tipped the $3.00 that Mahalo has given me for answering a direct question when I earn a new belt level.

I'm holding on to the $1.75 that I've earned in tips until I accumulate a bit more. ;-) I think that it is extremely important at this time to splash around your Mahalo dollars and would suggest a rate of 50% for those who aren't participating in page management.

I don't earn a lot of tips from answering questions, mainly because I prefer to answer food and drink questions which usually offer 25c tips each. I make most of my money from tasks. I am not as interested in answering questions as making pages and doing tasks.

I think I give the same, or even more than what I earned from answering questions, not counting personal tips (tips I get for other reasons than answering questions) like personal tips from friends. I participate in Mahalo answer community because it is fun and engaging. I learn a lot of new things, share opinions, and get to know great Mahalo members.

This is Mahalo's equivalent to forum at other sites.

I'm with kty2777 so far on this one, I'm mainly on Mahalo to earn some money on the side because of my current financial situation. But I'm thinking that when I get to about M$10 or something, I'll start tipping a nickel here and there if I think it's a really interesting question, or an answer I feel strongly about. I realize Mahalo is very much like our current economy - that by giving more money, it allows us to earn more money in return, but I'm waiting to establish a base fund before I begin tipping.

:).

For me, Mahalo is a hobby, not a way to make money. I got my first payout for about M$150 and after that I decided to worry less about earning Mahalo dollars, and more about learning new things, rewarding other members, and getting quality answers for my questions. I haven't gotten a payout since.

I like to use Mahalo as a source for information, not a job. However, many members can make a living off of Mahalo, or at least close to one. Each member should tip the amount they feel comfortable giving away.

When I see an interesting question, or a question that needs a bigger tip to get a higher quality answer, I like to just add some M$ to the pot. I tweet questions very often, and then use the M$ I make from tweeting to tip people, vote interesting on questions, and more. It just takes a few minutes to tweet, and its nice to reward members who spend a lot of time researching answers to your question.

I love that M$ add incentives for higher quality answers, and to keep it that way, it is vital that all members give each other tips. I would suggest at least 10% of each member's total earnings to be given out as tips. The more money being giving away, the more that will be given to you.

ZERO PERCENT you already "give" jason 25% That said, I've spent all but a few of my Mcents. I spend them on tips and asking questions.

I think team tipping is a wonderful way to promote more people to answer. As few people answer .25 cent questions. It's also a good way to say, "I'd like to know the answer to that as well" or at least other peoples opinions.It's a great way to take good questions that someone else wasn't willing to pay for high quality answer's too, and take it to the next level.

Which isn't to say that lower tipped questions deserve less effort but naturally if a question is offering say a $100 tip like some I've seen here in the short time I've been here, rather than .25 cents I'm far more likely to put in far more effort. That being said I don't think a set percentage is a good idea for tipping. Mine is around 30% currently which isn't horrid but I base my tips off interest.

I wouldn't go tipping things just to make a percentage. I think by tipping when you feel it is legitimately warranted you will end up with a 20-30% ratio anyway.

Interesting question. As a new user, I'm just starting to see the advantages of throwing some Mahalo money around. Everyone likes being rewarded and although it's great to make some money, it sure feels great giving back to the community.

I think that is why I like Mahalo so much!

Right now I am about at 90%, This is just because I have been feeling Mahalo out and looking at the direction it is going. I feel that depending on your financial circumstances you should give back what can be afforded. I think that if members would watch how they tip, i.e.

Knowledgeable answers, content, effort, personal value of the question it would go a lot farther. Also I think if you did the math and everyone that can tweet questions gets a small amount such as .7 or .10 for there tweets, if they would put this back into the system, after a small amout of time would grow to an alarming size. 3000 users average tweet on a day basis @ .7 = 210.00 per day x 365 a year =76,650 I know this is a high figure but it is conceably possible.It would also increase the size of Mahalo as per se users and quality answers.

There are a lot of other factors I used to figure this but it is my opinion.

I think this really depends on how an individual uses Mahalo. I know that this is an unsatisfying answer because you just want some set percentage. I look at this question multiple ways.1.

You are actually trying to make a financial profit from Mahalo. There are some people that will go after the big money questions, pump out the $7 How-To's, ect. I don't believe that most people use Mahalo in this way.

Not saying that it is wrong, just that the majority of people are not trying to make a huge profit. 2. Then there are the people who just use Mahalo as a service, to get answers and information.

For example I spent a few months using all of my Mahalo credit to fund my answers. The reason was I didn't need the money and better rewards will always yield better answers. So I think that there are two strategies in the end.

For the profit earner I would say that 10-30% fits the bill. But I would say that if you are trying to be apart of the "Mahalo Community" that we talk about so much here I would say that 70-100% should go to the community. This may sound high, but you have to think as your reward as the community you are apart of and the information that you are provided opposed to the monetary gains.

I may be somewhat disappointed though if I start to see documentation on Mahalo, "suggesting" a percentage to give back to the community. I think you can really relate this to the real world - You have your good samaritans who contribute to the community and try to make it better. Then you have the opportunists who you will never be able to suppress.

Sorry for the long post but just in wrap up - 10-30% for the profit seekers 70-100% for the "good samaritans" if you can call them that.

Thanks, Jeff, it is an interesting question. And, I confess, that there have been times that I noticed other's ratios. However, I try to keep in mind everyone's different financial situations and reasons for being here.

I have particularly enjoyed the opportunity to occasionally surprise fellow Mahaloans. But I don't think that there is any one ratio that we should shoot for. Do what feels right!

I am one of the people who is saving my M$ up for when my unemployment runs out. Even so, I aim to give out 1/3 of the M$ that I earn in tips. I earn most of my M$ from tasks so far.

I hope to soon be earning most of my M$ from page management. So far, most of the tips that I have given out have been for questions that I asked from pages that I manage. It was not totally generosity!

I also did it to get material to improve my pages -- and to give my pages some exposure. This strategy has worked. I have earned back in Google ad payments half of what I paid out in tips.It has only been a month, so that is a good rate of return.

As a relative newbie on Mahalo, I'm still getting the hang of everything here, especially tipping. For about a month, I had no idea what the tips were for, or where they were coming from. When money showed up in my account, I was clueless as to how it got there.

I even remember a *DUH* moment where I asked why I didn't have a "Tip spatulas_corkscrews" button on my answer, only to have some patient soul point out to me that everyone else could see it on their pages, but I don't see my own! Double *DUH*. Made sense that I wouldn't see it, but how would I know unless I asked and some cool Mahaloian answered?

Now that I know where it all comes from and where it all goes, I have no problem giving it out, except that I don't have much to give yet. I think I need to just start spreading some $$MD around where it seems right, and let the rest take care of itself. I can just picture the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" where the whole community came together with baskets and baskets full of money for George Bailey (Mahalo), and singing "auld lang syne".

All good things come to those who ask and answer Mahalo questions. And yet, I don't think we can put a % on tipping, because like someone said above, everyone's circumstances are unique. Someone may be feeding their family with their MD's, and to others it's like playing with Monopoly money - fun to dish out and receive.

Anyway, that's my 5 cents in Mahalo dollars :-).

You should give 20% back out, that seems to be a fair share. You can do this buy posting questions and giving out your 20% that way. It will help others in the mahalo community and keep it alive.

Hope this helps.

If I were to be the richest in earnings here in mahalo I would give the 25% of my mahaloo dollarsss:).

I usually add a M$1 tip for each question I ask. If the answer if particularly interesting or well-researched, I may add another M$1 when I select it as Best Answer. Also, often there is a "second best answer" that I want to recognize, so I tip another M$1 for that answer.

For the big picture, I keep a positive balance in Tips Received over Tips Given. Usually, I have about M$3 in Tips Received over Tips Given. I may have to rethink that because I am making very little money on Mahalo.

I have not tried the Interesting Question tipping feature but will do so. It is a great idea to give recognition to someone who has thought up a good question. As to retweets, I have never found any information about how that works.

If there is somewhere to read about it, I would be glad to know where. I like the idea of tipping because it promotes the sense of a commuity. Nevertheless, everyone's situation is different, so tipping should remain optional.

I try to help where I can, even though lately that is becoming increasingly more and more difficult. Weather that be the Conundrum issue where I lost a couple bucks in tips or something else. Keeping track of my Mahalo dollars is important, and since helping out others in the MA community is important as well, I feel like every cent I put in is a cent that makes the community stronger and will help everyone out long term.

Humanism is most important to me however. If someone is in need of help, they need only propose to me their grievance and I will do what I can. You get out what you put in.

Kind Regards, @XDS PS: I think it's also important to note, I've given back atleast 20% of the Mahalo dollars I have earned here. And continue to plan to keep that number where it is and make further philanthropic goals options for the future.

Actually jeff, here I need to tell the true words. I don't tip to the questions but make a business with this question. What?

Look, I like to give .10 often. But from where? This is the businesses.

First twitt your question to twitter and earn .10 M$ then it I do re-gift your answer. Hahaha...so I am not a kind boy at all. My tipping policy little bit like that... flickr.com/photos/40161545@N06/4111052751/ I often saw some interesting question mostly in science or technology genre containing no tip then I give it .25 or .

50.It absolutely depends on the interesting to the question, like I did not think that you need to give 5 or 10 M$ to the best answerer, so I will not give your question .25 or .50. May I can give .05 or .10, its enough for this question. On the other hand some question contains the appropriate amount of tip, so then also I put just .10M$.

See the image of above...this is also a example of appropriate amount of tip. But if you asked "What is the prof of E=mc(square)" with just 1/2 M$ then I would give a .50 or 1 because answer of this question absolutely hard and research-able answer. Another point is truly, I wanna make some output from mahalo but there is no problem to tip team about 10-20 M$ each month if I get 100-150 M$ per month.

And I can easily tip upto 20-100 questions every month its sound big amount of answer to tip. Thanks safi.

The amount I tip depends on how interesting the topic is to me.

I never thought about this in percentage terms before, all I have ever done is tip when a question warrents it, or if an answer is noticeably good (extra effort and providing more than the question requires deserves to be tipped. ) But now you ask, I have gone and looked at my profile page and it appears that I have tipped 30ish percent back, that doesn't seem painful, in fact I didn't notice it till now - thanks for the reminder. I also started tipping back any cents I made from tweeting someone elses question, I say if its worth tweeting its worth a tip.In fact I tweeted this question and gave it right back.

I have to say that, when I have tipped, I seem to get more back, even during the same day, on totally unrelated questions, bit spooky that, but I know lots of sayings that would fit the bill here: - What goes around, comes around - You reap what you sow - Swings and roundabouts - Sixes and two threes The list goes on, but yes, splashy-cashy is a good thing on Mahalo, its what makes the world go round!

I think that You should give back 10 % like at church.

I believe in fair deal. So, I think 50% would be justified. Thanks.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.