"Reward" hack - for charity
 

I have an idea for a hack which will reward members for posting.

The idea.

I have a bit of money which I'd like to donate to charity. However, I'd like to give my members the opportunity to tell me which charity (from a list I specify) gets the money. After a month or so, the charity which has the most 'votes' will get the money.

How it works.

Every time a member posts a message (via the Quick Reply Box which is only accessible to registered users) they have the option of nominating a charity from a drop-down list. Therefore, the drop-down list needs to be included in the Quick Reply Box.

What I need to do.

Adding the drop-down box to the Quick Reply Box I can do - a simple template amendment. However, monitoring the 'votes' for each charity is somewhat trickier. I'm guessing that a variable needs to be created which will record the number of times each charity is voted for. This variable will increase by 1 every time it is selected (a simple count). Maybe an extra table to hold the variable for each charity is required - or maybe just another field on the post table, with a value relating to one of the charities. Then all posts with charity"X" can be counted. Not sure.

Although I'm using this to decide where to donate, I reckon the hack can be amended and used for any other 'voting' purpose. Essentially, it is a way to encourage members to post. So you could use it for say "What is your favourite colour?" - and to be able to tell you, the member has to post a message.

Now I think about it, this could be a very adaptable/useful hack. After all, we all want to encourage members to post.

Is anyone willing to write this hack. It sounds fairly straightforward.

Thanks.

HOw about a poll?

Yeah, that was my first idea. But I'd like to make it a 'global' choice - ie members don't have to reply to a specific thread, they can 'vote' from any thread. But you've got me thinking - the code for the poll can probably be adapted somehow.

The main point of the hack is to encourage users to submit posts - about any subject (NOT about which charity should get the money). Which charity gets the money is secondary.

The other thing I want to do is to be able to show exactly how the 'poll' is going. So a variable for each charity, rather than a field in each post table would be quicker to access.