I had just written an essay for a course that I took here and when I was going to send it… no points left? What??? I had 2000 points last week and now just 246. Then checked my account and it turned out they expired two days ago!!!
I’m not criticizing the expiration itselft. I personally think that points paid shouldn’t expire, but ok, it works like that, so fine, but, AT LEAST, it could be a kind of automatic message or warning saying than, for example, “your points will expire next week”!! I don’t know… something!!
I personally don’t remember the exact day I bougt my points, and I won’t remeber after 3 months. So if I had had a warning last week, maybe I could have written my essay 3 days ago, or sign in in a conversation or something!!!
All in all, I think it would be kind and easy to implement a warning system to inform you that yor points will expire soon. Just that, a proposal to improve LingQ!!
I am sorry you got caught. I am sure it will not happen again -:).
We have had this request before, and honestly it is just not a high priority, although is probably not a big job.
We feel that the 3 months is very fair. We used to charge per month whether you did anything or not, which is not uncommon.
Remember, as well, that all points that expire go to the common fund which pays points to our content creators. I hope one day you will create some nice content for us in Spanish (and Catalan when we offer that language) and eventually earn more points than you spend.
Let me add that the old method of charging people per month regardless of what they did, was not only a better business model for us, but it also was better for people’s learning. More people tended to write and speak since they had already paid for it. On the other hand there were many people who just paid every month and did nothing, despite emails from the system. We felt that this was not really fair, and so made the system more flexible.
On another note, my wife are really enjoying Spain which we are visiting together with Portugal. Vigo, Pontevedra, Santiago de Compostela, Caceres, Merida, Zafra, LLerna, and now three days in Seville. Great. Tonight we are going out for some Tapas and Flamenco.
Thank you Steve for the answer.
I understand you position and probably it’s a more flexible system for people in general, but I think that some times there are other explanations for losing points other than inactivity. I mean, I can just talk for me, but in my case, the problem was not that I haven’t done anything in LingQ these weeks, it’s just that in that very moment I was very “busy”, travelling, the kids starting the kindergarten for the first time, some colds in the family, so for me it was easier to work my readings and listenings by my own than to sign in for conversation or sending writings. Besides, my tutor is having less group conversation times (it’s not a complain!)! So, I’m not trying to justify myself, just wanted to highlight that not always when you lose points it’s because of the inactivity in the system. And in my particular and specific situation, probably if I had known that my points were going to expire I would have done the effort to write something last week!! That’s all!
Of course I’d like to create some content in Spanish and sure I’ll do it soon. And it would be really great that you’ll offer the learning of Catalan!! You can count on me for creating content or even being tutor if ever decided to offer Catalan!
I appreciate your position. It is great that you are considering helping out with content, and eventually with Catalan.
Do not forget that you can book discussions forward. Buying courses is a good way to do this. On the other hand we have to make sure that our tutors schedule enough discussions, far enough forward, including courses. We will work on this.
Perhaps paying members (either Premium only, or all paying members) could be exempt from points expiration or eligible for expiration warnings. This would be an incentive to upgrade as well.
The reason points expire is to encourage people to use their points. 90 days is a long time in which to use them up. We want all our members to use their points and learn! We have seen what happens when the points don’t expire. People hoard them which is counterproductive.
can’t understand your points expiration - what dates are taken as the beginning for expiration?
“…the reason points expire is to encourage people to use their points”, - I use my points several times a month, from January till today I’ve booked 10 conversations and my points expire nevertheless. Sorry, if I am not active enough for you, but the expiration like this discourages me.
Yeah, I was bitten by this actually. I had 992 points (not a big deal but they were gifts from members and I was going to use them for a spanish translation). I logged into LingQ recently to use those points… only to discover they were “donated” to other members.
@junair - I’m sorry to hear this. I checked and it looks like the points that expired were points that had been received as a bonus through the Shared Lessons Award. The points for the Shared Lessons Award come directly from the pool of expired points. The alternative to points expiration is to remove the Shared Lessons Award, but that is something that you’ve benefited from directly (thanks for sharing lessons!) and others indirectly by the large number of lessons that have been shared in the Library.
A way to use up points more quickly to prevent them from expiring is to have 30-minute conversations instead of 15-minute conversations. This way you’ll use up the points twice as fast, preventing points from expiring.
I second the request for a warning of points expiration.
I have been busy reading and listening, importing lessons and creating new content for the Portuguese library and forgot to check my points page. Time flies when you are busy, doesn’t it?
Thanks for the translation, but my little knowledge of German was enough to understand the pic. Perhaps I should also get a post-it note like that not to forget about my points.
I understand that people find it annoying that points expire without a warning. I´m constantly playing a game that I call the “will I get enough points to pay for my membership or convert them into cash before it´s too late?”-game. (#iwishihadanacronymforthat#firstworldproblems)
Then again, I kinda enjoy playing that game.^^
Besides that, the expired points are contributed among content providers and LingQ wouldn´t be nearly as awesome without them. The “shared lessons”-award is pretty small, implementing a warning would make it even smaller.
@Paule89 - You are right, the expired points are distributed among content providers, but if you provide content, you’ll agree that it is a very small amount, compared to the effort content providers make. I’d say that without content providers Lingq would have no documents in the library at all, so they should be more cherished.
@all - we don’t have any plans to do it in the near future. Points are valid during 90 days. Please make sure to purchase as many points as you really need Also remember, that all the expired points are redistributed to our content providers.
Hi Galina, as a matter of fact, the points that were now taken from my account, were points that I got as a “Shared Lessons Award”. Hopefully, I will get them again!
@junair - probably you spend not enough points Unused points expire in 90 days, since the date they have been added to your account. You may have points with different expiration dates.
