by Four Degreez

'How to Earn Money' is a series of articles that will describe ways to make money in the Kingdom. This first installment will focus on getting paid for simply using the boards.

Yes, it's true, you can make a living in the Kingdom by doing nothing other than posting. There are two posting awards given out daily for high-quality posts. The 'Excellence in Posting' award is worth $5 and is given out to several of the highest-rated posts from the day before. The 'Quality Posting' award is worth $2 per post and is given out to every post that exceeds a certain rating (the exact number is secret and subject to adjustment).

These awards can add cash to your account, but admittedly they are not a consistent way of generating income for yourself. One drawback is that the awards require you to write highly-rated posts consistently, which is not always an easy task. Another is that in order to be eligible for the awards, posts must be rated by eight or more people. Eight is the magic number in the Kingdom for post ratings to "count". Anything less is considered too small a sample to be valid. This requirement, however, leaves many good posts stranded several ratings short of eight. The lesson here is, please rate posts!

But if you cannot depend on the two posting awards for regular income, how can you earn a living by posting? The answer is simple: go after the third award, 'Discussion Stimulus'. This is the one you can score consistently.

First, a quick primer on the award. It is given to 4K members who have created threads that meet certain criteria. First, the post which starts the thread must exceed a certain rating--a far lower one than required for the two posting awards, though. And yes there is the 'magic eight' requirement, but it is less of a problem since thread-starting posts tend to get rated more. The second requirement deals with how much discussion is spawned from that initial post. The exact details are secret, however you can safely assume that a lot of posts within the thread by numerous members will bode well for your chances of earning the award. The third requirement is that you must continue to participate within your own thread! If it grows due to other members' efforts and not your own, you will not win the award.

Threads are evaluated for the Discussion Stimulus Award after they are a week old, in order to give them time enough to grow. The amount you earn from each instance of the award varies between $5 and $10. There is no limit to how many you can earn. As you can see, if you can score this award several times per week consistently you can earn the equivalent of owning several completed icon series.

I will tell you how you to earn several awards per week consistently. First and foremost, start threads on topics that will generate interest in the community. If you come upon a topic in your real life that seems interesting, keep it in mind, then when you come to the Kingdom, write a post about it. Don't just write a sentence or two, but put a little thought into it so that you'll get at least a somewhat good rating. Now wait. Hopefully other members will respond to your post. But your task has only just begun. Think of your initial post as the planting of a seed. It may sprout, but it needs to be watered and cared for in order to grow. Revisit your threads and reply to posts within to keep the discussion moving. Over the next seven days, go back and care for that thread so that it will continue to grow. It's your thread afterall, and no one should else care about it as much as you do. Consider yourself almost as the 'moderator' or 'host' of your thread.

Now wouldn't it be annoying if you had to try to keep track of your threads scattered on different boards and remember which ones are coming due for the award? Luckily you do not have to. On your My Posts page near the top you will see a link to My Threads. This page is your thread garden, so to speak. All the information you need is there: The number of posts under your thread, the number of new ones that you should read and reply to, the start date of the thread, and the date of the most recent reply. Now as I've said, the exact figures needed to earn the award are secret, but you should start to get a feel for how large a thread must be or how many participants are needed in order to be awarded. Of course, higher numbers result in higher awards. And helpfully, your transaction history will tell you the name of the thread that won the award so you can go back and review what made that thread work.

Armed with this knowledge, you can go forth to the boards and start earning those 4K dollars today! And anyone can do it. It is only a matter of how much effort you want to put in. So start cultivating those threads!