Reward minutes

[Ilan Tochner]

Hi Danko,

Quin had asked if we could change the way the bonus Minutes work and you had asked whether we could give out KC instead. I think I answered you both when I explained why we couldn't do either one of those things.

The terms for getting bonus Minutes were clearly stated in our FAQ and we didn't promise anything more than we delivered. The fact that Minutes expire at the end of each month is a fundamental part of how our service works and is explained in multiple places on our site. Bonus Minutes were no different than the Minutes you get with your plan, in both cases the unused Minutes expire at the end of the month. That is how our business model works and is part of how we can afford to charge such low fees for our services.

Our referral bonuses were like frequent flyer miles, they expired at a given point in time and you lost the ones you didn't use. The fact that frequent flyer miles expire doesn't make them an irrelevant incentive and, while most people may not use all their frequent flyer miles, most people appreciate getting them.

As to why we have chosen to discontinue giving out bonus Minutes for referrals: it is something we have been contemplating for a while as its net effect on our revenues was negative. In other words, the new users for which we were giving out those bonus Minutes were not generating enough revenue to cover the cost of those Minutes. We were willing to absorb that cost as long as we thought that doing so earned us goodwill but when it turned out that at least some people felt more aggravation than appreciation for the bonuses we gave out we decided that it was time to eliminate this expense.

I'm sorry if the people who have gotten used to relying on those bonuses will get hurt as a result but we can't continue giving away referral bonuses for simply having someone visit your world. We hope that the people who enjoy using our service will be willing to spend the low amounts of money that we charge.

I think that we are very open to feedback and suggestions. In fact, in the same blog post where we announced the discontinuation of the referral program we also announced that we rolled out a feature that was requested in the Mentors Group meeting just two days earlier. That said, expecting us to increase the perks we give out (i.e. reduce our bottom line) just because we were asked, when we are already much cheaper than the competition, is a bit unfair.

[Danko Whitfield]

Thank you for setting the record straight, Ilan.

I only posted once on this issue - without attitude - before it became a hissing contest. You had VERY clearly responded to me on the KC issue and I never brought it up again.

I did not think you had responded directly to Quin's question after reading your first response several times but now, after reading it again, I can see that you did. I stand corrected.

I only copped attitude after you blamed me and the two others who had commented on the referral program for the cancellation of the program...

"Following your feedback we decided to cancel the user referral bonus."

So, I am glad to see you state now:

"As to why we have chosen to discontinue giving out bonus Minutes for referrals: it is something we have been contemplating for a while as its net effect on our revenues was negative."

I do hope you will also correct the record on the Kitely blog, which states:

"However, we’ve heard from our users that this bonus is of little use and that it can cause frustration so we decided to simplify things by eliminating it."

Thanks

[Ilan Tochner]

Hi Danko,

I've added the clarification to the comment section of the blog post. See: http://www.kitely.com/virtual-world-new ... -778251116