Points

Purpose

1. To give TBD's visitors a way to track their progress (knowledge, resource accumulation, etc.) throughout their civil rights journey.
   • Secondary Purpose: to incentivize visitors to make contributions that will benefit other visitors
     • (eg, sample documents, commenting, quizzing, buying & selling, etc.)

About

1. Value
   1. Current
      • The number listed above is the total number of points that you've accumulated [on TextBookDiscrimination.com] (as of this moment)
   2. Increase
      • your point totals increase by user activity (eg, commenting, liking, etc.) (see Table A)
      • your point totals also increase by reading government documents (eg, constitutions, laws, rules, etc.)
        1. see Table B
   3. Decrease
      • your point totals decrease by accessing TBD's proprietary pages (eg, how-to guides, templates, analysis, attorney lists, etc.)
        • see Table B
   4. Real-World Value = 0
      • these points do not have any real-world value (in terms of government currency).
      • thus, these 'Book Points' are akin to points in a video/arcade game
   5. Cost = 0
      • these points cannot be purchased.
2. Data
   1. Browser-Specific
      • These points are linked to your web browser (see lightgray box at the top)
   2. Control
      • You have total control over your points data
        • Example: you can delete them via your Browser's Cache/History
   3. Durability (very low)
      • Since your browser stores your points, some of your software updates could wipe them out.
   4. Lightweight
      • As you can probably tell, your Points Data has a very small data footprint (ie, it is very lightweight)
   5. Shortcomings
      • If you visit TBD with different browsers then you will have different point totals
      • If you visit TBD with different devices then you will have different point totals
3. Technology
   1. Cookies (no)
      • These Book Points are not stored in Browser Cookies (ie, tiny data files stored on client devices)
      • Instead, they are stored in your browser's Session Storage
   2. JavaScript (yes)
      • These Book Points are accessed/increased with the use of JavaScript™
   3. Recommended Usage: Google Chrome
      • you'll probably get the best user-experience if you use Google Chrome

Dates

• Sitewide Implementation
  • June 1, 2023 marks the first day in which this Book Points System was implemented sitewide
• Initiation
  • March 22, 2023 was the first date in which TBD created these book points
• Missing Activity
  • Therefore, activity that preceded 3/22/23 will not boost your Book Points
  • Plus, activity that preceded 6/1/23 might not boost your Book Points
  • Feel Free to Contact TBD to recover past points (free, but very time-consuming)

Features

• Automatic
  • increases/updates are performed automatically
• Fast
  • Calculations are performed without any noticeable impact to page load speeds
• Free
  • Book Points do not cost any money to acquire
• Leaderboard
  • Analyze how you've progressed throughout time
  • Compare your progress with the progress of other visitors (including TBD's Founder!)
• Meaningful
  • These Book Points are tied together
    1. Some pages/activities yield more points than others
    2. Every week, TBD performs a calculation to establish the point values (see Table B)
       1. Factors include total views, user activity, time expended, and more
    3. Zero Sum: the values are designed to generate zero aggregate surpluses/shortages (ie, "total debits" are designed to equal "total credits")
       1. Primary Reason: TBD - as a non-profit/non-revenue/non-donation website (read more here) - provides free resources to each-&-everyone who seeks it (independently, rapidly, and with zero ulterior incentives).
  • In other words, these book points are not arbitrary
• Numerical
  • Book Points are strictly numerical; and - therefore - are easy to track
• Refresh Guard
  • refreshing a page (ie, with [F5]) will not increase the point totals (re-visiting a page will, though)
• Uninvasive
  • Does not require user accounts
• Visual Notification
  • a simple animation runs [on the top bar] in order to signal a change in your Book Points

TBD's Commentary

• This is just an easy/simple/uninvasive way to track how much progress (knowledge, resources, etc.) you've made in your civil rights journey
• TBD's Founder uses this website everyday, and he's looking forward to the benefits of this point system (read more about TBD here)
• In the future, TBD will make these Book Points more robust