Right now the rating bonus is applied per post depending on an absolute value, which does not have any connection to the current average user rating. Like for example, you get 0.35 bonus points per post if your rating is between 4.25 and 4.50, which is independent of the current average user rating, which is 3.50. What I would like to suggest is, to make the bonus points system work on a relative scale rather than an absolute scale - relative to the current average user rating. For example, we could have something like a bonus of 0.15 if the rating is up to 0.25 more than the current average rating, a bonus of 0.35 if the rating is more than 0.25 - 0.50 than the current average and so on. Well, I just re-read what I typed, and it seems quite confusing, but I tried my best to explain it in the best possible way.
I prefer to have a set number of bonus points per post that is not going to change due to something out of your control...rather than your bonus points fluctuating, making it hard for you to keep track of what you're receiving.
What could be a good idea maybe is like having bonus points applied based on your rating at the forum you're posting at? If the forum hasn't rated you, then you receive an average amount of points. I just come up with this right now, so I haven't really thought it through much, but at first glance I can't see any massive disadvantages?
It's a good idea but has downsides. Technically, it would be difficult to implement. It also makes visibility of these bonuses difficult for owners and writers. What happens when somebody has 5 sites listed at Postloop? When somebody posts well at one of them and receives a high rating, they start getting bonuses at all 5. Too many risks to warrant the change, imo. Site owners can currently give user-specific bonuses as-is, if they wish.
Indeed, that was my initial thinking. I never did understand the thing that owners can only rate users once if they own multiple sites. I always thought it should be one rating allowed per site, not per user... Maybe that's something that could be considered in the future?
