As we have made changes to our process to address the issue of similar submissions, we have attempted to create a system that protects people who submit unprecedented ideas. We now have a mechanism for surfacing ideas that are similar to those we place Under Consideration. We review these similar ideas, and if it is determined that an idea we are interested in has been submitted previously, in a form that encompasses the aspects that interest us, we reward the inventor credit to the submitter of the original idea.
After seeing this system work for products such as the Double Sided Iron, and the Emergency Sign, we have decided to make an adjustment to the process. Moving forward, and applying retroactively to the Emergency Sign, and Double Sided Iron, we are going to reward 10% of product influence to the submitter, voters, comp shoppers, and revisionists (revisioners?) of the ideas that make it to Eval, but are ultimately not selected because of an earlier, similar submission. This influence will not come come out of the 60% allotted normally for Eval.
We have come to this decision because it is our goal to reward people for influencing the development of Quirky products. It is clear that the submissions that spark our interest in an idea are influential, even if those submissions are ultimately not selected because of a prior idea. We want to make sure the users that contribute to those catalyst ideas are not left unrewarded.
