As I see it, a donation is an input just like writing a post is an input.

If you write a forum post, you get 4 EXP.

Problem is, if for $1 you get 40 EXP, does it mean a forum post is worth 10 cents? I've made a well thought response with diagrams and got 10 cents for my time? Do you agree that doesn't feel right?

Well... Let's ask ourselves if the problem really is there.

Would people make such comparisons, if you would give EXP for donations?

Now, to answer that question, let's see what we have now.

As I said, for writing a post, one gets 4XP. and for liking a post, 1 EXP. I guess it may be a good opportunity to rethink the proportion between various rewards, as on this forum people rarely are writing one-liner posts. However, this is not the point I want to make; the point is, no one ever (if we don't count this post) actually complained about the matter, no one noticed. No one said "I will not write forum posts until you increase the rewards, as I'll earn EXP faster by just reading the forum and liking posts!", in fact, most of RR visitors probably don't even know exact sums for EXP rewards (I have to open the help page every time, because I never remember).

I don't think someone will say "It's not fair he has a higher level than me only because he bought it!" or "I spent $10 on this site and all I got is EXP equivalent to 100 likes!". I'd rather say, that donators send money to help RR or show gratitude and not because they want a reward, while the rest of RR visitors will appreciate a donation and honor it by honoring the EXP and other rewards associated with it.

So if you agree with me on that, then we need to set some EXP reward to show the input a donator actually makes. In games often You need to spend a lot of time in game to get an equivalent of $1, but in games there are bots and kids and the "premium" content is supposed to lure people into the shop, and low (compared to in-game time to get the same) prices are supposed to encourage to buy that stuff. In case of Radio Rivendell I propose a simple calculation:

1. Let's start with increasing EXP reward for a forum post to 10 EXP, because as I said earlier, people are not using forums as a chat (well, it happens, but rarely enough).

2. Let's say it takes 6 minutes on average to write a forum post.

3. Let's say an average salary is $10 per hour.

4. $10 / 60 min = $1 / 6 min

5. Therefore I believe a donation of $1 should be rewarded same as writing a post, that is 10 EXP, and such proportion wouldn't be less fair than proportions between other rewards.

Very good thoughts Etherlord! I think we can redraw both our levels as well as the XP reward for different things. And as you say, not really many know and cares how the XP is calculated, and what it's for (nothing really anyway)