I added some tags when I submitted an article. But they sort of disappeared which was confusing. Will they eventually be displayed elsewhere along with the article? Will I be able to search by tag?
I also think you shouldn't track 'karma' and 'points'. It is too confusing for a 'harmless bit of fun' website. Let the people bet their real karma. Why not? If they lose it they will be driven to participate more. You could display subtotals of how much karma was gained/lost due to site activity and how much was gained via skillful betting. That way someone with a lot of activity but a bad betting record could have a total like [r7000 (8 488 -480)] maybe colour-coded or something. I think if you want to make a distinction a single total with subtotals makes more sense. If people aren't betting their actual karma I don't think they'll take the bets seriously.
I'll take the karma/points thing into consideration. I actually thought it would be clearer this way since I had only karma at first.
The tags do disappear (like Digg I believe), but they are used for the search function. So when you do search (upper right corner) you search by tags. Also, the tags come into play when finding the 3 similar articles for each link.
But the tags themselves are hidden away to reduce the clutter.
To make a bet, there needs to be a live match going on. There are no live matches right now so there's nothing to bet. Come September when the seasons start up there will be matches. Basically you follow the "Fixtures" link the navigation and you'll see a list of matches. Then you can go view a fixtures details and there will be a simple form you can use to submit your bets.
http://www.fanstate.com/tag/MLS maybe?
How do I make a bet?
I also think you shouldn't track 'karma' and 'points'. It is too confusing for a 'harmless bit of fun' website. Let the people bet their real karma. Why not? If they lose it they will be driven to participate more. You could display subtotals of how much karma was gained/lost due to site activity and how much was gained via skillful betting. That way someone with a lot of activity but a bad betting record could have a total like [r7000 (8 488 -480)] maybe colour-coded or something. I think if you want to make a distinction a single total with subtotals makes more sense. If people aren't betting their actual karma I don't think they'll take the bets seriously.
Just some ideas.