A Quicker Start to Memorizing the Bible
Posted on March 06, 2012
Hi everyone! The start of 2012 sure has gone by quickly. We are now past January, the month of resolutions, and Feburary, the month of fraying resolutions. If 2012 saw you resolving to add to your stockpile of memory verses, now is a good time to renew that resolution!
Many of the changes we've made to Memverse in the first two months would have gone largely unnoticed to those of you who joined before the end of 2011. The start of this year saw us making some changes to simplify the first few minutes of the Memverse experience. We had noticed that 1/4 of the people who signed up never added a single verse. Another 1/4 would complete one memorization session and never come back.
Since we know that you're all hard at work referring people in order to advance in your levels, this state of affairs was tragic. We suspected that over the years complexity had accreted like barnacles on a ship, so we set to work simplifying the startup experience. Only new users will see these changes but we're happy with the early signs. Now, more than 90% of the people who sign up add some verses to their account. Over time, we will be merging some of these changes into the 'Add Verse' page.
If any of you happen to be looking over the shoulder of someone who is brand new to Memverse we would love to get feedback. What confused or puzzled them? What caused them to throw up their hands in despair and stomp out of the room muttering: "Where are my flash cards? Now I know why the Law was delivered on stone tablets and not via a browser!" ?
Second, we have added some more levels for those of you who just can't level up quickly enough. We promise to add more variety over time. Alongside the standard progression system, we will be gradually adding some 'badges'. There will be more to come on this topic but the first ones will probably be awarded for consistency in completed sessions. Most badges will have 3 levels (bronze, silver, gold). We are looking for someone to design some fun badges so if you have an artistic bent we would love to hear from you. We would love to have the badges designed by members of the Memverse community so try your hand at designing a set of 'Consistency' badges. (The badge dimensions should be 120 x 120 pixels and can be either round or square.) If you know someone who is a brilliant graphic designer, please ask them to help out.
New Feature
badges, levels, quick start, getting started
74 responses to A Quicker Start to Memorizing the Bible
Wow, I just went through an extremely quick startup, just to test the new system--and it was amazingly fast! Great work, everyone who's putting effort into this! I hope Memverse just keeps getting better!
I've referred 5 new users in the past week and they've ALL added verses! It looks like one of them even referred a handful of users on their own!
There should be a badge for reference recall (Bronze-70%, Silver-90%, and Gold-100%) and accuracy (same scoring system).
I actually was recently looking over the shoulder of someone joining Memverse! (It was my brother, Papa's helper.) It was all straightforward easy to follow. He loves it!
I have had the idea for Memverse "badges" for a while, too! For a consistency badge, I'd say it would be gold if you have not missed 90% or more of the days you've been on Memverse. For example, if a user has been on for 100 days, and has completed 90 sessions, that user would receive this "badge". But if the user has only completed 89 sessions, then that user would get a silver medal. For silver, this user should need to complete 70 or more sessions, and for bronze, probably 50 or more sessions.
I think it would be fun to design medals, but I don't have any programs that can design exceptional images.
Badges are a really good idea! Would the badges have words or pictures or something on them?
By the way, my profile picture is of Golgotha! Where Jesus died for us!!! My Dad took this picture when he was in Israel a few weeks ago
Okay, I think I'm missing something (actually, I AM missing something!). Lots of people keep saying "I tried the new way...". So my questions - What's the new way?
Sorry, I'm probably missing something obvious =)
I can't wait to see the badges! Will there be some for amounts of verses memorized and levels reached?
Yesterday, I helped one of my friends start a Memverse account. I love the way it has you add verses right away!
Wow, yes, this is amazing! I sure hope more people stay active now. The badges sound really interesting, I wish I could help but 1st, I have no idea how I could do that and 2nd, I have absolutely no talent in that area. :)
Rachel- oh that is so cool! It would be so amazing to go to Israel!
Marisol, we're excited to welcome you as our first member from Bethlehem Baptist Church! We were wondering where you all were hiding out.
I think you will find no shortage of fun people on Memverse who will keep you accountable in your pursuit of memorizing the Bible.
The new system looks great! Recently, a friend of mine joined, but he used "Practice" instead of "Memorize" so he found it really frustrating. Perhaps there is a way to make it clearer from the start what one is supposed to do?
Haha - Bethany, I had the same question! :)
Badges sound GREAT!!!!! :) How can I get past level 5? I can't find anyone to refer. Help!
@Marisol - welcome to Memverse! and the Blog!!!! :) I love Memverse - hope you will too! :)
@Rachel - that is SOOOOOOOOOOO cool!!!!!!!!!!!! Did you get to go?
Umm, any memverse administrators, I have someone who set me as their referall but I'm still on level 5 and that was the last thing I had to do! Help!
@ BBJ12: Is the person who set you as their referral inactive? If so, then that is the problem. If not, then I don't know.
@ JPIA(R): That's so cool! I wish I could go there!
@ Andy: MemVerse Badges would be cool! I am sort of artistic, but I don't have a website that would be able to create anything like that.
Nathan - Thanks for the feedback. With the new quick start, people see a button to "start memorizing" after they've added 5 verses; we're hoping that helps. However, as we think about improvements, we will keep in mind that it could be confusing knowing how to start....
BibleBeeJunior12 - Like Mommy's Helper said, it looks like your referral is inactive, so that's why it hasn't moved you up yet....
BBJ12- Yes, Mommy's Helper is right, is your referral inactive? I'm still on level 5 because my referral is also inactive. I don't think she really knows what to do, so, I'm going to tell her about it tomorrow (we only see each other every other week). I hope this helps!
@Andy - When do you think the first badges will be out???
There should be a badge leaderboard -
Gold for hard badge - 6 points
Silver for hard badge - 5 points
Bronze for hard badge - 4 points
Gold for easy badge - 3 points
Silver for easy badge - 2 points
Bronze for easy badge - 1 point
I don't think there will be a badge leaderboard but we might display the badges next to people's names and on their user page.
The badges will probably be distributed such that 1% can get a gold badge, 5% a silver badge and 20% a bronze badge.
For instance, in order to get a gold 'Consistency' badge you will probably need to have completed 350+ sessions in the past year. We're still calculating the numbers for the silver and bronze 'Consistency' badges.
We really need someone to design the badges for us so please ask around. That is the limiting factor on when we can get them out.
@Andy - the badges sound AWESOME!!!!! :) I really wish I knew how and had the program to do this. Then I would be very willing to do it. If anyone wants to give me a program or whatever, that's fine! :) JK :)
@Mommy's Helper, GMOV, and Alex - yes, she is inactive - I guess I'll just stay on level 5 forever. *sigh* :)
I applaud these improvements. Most people I know who tried to start, but never continued had difficulties related to the confirmation email or logging in the first time. Is that process no longer being used with this new system? I would also add a page/step/field to confirm or enter the person who referred them to MemVerse (with an option to skip in case they can't find the person). I actually think that referrals should not be part of the level requirements, but I'll save that for a different post.
BBJ12 - I am having the same problem...but I have TWO inactive referrals 
And I don't want to push them to be active again 
Have to go do my Friday chores! Which are ... 
(doing laundry), 
(washing windows) and a few others that they don't have smilies for :D
BBJ12 and Rachel- I have one referral and she is inactive, but yesterday I asked her if she was going to be adding any verses soon. And she told me that she was planning to, but she hadn't had the time to do during the week. I think she is going to become active soon! So you could ask you referral (s) if they are going to be adding any verses soon or you could kindly ask them when they will go on memverse again.
This might not work, but it's worth a try!
Me, too. Especially since I have referred several people, but they haven't put me as their referrer. I could ask them to put me as their referrer, but it would be nice to have a page like that.
@Rachel - I like all those smileys! They're cute. BTW, I really like your profile picture!!!
@Andy - If I drew up some pictures for the badges, how would I give them to you? Is there a way to post them on the blog?
I drew up a gold, silver, and bronze consistency badge. I just need how to give them to you.
It's best to use GIF files, Super.
We've had a few submissions but hopefully we'll find a way to incorporate a lot of the ideas ... also, we might keep some of them for future badges but it's great to have everyone contribute.
I'm very excited with some of the designs I've seen already.
@ Wretched Man, or anyone else Our church is having a conversation about what predestination means tonight. Since we go to an Arminian church I was wondering If I could get some Reformed resources on it. More Arminian resources are helpful too ! Thanks a lot guys ! Wretched Man was just the first person I thought of :)
I'm not sure what your time zone is @God'sBondslave, but hopefully you'll get this in time:
1) Of course, the definitive treatise on Predestination would be by John Calvin himself in his multi-volume Institutes on Religion.
2) John Gill is quite a lofty thinker, but he puts things in an understandable manner (though in Old English). I think his book on this is called "Doctrinal and Practical Divinity: A System of Evangelical Truths"
3) The Works of John Owen: Volumes 10 and 12 (I love John Owen!)
These should give the best information from the Reformed perspective.
Super401,
How about using an online image host that gives you a direct link to the file itself? Alternatively, googledocs hosts any file type but makes it somewhat more difficult to share with others.
WOW wretched man you have memorized 800 verses that is awesome
__ __
o o
I
\______/
@God's Maiden of Virtue - 700th verse! Wow - don't forget to contact SMF if you haven't already! :)
@Super401 - can't wait to see them! :) maybe you could put a link up after you send it to Andy or Alex (whoever you're supposed to) and we could all see them! :)
@Hope Harrison - I think you have to download them onto your computer or something. Then you can use them. Just click on one of them and I think that will let you onto their website.
No problem. I think they're adorable, too, but I would have to get my parents' permission to download them. Do you do Bible Bee? If so, what category are you in? I'm a Junior. (obviously! :))
BBJ12- I'm so sorry, but I still haven't contacted SMF!! That's just not one of the top things on my mind. Sorry!
@Alex - Just wondering, but are you planning on doing quizzes again this Bible Bee season?
Alex - I'll be looking forward to them....as they were very helpful, and fun at the same time :)
Bible bee junoir12
Yes I do Bible bee and I am in primary next year I am in junior :)
Thanks for all the updates! I was wondering though about bible bee. What if you had the person type the reference and then the passage and then type the reference again? I found it hard to remember the reference when I was just practicing the passage.
@BBJ12
I do Bible Bee. So does Hope. This will be Hope's last year in Primary and my second in Junior.
@Matthew Sinclair - Does the reference recall help? It has helped me.
@Andy - When will the badges probably be out?
I created Gold, Silver, and Bronze Consistency Membadges. Could you tell me where to email them? You can email me at StoryMakerEchidna ~-AT-~ gmail ~-DOT-~ com. (change ~-AT-~ to @ and ~-DOT-~ to . and remove the spaces.) I don't know if mine will be chosen, but it was great fun to make them, and I'll make any improvements you need if you find them lacking. Thanks so much for this opportunity! :D
@Talia - I made some badges, and I got an email from admin@memverse.com. You should probably send the badges there.
@matthew Sinclair - I know! It's difficult for me too.
@Super401 - reference recall is not very good when you have long passages.
Wow! The changes look really good. :-) I do have a little "over the shoulder" feedback for you (except it was via email :-) ) I just referred a friend to Memverse, about the same time the changes were being made. She signed up right away, but later told me that she quit using it because she "knew pretty much all the verses they wanted her to memorize". I told her that she can enter in any verse in the Bible that she wants on the "add verses" page, but I haven't heard if she has tried it again. I think what probably happened was that when she first signed up, and it took her to the "Step 3: Select 5-10 verses to start memorizing" page, she saw the "Choose from Popular Verses" list, and thought that you can only choose verses from the list of something. Anyway, I hope this feedback is helpful! :-)
@Super401: It does help, but it doesn't always practice the one your not remembering.
@Alex Watt: Thanks
@Karen F. - maybe you can help her choose verses..just a suggestion.
@BBJr.12 - It not easy with long passages (e.g. the ones from bible bee in Job last year) but doing ref. recall helps with that. it's like knowing what a house looks like (e.g. a verse) but not knowing it's address (e.g. a reference). It's always better to know the verse and the reference than just the verse. However, it would be nice if you could make a custom quiz for ref. recall (and accuracy tests, for that matter). Perhaps Andy could do something to the website.
@ Andy - You said above that 350+ sessions a year would get you a gold badge... What are the numbers for silver and bronze?
The silver is currently at 325 and the bronze is at 300. We will probably set the badges over time so that about 5% of users get a silver badge and 10% get a bronze badge.
Looks like the badge are out!!! Neat :)
@Andy or Alex -- I have three on my dashboard... "The Sermon on the Mount", "Top Referrer" and "Consiste Memorizer". Could you explain what they all mean? Thanks!
I especially LOVE the humor in your second last paragraph, Andy!! Great! I have also found numerous other humorous references in various blogs. That really helps to give this ("my") new-found website a warm feeling, and a welcoming feeling. Thank you!! Being only my 4th day here, I am looking forward to the adventure! Keep it up!!
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