posted 9 years ago
Hmmm, I've always just checked my public profile, but I've never gotten apple cores before. I looked at your profile and saw no listing about how many apples you've gotten. I looked back through your old posts (if you got apple cores, I'd assume that they'd be attached to a post), and I've only found 2 in the publishing standards thread. I also looked for the post's that earned apples, and I only saw one in the thread about Paul's back. I could very well have missed an apple somewhere, but it could very well be that you still have a negative or zero balance.
I can only give one apple a day, and I just gave you one for your post in "What can a 12 year old do?" If you had two apple cores and only one apple, this new apple should bring you to zero. If you get one more apple and don't see any show up on your profile, then there's probably something wonky going on.
To earn them, like Rebecca said, post some helpful replies to people's questions. Though, I have to add, that even if you make an amazingly helpful post, you mignt not necessarily get apples. Earning apples is never really that consistent. Volunteers, Stewards, Pollinators, Burra & Paul can all give out various amounts of apples per day. Pollinators (like myself) can give out one/day. And, so, if none of these people view an excellent post of yours and like it, then you don't get an apple, even if the post is amazing. I often venture into small threads where someone gives another person some really amazing help, but since no one with apple-giving powers saw it (or saw it when they still had an apple left to give), no apple was given. Other's get apples for funny posts, or for doing helpful things on the site (how I got most of mine), or for saying something salient in a philosophical discussion thread, or for a less-helpful post that happened to be seen by an apple-giver (I've been known to hand out apples to anyone that helps me, because I have that power, lol! I don't know what influences the other apple-givers).
In summary, whether you get an apple or not really varies! Oh! Another thing that seems to easily earn apples is writing book reviews, especially of new books without reviews.
I hope that helps!