Awards for Members

Awards​

In Site Feedback there have been discussions about rep systems and awards at CFC. In the most recent thread Whomp offered to take a well thought-out proposal to the Mod lounge for discussion. As a strong advocate of an award system, I am opening this thread to discuss one aspect of any such program: the awards.

Overview of an awards program: The idea I am pursuing is not a traditional rep system where members score other members and build their reputations. It is a program where once a year members would vote to award other posters with “badges of merit” in specific categories. The badges would be displayed near the avatars of the winners. Multiple posters could win the same award.

I see this thread as a brainstorming session to come up with a list of possible awards. The whole “how we vote” business will be discussed at a later date after there is some consensus on what we would be voting on.

We want to reward behavior that supports the goals of CFC and appropriate and desired behavior. We do not want awards for bad or undesirable behavior. Awards can be specific to particular forums, but they should not be so specific that members who don’t participate in that forum won’t understand it. Civ categories can also be included, but they should not overlap with current HoF or GOTM awards.

Here are some ideas to get things going:

Clever posters
Funniest Posters
Presents best arguments
Creates best threads
Best contributions to political discussions/history/science etc.

Sex pig awards are necessary.

How about an image processing (digital art) award?

A lot of awards
100!

The Official FredLC Award

It will be rewarded to FredLC year after year, just because he's the best poster to have ever graced this site.

I think this is an outstanding idea Bird, and one that we should really pursue. I think we have several great posters who bring a lot to the table in a specific field, that sometimes slide under the radar because of the large size of our community, and because of certain cliques.

Ideas....
Outstanding Contributions in:
History
American Politics
World Politics
Religion/Theology
Humor
Law
Economics/Business
Science and Technology

I would encourage others to take this idea seriously, and not spam this thread up with fiftychat related jokes, or stupid categories...otherwise, management will never let it fly. If we look at this in a mature manner, our community will grow, and we'll be able to retain our best members.

This sounds like a very good idea, maybe we can even give a racist award so Al can win something.

One thing we should do is make sure that posters aren't winning the same award over and over again, by making posters ineligable to win a title they have already won.

I'm not sure how to implement it, but there are certain posters who seem to contribute by sheer powerful personality. I think this would be archetyped by Simon Darkshade. It would be neat to find some way to recognize these folks.

Perfection said:

One thing we should do is make sure that posters aren't winning the same award over and over again, by making posters ineligable to win a title they have already won.

I'm not sure how to implement it, but there are certain posters who seem to contribute by sheer powerful personality. I think this would be archetyped by Simon Darkshade. It would be neat to find some way to recognize these folks.

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If we can actually come up with awards, then we will tackle the voting issues.

How would you characterize Simon's posting such that it is a positive thing? What about it made an impression on you?

I guess it mightbe called "posting style", the ability to consistantly make engaging posts.

Anyways, we should include "friendliness" or "helpfulness".

I like DT's ideas too.

Perfection said:

I guess it might just be "posting style", the ability to consistantly make engaging posts.

Anyways, we should include "friendliness" or "helpfulness".

I like DT's ideas too.

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'Engaging' is a good word.

I'd like to get about 2 dozen items that we can pare down to about 12 really good ones.

We need a "Most insane/hilarious poster" (not the same as "funniest") award.

Birdjaguar said:

If we can actually come up with awards, then we will tackle the voting issues.

How would you characterize Simon's posting such that it is a positive thing? What about it made an impression on you?

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Simon's posting made the forum much more interesting. Certain personas are needed in order to keep things from becoming too dry, especially in a forum like OT.

Zarn said:

Simon's posting made the forum much more interesting. Certain personas are needed in order to keep things from becoming too dry, especially in a forum like OT.

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OK, now what does that mean?

Birdjaguar said:

OK, now what does that mean?

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I would call it 'unique personalities.' He could really separate himself from the pack, making the forum more enjoyable.

Would Civ be fun for anyone, if everyone was the Aztecs? Would fantasy games be more fun for people, if everyone played the rogue?

I think member appreciation is a better description. Awards leave people sour and is kinda cliquish.

augurey said:

I think member appreciation is a better description. Awards leave people sour and is kinda cliquish.

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Nice thought.

I am totally down but under one condition:

Most Optimized Member Award

Oh that and leeway for people that sometimes can't post often (deployment yay!)

Here are some ideas gathered from above and other ideas. I think awards or recognition should have titles. There is no reason to limit awards to single posters; for some 2-5 winners might be appropriate. Some titles will need a bit of explanation, for example:
Pillars of the Community (posters who can be counted on to be here come rain or shine)

Cleverest
Most Original
Funniest
Most Helpful
Friendliest
Most Consistent
Thick Skin Award
Most welcome arrivals (newbies only, less than 500 posts)
Presents best arguments
Creates best threads
Award for Leading discussions in own thread
Award for Most thought provoking posts
Poster we’d like to stay forever
Right wing poster of the Year
Left wing poster of the year
Most likely to succeed in real life

Awards for
Poster most likely to inadvertently insert foot in mouth
Poster I’d most like to meet in real life
Poster whose posts I always try to read

Force of Personality Award
Most intimidating in a discussion
Most versatile poster across many topics

Outstanding Contribution to History
Outstanding Contribution to American Politics
Outstanding Contribution to World Politics
Outstanding Contribution to Religion/Theology
Outstanding Contribution to Humor
Outstanding Contribution to Law
Outstanding Contribution to Economics/Business
Outstanding Contribution to Science and Technology

Sounds fine, but awards should be voted on by mods, not non-mod members. I think the potential for abuse is very high.