Our member: The time lord, inspired me to post this

I was wondering if we could pull a new 'incentive' to the front burner, by taking a poll for 'best threads'.

Let's say perhaps, a thread was created by the Admins or Mods, to include the Top 5-10 Threads that stood out (voted by members et al), and members who were in the roster list, were awarded points.

Awards go out: Weekly, monthly, yearly basis?

This would, IMO, help to serve these purposes:

1. Inspire our members to create more inciteful threads.
2. Voting would show a general consensus.
3. Another method of receiving points; thus adding to reason #1.
4. Although Moderators award 'applause' points (Fantastic idea, wouldn't change a thing), it would be great if we could ALL have a say.
5. Much much more!

I know there were plenty of times that I came across a post, and thought "Wow...that's the bomb!" or "Jeese, if I was a mod, I'd love to give so-and-so an award for this post!"

Haven't you ALL felt that way?

It would be great to start something like this up!

A bit of the Nov.5 revolution kicking in.

Well? What do you ALL think?

Sincerely,

~Ducky~

I forgot to add this in my post.

Many institutions/restaurants/establishments have what we call:

"Employee of the month:

I think it would be a great idea to have:

ATS Member of the month, or week, etc.

~Ducky~

The only downside IMO, is the "fluff" threads like the one about porn filters, and the hoax threads - whether known or unknown by the author, like this one

I'm not saying the author knew it was a load of rubbish, but many UK members posted saying there was no truth to the story, yet it ran and ran.

It may also lead to creation of sensationalist unprovable claims in the very popular ufo forum - you know the type of thing.

If there could be a way of weeding out some of these then I'm all for it.

reply to post by budski

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This is where the 'voting' comes in my good friend.

General Consensus.

Above that, do you think my proposal is a good idea?

~Ducky~

I've noticed some people passing by, reading the OP, and wonder if this is something 'feasible' that we could implement into ATS?

Input?

~Ducky~

I think it's a great idea duckster - but my reservation still stands.

I've seen some truly wonderfull threads get ignored - no stars, flags, nothing. Hopefully they got applause.

Consensus depends on popularity and popularity doesn't always mean quality.

I'd probably prefer something like this - the top few threads from each forum are nominated, then the staff pick a winner.
Otherwise there's the chance that the polls end up like elections, with the best soundbites winning.

aside from that - big

[edit on 16/1/2008 by budski]

I doubt any of that would happen. Do you remember, we can't have the polls?

I yet don't know why...

Sounds like you are talking about the old WATS awards, it was discontinued.
Perhaps a Mod or a Admin can give you the details of why it was discontinued



each member had 3 votes per month, but not many members would voted I believe.


[edit on 16/1/2008 by Sauron]

reply to post by TheoOne

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Hence the reason for bringing up the subject in this particular format.

~Ducky~

reply to post by Sauron

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Not so much the WATS award.

I'm looking at something that is 'merited down the road'. Weekly? Mabey more feasible with 'Monthly' (where tabulation is concerned).

An 'Accumulation' of votes for a set period of time. A 'build-up' of some sorts; awarded to 'BEST OUTSTANDING THREAD'.

~Ducky~

I was about to say, the old WATS award fit the bill. You voted on it, and once a month, someone got awarded a pretty little badge, and yearly all the WATS members were rounded up and a WATS of the year was chosen.

But if that's not what you're referring to, then I think the only other thing I can really imagine is the Newsletter picks. The hottest threads are chosen and linked in the Newsletter, and chosen based upon Flags and Stars and Views.

Umm... I mean, if you like a thread, flag it, star it, and reply to it. Contribute something of value to the conversation while simultaneously bumping it. That's the best reward anyone who is going to write a quality article can hope for. Past a certain point, you really kinda stop caring about points, because the approval and conversation from your peers means far more in the long run to the sort of person who's going to write a really solid, well-researched, quality post.