Hello everybody
This year's voting on awards for the activities of the members of this forum is drawing near. In the admin section we drafted a set of rules. Many of them are identical with the rules of last years voting, but as some changes were made everybody should read these rules. Please tell us if there are any points you strongly disagree with or if there are further amendments you want to suggest. Of course we cannot guarantee every suggestion to be carried into action, but if there is no disagreement to a suggestion or if that suggestion is supported by a great majority it is going to be taken in. If there are no responses we will take this as an agreement to the following rules. The rules can be discussed and possibly changed for one week from now on. After that the voting session (which lasts for four weeks) will start.
Here are the rules:
- Every active member of the GOF with at least 100 posts is entitled to vote and be elected for an award.
- We STRONGLY encourage people to vote for as many awards as possible. We understand that in a few cases people cannot give a vote as they are not participating in the issues the award is about (the RPGs in particular). But wherever possible a vote should be given.
- Nobody is entitled to get an award if he or she did not vote on more than two awards. If the majority of votes on an award goes to somebody who skipped more than two votes the award will be given to the one with the second highest vote.
- We discourage voting for yourself, but you may do so in no more than one category if you feel you really deserve that award so much that voting for anyone else would be dishonest.
- If you vote for somebody on a particular award, please give us a couple of lines on why you voted for the particular candidate. Sometimes decisions are VERY hard to make. The comments on a vote decision may give credit to other potential candidates as well. The comments can be understood as another award. Votes without comment are not valid.
We also drafted definitions of the awards we are going to issue. That is we wrote which kind of activities are meant to be rewarded with the different awards. These definitions may help you when you have difficulties to decide whom to vote for a particular award (and there will be difficulties, no doubt about that. Sometimes the decision is REALLY hard). Apart from those awards issued last yeare there are some new ones. Here they are:
The
friendliest member award is to be issued to the member whom the majority voted for being the most friendly and easygoing in general interaction. It is meant to be a reward to those who contribute to making the GOF a hospitable place through sheer kindness, for those who make people feel welcome around here.
The
most helpful member award is meant to go to the one whom the majority considered most engaged whenever it comes to supporting others when it comes to providing materials (e.g. pictures, music, information) asked for by others.
The
best role play gamer award is to be voted for by the participants of the RPG sections of this board. They are to vote for the one who is contributing by writing the most interesting contributions to the RPGs. The frequency of the contributions, and the sheer devotion to RPGs are other points to be rewarded with this award.
The
land before time philosopher award is meant for those whose posts on LBT matters (or should that be LBT and general matters, e.g. threads in the after midnight section?) which are perceived as particularly well elaborated, convincing, and triggering discussions.
The
New member award is meant for those who joined us relatively recently but are already very active posters. Not just the number of posts but also the content are to be taken into account. The New member award can be awarded only to those who joined less than a year before the closing date of this years award voting. You can check out the joining date of members in their profiles but we are also going to provide a list of those whose joining date qualifies them for the newby award.
The
Proactive member award is meant for those members who are most active if it comes to get new stuff started at the GOF. This includes for example those who make good suggestions for new board sections which have been carried into action or to those who managed to organize activities involving several members of the GOF, but also those who started new LBT webpages or any other LBT related projects which are not quite to be included in the term fanart.
The
Fanart award is for the member whose fanart is particularly appreciated by the members of the GOF for their style, content, and / or simply subjective taste. As there is a large amount of different kinds of fanart posted in the GOF we decided to create two awards for creators of fanart (the other one being the LBT projects award) with each of the awards covering a different field of fanart. The fanart award is meant for the kinds of art which are material so you can hold them in your hands. This includes drawings and paintings made directly on paper (not on the computer) and LBT figures.
The
LBT projects award is meant for the artists who create fanart which is not as tangible as the art covered by the fanart award. This includes music, videos, and fanart created on a computer rather than directly on paper.
The
Gamer award is meant for those members who show remarkable activity in the Party room section, including the LBT captions and the brain food. The number of posts but also how funny and they are should be taken into account when we decide for whom to vote.
The
Feedback award is meant to give credit to those who give credit to others by responding to their posts of fanart (all kinds of fanart). Getting responses to input of fanart may help to improve fanart and it may also be a strong motivator for people to post fanart in the first place. Both the kindness (flaming is neither helpful nor permited nor existend in the GOF) and the helpfulness of feedback as to let the artist know what the author thinks about his or her fanart are to be taken into account.
