I have an idea for a small competition the GMC could do. It could be something like "the person with the most posts at the end of the month gets this" or "the person who helps out the most gets this" or something like that. That could promote helping other people with their questions.

this will encourage spam like the current post!

This is a game making community. Not a forum browsing community.

Hence, we make competitions based on the best game.

Most of the time, the appearance of these 'competitions' is THE sign to leave a dying forum.

Let's drop the idea of "most posts". We all know where that leads.

Alternatively, the idea of "member of the month" might be fun. Something that recognizes community service. But not just for that particular month, but over the member's GMC lifetime. That way, it won't encourage "energetic" behavior.

But the selections would be made by moderators. We've all seen what happens with member voting.

How about a "post of the month"? For being informative, elaborate, clear etc. That would boost quality rather than quantity of content.

I'd also like to see a "review of the month" in the creation sections. Maybe a number of runners-up in both categories, since there's obviously room for more than one good post.

I took a glance at that, and I must say I was somewhat intrigued...



Then I read that, and I immediately recognized it to be an oxymoron. People that have a lot of post are usaully the people that don't have very descriptive post, or helpful post for that matter. Anyone can post a lot, but it takes intelligence, patience, and knowledge to post well thought out ideas, or solutions. On that note....

I think it would be good to recognize somebody that is constantly giving good advice, and creating good well thought out post/topics. Which goes hand in hand with what KC LC was mentioning.

~LC~

You suggested that before, and it's a great idea. I tried looking for a while... and then gave up. Maybe I was just too picky.

I think many of these ideas have merit -- but they take some work if they're to mean anything.

@others: any idea based on quantity of posts (or anything else) is a non-starter. So let's not fill the topic bashing a dead idea.

Well, you could of course abuse the report system for POTM. Members bring the moderator's attention to these posts and staff selects the winners. Optionally you edit 'voted POTM' into a post if you decide they qualify, so others won't vote repeatedly and fill up your report list.

What happened to GM Annual awards? Perhaps mods could bring it back if Roach doesn't want to do it. Though I remember it didn't go down well with some members.

edit: why am I naturally not using the word 'the' any more?

My concern over anything based on "the month" is that we would inevitably miss many excellent candidates in any given month, that wouldn't be eligible the following month. That's why I'd prefer monthly selections based on "cumulative contributions" over a member's GMC lifetime.


Agreed... it didn't go down well. In fact, it was a silly popularity contest and GMC celebrity worship.


Because you've adopted more efficient syntax. Eschew articles.

Gesundheit.

Will you guys stop speaking foreign languages for a second!? This is serious!

You decide the deadline date and time. Posts reported for POTM that didn't make it to the current month's cut-off date can be moved to the next. No posts would be missed.


'Cumulative contributions' could trigger quantity over quality in the same way previous suggestions would.

That's a good point. But cumulative contributions over a member's GMC lifetime can't be easily impacted by short-term "activity bursts" -- which is what I fear monthly-based selections might encourage.

But your suggestion of "carry over" reports is a good one, and it reduces my concerns. Nevertheless, I'm still suspicious of anything based on member input.

Darn. Soon I will operating on such a high level people wont be able to understand me.


Yes it pretty much was but some members did enjoy it. You wouldn't want to risk losing your 'nicest person on gmc' title either


As for the 'post of the month' suggestion it doesn't quite sit right with me either. Unless you also introduce a 'worst post of the month' award also then I will be fully behind the idea

The post of the month sounds like a good idea. It should be post of the week, though. Also, you should have one post of the week in each forum (one in extensions, one in novice+intermediate, etc.). Some examples are most complex script, etc. Also, the winner can advertise their website, so if anybody is looking for web traffic, they can try to post something useful.

Best post of the month would be good, but an administrator would have to find a IPB modification (or make one) for that cause, so the report functionality is not abused. Perhaps a "vote" button, right beside the "report".

@flexaplex, a WPOTM would introduce more spam posts, just to obtain that position. Trust me, it's happened.

A reputation system would be cool, but it too, would end up being abused.

I was levelling... never mind.

On a news group I read regularly, whenever anyone sees a post that they think is worthy, they create a followup post simply nomminating it for POTM
at the end of the month people vote for them.

Nomination could consist of quoting the post and simply stating POTM after. I also think that the report button could be used for that. Who says that 'Report' has to be only for something bad. I know I've used it in the past simply to bring something to the Mods attention,not because the post has broken any rules.

At the end of the month, use a poll, maybe create a subforum that consist of the POTM (and runner ups).

It's a nice idea, and it'd be fun if it was successful, but my main concern is how it would be managed. A 'vote' button next to the report one may be confusing to people who are unaware of what it is for (some may think it is for voting for a particular game/tutorial/etc.), it could also be abused by members (i.e multiple accounts to vote on your own post, but that may be a bit extreme). But my main concern is how would something like this be maintained? Would there just be one topic that shows each POTW/M, or would it be added to the post? A subforum, maybe?

I don't really think a POTM award is worth the maintenance that would be involved. I also suspect it is likely to get abused or more become annoying with people nominating non-worthy posts.

If it is to be implemented though I suggest it is all handled in 1 thread, where people give a link to a post they wish to nominate. This way it is less work for the mods and the forum/report system wont be spammed with it.

My point was that the member input consists of the nominations, not of the vote. We already know some members in the community can't be trusted with a poll. That's why staff picks the winners and the runner-ups.

If both members and staff can provide nominations, you'll have far less of a chance of missing the gems. I think the report system would work very well for this. You read the report, you decide if the post makes a chance. If it does, you edit POTM into the post and delete the report. If it doesn't, you only delete the report.


I don't think this is much of a concern. First of all, obvious abuse can be dealt with. Second, the report system can already be abused as it is now, submitting bogus reports as a form of online pestering or framing. During my time as a staff member such occasions were rare.


Except that in long threads you'll get duplicate nominations, whereas there can only be one report per post.

I think you shouldn't reference "month" at all. A post isn't suddenly of less quality if it's posted in the same month as someone else's. What time of the month it is should have nothing to do with anything.

Just give members who say really constructive things an "award" and don't bother setting up an entire system of rules about how all of this should be organized.

I don't think so, those other posts have just as much chance in one POTM as another, they don't exclude posts that aren't posted in said month.

Most Posts? That will lead to a lot of spam and pointless topics.

Who said anything about most posts?

I believe having "a post of the month" would be a great idea.
It would be an incentive toward more members for having their posts well thought out and helpful.

Now on the idea of having "a worst post." Not a good idea.
We would have more post like "duhhh, is this the worst post."
Or like this one

Even though it did make me laugh.

Wittiest post (monthly)
Plain English Award (monthly)
Member of the Month Award (for one or more games and/or one or more good posts)

*gets shunned by people*

Just to point this out, but perhaps we should change the title of this topic, seeing as it has drifted away from being about a GMC competition to a POTM kind of discussion.

Just a thought...

Not really, a POTM could still count as a competition of sorts, competition doesn't have to be directly related to games.

Deviating a little from the subject, but why not have some sort of "thumbs up, thumbs down" system for posts? If you think a post is on topic, informative and well written, thumbs up. If it's irrelevant, biased or just plain stupid, thumbs down.

That way, there could be a "Highest Rated Post of the Month", or failing that, manually choosing a Post of the Month could consist purely of the moderators/administrators taking a look at the highest x posts and picking from that.

You're afraid that the idea might create activity bursts? I think that's what I got from that...

If you mean a system similar to how comments on Youtube are rated, then I agree with that. Although, a system would have to be set up so users could only vote on a particular post once, otherwise it would be abused.

Maybe we could have a "star reviewer" system like at Sims99? People who frequently post good, solid reviews get a little star by their title.

That's a good idea from NAL.

And I can add, it could be "Top Ten Posts of the Month", because like Erik Leppen said:

So by covering at least the 10 best posts, so hopefully we won't miss all the good posts.

But thats the Point what does that even mean,
and btw, thats against the rules!

Thumbs up/down for posts sounds like an awsome improvement for the forum. This would encourage positive and constructive critizism and reduce flaming.

Theres a great idea. Instead of people spamming to get "most posts", they would post only neccessary and helpful posts.
Maybe the community could help by rating a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" if thats included.

I like the thumbs up/down idea. The only problem with the whole idea is that there are so many posts. I think there should be a first/second/third place, and also it should be the best post per subforum or something like that.

So, you've had this discussion formulated, now what's the difference? Really, kids do need to stop over-reacting as if to sound scholarly and 'just do it'.

^?^
Your saying we need to stop talking and actually do something about this?

Yes, I'm saying "we need to stop talking and actually do something about this."

Do you actually think that story-telling us your ambition will make a difference? Tough luck, senator.

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

Here on the GMC, we demand moderators and administrators do it, regardless that we easily could.

It is their job to do every single thing we demand, whether or not they want to, and whether or not we could ourselves.


..I hope you've noticed the sarcasm in this post.

Picture this: the so thought 'competition' does not have to be associated with the officials of GMC. Create a website, announce your proposal on your signature or wherever possible - now how's that for a start?

A dreadful one. If you're going to create a GMC competition you need those who moderate the forums and make important decisions to be in on it too, whether or not it takes a bit of time. What you're suggesting would take any sort of competition completely away from the forums and just showcase interesting posts from 'that forum'.

That makes sense, having a Game Maker Community competition hosted on another website. Except for the part the chances of such a competition be hosted in such a way, will not become very popular among the members. I don't really see the need for such a competition anyways, it's just another excuse for members to try to become popular and consider them selves above other members. There is already a lot of that going on in the community, and I really wouldn't like to see more.

Then again, the idea of the competition somewhat intrigues me for the reason that members might take it as an opportunity to better themselves.

~LC~

I'm not emphasizing the posted argument about 'GMC competition' because an official posed 'competition' currently exist. What I'm trying to fond onto is the idea of having a 'different competition'; you cannot create a 'different competition' of a relative [Yoyogames competition] that exist because it already exist within this forum and there can only be one. Therefore, you will have to create somewhat an individual approach for such 'competition' such as creating a website for *it*, etc. to be able to say: "oh wow I'm an idiot who started a different competition where it's served from another website."

You seem to be using a lot of words to put across very little; what competition are you referring to? I'd consider an 'individual approach' in this case to be simply wrong, it's not the right kind of competition to support this; a majority of posts so far have been discussing the possibility of the competition existing in these forums under the premise of a post 'karma' system.