Good idea, or bad idea?

[DGFone]

With the member of the year going on right now, a lot of people have pointed out lately that there is a general feel of unfairness in the contest: that it's not so much of who is a good member as it is a popularity contest. More than one member has pointed out that even though this is a Lion King fan forum, many members who actually post in the TLK sections generally don't win MotM or MotY. To me personally, it seems like if you want to win the MotM or MotY, what you need to do is make sure to post a lot in the den and Member HQ sections and seem like an all around nice member.

But then again: what if you don't have the time to interact with everyone else, or you are not into that, and came to MLK to discuss the movies and not talk about other people?

When the MotM and MotY contest were created, they were made so that members who don't have any specific talents, i.e. image editing, writing skills, etc, will still have a chance to win something on MLK. Now, as many have pointed out, it's just one big fancy popularity contest, which means that many members who were originally the targets of the contest are ironically left out.

Today as I was walking to class, a random idea popped into my head, and I am asking you guys to decide if it's a good idea or a bad idea:

MLK is at it's core, meant to be a Lion King fan forum. However, MotM and MotY ignore this aspect for the most part and instead, members who post a lot, no matter where, are much more likely to win, which is contrary to the contest's original goal.

So for the next rounds of MotM and MotY, what if we were to add a new requirement that stated that in order to be allowed to be nominated for MotM/MotY, you have to be at least somewhat active in the TLK sections?

I am hoping that this will allow some of the members who are devoted to the movies, but don't post elsewhere, to also win these contests. On the other hand, this can be a very bad idea as well. So I'm going to let you guys decide: is it a good idea, or a bad one? I've created a poll for easy determining of people's opinion of this idea.

DR/TL: Vote on should we add a new requirement that stated that in order to be allowed to be nominated for MotM/MotY, you have to be at least somewhat active in the TLK sections?

[Regulus]

I'm pretty sure there are more months in a year than there are active topics in the TLK discussions, at any given time.

Most of what there is to say about TLK has already been said (with few exceptions, like yesterday's SP thread), so applying this constraint essentially rules out everyone except new members who create duplicate topics or bump old ones, who aren't even eligible anyway.

Yeah, I get what the problem is. It's always sorta been that way.

But you have to look at the big picture, here. Ultimately, everyone in MotM is nominated by at least a few members. Everyone who wins MotM only does so because they are voted to be MotM. It's a community driven thing.

For better or worse, what you're proposing takes away from that.

What I mean is that as much as this is a TLK discussion forum, it has evolved into something more like a TLK-themed general discussion board. Considering that more than half of new posts are in the den and member HQ every day, it's basically a proven fact.

How much someone posts in TLK threads doesn't actually mean much. It's basically what I've already said: in the TLK discussion threads, it's mostly the new members saying things that have already been said, or the same, older members saying those same things. It's very rare that a new topic is brought up that's different from an existing one.

In essence, this is a matter of quality over quantity. It's that simple, and that's why this idea doesn't really work.

I'm pretty sure TLK is what originally drew most of us here. But, I'm pretty sure we all know that it isn't the reason why we're still here. It's an integral part of it, but it's not the be-all and end-all type of thing.

I could probably explain this all a little better, but I think that makes enough sense for now.

[InsaneSeagull]

I get what you meant, DGFone, and in normal conditions, I would even say the idea is good. I can't deny the popularity part has taken over MOTM/MOTY contest completely, but still, that's what it is. People vote, and everyone votes for someone he likes. It's normal human mentality. It's nothing weird at all. I don't say it's good, I just say it's how it has to be.

The question about TLK sections is - what exactly does it mean to be active there? There are not too many things to be said there, unless you want people to start spamming. Of course, TLK discussions are always welcome, but generally each person states his opinion once, or eventually twice (if he changed his opinion in meantime) in one thread. Some eventually open new threads, and again people comment, max once or twice. Normal member can't make more than 100 or 200 posts there, no matter how hard he/she tries. Of course, he'd leave the section for maybe a month and post something again then. Is he considered inactive in these conditions? And still, those are ideal, most of the people don't have something to say about every possible thing.

Again, I do not thing the idea is bad, horrible or something like that. I just don't think it's likely to work out. And it would probably get some people off MOTM competition and nominations completely. It wasn't the point of the contest too.

[AdAstrα]

I don't think it's a bad idea and I certainly agree with your reasoning behind it - however I have to agree with Reg that there just isn't enough left to discuss when it comes to TLK. Occasionally something will come along, but not often enough to base a monthly thing on.

On another forum I was on we had an annual "Forum Awards" type of thing with different categories (like Graphic Designer of the year, Mod of the Year etc. but we also had categories like "Person who made you smile the most" and "Best Advice-Giver") and everyone got to vote for whoever they thought deserved it more. I don't know if something similar to that could work on here...several awards instead of just one. More categories. Fun categories. Yeah. It'd take a lot more work to arrange I suppose but I don't see why not?

[DGFone]

[quote="AdAstrα"]
On another forum I was on we had an annual "Forum Awards" type of thing with different categories (like Graphic Designer of the year, Mod of the Year etc. but we also had categories like "Person who made you smile the most" and "Best Advice-Giver") and everyone got to vote for whoever they thought deserved it more. I don't know if something similar to that could work on here...several awards instead of just one. More categories. Fun categories. Yeah. It'd take a lot more work to arrange I suppose but I don't see why not?[/quote]

I completely agree with this. When I posted this topic, I knew that simply adding a "you need to be posting in the TLK sections" requirement will never work. One of the reasons why I created the topic in the first place was that I knew that if people will like the idea, that they will find some sort alternative that will work better.

So what if we were to create some sort of "TLK member" award along with MotM? And then along with MotY, we can have a "biggest TLK fan of the Year" award as well?

[InsaneSeagull]

That could actaully work. Maybe more categories could be an ideal option. Everyone gets what they should.

[DGFone]

So in other words, abandon the general "member of the month" contest, and actually go back to a similar system that was used before it: more, but more specialized contests?

Have the TLK member contest, friendliest/funniest member contest?

[InsaneSeagull]

I would probably keep MOTM together with all these, as something “general“, but yeah... more specialized contests would solve the problem a bit.

[KingKivuli]

I have stated before the first contest created focused on different aspect of the community: graphics, rp, fanfic, art, and AMV's with Bonus awards for random things. This only worked for a while due to the fact that.. there was a very limited people who could win those, and member of the year didnt even exist. When I changed to the new system, the rule was 'contribution to the forum' This could be in any form, but if it was TLK even more so.

To make an award for who is the biggest TLK fan or something like that would be bad for a few reasons:
1. Activity - yeah... pretty much everything has been said about the films and most likely several times over now
2. Limitations - The only other way to support TLK is with art, and RP, but there are lots of members who cant or wont do either leaving a very shallow pool to pick from
3. Control - Every single member that got nominated would have to have their posts checked to see their activity on the TLK side of things. Unless they all souly post TLK.. that would take ages, then me or other controllers of the award would have to post saying they can not be in as their activity isnt high enough, which is just time consuming and will lead to people naturally getting annoyed

I have honestly thought long and hard about how to get the TLK activity up, but the discussion and RP are near dead, fan fics are totally out of it havnt seen one in months
Thats why I stress so much to not just post for friends or people you know to stop this fully descending into pure popularity. Right now the 4 people lined up to win are true people deserving of it. Heck I have won it and a few other award and my post count on the forum and TLK board suck

[FlipMode]

How about this - keep member of the month as it is an then in Beyond The Lion King have a separate monthly awards for specifically TLK things.
So you could have best TLK fan fiction author, best TLK graphic designer, most contribuive, thread starter award, biggest fan, best TLK merch collector...
And these are just some ideas from the top of my head

Would certainly help to at least try and promote activity in those areas of the board.
Personally I try to be active across all parts of the board and it seems like what you said is true, all the people up for MotY this year, including myself, mainly post in OT an HQ and then it's nice to just dip into the TLK sections every now and then when I'm in the mood for that...

And KK; there's plenty of RP and fan fics still going on. We even have a fan fiction contest now lol