This is just a suggestion, but maybe we could have an Awards ceremony type of thing. Like you vote for different members in different categories like best gfx artist, most creative, favorite member, best mod and some others. Just a thought.

I would like that ^_^ Though some might envy the winner of the certain category. I think it's a cool idea, and if some people disagree, I'm ok, it's just a suggestion, though it's really cool to have an awarding ceremony!!! :lol:

That'd be cool, I love those things. I've two before, and it can get pretty hectic but it's a lot of fun in the long run.

As for people getting jealous, it's a possibility, but most people just see it as harmless fun.

My main worry is that some might take it a bit too personally, but I suppose if enough people want it, we could have something like that. I don't believe there's been a contest here in a while, so a bit of random polling might be in order. :P

Perhaps to spice it up, suggestions for weirder categories could be PMed to a mod placed in charge of these polls. Silly things like "Sappiest Member" or something. XD

Would anybody be willing to fund prizes? Say, a lovely little KH Cloud figurine for the Mod who has the shortest name? *coughLynncough* :whistle:

Eek! Prize funding isn't always the best thing. I think the last time I did it they only got a special graphic to put in their sig to say "I won a category!". Wow, those people must hate me now!

(Though I'm sure someone will be nice enough to buy you a KH Cloud Figurine Lynn)

:lmao: Okay, no prize funding. Actually, I'm dead broke myself, so that's why I'm suggesting it for OTHER people! :giggle:

But yeah, I also had little graphics in mind. I think Remy might be a bit too busy in real life to do them again, though, so perhaps one of our lovely and talented graphic designers could lend a hand. ;)

Or we could just have polls and no prizes. Just bragging rights. XD

(Ooh, I hope so! Come come, people, if you have too much money you can always spend it on me! :giggle: )

That sounds like fun~ :DDD I'd totally participate because I love these things. X3 Ooh, maybe I can help with the banner award thingy majigers? :3

I'm dead broke. I got 10 dollars. :P

Edit: Oh wait, whoever gets voted best GFX artist gets to make the awards? :3 Well, Remy (being that she might totally win x3) might not be able to, seeing as how she's busy in real life. But like, second place winner. =D

I wouldn't mind hosting the thing. (Aw geez, like I totally couldn't be more subtle). But I've found from experience that it's best to have more than 1 person so that the whole thing doesn't rest on them. That works ok on small forums, but ones like this would be a bit more hectic.

Just a suggestion.

(And dammit someone, be nice and buy Lynn the KH Cloud figurine! I'm totally broke :P )

LOL, i love the idea! I mean, as long as everyone's ok with it. I'd love to try it. Sounds really fun. :fangirl: But, prizes? I'm broke.... * counts money* Well, that money is for an important matter. :rolleyes:

Sorry, no job = no money for me. :[

But I'd love to help out with graphics or running it~

Although the winner/second place gfx person would be a good idea too. :3

My concern is just that people'll get mad and/or offended if they don't get voted for what they wanted. That and people lobbying for votes from friends. XD;

Awww, but i really want to do this thing... :ermm: It sounds so fun. True, people could get upset...., but its just a game, right?

I'm not saying that we shouldn't. XD

But it's always a concern. It is just for fun, but everyone wants to win--it's an innate part of them. It's just how people deal with loss/failure or even winning that makes it key. If a person is a bad loser or a bad winner, it makes everything harder as a bad winner may flaunt in front of a bad loser and it all goes to heck. :sweat:

Cool suggestion, but I do share some of MT's worries too. Popularity contests tend to make it difficult to spare everyone's feelings including mine, waaaaah I'm not popular! :lmao: How would it work though? Everyone suggests their friends and then what? There could end up a ton for a category, and then we put them all in a poll? I think that if it can be worked out, it'd be a lot of fun though, so don't think I'm just being negetive, I just want to be sure the details are sorted. ^_^ *bribes Lynn to vote for her with Cloud figurine* :hide:

Taco, the way it happend when I done it was there were a load of categories, then members PMed their nominations to the hosts of the awards. People with the most nominations get announced and then people choose from them, and PM again.

That part can be done differently by the people with the most nominations being put into a poll and the winner is obviously the person with most votes in the poll (though this means a hell of a lot of polls).

I prefer the first method, personally, because it has more suspense, where as you can see who is winning in the polls if you use them.

While the PM idea is certainly different and very unique, I'm just wondering if it might be affected by the bugs in the PM system. The PM system seems to be having issues with telling whether there are x amount of letters in the inbox and projecting it to a %. Currently, I have 0 letters in my inbox/sent/saved, yet my mail is 8% full. :/

Considering this would be a forum wide contest and everyone would want a say in it, I'm just wondering if it'd work out.

Although I agree about nominations through PM, voting through PM is my main problem. :sweat:

On the main screen, it says "Inbox (0)" though there are lots inside it. I only thought this went up whever you got a new one. Never knew there was something wrong with it, my Invision forum is like this too. Hm...

Well, it's always a thought. I prefer the PM version too, even though it can be a little time consuming, it's more worth it in the end.

How bout making the polls or whatnot in a special section on the forum. Instead of sending PM of their picks, they post them there. Also for prizes, they could get a special graphic to put in their signature, just like everyone else suggested.

EDIT: I'm glad everyone's liking my suggestion :D

Yeah, PM bugs.... god, i'm scared! :worry: I soooo hate when that happens! Like, when my PM system went wakko! :sad: NO! Don't let it happen again!

I have to agree with MT. Nominations through PM and then voting with polls. But maybe not say who you voted for to avoid bad feelings.

I don't think it'd cause that much strife. We had stuff like this in choir all the time, nobody got their feelings hurt. I say do it!

THAT would cause a riff. I think you have to assure everyone that every nomination AND vote will be entirely private, only to the person(s) who are hosting the awards. And it's handy to have people hosting who don't really care whether they win something or get no votes at all, that way they don't get hurt either.

(I spend too much time doing these things :P )

I am inclined to disagree though. While it's a wonderful idea, and might be a lot of fun, there are groups out there, whom I know take over the majority (or seems like it) of the board. Thus making them most likely to be nominated, and voted for.

Honestly, I'm a sore loser. I think I displayed that more than once in the contests that we'd done before. Do I think I'll be nominated? No way. Being a mod, I'd rather not be nominated.

I guess the point I'm trying to get to here, is that if this group of people happens to all poll together and vote for their friends, and won all the categories (or most of them), dont you think that people are going to think it unfair?

People aren't going to go for this if they think it's not going to be unbiased and fair. I, for one, dont believe it will, and people's feelings are going to get hurt in the long run.

Example: On a roleplay board, we did this sort of thing as well...voting for best female character, best thread, blah blah...well...some of us that had been with the RP for years got shunted aside and weren't nominated, or if we were, we weren't voted for at all. Making way for the popular people. Didn't matter if you could RP well or not. If you were popular, that "award" was in your hand.

Hm, nice suggestion, Vincent! ^_^ :huggle:

I've seen this at many forums, and thought it was really cute and fun! Although after a while, it does get boring, because you only have so many awards and members, and it's really a popularity contest, you know? That's sort of, annoying? Because someone who isn't so e-popular might be worthy of teh award. T_T If we do have it, as long as we don't make any negative awards; I'm fine. No one feels happy to win "lamest n00b" or "best spammer" ~has won the second one before xDDD~ Depending on what we do, it could be great, though. ^_^

We could have categories like "best avatar", "best signature", "most creative" "best username" and so on.

Yeah, friendly things. I still have my list from somewhere of categories. Favourite poster, most knowledgeable on Final Fantasy, biggest post whore (in a good way ;) ), Best newbie. Only good things. Most annoying member would obviously annoy people (and understandably so).

Mind you, I'm sure some people would like to strut about with some kinda prize saying "I'M THE MOST ANNOYING, w00t!"...or maybe that's just in my mind...

Thank you for telling, Lynn!!! :huggle: I just have very weird awards...
'member with the most overused :cray: smilie award' *coughcynelcough* :rolleyes:
'weirdest username'
'killjoy of all time' :sweat: ok, I kid!!!
'sweetest member'
'weirdest member of the board' i feel like i am the weird... XD I kid!
'best Cloti pwiner' ^_^ I already have a nominee... :lol:

I feel for you, Amathala. yes, it happens a lot, people help their friends win without even the trait for the award. something in my mind pops...I might have an idea to avoid this...though I can't find the words. I'll post it later. Thank you, Amathala!!!

Why don't we have a poll or something suggestion thread for what kind of titles to have, or mebbe talk about them here if the admins and shizzle agree with it?

And on another note; :tard: Get them over here! They need to tell us if they agree or not! :tard:

Oh! Is this like the Awards thing that goes on at ACF? :lol:

Well....I think it's a good idea, but I share the same sentiments as Amathala. I'm also wondering about how some people might feel if the "OMG SHE'S MORE POPULAR THAN ME D: " thinking comes up. Would it influence the way we interact with each other a little? :unsure:

ANYWAYS. It's not a bad idea though, and if most people want it, I have no objections. :D PM voting does sound like a good idea. Maybe we could have different people in charge of different votes for different sections? *starts conspiracy plot to steal CLoud figurine from Lynn* :hide:

I understand what Amathala's concerns are, even though I think this is a great idea. Maybe, to fix it, the awards shouldn't be the kind of thing you win through popularity. Nothing like "friendliest member." They should just be more specific than that. If they're specific, it's hard for people to get voted for in a category when they don't deserve it. The more general, the easier it is for someone in a group to gather unearned votes. "Best staff member" for instance is really just a popularity thing, and we want to avoid hurting people's feeling. Maybe the word "best" shouldn't be used. Instead of an award like "best fan artist", we could have awards like "most realistic fan art" or "most original fan art." That way, we're basing it on a certain aspect and not something so general as "best" which allows for the whole popularity issue.

And since most of us here are pretty honest and friendly with one another, there should be a notice about integrity in your vote on the poll page(s). Just a little thing like, "Please don't be immature. This isn't a popularity contest. Vote for the most worthy candidate."

P.S. I don't know if we should have awards like "best avatar" or "best sig" because a lot of members (myself included xD) don't make their own sets. I think something about the graphic artists is better.

If not "best sig" or "best avatar", how bout something along the lines of "most creative" or "best topic starter"??

I find this incredibly ironic. You win a contest, but end up with more work?

I like. :evil:

You can do the winning banners if you want, Thena-chan! You can work with someone too, if you start feeling the workload's too heavy or something. Basically, do whatever you want. XD

To address a few more concerns:

- I like the voting-by-PM idea since, for me, nobody will know who got the least votes in something and they won't have the chance to feel hurt by it. But I also worry about the Inbox problem here, and that PMs might not go through.

- I share Amathala and MT's concerns about the effects of the results. Whether something is 'just for fun' or not, we have a tendency to take things more personally than we should. Even if there are no bad categories, just getting last in a 'Best Member' poll could make someone feel badly about themselves.

Suggestions:

- A member is allowed to send one PM of all the nominations he/she wants to make. Then when all the nominations for ALL categories are set up, a member is allowed to send one PM of all their votes for all the categories to the contest staff. This should significantly reduce the number of PMs one could possibly get if nominations and votes were sent one by one.

- Only those who WANT to enter, will be entered into the contest. Some people might not like being nominated. So once the nominees have been decided upon by the staff, the contest staff will PM the member for their permission to be added in the poll. Those who agree will have their names put up. Those who don't wish to take part will have their names withdrawn.

- *builds barbed wire wall around KH Cloud figurine against yin-chan's malicious kidnapping attempts* :ninja:

*sends supah sekret PMs of voteness to Taco* :ninja: No conspiracy here, nope~

I don't think there should be any problems with discussing possible categories here. ^_^ Just try to include all the suggestions in one or two posts, instead of posting it one at a time. That would be a bit spammy. ^^;

Also, I like Sadhana's idea of more specific categories. It also makes it more unique, rather than just the same ol' categories across all message boards. If anybody can think up some neat, Clerisy categories (maybe a 'Who's Most Like Cloud?' category? :lol: ) that would be awesome.

Wow, this is one hotsy totsy topic!! :o

Excellent suggestion, Vincent -- it appeals to me a lot with all its exciting glory!! :D Must I win?? Of course not, but it'll be hella fun to at least participate, so I'm all in for it. Besides, there are MANY -- I say, MANY -- talented people here in various areas, so this is one creative thing to be known/honored for by many's lovely works. Me likes. ^_^

Wow, good organization, Lynn. Very thorough and easy to comprehend. You're always so good at those things. XD; And... um, yesh, what she said. :3 ~fails, again~

Lynn, I like your idea about only get entered if you want to enter. That way, people who take things personally needn't worry about getting votes/no votes at all if they're not in it.

The inbox issue...Well, if there's more than one person setting up the awards, if one person doesn't get it, just send it to one of the other, right? There's not much chance that all of their inboxes would go haywire, is there?

I think the number of people handling the votes might end up depending on how many categories there are. If it's just a small handful, and assuming we go with my PM suggestion, there's no need for more than two people, right?

Another idea is to set up a new username, something like ContestStaff, for everyone to PM. Several members can access that same username for administrative purposes (wow, sounds so... big :razz: ) and participants only have to PM their votes to one username.

But again, I think that all depends on how many categories are set up. So get working, people! Where are those suggestions?! :law:

:lmao: :huggle:

How bout some categories like "Creative Graphic Artist", "Unique Username", "Member You'd Like To Meet", "Best Poster"(I'm not sure of the title for the Best Poster, but what I mean is a member that in their posts gives more to the discussion. Do you know what I mean?) Does anyone else have any category ideas?

Meh. I've had a snoop around some forums and found a few:

Best avatar/Signature:
Best Screen name:
Best quote from member:
Funniest Member:
Most Knowledgeable on FFVII:
Most Knowledgeable in General Debate:
Most Promising Newbie:
Best Thread:
Best spelling and grammar:
Favourite Poster:

Of course, that's a handful and easily handled. I've saw some awards with more than 35 categories, but those get far too hectic :P

So just to make sure I understand this right, you can only nominate yourself so that way it lessens the chance for hurt feelings? Is that correct?

I really like the categories VV and Scott posted. I will only add you could probably get more categories out of the media thread. I also think Lynn's ideas are solid as well.

Oh, no! That would be WAY too much blowing of one's trumpet, and I have a feeling most of our dear Cleris would rather die than do that. Can you imagine nominating yourself for "Best Poster"? :lol:

If we go by my suggestion (I don't think anything's been set in stone yet, we're just flinging out ideas), you can nominate ANYONE. But it'll be the contest staff's duty to PM the nominees and ask their permission to be included in the contest. So if you nominate FFG, for example, but she decides not to enter, then her name won't be put up as a nominee.

Great categories, guys! Keep them coming! :D

Oh yes, Thena-chan, please let me know if you're still interested in doing the graphic awards. Just so we know if that part's sorted out. ^_^ PM or replying here will be fine.

Poster that shines through with writing skills:
Most concise poster:
Best FF character cheerleader:
Best post:
Best avatar:
Best sig:
Best graphics used in a post:
Best thread *in certain areas of the forum*:
Best fanfiction:

...I have too much time on my hands.

Oh thank you for the clarification Lynn, I am happy to hear that. It is so fun to nominate someone so their work can be recognized. :fangirl: I do not like the idea of "tooting your own horn" but I was a little confused by all the posts :blush: That's okay that happens alot to me. I also like the idea of the staff then asking the nominee's permission. Excellent ideas.

And some more good stuff from Scott :D

Awesome ideas, everyone! ^_^

I liked Lynn's ideas of the categories, ie "Who's most like Cloud?" Y'know, fun random things like that and nothing really too general.