POTM Hall of Fame

[Lortastic]

1. Do you think BA has done a good job of promoting POTM? If not, what do you think we need to work on?

I think it's done a fairly reasonable job. It depends on what you see is adequate both in nomination and voting turn outs. I'm not familiar with the technicalities of a forum and its capabilities but I think one way to get more votes is to have a banner of some sort stickied on the home page for the remainder of the voting duration.

Also, I think it's easier if the link is embedded into the poll so users can simply click to taken to the post that has been nominated. I have no idea if that's within the forum's functionality though.

How about a scheme to "reward" nominators? Like a rep or something lottery draw. Or maybe even the person who nominates the winner of the POTM gets some little prize which isn't equal or greater than the winning post. I think this could be a nice way to get users to find quality posts to be nominated. It's also possible that users will try and create more quality in hopes of being nominated. That way, nomination and voter turn outs could be a lot higher if you wish it so.

Of course, like with every other idea in the world, there are backlashes though it isn't as dramatic as one think it would be since this IS just a forum after all.


2. Of all the badges, which 3-5 are your favorites? Why are these your favorites?

Sheer bias but I like the Yoruichi one I have. The Royal Guard ones are pretty sweet too. I like them because they just happen to have the characters I like.

Patapon badges are sexy too.

3. What do you like best about POTM?

It's a good way to see insightful posts and often it teaches me a thing or two about Bleach.

4. Have you received any badges? Which ones? (If not, please mention whether or not you've been nominated.)

The Yoruichi one back in October.

5. Has POTM influenced your posting habits? If so, how?

In the sense that I aim to win it, no. But seeing other people's posts in the nominations does make me think about how I post. Different posters give different perspectives and approaches to thread themes and sometimes they address things I never considered before which now, I want to include in my post. This is especially prominent in the constructive criticism thread.

6. What else should be included in the FAQ section?

There's a FAQ section? I can't find the thread for it.

7. What else would you like to say about POTM?

I think it's a neat thing that does boost activity in a positive way. Extrinsic awards are always the best way to go about it. In turn, it's possible that some users just feel good writing quality post and they just so happen to get nominated.

I think most of what I wanted to say is addressed in the first question.

Coolios~

 

[Polgarena]

1. Do you think BA has done a good job of promoting POTM? If not, what do you think we need to work on?

2. Of all the badges, which 3-5 are your favorites? Why are these your favorites?

3. What do you like best about POTM?

4. Have you received any badges? Which ones? (If not, please mention whether or not you've been nominated.)

5. Has POTM influenced your posting habits? If so, how?

6. What else should be included in the FAQ section?

7. What else would you like to say about POTM?

Thanks for answering the questions!

1. I think BA is doing a good job in general; the nomination thread is always active and mods try to bring people to nominate more if, for example, just three posts have been nominated in half a month. There are times were I'm a bit sad that there aren't enough nominated posts, because I feel there were a lot of posts deserving nomination, but I couldn't nominate them because of the three posts limit.

2. My favorite badges have to be:
~ August 2013, 2nd place, Ryuuken [it’s awesome, from the character used, the Quincy cross to colors used]
~ December 2013, 1st place, Ichigo [because I won it, lol; but because it's also cool]
~ February 2014, 1st place, Byakuya [same as the previous one; plus, I like that picture of Byakuya very much]
~ November 2014, 2nd place, Askin [because the panel used is excellent]
~ March 2015, 3rd place, Akon [I like the character, I like the colors, and I like the font]

Special mention goes to February 2015, where all three Royal Guard badges are out of this world. Other special badges include these characters: Yachiru, Riruka, Shinji, Unohana, Isane, Urahara, Yoruichi, Barragan (such a powerful presence) and Haribel (the background is so cool).

3. I like POTM because it's an excellent motivational factor; people are more involved in the forum, members are motivated (manifestly or latently) to post more, and I think it's a great "thank you mechanism" to all members.

4. Oh, I have received badges, and I'm very happy and thankful for that. I've received Ichigo in December 2013, Byakuya in February 2014, Yoruichi in October 2014 and Barragan in January 2015.

5. POTM hasn't influenced my posting habits, but I'm always grateful when my post gets recognized like this.

6. I think my suggestions have already been implanted, so I don't have any new suggestion.

7. What should I say? I guess I don't have anything else to say but big - thank you everybody!

 

[Patapon]

1. Do you think BA has done a good job of promoting POTM? If not, what do you think we need to work on?

I think BA has done a good job in encouraging people to notice and be proud of their achievements in POTM, though I think a little more publicity wouldn't hurt.

If there is space, a nice clickable banner link to the latest POTM voting thread would be excellent. Not just because it makes more people click in to check out what it actually is, but it gives more relevance/weight to the overall event - I mean as in, it demonstrates this forum - our community as a whole, mods, members, are very active about POTM and it makes it seem more than a random thread. (Not that it is a random thread - just some members/guests may not be very aware about exactly what POTM entails and if it is relevant at all)

I think BA is quite a unique forum in that there is a POTM system - and I hope it can attract more members this way.

Kind of hard to put this in to words, but hopefully some of the meaning has come across.

2. Of all the badges, which 3-5 are your favorites? Why are these your favorites?
URAHARA!!!! and SHINJI!! This is very bias. I also like Yoruichi, and the pink Hiyori one.

3. What do you like best about POTM?
It's an excellent place to find all the well written posts - and extrememly interesting opinions - this community has on Bleach, and even non-bleach related topics.

I think it's existence also promotes a strong spirit of insightful discussion - use of structure in writing, organisation of ideas, well thought out arguments - which sets this forum apart from other forums which are perhaps more casual and spammy (Not saying that those forums are bad - but if a Bleach fan really wanted a place to have serious discussions, then I suppose they've hit the right place) .

4. Have you received any badges? Which ones? (If not, please mention whether or not you've been nominated.)
I think so. I have a sexy Urahara one, to my utmost delight. <3 Shopkeeper is love.

5. Has POTM influenced your posting habits? If so, how?
It hasn't influenced me in the sense that I post to win - I am very surprised and grateful that I have people who enjoyed my post, and have taken the time to nominate me.

However, it has made me aware that there is a kind of ethos in this forum where people try to avoid one liners, and write as well as they can. I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to write their insightful opinions and thoughts and share them with the rest of the community - and because I really respect that, I only try to give back the same and try to write things I think people might find value in. Sometimes I feel like I don't have anything smart to say, so I just sit back and read everyone else's posts - and there are a lot of community members on BA who consistently contribute entertaining and insightful discussion that is worth reading. : )

6. What else should be included in the FAQ section?
FAQ section... from memory it has answered all of my questions. :9

7. What else would you like to say about POTM?
I have mentioned above, BA has a lot of contributors that consistently write high quality posts to share with the rest of the community. However, >_> please forgive me for saying, I feel because there can only be one POTM winner a month - a lot of their work is not ... as recognised as it could be. (?) This sounds really bad now that I put it that way - as I'm sure they are writing these posts because they want to and they love Bleach - not for recognition or glory or anything - but I really appreciate the BA community and it's members who never give up on writing long posts to share with us. Most of the time these people have won POTM and have at least 2nd or 3rd place badges, but sometimes they don't have any badges... hmm... I don't really know if I've worded it correctly but! I was just thinking it'd be cool if all those posters can be somehow recognised too. This might be difficult, without cheapening the value of winning POTM - but it's just a thought.

 

[Gohara]

Do you think BA has done a good job of promoting POTM? If not, what do you think we need to work on?

Yep.

Of all the badges, which 3-5 are your favorites? Why are these your favorites?

October 2014 1st Place.
September 2013 1st Place.
August 2013 2nd Place.
January 2014 1st Place.
September 2013 3rd Place.
January 2015 1st Place.
January 2015 2nd Place.
October 2014 2nd Place.
December 2014 1st Place.
August 2013 1st Place.
April 2014 1st Place.
April 2014 2nd Place.
May 2014 1st Place.
February 2015 1st Place.
February 2015 3rd Place.
January 2015 3rd Place.
March 2015 1st Place.
January 2014 2nd Place.
January 2014 3rd Place.
July 2013 2nd Place.
October 2013 3rd Place.
June 2014 3rd Place.
September 2014 1st Place.
July 2013 1st Place.
August 2013 3rd Place.
September 2013 2nd Place.
July 2013 3rd Place.
November 2013 2nd Place.
December 2013 2nd Place.
November 2013 1st Place.
May 2014 2nd Place.
April 2014 3rd Place.
June 2014 1st Place.
December 2014 3rd Place.
December 2014 2nd Place.
July 2014 3rd Place.
July 2014 2nd Place.
October 2014 3rd Place.
October 2013 1st Place.
November 2014 1st Place.
November 2014 2nd Place.
November 2014 3rd Place.
May 2014 3rd Place.
February 2015 2nd Place.
March 2015 2nd Place.
December 2013 3rd Place.
December 2013 1st Place.
June 2014 2nd Place.
September 2014 2nd Place.
September 2014 3rd Place.
July 2014 1st Place.
March 2014 1st Place.
March 2014 2nd Place.
March 2014 3rd Place.
November 2013 3rd Place.
February 2014 1st Place.
February 2014 2nd Place.
February 2014 3rd Place.
March 2015 3rd Place.
October 2013 2nd Place.
August 2014 3rd Place.
August 2014 1st Place.

What do you like best about POTM?

It's fun.

Have you received any badges? Which ones? (If not, please mention whether or not you've been nominated.)

Yep. The October 2013 3rd Place and June 2014 3rd Place badges.

Has POTM influenced your posting habits? If so, how?

Nope. If I'm going to be nominated for a post, I want it to be because the person thinks it's a good post, not because I strung together fancy words.

What else should be included in the FAQ section?

Nothing that I can think of off the top of my head.

What else would you like to say about POTM?

Nothing really.

 

[Otome-san]

Thanks for all the responses so far, folks.

I guess I can answer some of these, too, ne?

2. My own personal favorite badges are Ryuuken (August 2013, second place), Aizen-sama (September 2013, first place), blue Kaien (November 2013, third place), and Tousen (September 2013, third place). I'm generally not delighted with my own work. Patapon's badges were also a nice, well-received change from the norm.

3. I think my favorite aspect of POTM is seeing such a diversity of posts and members. POTM encourages thoughtful posting and our appreciation of those who cogently express so many intriguing ideas about everything from Bleach to video games to mythology.

4. I have received these badges:
First place, September 2014 (Unohana badge)
Second place, September 2013 (Gin badge)
Third place, January 2015 (Luppi badge)
Tied for third place, November 2013 (Kaien badge)
Tied for third place, July 2014 (Kira badge)

5. I don't think POTM has influenced my own posting habits, except that I'm usually the one to post reminders.

7. Thanks to everyone who participates every month. I'm truly glad to see the positive response from so many members.

 

[Franco]

1. Do you think BA has done a good job of promoting POTM? If not, what do you think we need to work on?
I don't think it's got anything to do with the mods/staff, since the promotions are already there, but every month, I notice that there are more nominations than voters. There used to be a ton of people voting for POTM, but now, I feel that the numbers have decreased. I don't know why or how BA can fix it, though. But then again, it could be just me who feels this way.


2. Of all the badges, which 3-5 are your favorites? Why are these your favorites?
I'm biased. I ~LOVE~ the Isane second place badge I earned over a year ago. I ~LOVE~ it (and her, obviously, heh) so much, I'm still wearing it after Kubo knows how long. Reason being, well, duh, I ~LOVE~ Isane-chan.

I'm also pretty proud of the post that got me that award, and to be honest, I don't think I'll ever make something as funny as that Pepe ~LOVE~ post again.


3. What do you like best about POTM?
I personally love reading the variety of posts that get nominated each month. They can come from all over the boards and can be about absolutely anything, so it's always good that you don't need to make a wall of text to get nominated.


4. Have you received any badges? Which ones? (If not, please mention whether or not you've been nominated.)
I don't exactly remember all of the badges I've already received, just the two I have on my sig.


5. Has POTM influenced your posting habits? If so, how?
Nope. Up till now, I'm still always surprised every time I get nominated for POTM.


7. What else would you like to say about POTM?
I've noticed that we have a lot of talented members here on BA who haven't won the POTM awards yet. I'm not going to name-drop them anymore, but there are a bunch of good writers who always get nominated but don't win. It's a shame. Not sure how that's going to contribute anything useful to the thread, but I just thought of putting it out there.

 

[timmyjingoro]

1. Do you think BA has done a good job of promoting POTM? If not, what do you think we need to work on?
Yep.

EDIT: now that I think about it, POTM can be a little more 'visible' throughout the nomination process. The last time I got nom'd, I didn't even know I was nom'd until I went in to vote and saw my name there. So there's usually not really a way to know that you got nom'd unless someone tells you directly or you go check the nominations actively.

EDIT: this is a minor one, but I think it could combat lack of votes due to laziness. I don't know if this has been changed recently but a few months ago, I remember clicking on the "POTM voting is open" announcement and being taken a page that was just the announcement and then I had to manually go find voting page on my own. It's a tiny thing that doesn't really both me personally or anyone else that votes for POTM. But in a lot of cases, I think a lot of people would just be lazy and not bother looking for it. Perhaps, you could have the announcement could link directly to the voting page. It'll be helpful to the lazy potential voters.

2. Of all the badges, which 3-5 are your favorites? Why are these your favorites?
Top 5 in chronological order:
Sep 2013 1st place. because Aizen
Oct 2013 1st place. because blue on Ginjo + red on eyes is striking
Nov 2013 1st place. the red color and Rukia's pic just matches well and looks pretty
Jul 2014 3rd place. because angle of Kira's picture
Nov 2014 1st place. because the colors on Hasch and the background match well and look pleasant

honorable mention:
Apr 2014 3rd place. because mine. heh heh heh

3. What do you like best about POTM?
It allows me to read some great posts that I may have missed at first. Every month it's just a collection of good reading.

4. Have you received any badges? Which ones? (If not, please mention whether or not you've been nominated.)
Third place April 2014 (draw)

5. Has POTM influenced your posting habits? If so, how?
No, not directly. I'm not posting anything just for the sake of winning or increasing my chances in some competition. I would find that approach supremely annoying and would ultimately not want to post anymore.

But in an indirect way, my first POTM here did end up influencing me a bit, now that I think about it. I started coming to this website sometimes in 2013 for weekly spoilers (I have no self control). At the time, I avoided posting anything online because people online can be assh-les. But by Apr 2014, there were at least two things I was really itching to comment on: Bleach's weekly SJ rankings (and why I thought odd strings of good chapters did not score highly) and the Sternritters becoming jobbers (and how much I hated it). Ultimately, I just created an account and posted what I wanted to post, expecting a negative response (especially about my clear dislike for the writing of the Sternritters) but finally getting it off my chest.

Surprisingly, I got lots of encouraging comments from other users and quite a few people liked and agreed with what I had to say. The month culminated with three POTM noms, one of which people voted for enough to tie for third place. I was pretty happy about that. Now, those noms and that third place badge wasn't really about competition or winning trophies or some bullsh-t. To me, it meant that I should feel more free to post my thoughts on things, whether it be quick, sh-tty jokes or preposterously long walls of text.

To have that response right in my first month here also made me care a bit more about my posts. Like, when I dump out a massive wall of text, I try to organize/structure it a bit so that it's easier for the people reading it and maybe I'll re-read the whole thing once or twice to check for typos and stuff or try to shorten down an overly rambling paragraph. Just out of courtesy for fellow users here.

So yeah, that first month of noms and badge was encouragement to keep going. So in that sense it did influence me in way. But I don't really consider that a bad influence at all.

6. What else should be included in the FAQ section?
I don't know.

By the way, this is pretty unnecessary information but I'll give you it anyways: I read "FAQ" not as "F", "A", "Q", but as "FACK/F-CK". So I just read that question as "What else should be included in the fack/f-ck section?" heh heh... Yes, you just wasted precious seconds of your life reading this worthless, juvenile crap.

7. What else would you like to say about POTM?
I don't FAQing know what else to say (I had to)

 

[B. Haddrell]

POTM ran from the month of July 2013 to the month of May 2015. May 2016 will be the last month in which a winner has the POTM priviledges, which will be The Outlier. With the start of June this year, the list will be empty.

I will be sad when it happens but I will also always remember POTM as a part of Bleach history I value very much. Otome-san was the driving force of this project and I want to use this opportunity again to thank her for all the work, the effort and also passion that went into it. POTM was a project that needed the co-operation of all of us members, starting with nominating posts and to vote. But it also needed the work, the time of various artist who also put their efforts and passion into this project by providing badges. And then there were the people who ran the monthly POTM itself, the technical side and co-ordination.

I am wearing two of the badges I won in my sig and I am glad that I am allowed to do so also in future. I noticed that a few other POTM winners wear a POTM badge as well. I think this is great! It will keep the memory of this time in BA alive. Not to mention that they are beautiful pieces of work.

But don`t forget, although we can`t vote in a POTM contest any more, every posting is accompanied by a reputation button. I want to encourage everybody to let people know when you enjoy a contribution very much. It should not matter how much you can give, it is the thought that counts. Often the system does not allow it to rep a person again. In that case, just leave a VM note and give - what I call - imaginary reputation points. This is very welcome, too. I was even told on occasion, people even value imaginary rep more because it takes more effort to give.