GD Awards - A good idea or not?

We received the following suggestion from one of our members. Some of us think it might be fun. So we are putting it to a vote:



Any suggestions are welcome. There could be awards for "funniest" etc.

Now some people may think that this is just another ploy on the part of Madhava and myself to garner more glories for ourselves, and that somehow we will rig the voting so that we can alternate winning kudos for ourselves each month. If the members like, they can have us exempted from the running. "No moderators can win this honor."

The moderators could then be trusted to tally the votes and name a winner. It would probably be best if the votes were submitted privately and excerpts from the readers' comments posted on a thread for that purpose.

By the way, the above suggestion was inspired by an admirer of some of Madanmohanji's recent posts.

Alright. I think I am neutral on this. So I'll go add another choice to the list.

I think that's the way we should have it, moderators are excempted from the vote.

I would suggest we choose "member of the month". Are we voting here for best (and worst) post, or best (and worst) member? I wouldn't think we'd like to vote for the worst of anything really, might discourage people from participating. Besides the worst posts generally end up in the retired bin soon enough, so we would have to give all members access to that section, which is intentionally kept available on a request basis.

If we want to exercise some quality control via user feedback, I can set up a system for rating each thread. Rating individual posts is a bit too pointed an approach, while rating threads is a way to give feedback to all who participated, both those who made those worst posts and those who chose to prolong the dialogue. That would be a way of appealing to the global (or whatever you call it, sitewide anyway) conscience of the members. We chatted about this rating of threads feature with Braja earlier, but never got beyond the beginning.

All things considered, I haven't a clue what I'll vote with the current options. Right now the situation is about as clear as having to vote whether you want to eat an apple or drive a bicycle. I think we should take down the poll for the moment, and add it in once we're clear on what exactly we want to vote for.

I'd like to see submissions for a Hall of Fame type selection even more than a monthly vote. I'm still haunted by the profundity of something Dhyana wrote a few months ago and keep telling myself that I need to go back and read it one more time. And then there's Jagat's Sva-niyama-postikam regarding ACBSP (and general status as a United Nation's representative for Gaudiya Vaisnavism), Nabadip's multimedia grassroots cultural contribution, a civilized discussion on the birthplace of Mahaprabhu from opposing sides....*Sigh.* Maybe we can take a few months off and just reuse and recycle!

I agree. Let's get some more feedback. Deleting the poll won't delete the thread, will it?

No, it won't.

First of all, Braja can you post links to those topics?

Second, I think it is a good idea to have awards. I think it will encourage people to write.

Third, who will be the deciding factors as to who wins? Or perhaps will it be narrowed down to a few articles and we can vote on that? Nothin like that democracy, eh? Or is that demon crazy?!

Ys,

I think we should reward the best question of the month. People should be encouraged to ask good questions.

Humm, I like this idea. How about the reward being a nice book, presented to the inquirer by a nice donor?

There should be categories.

Then there can be best and worst.

Also encouragement for newcomers.

And discouragement for offensive, off topic, etc

Basically like the Spanish Inquisition!

To be honest I don't like the idea of bringing a competetetive spirit into it; I would rather just post whatever I feel inspired with just for the sake of it, which I think might be dampened if an element of competition were braught in. But I guess it's alright if you win often enough . But seriously it might cause one to be preoccupied with a desire for distiction, and somewhat compremise the cultivation of amAninA, whatever that is.

Well maybe we could just do it this way: A thread where devotees can go and praise others and point visitors to good discussions. A sort of "review" thread.

Of course, that could be done in the thread itself.

In general though, we're looking for a way to praise people more!!

So let's start an appreciations thread. We'll put it in the Community etc. forum, a pinned topic. We can all nominate as many members of the month as we like, and as many great posts and threads as we like!

How can you assure that the voters can trust the electronic voting machine process and the results won't be rigged?

Praise is often followed by blame, rather neither.

For praising you can count me in. Sometimes I might even go overboard.

As for posting I am the worst. I keep browsing more than posting. Praising is not a problem for me.

dInAtidInA

I would like to nominate Sakhicharan's recent short post on Siddha Manohar Das Baba from OBL Kapoor

I just found it beautiful, simple, inspiring and right on. Truly a siddha's teaching. Jai Radhe. Thanks to Sakhicharan.

I work at my brother-in-laws trophy and awards shop....I could make plaqs for the praised!

Although this thread seems to have started as an "awards" for best posts in relation to which moderators were excluded, I think it has evolved into "a thread where devotees can go and praise others and point visitors to good discussions. A sort of "review" thread."

As far as I can tell moderators' posts are no longer excluded (if I'm wrong on that, please contact my attorney; I've prepared a full defence along the lines of "that's a silly rule, the moderators post the best material....")

So I'd like to point out two recent posts by Jagat in case anyone missed them, they are post 13 and post 14 on the topic of eligibility for raganuga-bhakti.

The reasons I liked these posts are that, in my opinion,

a) they are on the core topic of raganuga discussions and therefore meet the site's raison d'etre,
b) the content was siddhantically correct whilst not being weighed down with quotations,
c) the style was accessible and its 'aliveness' struck me as erupting from realisation rather than being mere intellectual analysis,
d) the posts were in response to sincere inquiries from Srijiva and therefore represent the real utility of a forum such as this.

It is so easy for threads to quickly drop off the active list and into obscurity, so I wanted to keep those postings active by a cross-reference here in case anyone in future checks this thread out for ideas on where to go on the site.

I would like to nominate the entire thread as the best thread of the month, and in particular I would like to nominate Srijiva's questions as being of the most welcome quality.

aw, shucks..... thank you

What I would dare to say in response to this, Madanamohan prabhu, is that I don't think it should be too much of a problem, really, as most of the members here, in my opinion, posess many good qualities of the Vaishnava...I think if we all post in the mood of Sri Siksastakam we should be safe from getting puffed up. Aren't two of the loving exchanges between Vaishnavas, according to Srila Rupa Goswami, dadati giving charity/gifts & pratigaheati(?) accepting charity/gifts in return? (is praise charity? or a gift? )

In Chaitanya-charitamrta (Madhya 22.75), Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami says, ``A Vaishnava is one who has developed all good transcendental qualities. All the good qualities of Krishna gradually develop in Krishna's devotees."

Lord Caitanya wrote down a few of these qualities:
trinad api sunichena
taror api sahishnuna
amanina manadena
kirtaniyah sada harih
and
na dhanam na janam na sundarim
kavitam va jagad-isha kamaye
mama janmani janmanishvare
bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki twayi

So I think it is a swell idea to commend eachothers threads, posts, questions, & what-have-you.