Residential Archfey
Celebrating success is great. And the request for member of the month to return is a fairly common pop-up when we ask how people can contribute to the site. Over the years we've seen member of the month come and go, usually for a span of a couple months at a time.
The segment dies out for a variety of reasons - busy seasons hit irl for those who take the helm in coordinating it, members who were contenders for one month disappeared for the next, top contenders have already been MotM a while back, and so on and so forth.
So how do we bring back the segment in a way that won't fail after a few months?
Take nominations
From just mods and major faction staff? - theoretically, they're community leaders, they should have a good grasp on community standouts
From anyone? - Could get some unsung heroes from outside of popularity circles, could also mean a lot of nominations all at once (but is that actually a problem?)
Pros:
Celebrate people outside of the usual sources of nominations (top posters of the month, judges who're excelling in their jobs, former staff (faction or site) who have recently moved on, etc)
More varied and personal write-ups as to why someone has earned the recognition
Cons:
Surprise, now it's a popularity contest (or at least risks being one)
Once nominations cease coming in, we're back to square one
Clear previous restrictions - make everyone eligible, including those who've received it previously ( or maybe lessen the restriction to motm in the last year or two), mfos, judges, etc
Potential nomination template - something to help vet nominations, ensure we have substance to celebrate, and make the motm writeups a bit more personal. Could look a little like this:
Your name:
Time on board: (nominees from both newer folk and veterans are valid. This brings more context into who's nominating and helps mitigate the number of entries sounding like 'I've been on the board for x amount of time and this person...')
Relation to the nominee: (close friend, in the same faction, recent acquaintance, etc. Again, this further contextualizes the nomination, not grounds for dismissal)
Nominee:
Reasons for nomination: (helping get others involved, organizing a really fun thread, being always willing to help, the list goes on)
What makes them stand out: (so they did this cool thing, but how is it different from others who might be doing it?)
Message to the nominee you'd include in the writeup if you were writing it: (a personal touch to make the recognition fridge-worthy!)
so uh yeah enough of me spitballing, someone else take the soapbox
The segment dies out for a variety of reasons - busy seasons hit irl for those who take the helm in coordinating it, members who were contenders for one month disappeared for the next, top contenders have already been MotM a while back, and so on and so forth.
So how do we bring back the segment in a way that won't fail after a few months?
Take nominations
From just mods and major faction staff? - theoretically, they're community leaders, they should have a good grasp on community standouts
From anyone? - Could get some unsung heroes from outside of popularity circles, could also mean a lot of nominations all at once (but is that actually a problem?)
Pros:
Celebrate people outside of the usual sources of nominations (top posters of the month, judges who're excelling in their jobs, former staff (faction or site) who have recently moved on, etc)
More varied and personal write-ups as to why someone has earned the recognition
Cons:
Surprise, now it's a popularity contest (or at least risks being one)
Once nominations cease coming in, we're back to square one
Clear previous restrictions - make everyone eligible, including those who've received it previously ( or maybe lessen the restriction to motm in the last year or two), mfos, judges, etc
Potential nomination template - something to help vet nominations, ensure we have substance to celebrate, and make the motm writeups a bit more personal. Could look a little like this:
Your name:
Time on board: (nominees from both newer folk and veterans are valid. This brings more context into who's nominating and helps mitigate the number of entries sounding like 'I've been on the board for x amount of time and this person...')
Relation to the nominee: (close friend, in the same faction, recent acquaintance, etc. Again, this further contextualizes the nomination, not grounds for dismissal)
Nominee:
Reasons for nomination: (helping get others involved, organizing a really fun thread, being always willing to help, the list goes on)
What makes them stand out: (so they did this cool thing, but how is it different from others who might be doing it?)
Message to the nominee you'd include in the writeup if you were writing it: (a personal touch to make the recognition fridge-worthy!)
so uh yeah enough of me spitballing, someone else take the soapbox