A lack of appreciation

General Discussions
#1

I see too many posts that go unapreciated that clearly deserve some recognition.

Its not that the post isnt apreciated, often the person who benifits from the post says things like, “Thanks, I appreciate it!” or “Thanks @Whomever, exactly what I was looking for.” Or even “+1”. But then that person doesnt click the actual button!

Some of these posts are more like short tutorials, made specifically for the OP. I dont know if people dont understand that there is an appreciation button, maybe it should point it out to first time users.

Some great posts gone unappreciated :
http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/new-to-java-where-do-i-start/32332/view.html (Troubleshoots)


(TheLionKing)

I do try to award alot of medals, but I assume if I use it too often I’ll be fed to the ChitChatMonster?

#2

+1 (For real) I agree with you. There are a lot of people that deserve to be appreciated. I was going to post a post exactly like this pretty soon but you beat me to it. :stuck_out_tongue:

#3

I give out a lot of medals but I don’t entirely expect them in return. I mean, it is nice to know that someone liked your post enough to hit a button, but at the end of the day they are just useless internet medals that really mean nothing. I know your intention was not to sound greedy (and you don’t sound greedy!), but people should post awesome answers/criticisms/whatever without wanting medals in return!

#4

What do medals matter, honestly? If you were out on the street and helped an old lady pick up something, would you expect some cookies in return? No, a simple “thanks” would make you feel good. Not the best analogy but I think that gets the point across.
What I’m trying to say is, don’t depend on some 16 by 16 image to feel good about helping someone.

#5

There’s no punishment for giving lots of medals, and I think the system is fine as it is. We didn’t even have medals until 2011. Honestly if you’re posting here I don’t think it’s just because you want a medal.

#6

I find strange irony in the fact I gave you a medal for that comment.

#7

I find it strange that I appreciated your post for appreciating his post… appreciation train?? :slight_smile:

#8

:persecutioncomplex:
Now I feel… greedy? No that’s not the word… um…

#9

I was actually thinking about this topic earlier, looking at how many medals I’ve achieved recently.

In case you haven’t noticed, [u]I’ve been getting a lot of medals lately.

I see it as a small competitive thing: Make quality posts with good information/advice and get medals in return to brag about. Right now my current goal is to get more medals than my friend ‘wessles’ (Me: 38|Wes: 43), and that’s going pretty well right now.

I’ve seen no issues with it, and I’m honestly quite happy there haven’t been any “MEDAL GIVEAWAY!!!1” threads in the time I’ve been here.

  • Jev
#10

aint nobody got time for that

#11

Ha, Jev I got you and wes beat :wink: No big deal, gonna reach my 100 mark soon enough… [/fullofmyself]

#12

medals…I don’t think I ever look at someones medals nor post count nor rank when I read a post from them unless I do not know the name and think they may be new. I more about content/quality of post then anything else. I rarely give out medals even when I should mainly because I don’t think they are important. It is nice to know that your time is appreciated though so I am not against the whole metal system.

I remember this one medal monger by the name of…what was it…raw4king? What happened to that guy? Kinda miss his stuff.

#13

I tend to give out medals when the information is either extremely helpful, or I agree with.

For example, if someone “beats me to the punch” and basically says exactly what I was about to, I give them a medal as a sort of “I agree with this statement”.

#14

I’m getting close to 200.

I don’t really care too much about medals. I probably give out more than I get, which is a good thing. However, I think they can give you a good indication of whether your being helpful or not. (Then again, some of my most appreciated posts are just silly)

One thing I do notice is that I seem to get them in waves. Sometimes I won’t get anything for weeks, and then within a few days I’ve got the most medals in the last month (or close anyway).

Probably a good motivation with medals is to try and keep your medal ratio going up. That means that you’re posting less crap and more quality content.

#15

The medal system is, at least to me, one of the indicators that someone is developing a good game, application, helping people out, or is Riven ;-).

It definitely is a subconscious wall that actually makes me think about my posts before letting them out. I do like to give out medals, but only if I feel like a person speaks a truthful or helpful comment. As for me, the medal system is a reminder that helping people has rewards.

Just because you might know more than another person doesn’t mean you can’t help out.

#16

Now my brain hurts. :persecutioncomplex:

#17

;D Oh come on… Can I poke a little fun :point:

#18

In real life you hardly ever get direct appreciation, apart from where actual medals are involved. That’s why medals (just like followers, likes, retweets, points, achievements) are such a stimulus to our socially wired brain. It’s also the reason we rarely see convenient ways to show negative feedback. That would crush people’s self esteem in a split second. The whole system revolves around positive feedback and goodwill, and those factors reinforcing eachother. Just like in the real world, it’s not a fair system, and you’re bound to feel unappreciated at times, but you have to consider you’re dealing with people and telling them to appreciate you or somebody else will most likely have adverse effects.

If you care more about a medal than a verbal token of appreciation, you seem to value your own status more than the actual appreciation you received.

#19

Even though I agree with you Riven, the fact is that I really don’t want to see this medal system turn into the new post “rank” system.

In all seriousness, I strongly believe that all developers should be working to make other developers better. A medal is only one form of appreciation, but a “+1”, “thanks”, or the occasional “that was the answer I was looking for” is also just as effective. I have done a lot of research during the time I was programming to get up to the point where I can help others. I couldn’t just go on a forum and magically get all the answers I wanted.

Everything I’ve learned has been through horridly scraping through books, trying to understand how code works the way it does, and then later on in life, learning from teachers the best way to do things. Today, all these can be solved in one word… Google. There are videos, documents, and wiki articles for everything you can ever dream of creating and still, people are still looking for quick answers.

What I see is that people are receiving appreciation for questions that have been answered plenty of times in the past. I mean, I understand that there is a novelty for having someone directly cater to a specific poster but, is it also festering the wrong type of idea. The idea that starting up new topics instead of searching is fine, as long as I receive a medal.

It is like any system really, I had a quote that I usually say when it comes to controversial things like this…

“Users don’t care about what is done. They care about what ISN’T done.”

Inherently, the medal system isn’t a bad thing. At this point, I’m just rambling on. New topics will arise that have been answered plenty of times. Medals will be given to those who show effort to the posters. I just tire of all the focus on medal competition. Hopefully, all developers will figure out that the only way to truly become good, is to stop looking for handouts every time a small problem comes your way.

#20

What if instead of appreciation we had a way of labelling a post as “This helped me” or “This was the solution”, I would much rather prefer that than some virtual medal that I can not even stroke.

Then again, if anyone plays or had played EVE…when VoC won ATX we went right down CCP’s throats because the bastards never gave us medals :p, however that game is all about e-peen stroking.