MacGyverMagic/Mgm wrote:
I don't care if the barnstar page gets forked. The
more award incentives the
better. It makes people happy and willing to contribute. [snip]
Mgm
Realistically, this service award page appears to be too minor to worry
about, yet (barely) too popular to delete out of hand. Editors who enjoy
acknowledgments can add this award to their collections. I see this as
the most harmless and funny version of the various "rank" proposals that
we've seen before so many times. It's too silly to be prestigious, it
confers no benefits, and it's been low-key until now. If we get rid of
it there'll be a vacuum and someone will suggest StarFleet-style
rankings again, or complicated schemes with special benefits at each
stage, or who knows what. And then we'll have to talk about that and so
on. Better to have something innocuous to fill the niche.
Regarding concerns about "editcountitis", the actual requirements of
this award favor longevity over volume. For example, I'd currently
qualify as a Veteran Editor II (or Grand Tutnum), a mid-level award.
I'm already well over the edit count required to get the highest award
but I'll have to keep editing for another 25 months and go up the four
levels to achieve Master Editor (or Complete and Perfect Tutnum of the
Encyclopedia). Will I be a "master editor" after 4 years and 40,000
edits? It'd be nice to think so. "Senior lunatic" might be a more
appropriate award though. (Or fill in your own joke) .
Based on objective criteria, this award is a form of thanks from the
community, just as barnstars are acknowledgments of one individual by
another based on subjective criteria. We should all find ways of
thanking each other and, yes, even ourselves for our volunteer efforts.
Cheers,
Will Beback
