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Questions/Suggestions for Monthly Awards (edited for contect and spelling)
ASUtodd
Posts: 1,312 ✭✭
First off let me be the one that says , "THANK YOU", to goldrush00013, Bentfork and LordM for taking the time to do the Monthly awards. I know it is a LOT of work and is time consuming at some points. With that being said I would like to see the requirments on the awards stiffened a bit to make things somewhat easier on them and on those of us that participate in the awards. I would like to make these suggestions so that we can try and make things better. I hope I'm not being out of line and I DO NOT want to offend anyone. Please take this as merely a suggestion and nothing more. If you guys like it, great, if not then I will be no worse the wear for having posted! Plus, someone else out there may have a better idea! Here is what I was thinking. I think that the wildcard category needs an overhauling as far as criteria. If we go by the current standard, in which people can submit items into that category, then anything we come across in our daily lives can be submitted. I'm not "knocking" anyone on this I just think the category needs to be refined. Here is what I mean.... The wildcard category should be for items not found using your detector, BUT are found while out treasure hunting (metal detecting - after all this is a metal detecting forum). Just because you come across a 5 dollar bill in the hallway at work doesn't mean you should get to enter that into the monthly awards (I certainly hope no one has ever entered a 5 dollar bill from work and if so, I am sorry I used this example but I was trying to be non specific). I think that allowing ANYTHING you find during your daily life kinda takes away from the idea of it. I know I wasn't around when it was created and it may have been created for antyhing you find so as I said before, this is only a suggestion. Now, I do like the picture idea that LordM has suggested (Pictures having their own category but they need to be pics taken while detecting)because if we are allowing anything we find into the category, then my Turkey's would fit! It becomes confusing and I think dilutes the wildcard award. Pictures taken while out detecting are as good as any find! Zot and LordM come to the forums with some of the best pics I have ever seen. I think those that take the time to place us at there hunt with pictures should be rewarded for doing so. I also think that this would boost people's creativity and make them enjoy their hunts more! Now lastly, I think that if you submit an item for an award you HAVE to put a picture of the item you found on the forum. I'm not saying anyone here is a cheat but in order to weed out the unscrupulous sometimes you have to take extra steps (this would apply to all categories, Coin, Relic, Wildcard, Jewelry, Quantity, and of course Picture). These awards are great and I love competing for them but we do need to take steps to ensure that we don't have an overkill effect on them. Let's work to keep them special and keep the great finds coming in. You have two sides at work here, the side that says, "If it ain't broke don't fix it", and the non-complacency side. If you sit on what you have without improving it, then bad things are surely to come. Just a few thoughts for the day and again I want to stress two things: 1. Thanks to goldrush00013, Bentofrk and LordM for their hardwork & 2. NO ONE BE OFFENDED, I don't mean this post to turn into a flame war. Thanks guys and be safe detecting!
Todd
Todd
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Comments
As to overhauling the Wildcard find, I wouldn't have thought it necessary, but you do have a point... where does one draw the line? And does a photograph count as a "find"?
I sure love seeing nice pictures- not enough folks post sceneshots- we just see the finds themselves, with little context of where or how they were found.
Should the photos be included in Wildcard? Maybe they should. The Wildcard category was for "anything goes", after all.
Or do they deserve their own category?
Tell you what, Todd... why don't I include an option on the poll to read something like "Photos should be part of the Wildcard category".
BTW, thanks for the pics. And for makin' me think.
The forum awards have been fun for nearly four years, now. Not a fiercely competitive thing, and basically for only braggin' rights and a little sigline plaque as a prize, but they definitely awakened our sleepy little forum and kept it alive. We used to periodically do "friendly competitions" and "weekend challenges" and stuff before the monthly awards.
You oldtimers remember how it used to be in here! If you're not an oldtimer, go and have a look at something like the Autographs Forum or the Rare Records Forum if you wanna see what this place used to be like... Sleepytown! There used to be tumbleweeds in here.
John (goldrush) and I sort of took it upon ourselves to be pollsters and cheerleaders and ambassadors for this forum. There is a lot of interest out there in detecting, since it naturally complements the true core interest of these forums (coins). But we couldn't have done it without the help of fine folks like Gary (Bentfork) and Jerry (CROCKofCOINS) and Tim (phut) and Zot and Millennium and many of the others who post great finds and participated in the Virtual Treasure Hunts and so on. (You know who you are, and just because I didn't mention you all by name doesn't mean I don't appreciate your contributions to the forum!)
Back to the topic at hand... I think a separate photo category in the awards would be a lot of fun. And a chance for some of us who strike out to at least have a chance at something- like I said, many's the time when my finds stank, but I got a good picture or two!
It would be more work on the pollster, though. And since Gary and John do more of the polling than I do, these days, they should be consulted.
Todd
The photo catagory sounds fun.
Mary
Todd
The wackiest thing I ever saw entered was a ball of marijuana- remember that? That was a bit out there. Purple73 or somebody like that found it in a medicine bottle on the beach.
The photo category, if we have one, should maybe be limited to three photos per member per month, or otherwise we might get buried in photos?
Other than that, I see no need to restrict anything. Todd suggested that people who do not have pictures of their entries should be disqualified, and that's a thought (since they need at least a picture to prove the find), but on the other hand, I don't see that as a problem because most of the time they've disqualified themselves by not having a picture. I have never seen an entry without a picture win. (And for the photo contest, obviously you have to have one!)
Todd
Lafayette Grading Set
Todd
<< <i> Never take honesty for granted. Just look at the leaders of our nation! >>
Oh well..for the most part they are too...I wish I could get on the grounds up there to do some MD'ing though...
Todd
I, for one, do take honesty for granted. I have no reason to believe that anyone on this board would try to cheat their way through anything. This board has been working well for as long as I've been associated with it, which isn't all that long, but long enough for me to have complete trust and respect for my fellow posters.
Mary
Todd
<< <i> I have some ocean front porperty in Arizona to sell you >>
Are you worried that some one here is going to cheat on a meaningless little game? For no monetary value?...You have some thing you want to tell???
Todd
LOL...That was my find
Jerry
<< <i> Are you suggesting that I have cheated or that I think others have? >>
Settle down killer...it's just a metal detecting forum.. And that was tongue in cheek...Nobody , until you, has even suggested what you have suggested...Most of us understand this is all for fun...if a person wants to cheat just to get a little plaque for his signature, he's got more problems than any of us here want to address...I myself, have won awards, but I don't use them...Most of us here, are here for one reason only, to enjoy the hobby with like minded people...Frankly, I and I probably speak for others, don't think the kind of person that would cheat here would stay very long anyway...
Now to clear someting up..I don't think, nor have I thought you would cheat...I trust you just like I trust all the rest on this forum, no questions asked..
Todd
I love the site...and recommend it to everyone.
On a different note, where are you finding all of the buckles at?? I think I would crap my pants if I found an old Civil War Buckle.
Todd
The free account works fine!
Jerry
<< <i> On a different note, where are you finding all of the buckles at?? I think I would crap my pants if I found an old Civil War Buckle. >>
Every find I have on my pages was found in Brunswick...Where Lord Marcovan and I live...The only two coins not found in Brunswick were 2 of the large cents, they were found in an adjacent county.
I had a few comments about the monthly awards, but for sake of starting another "discussion", I'll leave it alone!!!!!
I'm just kidding---I have nothing to add other than--I think the awards are fine just the way they are and I really like the photo award. I, like a few others, don't bother with carrying the camera with me when I go detecting. On a few occasions, I may have it in the vehicle and if I find something really nice or a nice scenic shot, I may take a pic or two.
<< <i>I kinda like that the wildcard is sort of anything goes. One mans trash is another mans treasure. >>
Very true.
I like to look for native american artifacts and have posted and won the wildcard catagory with them. I never look at them as treasure.
They are a portal to the past for me. It is always a rush to hold something that hasn't been touched for several thousands of years.
Many people look at them as just rocks, so should they be eliminated since they are not looked upon as treasure?
Its a treasure !!
I like things the way they are ! and I voted for the photo contest ,, photography is another of my hobbies .
Always Looking for Raw Proof Lincoln Cents !!