Member/Staff of the Month: April 2010

[Professor Oak]

MotM: April 2010

Well, we haven't had one of these in a while but due to a number of factors, I think it's an appropriate time to run such a competition this month. One reason is that we have an unprecendented amount of new members and another reason is modding has slowed to an all time low. This month is also significant in another way, however. Three years ago, on April 9, ZapdosZulu was founded so it is only fitting that we have a series of competitions and festivities to celebrate.

The last time we held something like this was in September of last year and you can read about it and see the winners here: zapdoszulu.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=news&action=display&thread=649

Like the previous competition, it is again separated into two competitions; one open to all non-staff members and one open exclusively to staff.

Member of the Month:
Selection will be based on the following criteria:

• Quality of roleplaying posts: Are all your posts creative and detailed so as it weaves a rich and engrossing tale?
  
  
• Contribution to the site: How have you contributed to the development and history of this site? You could perhaps make some suggestions to improve the roleplaying experience or create new topics for discussion or forum games to entertain us all.
  
  
• Participation and activity: Demonstrate to the staff that you enjoy visiting ZapdosZulu regularly. There are a large number of discussion topics in the General Boards which you could participate in. Even talking in the cbox might be a way of showing that you can fit in and get along well with the ZZ community.
  
  
• Good ZapdosZulu citizen: Although this is harder to judge, there are sometimes things that you can do to help out new members, current members and even staff. For example, you might welcome new visitors to the site as well as answer a few questions based on your current understanding of our rules and expectations. Also, little things such as providing a link to your profile in your siggy makes a staff member's life much easier.
  

Please note that this is not the only criteria that we may judge you on. There are other ways in which you could be selected such as promoting the site and advertising it. The staff members will be making nominations at the end of the month and the winner will be announced shortly after.

Staff of the Month:
As with our last SotM competition, I will be the sole judge to allow everyone the opportunity to participate without partiality. The criteria I will judge it by are as follows:

• Efficiency of Modding: This includes not only quality and quantity but also speed and accuracy. As we continue to grow, a lot more threads will need modding so the main criteria for Staff of the Month is the way that you handle the pressure of modding and balancing this out with replies to your own thread.
  
  
• Variety of modding: As this would suggest, I am looking out for people who respond to many different threads and can adapt to different senarios and situations imposed on them. There is also a trend towards providing choices for members in their roleplay instead of the mundane trainer and wild Pokemon battles forced upon them.
  Also, don't feel daunted by moderating other staff members. I'm sure you'll get some browny points for modding some of our senior staff such as Phoenix, who definitely wants to train his Pokemanz.
  
  
• Participation in Staff activities: Something as simple as claiming Mod Points not only shows that you are enjoying the perks of being a Moderator, but it also advertises yourself too. Although I will monitoring everyone closely this month > I can only get a true sense of how much work that you've done by looking at Mod Point totals and it provides useful data, which I can analyse and use to improve our efficiency in the future. Also, other contributions to Area 51 projects and making custom sprites for special events (you're already in my good books camtoniac xD) is much desired.
  
  
• Initiative and leadership: If you see something on the site that needs attention, you could perhaps alert me to it through a pm or a thread in the Staff Area. To give an example, there might be a need to revise a particular rule or you feel that something is missing in the roleplay and needs to be covered.
  
  
• Site maintenance and management: Included in this is the administrative work that you've done. This could be as simple as responding to "Mod Request" topics for threads that are more than 5 days old or updating starter Pokemon into new members' profiles.
  

I apologise for that monstrous body of text and to compensate I've decided to offer a very nice reward for the winner of this month's competition. I proudly present to you a choice of two special Pokemon.

Houndour
Name: [choose]
Gender: [choose]
Level: 5
Attacks: Leer, Ember, Howl, Will-O-Wisp
Nature/Personality: [choose]

OR

Vulpix
Name: [choose]
Gender: [choose]
Level: 5
Attacks: Ember, Tail Whip, Hypnosis
Nature/Personality: [choose]

Vulpix and Houndour have been selected for their popularity and also because they will be semi-rare Pokemon, appearing later in the rp (around Ecruteak). In addition, they each have a handy egg move. The winner of either competition can select one of the two Pokemon (i.e. two people can still select a Houndour).

[The REAL Joey]

YES! It's so good to see this forum host this prestigious event once more, it was a shame it disappeared last year but now it's back i'm happy. There are some seriously nice rewards this time around too. Too bad i've already won MotM otherwise a nice little puppy Houndour would be a good addition.

Funnily enough, I was also going to ask when this place was founded yesterday. So 3 years ago on the 9th of April... I'll have to remember that one.

Best of luck to everyone, we're all contenders remember! The staff of the month is going to be interesting, a few faces have seriously been pulling their weight... Others not so much. Still for those who have been modding like mad, best of luck to ya!

[vulpixstars]

Too, bad you can't be Staff of the Month Oak, cause your the owner, otherwise I'd vote for you.

[LUNAR]

i'd like to nominate Cammy as Staff of the Month and Nada as Member of the Month.

They've both worked very hard here and they both deserve the title. ^^

[Nada]

I'm having a hard time figuring out who I might want to nominate. Originally, I would've said Joey hands down because need I state the obvious? But he already won it before... and everybody who WAS a member is now staff and it makes things complicated! And those who are left are typically new, too. I'm going to have to think very, very hard on how I want to nominate. x.x

[vulpixstars]

I'd like to vote for my good friend phoenixchild, for staff of the month. Her mod posts are very well thought out and long, and she takes her time to think of a reply instead of posting quick fast one.

[Nada]

...wait wait wait

Phoenix a SHE?!

[The REAL Joey]

Apr 12, 2010 11:13:38 GMT 11 @vulpixstars said:

I'd like to vote for my good friend phoenixchild, for staff of the month. Her mod posts are very well thought out and long, and she takes her time to think of a reply instead of posting quick fast one.

...If we're going on the rule of people who have won XOTM before, Phoenix has previously won a SOTM running I believe.

Also, I didn't know we were voting for people. I thought Oak said he was being the sole judge on SOTM. MOTM is a bit unclear as to whether or not that's purely up to staff but I get that impression.

[Professor Oak]

Just to clarify things, here's how we did this in the past and so for this month, we'll stick to the same principles. Maybe we could change it next month based on recommendations.

1. Previous winners are still eligible. I don't see the point of ruling them out.

2. MotM is determined by voting by all staff at the end of the month. Please wait until the end. We haven't even gotten halfway through April so it's far too early to call.

3. SotM is determined by me, but staff members or even members can PM me recommendations which I can base my judgement on.

Another thing is that I'm thinking about holding this event every two months. This means that there will be no MotM in May but will return in June. There are several reasons for this. Mainly, I want to keep interest in this event high and if held every month, I believe interest will fall. I also want to restrict the number of give-away Pokemon in the future and I don't want to turn it into an event were prizes are shared around so that everyone gets one. It will only be rewarded to those that work hard and have addressed the criteria.

[vulpixstars]

Yea, but I've noticed a lot of people do work very hard and still never get a single vote, for MOTM or SOTM.

[The REAL Joey]

Apr 12, 2010 18:29:54 GMT 11 Professor Oak said:

Another thing is that I'm thinking about holding this event every two months.

I'm actually quite in favour of this. It actually seems like such a logical progression when you think about it. Plus it means the whole MOTM/SOTM award has added weight behind it as it won't happen every so often. Members as a whole will also be able to have more of a chance to prove themselves over a longer period of time. If they're truly deserving of it; they'll stick around.

Apr 12, 2010 22:00:46 GMT 11 @vulpixstars said:

Yea, but I've noticed a lot of people do work very hard and still never get a single vote, for MOTM or SOTM.

A single vote? How do you know? Have you got access to the staff forums?! Just kidding with you. There's a few staff so i'm sure the vote isn't always so one sided.

[Phoenixchild]

Apr 12, 2010 11:44:42 GMT 11 Nada said:

...wait wait wait

Phoenix a SHE?!

I AM!?!?!


Goddamn gender changing lawn gnomes gtting me when ever I turn around.

[[Slash]]

Another thing is that I'm thinking about holding this event every two months.

Just to add my two cents in, I think that'd be best, too. With all my experience in 'OTM' awards, it tends to happen too quickly... At least here though we do have a nice plethora of members, especially ones who have an interest in the site.

[The REAL Joey]

Not too long before the winners are announced and I have to say this is going to be a pretty tight competition, there's been so many new members that have all made an impression on the forum since signing up. ;D

As for the staff... *whistles* That is gonna be a free for all royale.

[Professor Oak]

The winner will be announced within the week. Could all the staff vote at the designated thread in the staff area? Also, if anyone (including members) would like to recommend a candidate of Staff of the Month, they may do so by sending me a PM. I'll take that into consideration when selecting SotM so make sure you provide some reasons.