Member/Staff of The Month: September 2010

[Andrew]

MotM: September 2010

Sorry about the delay. We were all busy at the end of last month so we put this off. Depending on activity levels, we might run another Member of the Month in October. Things are quiet at the moment, but hopefully things will pick up during the holidays.

Anyway, it’s time to talk about what I came here to do. Many of you know how this works, but for those of you who don’t, I’ll summarise it right here. We hold these competitions every two months to award excellence in role-playing as well as moderating.

For the last three months, we’ve been observing each of you and your input to the site. Even after the last few months, there’s still always time to make a good impression. I have my eyes on a select few people who I think deserve an award, and the competition is definitely tight. These next few days will definitely influence the voting, so don’t give up yet!

If you’d like to read about previous competitions, check out April’s MotM and June’s MotM.
The same criteria for selection will be used and is provided in the post below.

Rewards:

The winner of MotM and SotM will receive one of the prizes below. The winners may select whichever Pokémon they prefer (and yes, both can select the same Pokémon).


Skarmory
Name: [choose]
Gender: [choose]
Level: 10
Attacks: Leer, Peck, Sand-Attack, Swift
Ability: [choose: Keen Eye or Sturdy]
Nature/Personality: [choose]

OR


Swablu
Name: [choose]
Gender: [choose]
Level: 10
Attacks: Peck, Astonish, Sing, Agility
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature/Personality: [choose]

[Andrew]

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 Pokémon 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 Pokémanz.
  
  
• 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 Pokémon into new members' profiles.
  

This is a little outdated, but it's essentially the same idea.

[latani]

Whoo! Pick up the slack, kiddies, and you might get one of these nice little treats ~

[[Arzadon]]

:0 Is it that time already? Good luck everyone~

[Andrew]

Member of the Month: June 2010

And the winner is...
’ melorific ’

There’s no doubt that the site’s activity has plummeted since September came around. Both members and staff began to go absent and the site in general slowed down. However, during this time, ‘ melorific ’ really worked hard.

A member since April, she has progressed greatly throughout the roleplay. Every post has been a pleasure to read and a lot of thought seems to go in to them. This sort of dedication is exactly what we’re looking for. It is what makes ZapdosZulu the amazing place it is. When we see members sticking around, we feel encouraged to expand the site even more. Thanks for sticking around, mel. We hope to have a lot more to offer you in the future.

---

Staff of the Month: June 2010

And the winner is...
latani

Latani has been a credit to this site ever since she joined, but ever since she was promoted to a Global Moderator, she’s really shown what she’s made of. Commitment is a big issue for a lot of people, but latani is one of the most motivated people you would ever come across.

She has definitely shown a number of great qualities, whether working alone or as a team. She has shown great leadership skills, having taken charge of numerous projects and endlessly suggesting new things. She has been practically holding the site together for the past two months when things for looking down for others. Latani is very consistent with her work and won’t leave you hanging.

Much of latani’s work may go unnoticed by members. Behind the scenes, she’s been developing ways to improve ZapdosZulu. She always gives detailed feedback where needed and helps out wherever she can. Her tireless efforts really justify this reward. Congratulations Dani, – you definitely deserve it!

---

Please note that there were many deserving candidates for each reward and I hope that none of you will be discouraged in the future--. Our site has been popular not because of the strength of few, but because everyone has contributed to our community. We would especially like to thank all of the staff for your tireless efforts, not only through modding but also the updating and the contribution of ideas, which has rarely been recognised.

Remember that there won’t be a MotM/SotM this month but it will return in November. Your conduct during October, however, will count towards next month’s competition and we will especially be keeping note of which staff members stand out during this month and we trust that the staff will do the same for MotM voting.

---

Last but not least, the rewards for our two winners:
[img]http://www.dragonflycave.com/hgsssprites/frame2/227skarmory.png[/img]
[b]Skarmory[/b]
Name: [choose]
Gender: [choose]
Level: 10
Attacks: Leer, Peck, Sand-Attack, Swift
Ability: [choose: Keen Eye or Sturdy]
Nature/Personality: [choose]
Other: Member of the Month; September 2010

OR

[img]http://www.dragonflycave.com/hgsssprites/frame2/333swablu.png[/img]
[b]Swablu[/b]
Name: [choose]
Gender: [choose]
Level: 10
Attacks: Peck, Astonish, Sing, Agility
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature/Personality: [choose]
Other: Member of the Month; September 2010

[revolvingscott]

Well done, everyone! You both deserved it. Especially you, latani, you've been fabulous!

[latani]

Skarmory
Name: Starscream
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Attacks: Leer, Peck, Sand-Attack, Swift
Ability: Keen Eye
Nature/Personality: Starscream has a cold, calculating mind that leaves him rather detached from emotions while battling. He borders on cruelty, the way he acts in battle, and tends to be rather hostile to anyone other than his trainer. Despite his cleverness, he tends to bully Tanya's other Pokémon while she isn't around.
Other: Member of the Month; September 2010

Oooh yay!

Thanks guys ~ You make me feel so mooshy and loved. x3 I love coming on here and just letting most of my worries go. I can help out where I can and I don't feel like it's an obligation, but more like a fun little job I enjoy doing. I'm glad to be part of the staff and to give a helping hand to members new and old ~

Putting him in my party and shifting Veleno to my PC. ~

[mel01]

[img]http://www.dragonflycave.com/hgsssprites/frame2/333swablu.png[/img]
[b]Swablu[/b]
Name: Aura
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Attacks: Peck, Astonish, Sing, Agility
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature/Personality: Aura is an outgoing bird with a sensitive personality. She enjoys being with others and having fun. At the same time, she can become easily hurt or jealous, and very easily frustrated when her buttons are pushed. Aura has an eye for boys, and is always leaping into action whenever she catches a good one in sight. As long as you don't mess around with her, she'll stay pretty cheery and up-beat.
Other: Member of the Month; September 2010

o.o

Gotta say, I'm really stunned by this, so I'm at a loss for words. But thanks, I wasn't even aware of this until today ^_^

I'll make sure to keep up the good work!

[jessecast]

congrats

[Professor Oak]

Congratulations to you both! Very worthy winners. =)

Thanks to Andrew as well for announcing the winners.

[Alex]

Congratulations you two.

[Nixly]

Congratulations! Enjoy your new pokemon!