Forum:Medal System (incentive)

As you all know, mainspace editing has died down greatly, even though there is a large overhaul project going on.

Chiafriend12 and I have been discussing a medal system for a while now, and it is going to be implemented now.

Chia has made. This medal is awarded to the editors who have been User of the Month before.

You can stick these on your userpage, wherever you want.

I apologize to the other admins that we did not discuss this with (namely, all of you), but Chia and I felt that it needed to be implemented to keep the mainspace editing flowing in our community.

More medals will be produced sooner or later.

--   EightOhEight   Talk  00:28, May 23, 2010 (UTC)


 * Great work. I do hope you realize Darkman and I had a great discussion about an award system on the Soldier of Fortune Wiki, at about the time the idea was conceived, so we knew it would happen. I'm happy they have been implemented and hopefully we can see more action where it's needed now. 00:31, May 23, 2010 (UTC)


 * As of right now, awards will probably only be given out by admins. Callofduty4, I'd appreciate it if you could help me go through the UOTM list and add Template:Award/UOTM to their page. Also, can you add the Award/UOTM button to my monaco.js? -- Emblem-treasuremap-1.jpg  EightOhEight   Talk Emblem-pirate-1.jpg 00:32, May 23, 2010 (UTC)


 * Sure. 00:34, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * This award program seems like a good idea. It might promote mainspace editing. [[File:Pvt.jpg]]Pvt. Dunn  00:36, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * I fully support the idea. It's much more accessible and fair than a Rank system and it provides another avenue of rewarding good editors besides the once-a-month UotM. --Scottie theNerd 02:58, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * I also fully support the idea, per Scottie & Dunn. [[Image:US Army OF-2.png|10px|link=Special:Contributions/CodExpert]]1st L t.  C ôd E xpert T alk 03:00, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * This seems like an excellent idea, Per Scottie & Dunn. [[Image:50px-USMC-E11.png|20px|link=Special:Contributions/Delta 4-7]]Sgt.Maj. Delta  4-7 USSOCOM.png 03:02, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * I think it'll work. Per Scottie and everyone else. 10:03, May 23, 2010 (UTC)

I like it, except I have no medals, not even a 6 month good conduct medal.AdvancedRookie 21:26, June 11, 2010 (UTC)

Further Explanation
Due to the good responses that this thread has gotten, I'll go into further detail.

Right now, Chia has ribbons for being active for periods of time (6 months, 12 months, 24 months).

We're not going to create medals for edit counts because that'll encourage edit whoring.

There'll be medals for participating in the overhaul project that is going on, just to encourage helping. For these, you must provide proof that you actually helped out.

--   EightOhEight   Talk  03:11, May 23, 2010 (UTC)

I have a question. With the ribbons for being active for certain amounts of time, do you have to have never been inactive, even for a few days? Sorry if it's a stupid question, I'm just wondering. Pvt. Dunn  03:14, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * If you go a few days without making any edits it's not like you've left the community, so unless you go long periods of time without doing a thing it will probably still count. 03:29, May 23, 2010 (UTC)

Hmm....It is an interesting concept which i like very much. Great work guys,great work! Can someone post up the rest of the ribbons so we can see them? <font color="Green"> Talk 03:19, May 23, 2010 (UTC)

All of the ribbons so far:
 * Medal, User of the Month.png for being or having been a User of the Month
 * Medal, Six Month Good Conduct.png for having six months of good conduct
 * Medal, Twelve Month Good Conduct.png for having twelve months of good conduct
 * Medal, Twelve Month Good Conduct with Oak Leaf.png for having twenty-four months of good conduct

The device on the ribbon for twenty-four months of good conduct is an oak leaf cluster which indicates that a said medal has been awarded to the same person more than once. 03:29, May 23, 2010 (UTC)

I think we could make these a little fancier, but otherwise this gets a thumbs up from me. Nice work Chia. <font size="3" style="color:DarkOrange;">Sgt.Maj. <font size="3" style="color:red;">Delta <font size="3" style="color:DarkGoldenrod;"> 4-7 04:12, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * I do think they could be jazzed up a bit. 10:04, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Two things:
 * 1. Great work Chia and Eight on the award system! But Ukimies is right. Jazz it up a notch!
 * 2. Can awards be given to non-admins? 12:06, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * I agree, let's Jazz them up. And how do we collect medal's that we are applicable for. Also we need a page for them. Good job Chia GenCain sig.jpg<font color="Gold"> T <font color="Crimson"> C <font color="Gold"> E  <font color="Crimson"> B 11:21, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * I personally like the ribbons as they are. They're based off real military decorations, which aren't meant to be snazzy. I'm glad to keep it simple and clear. --Scottie theNerd 11:53, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Per Scottie, I was just coming here to say that they're based off real Navy good conduct medals. They should stay as they are. 14:41, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Speaking of real medals, I suggest a WWII Campaign medal for the Overhaul project. Other historical campaign medals could be used if more projects are needed (e.g. improvement drives, etc.). --Scottie theNerd 15:24, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * How about a victory medal? 15:28, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * We're actually only using ribbons to stay organized. -- Emblem-treasuremap-1.jpg<font style="background:beige"> <font face="century gothic"> EightOhEight  <font face="century gothic"> Talk Emblem-pirate-1.jpg 18:49, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * I got one, for reporting 100+vandals you get a purple heart GenCain sig.jpg<font color="Gold"> T <font color="Crimson"> C <font color="Gold"> E  <font color="Crimson"> B 15:29, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Maybe a defense medal instead of a purple heart. 15:31, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * The difficulty of awarding medals based on vandal reports is that no one's keeping count. --Scottie theNerd 15:43, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * While that is difficult, I've gotta say that I'm counting. But most likely no one else is, so it is difficult. 17:09, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * I agree, it would take me 8 min to find out GenCain sig.jpg<font color="Gold"> T <font color="Crimson"> C <font color="Gold"> E  <font color="Crimson"> B 17:12, May 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately, there isn't a uniform method of combating vandalism, so many users won't have any means to keep record. Some users revert, others place vandal tags, others go straight to admins. Again, the actual number of reports isn't as important as the effort behind it. That's why a general good conduct ribbon is more appropriate for general distribution than specific task-based awards. Unless you want to add a V for Vandalism emblem :) --Scottie theNerd 02:26, May 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately, there isn't a uniform method of combating vandalism, so many users won't have any means to keep record. Some users revert, others place vandal tags, others go straight to admins. Again, the actual number of reports isn't as important as the effort behind it. That's why a general good conduct ribbon is more appropriate for general distribution than specific task-based awards. Unless you want to add a V for Vandalism emblem :) --Scottie theNerd 02:26, May 24, 2010 (UTC)

Here's another medal ribbon: This medal would be awarded by senior members of usergroups to other members of the group that they believe have done a lot to help the group and its cause.
 * Medal, Usergroup Usefulness.png for contributing greatly to a usergroup's cause

To prevent users from specifically doing something just to receive an award, all the medals so far are based on acts that are not quantitative, but either qualitative or something that cannot be rushed. With the idea of a medal for anti-vandalism, I agree that having to count to see if a user has reached the required count would be tiresome, and instead I think such a thing should just be given if someone else notices that the user in question is just doing an all-around great job.

Feel free to shoot ideas at me. These things aren't particularly hard to make. 04:27, May 24, 2010 (UTC)


 * I believe that Whiskey should receive this for his Welcoming work.  Warpig  3|1|2 04:39, May 24, 2010 (UTC)

Another good medal. I like it. 05:03, May 24, 2010 (UTC)

Hope you guys like it  Warpig  3|1|2 05:36, May 24, 2010 (UTC)


 * Sorry, but anyone can be a senior member of a group as long as they've made the group. Also, it's not themed. -- <font style="background:darkblue"> Eight - Oh - Eight 05:46, May 24, 2010 (UTC)

This is the real Distinguished Service Medal used by the US Military, it would be awarded to users who have been active in the War Room, Overhaul, Anti-Vandal work (variations with acronyms maybe?).  Warpig  3|1|2 05:56, May 24, 2010 (UTC)

Some ideas: Of course, we should have a page listing all available medals and how they are obtained. We can't give medals to everyone for any reason, so we need to be stringent as to what criteria an editor needs to fulfil. It's greatly important that we look at quality not quantity, as Chiafriend said. I've seen lots of sites develop simplistic quantitative measurements, and it really doesn't promote anything other than spam. --Scottie theNerd 07:31, May 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * Legion of Merit for CoDwiki admins.
 * Vietnam Service Medal for extensive contributions to Call of Duty: Black Ops articles.
 * GWOT Expeditionary Medal for extensive contributions to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare articles.
 * GWOT Service Medal for extensive contributions to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 articles.
 * WWII Victory Medal for extensive contributions to Call of Duty: World at War articles.
 * Army Occupation Medal for extensive contributions to Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 3 articles.
 * Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for extensive contributions to any handheld Call of Duty article.
 * I don't think ribbons for an edit count helps anything. Like Scottie said, it just promotes spam. 10:52, May 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * Do administrators need a medal, though? They already have several templates and just the act of being an administrator doesn't say anything about the user being good or bad in how they act. Perhaps a medal for good administrating, but I don't think there should be a medal for being in the administration. 01:45, May 25, 2010 (UTC)
 * Even better, how about medals for "6/12/xx months of continual service to the community as an administrator"? --Scottie theNerd 07:08, May 25, 2010 (UTC)

So, how would you be awarded metals? Just add them yourself? 01:48, May 25, 2010 (UTC)
 * So far, some administrators have sent out templates to users to tell them that they've received such an award. 02:17, May 25, 2010 (UTC)

Combat Action Ribbon for notable anti-vandal work? -- <font style="background:gold"> Griever0311   03:14, May 25, 2010 (UTC)

Seems good, thanks Chia. Griever, one like that is needed. 12:04, May 27, 2010 (UTC)

Three new medals: I held out on your ideas, Scottie, since you had so many and I wanted to do simpler things first. Signatures/Chiafriend12 06:12, May 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * Medal, Antivandalism Work.png for dealing with vandalism exceptionally
 * Medal, User Helpfulness.png for continuously helping other users when needed
 * Medal, Notable Image Contributions.png for greatly contributing with images
 * Of course. Just adding to the brainstorm :) --Scottie theNerd 06:28, May 29, 2010 (UTC)

How long untill we start sending out awards? 21:55, May 30, 2010 (UTC)


 * I've given out some already. We need to make the medals into templates... 22:14, May 30, 2010 (UTC)

Would non-admins be permitted to submit their own for an admin's approval? <font size="3" style="color:DarkOrange;">Sgt.Maj. <font size="3" style="color:red;">Delta <font size="3" style="color:DarkGoldenrod;"> 4-7  22:20, May 30, 2010 (UTC)


 * Sure, try to make them in line with the other award templates, some of which you can find at Template:Award/UOTM and Template:Award/24 months. 22:50, May 30, 2010 (UTC)
 * Maybe a Purple Heart of sorts for not responding to flamebait?[[Image:tank.gif|30px]]<font color="#FF00FF">nlm gr [[Image:tank.gif|30px]] 23:39, May 30, 2010 (UTC)
 * Funny you should mention Purple Hearts, as I just uploaded two ribbons based off of the real-world Purple Heart medal:
 * Medal, Green Heart.png for helping out during the recent Overhaul project
 * Medal, Green Heart with Oak Leaf.png for helping out greatly during the recent Overhaul project
 * -- 05:54, May 31, 2010 (UTC)

"A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon" - Napoleon. In all seriousness, it's a nice idea, but who/what determines the differences between, say, helping and helping greatly? I very much doubt the admins are willing to go through every user's edit log and see if they made great contributions before letting them collect their medal. So must we apply for the medal and then they'll look over it or what? Epochalyptik 22:26, June 11, 2010 (UTC)

Medal List
A more organized list of medals currently available to users of this wiki:

Images

 * Medal, User of the Month.png. This medal is awarded to the editors who have been User of the Month before
 * Medal, Six Month Good Conduct.png This medal is awarded for having six months of good conduct
 * Medal, Twelve Month Good Conduct.png This medal is awarded for having twelve months of good conduct
 * Medal, Twelve Month Good Conduct with Oak Leaf.png This medal is awarded for having twenty-four months of good conduct
 * Medal, Usergroup Usefulness.png This medal is awarded for contributing greatly to a usergroup's cause
 * Medal, Green Heart.png This medal is awarded for helping out during the recent Overhaul project
 * Medal, Green Heart with Oak Leaf.png This medal is awarded for helping out greatly during the recent Overhaul project
 * Medal, Antivandalism Work.png This medal is awarded for dealing with vandalism exceptionally
 * Medal, User Helpfulness.png This medal is awarded for continuously helping other users when needed
 * Medal, Notable Image Contributions.png medal is awarded for greatly contributing with images

03:29, June 12, 2010 (UTC)

Templates

 * Template:Award/UOTM
 * Template:Award/6 months
 * Template:Award/12 months
 * Template:Award/24 months
 * Template:Award/Overhaul
 * Template:Award/Overhaul/OLC

03:30, June 12, 2010 (UTC)

Discussion
I suggest that a page for the medals be created, like Call of Duty Wiki: Userboxes for the userboxes 21:23, June 11, 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for putting the list up Hax. It was really unorganized before.

Do good conduct medals start from when the metals were created, or since the user has been good? And I think we do need a page for them. 21:53, June 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Since the user was 'clean'. If you stayed clean for 6 months or more, you get the '6 months award', etc. 23:16, June 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Thank you Hax. Doltensig.jpeg 20:06, June 15, 2010 (UTC)

Hax, are you forgetting these three medals?
 * Medal, Antivandalism Work.png for dealing with vandalism exceptionally
 * Medal, User Helpfulness.png for continuously helping other users when needed
 * Medal, Notable Image Contributions.png greatly contributing with images
 * --CodExpert 00:10, June 12, 2010 (UTC)
 * Added to list03:29, June 12, 2010 (UTC)

This Medal System is a good idea for a while, like maybe a year or two, but soon everyone will be getting Medals and they wont be significant anymore. Beastly20


 * It would be significant for users to come, as they would learn about the idea and it could insire them to work hard. 22:52, June 21, 2010 (UTC)

I know that, and I'm all for this system, but I say we keep Medals to a minimum and only reward them to users who have made signifigant mainspace edits that actually HELP the page, not add on minor information or change something that doesn't really matter. Beastly20


 * I see what you mean, but even small edits matter. As they help to improve the wiki. 23:03, June 21, 2010 (UTC)

I just don't want to see a bunch of medals on a bunch of userpages. The medals need to make people feel like "wow, I just earned a medal for working hard to improve the wiki". I am STRONGLY against the medals being earned for Userpage decoration, like when people boost for highly sought for Titles and Emblems. Beastly20

Here's what I have to ask what would the exact specific details of medal earning be? Because from what I can tell medals are given by admins to people who meet the requirements correct me if I am wrong. But I have a problem with the descriptions of 'greatly contributing with images' and 'continuosly helping other users when needed' for the second one it would mean someone who helps users with problems when needed but how many times would you have to help others to get it? If it is given at admin's descretion then theoretically one admin could give it to a person who helped ten users while another admin could give it to a person who helped five users. That would be unfair and could cause alot of people to get it to a point where it is not unique and is like the back in the saddle achievement in Modern Warfare 2 nobody thinks it is special because so many people have it. I think that i we want them to be special then we need better requirements or they will just become something that most people have because there is no set in stone standard and of the people that would have it few would have earned it.Foxtrot12 04:06, June 22, 2010 (UTC)


 * Discretion is an essential part of awards. Otherwise, they merely become milestones. The things we acknowledge in the awards scheme cannot be measured. How would you measure criteria for being helpful, for example? Additionally, if we set specific requirements, it would encourage people to contribute solely for awards rather than to help the wiki, which is often reflected in poor quality but huge quantity. Medals reflect what people do rather than give users a target to go for. In real life, the criteria for awarding medals is deliberate ambiguous unless specified for a particular purpose. A soldier does not join the army to earn medals; and when he does get one, he isn't given it because of how many hostiles he killed. Also, if we have specific requirements, it's unfair for users who have contributed significantly but don't fulfil the measurable criteria. The classic example is the quality of edits versus quantity, but others apply too in terms of time, effort and consistency. Overall, I trust that the admins aren't selfish corrupt enough to make fair calls on who deserves awards. --Scottie theNerd 09:43, June 22, 2010 (UTC)

I agree. I don't want to see "In order to join the Call of Duty Wiki Clan, you must have at least 250 edits and 5 Medals." That would mean alot of medals on alot of userpages and like i said above, I want to look at someones userpage and see 2 or 3 medals and say "he probably worked hard for those".

What I am trying to say is that I think it really should be fair because given at descretion it could mean that one person did much more deserving work than somebody else but the other person who did much less quality work still gets it because of opinion. while setting milestones may not be the perfect idea it has flaws. It is not always fair to give out a medal based on opinion because people's opinions are far different than others just off opinion could lead to people getting it when they don't deserve it and people could get the medals when they did significanty less quality work. And for quality vs. quantity it could simply be looked at if someone has quantity do the edits have quality. And setting milestones can be positive knowing that people know what they are going for and would likely help the wiki in the process if the person does not then they do not deserve the medal but quality and quantity can be combined it is not impossible to have many quality edits. And in that way the milestone does have its benefits but descretion while it has benefits allows for someone doing a lot less work and getting something while another did a lot of work got it and actually earned it.Foxtrot12 18:34, June 22, 2010 (UTC)