No idea, although on the main page, I noticed that it says you can "return" an award?

Return in the system just means that the person in 3rd place changed when the awards were last generated. So, I'm in 3rd place today, but in 30 days we run the awards again, and someone else gets 3rd. I would then return the third place award, and it is given to the new guy.

Odd terminology for sure, may change it.

Ah, I thought it might've been something like that.

If it isn't available to Canada, that kind of takes the pressure off. LOL.

Ah, now I can stop trying so hard hahaha. Thanks for informing me Mr. Mod!

It is available to Canada tho :).

I was honestly about to post a thread about wtf does all this stuff mean haha, very cool guys! glad to see improvements in the right direction, and as someone who does post ideas,topics and news fairly regulary it just supports my desire to remain an active member on this site, and to help better the site and my fellow Arkers. Prizes don't hurt either.

My only concern is that you're going to see double posts, double threads, or spam threads/posts to boost individual ratings, because the last thing I want to do is waste my time clicking a link for new MU figure prototype figures found! and turns out to be a link for women's shoes... shit like that. So maybe enforce a rule that any thread or post deemed to be spam worthy is to be removed and to remove -100points or something? I dunno, just a suggestion!

Well, we have a general rule against spam, so we didn't allow that to begin with. We've upped the minimum character count and if people intentionally begin to spam, or post nonsensical things, they will be warned, infracted and eventually banned if they don't follow the rules.

As we've said, we'll adjust these things as time goes on, we get used to the system and as needed. We want to reward you guys while also getting good conversation going on the forums. So, everyone, talk about what you like.

Hey hey hey, looks like you have overtaken me! :)
I dont really care about the prize or being a top poster. I just want to be a contributing member that helps out fellow forum members and adds constructive criticism, praise or be helpful whenever I can.
I can already say with utmost certainty that we already seeing a lot of this and will continue to.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...45/spamReg.png
I see the strong members of this website eventually fading to the background if things stay the way they are. In case that does happen, heres a shout out to everyone I'd like to thank personally for making this site a great community.
Tiberius, Optimus Vader, JamesRuddy, Ludovicotek, Dogfashiondisco, Andycr75, Jasonabbadon - all fantastic forum members and exemplary individuals.
If I missed out on anyone I apologize.
Back to our regularly scheduled program of nonsense posts and threads.

well this spamming is going to be fun ..... ._.

This is awesome! This is a great perk! Thank you!

So here's my question.... If someone says something I completely agree with, if I quote them and just say "This.", like I do plenty of times, does that mean I will be warned and if I continue I will be banned? If so that's a little stupid in my opinion. Now if every comment I said is "This." "This." "This." "This." "This." "This." I can understand how that's bannable. But when I logged on this morning, the little description I received at the top of the screen made it look like "if you say anything short or irrelevant 'ever' you will be warned, and if continued, you will be banned."

Quoting with "This" as the only thing in your post is already kind of "spammy". We will be cracking down on single word responses, yes.

I have everyone beat so I request the following prize:

THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE

I think a Up-Vote/Down-Vote system for gaining points might be more realistic in achieving a vibrant forum where the posts are actually worth reading and not just chatter.

The problem with that is it simply becomes a popularity contest. And people use the vote down to harass members they don't like. We had something similar over at TFW2005 and it was an unmitigated disaster.

I dont agree with this and it does work on other forums as long as it is watched appropriately. If anything a popularity contest should decide who wins monthly prizes as opposed to who can post the most. If a member posts 300 times in a month mostly nonsense as opposed to a member who is busy with their family/work and posts 20 great posts, who should be rewarded?
Related to this new system, is it really necessary to list infractions under the screen name like I have on mine?

The voting and reputation system is not an option. We tried it, didn't like the results, won't be ever going back to it. And as we said, multiple times, the content of posts will be reviewed prior to any announcement of who wins prizes. So anyone simply spamming has no chance to actually win. You need to actually contribute to win.

The whole idea is to get people to post, not stop them from posting. We WANT people to post on the forums. We want them talking about toys, collecting, news, etc.

And infractions can only be seen by staff and yourself.

Here what this contest spells out to me...
BAD IDEA!!!
The whole concept is not too impressive to me. I think this should be the one and only contest like this, as I don't like the points and "level". It takes away from the "genuine posts" and as one member said (I don't remember who exactly), it's making it a game.

But it's always been a game. Posts counts, badges, extended profile and posting privileges, etc. have all been around for ages. We're simply adding another incentive. We've never claimed this to be permanent in any way. Anyone who has ever followed any of our other sites (or even this site) for any extended amount of time knows that our only constant is change. We're constantly testing out new ideas, features and incentives. This is just the next evolution of that change.

Bottom line - if it doesn't work, it will be removed. But it hasn't even been live for much more than 24 hours. Too early to tell.

If we can not successfully curb people from posting shitty posts, and they continue to do so, then we will stop it. Or change and adjust to get them to stop. One or the other.

My big concern is that someone who has been a consistent yakker on here like myself will be accused of spamming. LOL. I've always been very yakky ever since I signed up and it's not an overnight thing like it clearly has been for some of the folks I've seen here although to be fair, the whole point of this contest is to drum up more activity, but a lot of new threads and posts I've seen on here as of yesterday seem a bit contrived.

I think with this new contest, it's got most people a bit edgy and people are pointing fingers. Let's face it, myself, omega145, bmorr and others are consistently and have always consistently posted a lot since joining and in saying this, we stand to lose more than anyone else by saying this in that we're most likely to have won, even if you made this contest "top secret". Now there's an aura of paranoia and competition, and you've got people really scraping the barrel for new topics.

I almost feel like the Gold medal I got is more like the Mark of Cain now that I think about it. People will now be scrutinizing every post I made. I'm scared!!! LOL.

Here's a problem.

A small post does not equal spam, a worthless post, or a "shitty" post.

I tend to agree a bit with Metal Viking's post about quoting someone in order to agree with them. Doing it to much is a bad thing, but sometimes someone may say something far better than you ever could. I tend not to think just agreeing with them makes yours a hollow post.

But here's my real problem. I asked a question. Someone responds with the relevent information I need. It is only natural that I want to say "Thank you." I don't like having to write a small essay just to say that. I think forcing words that are not there *makes* it an empty, hollow, or shitty post, when a simple "Thank you" as a show of appreciation and respect is all that is needed.

I think this whole new system is a bad idea, the more it goes.

I'm sure a simple thank you won't count against anyone. I'm also sure they will go through and review all the post. If they see a stupid amount "This" or "agreed" from the same person over and over, I'm sure they will be weeded out from occasional ones.