Should we give out Web Awards?

1. Should we give out Web Awards?

   #1

   Another one to ponder at our leisure.
   
   Ria mentioned it and I have been thinking about it. My thoughts are we would just add another forum topic and call it whatever we decide to name the award. We will be very picky and very critical. If somebody wins our award they will have to earn it and put up with our critiques and take it like a warrior. :twisted:
   
   They can be nominated by any of us, or the webmaster, really anybody can nominate any page. We come up with an easy format to follow to put in the request so it has all the info we need to assess it.
   
   I like the Gamewyrd way of doing it. We can do it monthly or bimonthly and reward whoever it is regardless of any other circumstances. If we like the page, they get the award. No stipulations or anything, we will just have a list of quality sites that we like for whatever reasons.
   
   Since it is once every month or so it would be easy to keep updated and such and there are already some good nominations scattered through the site that various people have posted.
   
   Just another random poll to see what you think. Just another Add to the To Do list, but this one (and the encounters for that matter) would be really easy to put together if we unanimously agree to the idea. But mostly just throwing it out there to get some feedback. (I asked Kate about banners and an award and they are on her list)
   
   Plus, if they post the award on their pages (like I did the ones I got) pretty much another link back here.

2. Should we give out Web Awards?

   #2

   I can't just vote yes or no without some discussion first. Like What kind of sites? I know some really good porn sites :shock: , but I don't thing that would fit in with the theme here. Are we just after role-playing sites or just fantasy role-playing sites? What about fantasy art sites like elfwood and such?
   
   What are the criteria that we are going to judge on? Gamewyrd looked at our material and artwork (many bows to Kate 8) ), what will we look for? Layout, navigation, advertising clutter, manners, what is on our list?
   
   Are we going to have some time to look over the sites before we award them our award? That would require some kind of timeframe to have submissions in for that month's (or bimonthly) award. If it comes in after the shutoff time, it'd have to be considered for the next award.
   
   I like the idea of an award, but I feel if we are going to try to have a respected award, we need to award it in a respectable manner.

3. Should we give out Web Awards?

   #3

   You hit everything about right on the head. heheheh
   
   Who, what, when, why, how.
   
   This is my initial reaction.
   
   Advertising. I actually hate it but understand that it helps pay the bills. With any luck that will never happen here. Been thinking of doing the amazon thing on a separate non-intrusive page, but all in all advertising sucks and this will remain banner free. Because of my personal feelings about it I am of this opinion:
   
   Advertising, as nonintrusive as possible. I don't think I will ever nominate a site that has popups and such. I hate those. If it is of such abnormal quality and it is on a free hosting site like tripod or something, then maybe. Case by case. If it is that good I may offer to host them. LOL.
   
   That might be a good factor to. If we would be willing to host their content and be affiliated with them because it is just that good, then maybe they have a winning site.
   
   Roleplaying sites for sure. Not too sure about art sites really, looking more for stuff with content that can be used by DMs and players to improve their game or supplies unique things. I am partial towards the fantasy genre because I know very little about SF, but if the site is good enough that I can appreciate it then I have no problem. I am willing to take a look at anything and give my opinion. The site may not meet my recommendation but they will receive some critiques just for submitting it.
   
   Only quality porn that is free. No pay sites. Advertising on these is ok, just no pop-ups.
   
   Layout, navigation etc. will be up to the reviewer to decide. I will rate sites with fast loading graphics that enhance, but not take over a site, higher then super graphic heavy sites. The graphics may be really cool and everything, but I don't want to go through a title page with a big graphic just to get to the content with more pretty graphics a link in. That is my preference. Others may like the title pages and will recommend those as they see fit. For art sites a title graphic makes perfect sense, but that is not the site I am looking for. Ease of navigation is a biggie for me as well. I do not like getting lost in sites.
   
   Do we have to unanimous in our decision or does simple majority rule? 3/4?
   
   Each person will have personal criteria that they like and dislike about websites. That is also what I am counting on, different perspectives so we can get a wide variety of thoughts on webpages and a variety of submitted sites for the award. It is fun looking at different sites for a reason instead of just browsing.
   
   I definitely want to make the award worth something and not just something to throw at people. If somebody gets an award, they will deserve it, not because we need a site for the month. Perhaps we will have it monthly, or in case of lack of a firm decision, it will be postponed till whenever. I don't want to give out an award because of a time constraint we put on ourselves. If somebody deserves it they get it, if not then nobody gets it.
   
   It might be easier to get rid of a time constraint and nominate a site when we are ready to do it. If a site deserves it, we all agree, went through a proper and thorough slashing of pros and cons of the site, we can just give it when we are ready.
   
   I will draft up a complete reckoning of our discussions into a sort of informal/formal rules of the award once we hash this out for awhile.
   
   (I didn't vote either because I wasn't ready to say yes or no as well until we figure out how we are going to do it. I am pretty much for it, we just have to do it intelligently.)

4. Should we give out Web Awards?

   #4

   So as for the advertising issue, as long as it doesn't annoy me, I'm fine. (I also loathe popups.) I think that if we do it, we should do it whenever we find a site worthy, and not on a specific time frame. We'll be much more critical and more likely to get a darn good site if we're not working against a deadline.
   Here's a thing you may not have considered: if we vote on sites for the award, will it be all of the active members here that vote, or a selected committee? I think a majority way of voting would be best; it is unlikely that all of us would agree on what site merits an award (and if we do all agree, and it's unanimous, maybe that particular site could get a special award.)
   
   That's all I can think of for now.

5. Should we give out Web Awards?

   #5

   Everyone seems to have the same points to clarify, so I voted to give out awards. We just need to start deciding what to look for and start nominating.

6. Should we give out Web Awards?

   #6

   I will set up a forum for it tonight. Will call it the Unamed yet to be named coveted web award forum or something equally as flashy. As we nominate and critique we can at the same time iron out what exactly we are looking for.
   
   We should take our time on the first couple. Need to iron out all the specifics of the award, I have to make a webpage for it, we need the graphic, and all these things will probably take us into the new year.
   
   Exciting though. This will be fun.

7. Should we give out Web Awards?

   #7

   I will set up a forum for it tonight. Will call it the Unamed yet to be named....

   
   
   How about the Unnamed Award from Strolen's Citadel?
   
   Also against a set timeframe, with so little time. Maybe do it in the forums, like someone writes up a link, some initial comments why to award it and let others to add the critique. And when you, the tired webmaster see there are enough voices saying Yes!, give them the award.
   
   (Actually, people with great 8) pages may not know about this one. A discreet way to tell this one exists, and maybe a way to recruit some new users with ideas. Smart move would this be...)

8. Should we give out Web Awards?

   #8

   Also need to go through my site and make sure I practice what I preach. If I don't, the award doesn't mean much does it.
   
   Requirements for the award:
   
   
   Site:
   
   [*]Non-commercial site.
   [*]Easy navigation. Make it as easy to get anywhere on the site and easy to go back to where they were. If it has a java navigation it must have an alternate form for those without java.
   [*]Design. Easy to read content. Backgrounds must allow text to be easily read.
   [*]Spelling and Grammar should be good overall. Nobody is perfect.
   
   Content:
   
   [*]Must have original, useable rpg content.
   [*]Majority of links need to be finished. There can be coming soon pages, but cannot be the majority.
   [*]No broken links. If there is a link, it should work, even to only say a description of what it will be.
   [*]Links section suggested. Links make a site more valuable when you have added resources to explore.
   
   Graphics:
   
   [*]Fast loading, complimentary graphics. Don't let us get bored while waiting for graphics to load.
   [*]Must support the content but not overwhelm it.
   
   Instant Disqualifying Issues
   
   [*]Pop-up adds (exception: free hosts that the site has no choice but to allow)
   [*]Excessive animated gifs that add nothing to the site
   [*]Frames, only if absolutely necessary.
   [*]Excessive billboards or banners.
   [*]If uses java navigation, no alternate navigation.
   [*]No plug-in requirements. I don't want to have to download something just to view a page.
   [*]No music. It gets old quick and not worth the download time.
   [*]Excessive "under construction" pages. Give a summary of what the page will be if it is not done, but don't leave us guessing by just saying it is in work.
   [*]Excessive broken links.
   
   What do you get out of this?
   
   [*]Free advertising from this site.
   [*]Knowledge that you actually earned a web award instead of somebody just giving it away.
   
   Additional thoughts:
   Do we want to have the discussion about a site that we are reviewing open to public scrutiny? I am swaying back and forth.
   
   If it is open for all to view what we have to say about it, would that be rude to the sites that we may tear up and don't offer the award to. That would be some negative exposure that they may not want or need. But then again, we would only get submissions for the award from those that do have good sites and it would weed out just somebody looking for a quick award and wasting our time. Then again if we are putting them in for it ourselves, which will be the case for awhile, we don't even give them a choice about us publicly reviewing their website.
   
   So, perhaps we can do it this way. I will make a "member's only" type forum where we can submit the sites we want to and do as we will and the public will not have access to it. Then we have the public forum where webmasters can submit their sites and can request that we review their site publicaly, or they can request that we move it to the private forum. That way they can decide to see what we are saying and respond to it, or not.
   
   For submitted sites, I see nothing wrong with emailing them our discussion to show them what we decided and how we decided. We are not dummies, our suggestions or critiques may help them develop a better site. We have to be very professional on our reviews. And those that win should be able to see our discussions as well, there may still be suggestions that can make it better. Every critique we write, we should think, "Would I be offended or disturbed if somebody told this to me about my site?" There are polite ways to critique and just plane rude ways. Concentrate on the good but point out the bad. Don't just insult a page, try and help it.
   
   For our members only review section, I cannot just let anybody in there. What kind of criteria should we have to allow a new 'reviewer.' Maybe a list of 'favorite' websites to guage what they like and see if their taste is what we are looking for? Maybe we should do that now? (I know one site that better dang well be on everybodies list :lol: ) List of sites that we like, and why. A test review perhaps?
   
   Just a rambling of incoherent and unthought through thoughts. Let me know what you think about just about everything. Like we said, we are not doing this till we are doing it right!

9. Should we give out Web Awards?

   #9

   Are these thoughts too strict? Too much, or are they a good starting point?
   
   Thoughts on public or private forums? Or thinking about all of it?
   
   :chimera:

10. Should we give out Web Awards?

    #10

    Had some fun with the forum. This thing can do some pretty cool stuff.
    
    I created a new section to the site that isn't visible unless you have permissions. I made one for the web award. It should appear when you are logged in at the bottom of the forum.
    
    So whatever happens with this thing, we have a private and public forum for it.
    
    (added some silly emoticons too, just have to click on the view more when you are posting a message. Don't ask why.)

11. Should we give out Web Awards?

    #11

    That permissions thing works nice. Now, I wonder what the new emoticons look like?
    
    :hyper:
    :pixie:
    :banshee:
    
    I like 'em

12. Should we give out Web Awards?

    #12

    How about
    
    Strolen's Citadel
    
    
    
    Sacred Seal
    
    :?: :?: :?: :?:

13. Should we give out Web Awards?

    #13

    Sacred Seal sounds better than Iridescent Diaphanous Illustrious Orchalium Tome or I.D.I.O.T.
    :twisted:
    
    Strolen's Sacred Seal isn't bad, seriously. Has a nice ring to it.

14. Should we give out Web Awards?

    #14

    Maybe, but it sure would be cool to give out IDIOT awards.
    
    I wrote Kate another email about them. Maybe the graphics she comes up with will inspire a better name.

15. Should we give out Web Awards?

    #15

    What do you think?
    
    http://kate.strolen.com/strolen/citadelseal.jpg
    
    Smaller
    
    http://kate.strolen.com/strolen/citadelseal2.jpg

16. Should we give out Web Awards?

    #16

    That's so cool! I think I like the big one better.

17. Should we give out Web Awards?

    #17

    I agree with the award giving as long as the site you are awarding really deserves it. By the way those two seal look really cool.

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