Patronus Award

[PikeStance]

I believe we have reach a time when such award could be beneficial to the site.

Patronus Award

There will be three levels.
Bronze: 5
Silver: 10
Gold: 20

The award should be given retroactively to members no longer active as well. This will serve to promote the award by increasing visibility.
The vast majority of citizen patronage less than 5 members so is a reachable number that should be a incentive to pursue more members. the number between 10-19 is still a fair amount but relatively a small group. 20 or more is a rarity.
A system of a small, medium and large award could be given but still color codded.

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

There's really nothing wrong with this, but I do find the overwhelming emphasis on patronage without other factors in consideration to be a bit narrow.

[Lord Thesaurian]

Support.

The current system for vetting citizenship applications should disincentivize rent-seeking patrons. If this Award convinces people to start putting forth candidates at a higher rate, then it’s well worth any potential downsides in my opinion.

[Cookiegod]

Can I get platinum? I'm doing my best to be patronising to everyone.

[Gaius Baltar]

Support. I agree that patronizing is a far more important process and should get more attention, particularly with the falling board activity rates. Lets give it a try.

[Lifthrasir]

Opposed. I can't see the benefit of this. Awards (all departments involved) have proved for a while already that this is not the right way to generate acitivity. I doubt that it would increase the number of patronizations in a way or the other.

[Flinn]

As the Award Hexer I'd like to see this becoming something, but as a regular Citizen I share the same doubts as Lifth.. so for the moment I'll abstain

[PikeStance]

It is not possible to offer guarantees. Its ironic when this was first proposed it was opposed because people feared that the CdeC would be inundated with too many applications. The purpose of offering "awards" is to promote activity. This proposal would work better if the Board of citizens proposal is passed. it would serve as additional incentive for citizens to patronize on their own. Personally, I intend to ask anyone I approach if they would be willing to "pay it forward" as that is an important duty of any citizen to do so. If someone has taken the time to patronize 5 members, they have really done more than their share and deserve recognition for it.

[Flinn]

If someone has taken the time to patronize 5 members, they have really done more than their share and deserve recognition for it.

I very much agree with that, my only real concern remains that this will only be a retroactive award, since I personally doubt it will stimulate new patronizing, for the reasons many outlined above

[PikeStance]

I did note that it is the Board of Citizens that will be needed to reignite the system. The Patronus Award is really design to work with that proposal. There isn't anything you can do that will motivate most citizens to invest the time to patronize anyone on a site that is effectively dying. The only reason why this is a separate proposal so that the merits of it can be discuss and decided upon. It may motivate someone, then again it may not in the short term. In the long term, provided we can reignite the system, it will motivate people.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Was opposed when Mega proposed it way back when, oppose it for the same reason now. Cheapens citizenship and turns it into a numbers game. I'm all for shinies and medals, but that should never be our motivation to patronise. I would be devastated as a non-Citizen if the only reason someone deigned to patronise me was because they wanted a medal for themselves. And as I said before, if people don't want to patronise, we should deal with the reason(s) why, not try to plaster over underlying issues.

[Lord Thesaurian]

Was opposed when Mega proposed it way back when, oppose it for the same reason now. Cheapens citizenship and turns it into a numbers game. I'm all for shinies and medals, but that should never be our motivation to patronise. I would be devastated as a non-Citizen if the only reason someone deigned to patronise me was because they wanted a medal for themselves. And as I said before, if people don't want to patronise, we should deal with the reason(s) why, not try to plaster over underlying issues.

Candidates for citizenship would still be voted on in the usual way, correct? I don’t see how recognizing people specifically for prolific patronage would cheapen the process. If an award convinces people to go to the effort of seeking out and proposing new candidates for citizenship, who really cares what their initial motivation was? If someone really tries to spam unworthy candidates just to get the award, the candidates would be voted down. If the award fails to generate more candidates, no one will get the award, except retroactively, which is also fine.

[Lifthrasir]

The curia has a very short memory. Didn't PikeStance receive his Curial Service Award especially for his amount of patronizations? What's the point of this proposal then?

[Halie Satanus]

Complete waste of time, another empty award for medal collectors that does nothing but cheapen all awards at the expense of those who walked these halls in the past. Can we not put a halt to the desecration of the curia's legacy, hasn't enough damage already been done...

Out of, waning, curiosity. Was the 'not applied retroactively' clause removed from the constitution?. Been a long time since I checked.

[PikeStance]

Candidates for citizenship would still be voted on in the usual way, correct? I don’t see how recognizing people specifically for prolific patronage would cheapen the process. If an award convinces people to go to the effort of seeking out and proposing new candidates for citizenship, who really cares what their initial motivation was? If someone really tries to spam unworthy candidates just to get the award, the candidates would be voted down. If the award fails to generate more candidates, no one will get the award, except retroactively, which is also fine.

Exactly!

The curia has a very short memory. Didn't PikeStance receive his Curial Service Award especially for his amount of patronizations? What's the point of this proposal then?

In Settra's proposal it was only part of the rationale.

Complete waste of time, another empty award for medal collectors that does nothing but cheapen all awards at the expense of those who walked these halls in the past. Can we not put a halt to the desecration of the curia's legacy, hasn't enough damage already been done...

Out of, waning, curiosity. Was the 'not applied retroactively' clause removed from the constitution?. Been a long time since I checked.

When mega proposed it was not an issue. Plus it gives the award more visibility.
Plus if awards cheapens what we are rewarding a person for, then why do we do it for anything?
The Curia is effectively dead; it has a legacy of elitism and infighting. It is up to us to honor the original intent and restore it so that it will have a positive enduring status. The Curia is like the family home that has gone down in flames and we are all just sitting around wondering what to do or passively looking at the burning debris.

[Lifthrasir]

The Curia is effectively dead; it has a legacy of elitism and infighting. It is up to us to honor the original intent and restore it so that it will have a positive enduring status. The Curia is like the family home that has gone down in flames and we are all just sitting around wondering what to do or passively looking at the burning debris.

At that level, I think it's called therapeutic obstinacy. I share Hitai concerns and, for once, I'm fully in line with Halie here.

[Halie Satanus]

When mega proposed it was not an issue. Plus it gives the award more visibility.
Plus if awards cheapens what we are rewarding a person for, then why do we do it for anything?
The Curia is effectively dead; it has a legacy of elitism and infighting. It is up to us to honor the original intent and restore it so that it will have a positive enduring status. The Curia is like the family home that has gone down in flames and we are all just sitting around wondering what to do or passively looking at the burning debris.

There was elitism and infighting, as with any social group. Those conflicts werethe fabric of the curia. That's one perspective, many of us remember them as golden ages of the curia, the revolts, Ian's take over, Garb's age of enlightenment. Great things happened here, perhaps you missed the best of them, that doesn't give anyone the right to brush over the past with negative propaganda.

[PikeStance]

There was elitism and infighting, as with any social group. Those conflicts werethe fabric of the curia. That's one perspective, many of us remember them as golden ages of the curia, the revolts, Ian's take over, Garb's age of enlightenment. Great things happened here, perhaps you missed the best of them, that doesn't give anyone the right to brush over the past with negative propaganda.

There is no negative propaganda. I have a great deal of the discussions and history of the site and I am well aware of the issues that has flamed the membership, but this is not the issue. Citizenship was far more open and far less exclusive than it was in the early years. BTW, I joined, it was exclusive and has earned an infamous reputation. However, we can change the perception and create a new Curia, one that is lively, but more inclusive than before.

[La♔De♔Da♔Brigadier Graham]

I would rather like to see a award for exceptional Dufferism,given to those who have remain true to Tenets of the Society over the years, oh! hold on that would most probably be me!

I cant see much benefit, in a patronus award really, for the reasons Halie and Lifth mentioned, and it seems a little self serving too, like my Duffer award eh?

[PikeStance]

All awards are self-serving. All awards are extrinsic motivational tools.
There isn't negative effect to having the award. It will either collect dust or work. That being said, passing this proposal without the Board of Citizens proposal would be a waste of time; there just any interest for citizenship or no interest in patronizing. We need to get the engine started again. Once started, we will need something to motivate citizens to patronize members themselves rather than the community relying on Board of citizens.