Cool Flags Doc John!!!

Love the new little flags acknowledging our support at pc and our length of membership!! I appreciate your thoughtfulness put into this. I think it makes us feel special.

Thanks so much!!
Beth

He's just one kewl DOC eh?

makes us feel treasured
Thanks Doc

am i right to assume that the pc supporter means you have directly supported a fund drive?

I don't like them one bit

If you're a supporter of Psych Central you've done at least one of these things and told DocJohn, KD, or January about it:

Contributed to a member's fundraising drive,

Contributed to the newsletter

Were a contributor to the first poetry book project

Reached "Grand Magnate" status (3,000+ posts)

hey, then i should have a sheild, i have 3015 posts!

gimme my sheild, if that is the case lol

OH Good Grief.
Here we go again.
Yet another avenue to show that Mandy is zilch, a nobody.
why do you have to remind me?? why........

Can we turn them off at all?

(I appreciate that some people like to view them, but for the people who don't?)

Oh... Do people have to ask for them to be displayed beside their name?

In that case... I'm happy to let 'em be

heh heh.

is there something somewhere that explains what this is about? I seem to have ended up with a badge qand I dont know why. Is there an announcement or something?

no alex, no one aked to have them put there. and no one asked if we wanted them there.

I think it's basically a good thing! People will ask what they are about, and realize that for helping PC grow and thrive, there's an acknowledgement from the Webmaster! How kewl is that?

I don't automatically assume that someone who has them cares any more for PC than someone who doesn't. I'd like to think that new members will want to get whatever badges are available. That in itself, I think, will help PC to grow stronger even more. Plus, it will help to grow the community fund if they are so able to help in that area. There isn't a lot of publicity about our fund, and as the site grows, and the needs grow, there needs also to be more ppl who contribute, imo.

I'm feeling for anyone who has issues with any type of personal recognition, or with any kind of change.
I think this is a good thing, and support DocJohn fully in it.

Where I work, on our anniversary of employment, we get a lovely laser-printed certificate saying CONGRATULATIONS! on your whatever-year of service. It costs them probably 25 cents in colored ink, and most of us throw them away, BUT -- how is that any different than what's happening here? I don't know of anyone who gets upset because they didn't get a certificate for only being there 9 months or something. It's recognition of a milestone. So are these flags.

I have to confess, it's because of the fact that milestones are recognized here, even in the otherwise-meaningless titles (poohbah, etc) that I don't understand why people get their knickers in a twist over it. It isn't meant to be exclusionary, just like giving someone a 25-cent, laser-printed certificate on their employment anniversary of more than 11 months isn't exclusionary.

Yes I don't think its exclusionary at all! IMO, people deserve to be recognized for their contributions to PC, whether that be by donating money, or by being an active, long-standing member of the community.

That being said, I don't think it was meant to exclude anyone. If anything, like Sky said, it will [hopefully] encourage people to continue participating, and will help PC grow as a community. It's no more exclusionary then labels for how many posts you have?

Just my opinion...

The "PC Supporter" wording leaves a bit to be desired because it implies, by definition, that one without a shield is not a supporter. Since a member has to notify admin of the fact one has supported the site and the details of their support (with the exception perhaps of # of posts), those who aren't aware of that or don't wish to be so identified are in fact "excluded" which makes the whole program a bit flawed.

The 3+ and 5+ year scrolls appear computer-generated and innocent enough but make me laugh because I see them as helps to me in case I can't add 3 or 5 to a member's join date which is also displayed. I picture a time when the majority of members have a scroll or shield or whatnot displayed which will make them common and relatively meaningless.

I would like to see everyone allowed to do their own thing. Why not make 6-8 various attributes with their "rights" to display explained in a member's personal profile selections and people can apply for and choose which ones they want displayed.

IMHO, being and recieving a sheild for being a supporter just means I have alot to say, type, and vent about. it's really a compliment
Mandyfins, don't worry you'll catch up

Can't please all the people all of the time.. Oh how true....

I think it is cool.. Kind of like getting a gold star.. and boy I love gold stars.. well, not really a gold star...more like for me being a member for over three years... Thinks I've been here a longggg time and haven't posted a lot... hmmm I must be a "quiet" member..

i saw it as a way of Doc saying kudos.... i know he cares about all of us tho and, idk ... i just would rather see it as a good gesture from Doc, and im really sorry if there's upset..

i liked Prerna's ideas... a choice of several badges anyone could wear if they wanted.. idk... worth a committee review maybe?

i like badges too... we work hard for things sometimes... it hasnt always been easy to keep trying...

I notice a shield just appeared for me :-(
I'd personally prefer not to have them...
Or that if people really like them they request to have them rather than them appearing by default.
It would be nice if we could choose not to view them (the way I choose not to view signatures currently).
But then I'm not even a fan of the number of posts being tracked and titles being allocated.

I guess I think it draws attention to differences that... Really don't matter to me. I prefer to take people on their merits rather than sorting people into the 'new people' vs 'people who have been here for a long time' boxes.

But maybe this is coming from my experience with personal messages where people have PM'd me in the past saying 'I want to you do x and if you don't do x I'll make sure you get into trouble here. The mods listen to me because I've been here for so long'. I guess I like to think that WHAT is said is taken on its merits rather than merits being a function of little 'status' indicators that aren't (to my mind) based on anything meritworthy...

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mandyfins: OH Good Grief. Here we go again. Yet another avenue to show that Mandy is zilch, a nobody.

B..b..but, I thought you were a mandyfins!!

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alexandra_k said:

I guess I think it draws attention to differences that... Really don't matter to me. I prefer to take people on their merits rather than sorting people into the 'new people' vs 'people who have been here for a long time' boxes.


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agreed. couldn't have been said better.

mandy hon you are a somebody. you are my friend as many others here I am sure consider you their friend! you are getting to the supporters status hon. luv ya hon.

in away it helps the new ppl see who has been around for awhile, and they may feel comfortable seeking ppl out
Bethy you have nothing to be sorry for