Which guru awards will we have this year?

[honestrosewater]

It's early, but I need all the time I can get. Will we have the same awards as last year?

Due to some valuable insights from the communication thread, I think we should have a Communicator Guru[/color]. (Please, it's the only chance I have! :puppy-eyes:)

Oh, and I think we need a puppy-eyes smiley too.

 

[Lisa!]

What was the award last year?

 

[Moonbear]

What was the award last year?

Last year we had the following "serious" categories:
Physics Guru
Math Guru
Engineering Guru
Biology Guru
Chemistry Guru
Astronomy & Cosmology Guru
Technology Guru
Philosophy Guru

Then there were the "fun" categories of:
Community Spirit Award
Funniest Member Award

I think that was it (I hope I haven't forgotten any). These are the ribbons you see under people's names.

 

[Pengwuino]

There should be an award for the member that has a statue made in his image

 

[Lisa!]

Last year we had the following "serious" categories:
Physics Guru
Math Guru
Engineering Guru
Biology Guru
Chemistry Guru
Astronomy & Cosmology Guru
Technology Guru
Philosophy Guru

Then there were the "fun" categories of:
Community Spirit Award
Funniest Member Award

I think that was it (I hope I haven't forgotten any). These are the ribbons you see under people's names.

Thanks. And the funniest member was tribdog, am I right?

 

[Moonbear]

Oh, and I think we need a puppy-eyes smiley too.

There's a cute Puppy Dog Eyes smiley at this site:
http://www.screamingelectron.org/forum/misc.php?do=showsmilies

I also like the one they call Icon Confused, though I wouldn't say it's confused, it's more like what I've been wanting as a milder form of You know, sort of the "I think I just ate a bug" expression instead of the "I KNOW I just ate a bug" expression.

Oh, and this one has a groan smiley that we really need for that stupid jokes thread!

http://pressf1.pcworld.co.nz/misc.php?do=showsmilies

They also have a puppy dog eyes smiley, but in yellow instead of blue. I think I like the blue one better though.

I also still think we need to replace the cool smiley in the smilies list with the more cool blue one down in the post icons list. The blue one actually looks cool, the orange one looks geeky! (On second thought, the orange one looks like Russ in his pictures from Mexico...sunburnt and sunglasses! )

 

[Moonbear]

Thanks. And the funniest member was tribdog, am I right?

Yes, he was, but we threw him into the volcano as promised, or maybe being a tribdog, he just fell in. I think there's going to be a lot more competition for that award this year, and it'll be a really tough choice!

 

[Evo]

We had a category for "Most improved member", but no one nominated anyone for it, so it was dropped. I do have someone that wants that ribbon, so I will ask Greg if he will add it back to the list. Anyone else want to be labeled "most improved member" for a year?

 

[arildno]

We had a category for "Most improved member", but no one nominated anyone for it, so it was dropped. I do have someone that wants that ribbon, so I will ask Greg if he will add it back to the list. Anyone else want to be labeled "most improved member" for a year?

You're not planning to have the category "Most deproved (depraved?deprived?) member" are you?

 

[Evo]

You're not planning to have the category "Most deproved (depraved?deprived?) member" are you?

Did you have someone in mind?

 

[hypnagogue]

(Please, it's the only chance I have! :puppy-eyes:)

Ah, c'mon. You'd be a shoe-in (shoo-in?) if we a had a guru award for formal logic.

 

[Moonbear]

We had a category for "Most improved member", but no one nominated anyone for it, so it was dropped. I do have someone that wants that ribbon, so I will ask Greg if he will add it back to the list. Anyone else want to be labeled "most improved member" for a year?

I suppose that's the sort of category where you'd really need people to nominate themselves, or else you'd risk insulting someone. If no one else wants the title, can it just be awarded to the person who wants it by default? It's not much of an election if there's no competition.

 

[ZapperZ]

What about the PF Darwin Award? This is for a member who has done the most stupid thing on here and shouldn't be allowed to propagate his or her genes for the sake of human evolution?

<runs away ducking from being pelted by rotten tomatoes>

Zz.

 

[honestrosewater]

There's a cute Puppy Dog Eyes smiley<,snippers> Oh, and this one has a groan smiley that we really need for that stupid jokes thread!

Yes, I like the blue puppy dog eyes and the green groan.

I also still think we need to replace the cool smiley in the smilies list with the more cool blue one down in the post icons list. The blue one actually looks cool, the orange one looks geeky! (On second thought, the orange one looks like Russ in his pictures from Mexico...sunburnt and sunglasses! )

Hm, geeky v. Russ in his pictures from Mexico. I fail to see the distinction.

 

[Bladibla]

What about the PF Darwin Award? This is for a member who has done the most stupid thing on here and shouldn't be allowed to propagate his or her genes for the sake of human evolution?

<runs away ducking from being pelted by rotten tomatoes>

Zz.

I think that's a pretty original idea. But who of the inane delusional people should it go to..? :P

 

[Clausius2]

It's early, but I need all the time I can get. Will we have the same awards as last year?

Due to some valuable insights from the communication thread, I think we should have a Communicator Guru[/color]. (Please, it's the only chance I have! :puppy-eyes:)

Oh, and I think we need a puppy-eyes smiley too.

Great! The Battle is nearer again! Do you remember the quarrels of the last year? I have never read such flames in those infernal posts as the ones written in that time. By that time, every PFer clicked this page with fear, like in a Western film when one walked by those empty sand roads... The fighting was excellent. I think PF figures of enrollment increased those days a lot (I don't really know if it was for wacthing the fight or for giving strange votes...), so Greg and Tom will be glad of celebrating again the gurú awards.

 

[GCT]

Chemsitry guru award discussion

It might be a good idea to post an explicit "sticky" of some sort in outlining/suggesting some qualities to be considered in making a vote. I admit that most guru awards were given to well deserved and qualified members, such as in reference to biology, engineering, math, spirit categories

the chemistry category was somewhat bogus in my opinion, if one is to wear such a significant badge for one whole year I think that at least, he/she should stick around. Our chemistry guru has been absent for several months, and btw I think that he had somewhat cheated out of desparation (why he was so desparate to attain the award, I'm not quite sure)...you all know who "he" is. Most of his posts, as you can very well tell, were copied from google sources, and weren't pertinent.

Here are some suggestions

-shows dedication to the forums, is efficient, courteous, and professional in aiding in the learning process
-his/her replies/answers are accurate over time and on the mark...essentially the "guru" aspect
-he/she is at least in the graduate or very near graduate level

If not any of the above, than some effective measures to avoid "cheating"

In light of the above statements, I would say that I'm not so qualified for the guru award, since I'm still in my undergraduate years; also I will be very busy this fall/spring since its my last year and I'm taking anal chem, phy chem. intr anal, mega lab and possibly more (one is supposed to take anal, then phy, than intr, than mega). I don't dedicate myself to providing professional answers, that is I have more fun with my postings.

movies seems to be somewhat qualified, however his expertise is very much limited to organic chem and thus he hardly even posts here at PF. Gokul is pretty adept in answering some of the physical chemistry questions, afterall I believe his major is related to chemistry (inorganic chemistry?). In my opinion there is no true well rounded chemistry guru at PF although there are plenty who dedicate there time and effort to answer the questions

 

[arildno]

.

Here are some suggestions

-shows dedication to the forums, is efficient, courteous, and professional in aiding in the learning process
-his/her replies/answers are accurate over time and on the mark...essentially the "guru" aspect
-he/she is at least in the graduate or very near graduate level

Yes, this is the essence of gurulity.

 

[ZapperZ]

I think that's a pretty original idea. But who of the inane delusional people should it go to..? :P

Actually, it isn't an original idea at all. There really is a "Darwin Award" given out unofficially each year to people who did really dumb things.

http://www.darwinawards.com/

:)

Zz.

 

[Clausius2]

Here are some suggestions

-shows dedication to the forums, is efficient, courteous, and professional in aiding in the learning process
-his/her replies/answers are accurate over time and on the mark...essentially the "guru" aspect
-he/she is at least in the graduate or very near graduate level

OOOOpSS! I think I have no chance this year!

 

[honestrosewater]

Ah, c'mon. You'd be a shoe-in (shoo-in?) if we a had a guru award for formal logic.

I seriously only know the basics, but thanks for noticing.

Shoo-in is apparently true to the original usage, and I bet you could get close to the origin - just think of shoo-in as a verb:

Zooby, would you shoo in the chickens, please?​

This one is spelled wrongly so often that it’s likely it will eventually end up that way. The correct form is shoo-in, usually with a hyphen. It has been known in that spelling and with the meaning of a certain winner from the 1930s. It came from horse racing, where a shoo-in was the winner of a rigged race.

In turn that seems to have come from the verb shoo, meaning to drive a person or an animal in a given direction by making noises or gestures, which in turn comes from the noise people often make when they do it.

The shift to the horse racing sense seems to have occurred sometime in the early 1900s. C E Smith made it clear how it came about in his Racing Maxims and Methods of Pittsburgh Phil in 1908: “There were many times presumably that ‘Tod’ would win through such manipulations, being ‘shooed in’, as it were”.
- http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sho1.htm

That's a cool site for anyone who's interested in words to explore. It's where I found my favorite word: callipygian.

 

[Clausius2]

Ok, Arildno, definitely you have a magician over there who erases my posts. Anyway it was a joke. Hope you took it easy. You have free way to said to me a barbarity... come on. But don't be too hard.

 

[hypnagogue]

Let's please keep the discussion at an appropriately civil level, thanks. Clausius and arildno, if you want to go off on that tangent further, please use PM.

 

[GCT]

OOOOpSS! I think I have no chance this year!

you know, I don't think it should be too strict, but some basic "guide"-lines would help I think, If one is very close to a graduate level and very well knows what he/she is talking about (you Clausius perhaps) relative to others in the forum...doesn't have to be perfect, just remotely qualified. I believe our chemistry guru, chem tr, had his "friends" (or people that he had interacted with from other forums) register here at PF and give him the votes. I'm not overly outraged or anything like that, but if one wants to improve on the standards of such an event as guru awards, it's a humble suggestion.

Okay, I'm outta here.

 

[arildno]

I did not ask hypnagogue to remove your post, Clausius2.
I was not offended (GCT had reason to be that) but I think we both know that we veered off in a direction we shouldn't have. I am as much to blame as you.

 

[Clausius2]

Let's please keep the discussion at an appropriately civil level, thanks. Clausius and arildno, if you want to go off on that tangent further, please use PM.

Sorry hypnagogue, but it was unavoidable to underline those GCT words...it was very funny during it's short life.


GCT, I will keep on eye on you. This reporting has added points to your account. If you are valuable in chem forum I will gladly vote for you!.

This is the small letter of the dealing: if I vote for you you vote for me, right?

I am tired of the poor external relationships of current Spain government, they must interact another countries as I have done with GCT!

 

[JamesU]

If there was a most annoying member award, would I get it?

 

[Moonbear]

you know, I don't think it should be too strict, but some basic "guide"-lines would help I think, If one is very close to a graduate level and very well knows what he/she is talking about (you Clausius perhaps) relative to others in the forum...doesn't have to be perfect, just remotely qualified. ... I'm not overly outraged or anything like that, but if one wants to improve on the standards of such an event as guru awards, it's a humble suggestion.

Okay, I'm outta here.

The mentors nominate the candidates, then the general membership only votes from among those who were nominated by mentors. Though, I agree that some initial description of characteristics expected of a guru would be good to start out with in each thread.

I don't think the graduate level requirement is necessary across the board on these things, and expecially in a subject such as engineering where very few go on to graduate level studies. Someone can be quite qualified from experience working in the field without a graduate degree.

As for your earlier comment about people who don't stick around after, there's, unfortunately, nothing we can do about that. Of course we hoped that all those who were previously active members would remain so, but sometimes life gets in the way of such things. Please keep in mind that the guru awards were also based on performance during the 2004 year. We have many new and very qualified people who were still brand new and "unproven" to the forums at that time but who I have no doubt will be considered for nomination this year.

Oh, and keep in mind, mentors are not eligible for guru awards. The guru awards go to general membership, so although Gokul was eligible last year, he is not eligible this year (I'm afraid he was a victim of too much eligibility last year...he was nominated for many categories, and I think from some of the discussion, people attempted to "share the wealth" so would vote for him in one category and try to vote for someone else in another...I suspect this lost him some votes in more than one category...then again, there wouldn't have been enough room for all those ribbons under his name!) I just mention Gokul specifically because you did earlier.

Also, keep in mind the awards are supposed to be something fun. Some people took it WAY too seriously last year and became very competitive rather than just having fun with it. Hopefully this year the spirit will remain fun rather than competitive. Afterall, it's an honor just to be nominated.

 

[Moonbear]

If there was a most annoying member award, would I get it?

Sorry, people actually like you.

 

[JamesU]

Noooooooooooooooo!

 

[arildno]

The mentors nominate the candidates, then the general membership only votes from among those who were nominated by mentors. Though, I agree that some initial description of characteristics expected of a guru would be good to start out with in each thread.

I don't think the graduate level requirement is necessary across the board on these things, and expecially in a subject such as engineering where very few go on to graduate level studies. Someone can be quite qualified from experience working in the field without a graduate degree.

As for your earlier comment about people who don't stick around after, there's, unfortunately, nothing we can do about that. Of course we hoped that all those who were previously active members would remain so, but sometimes life gets in the way of such things. Please keep in mind that the guru awards were also based on performance during the 2004 year. We have many new and very qualified people who were still brand new and "unproven" to the forums at that time but who I have no doubt will be considered for nomination this year.

Oh, and keep in mind, mentors are not eligible for guru awards. The guru awards go to general membership, so although Gokul was eligible last year, he is not eligible this year (I'm afraid he was a victim of too much eligibility last year...he was nominated for many categories, and I think from some of the discussion, people attempted to "share the wealth" so would vote for him in one category and try to vote for someone else in another...I suspect this lost him some votes in more than one category...then again, there wouldn't have been enough room for all those ribbons under his name!) I just mention Gokul specifically because you did earlier.

Also, keep in mind the awards are supposed to be something fun. Some people took it WAY too seriously last year and became very competitive rather than just having fun with it. Hopefully this year the spirit will remain fun rather than competitive. Afterall, it's an honor just to be nominated.

An excellent summary of the gurulation process, Moonbear!

 

[JamesU]

wait a minute...

 

[Pengwuino]

The mentors nominate the candidates, then the general membership only votes from among those who were nominated by mentors. Though, I agree that some initial description of characteristics expected of a guru would be good to start out with in each thread.

Ohhh so the money trail should start with the ment... i mean...

 

[Moonbear]

Ohhh so the money trail should start with the ment... i mean...

Don't be silly! You need chocolate for Evo, Disney stuff for Zz, electronic gadgets or telescopes or telescopes fitted with electronic gadgets for Russ, Chimay for Gokul, oatmeal raisin cookies for Enigma... but you didn't hear that from me, I don't know anything about that sort of thing.

 

[Lisa!]

We had a category for "Most improved member", but no one nominated anyone for it, so it was dropped. I do have someone that wants that ribbon, so I will ask Greg if he will add it back to the list. Anyone else want to be labeled "most improved member" for a year?

Would I get that title if I stop posting in this site?

 

[Lisa!]

Why don't you put a title for the generous member? And then everyone who pays more money for this site, gets this title!

Or you could name it "The most wonderful member" base on what Phobos said about Contributors.

I also still think we need to replace the cool smiley in the smilies list with the more cool blue one down in the post icons list.
The blue one actually looks cool, the orange one looks geeky!

Yeah, I totally agree with you. Actually I never use because it's the ugliest one.

 

[honestrosewater]

I'm still trying to think of an award I could easily win, but others have me beat in every category - unless you could fit Lowest Rate Of Spelling Errors Without Using SpellCheck Guru[/color] on a ribbon. ??

It looks like arildno is after Derivational Morphology Guru[/color]. (I'm impressed so far. )

Maybe the next Community Spirit Guru[/color] can hand out some informal awards for the many peculiar talents with peculiar talents we have here.

 

[Moonbear]

I'm still trying to think of an award I could easily win, but others have me beat in every category - unless you could fit Lowest Rate Of Spelling Errors Without Using SpellCheck Guru[/color] on a ribbon. ??

Ooh, I want that one! I never spell check, but you probably have me beat, because I post at such strange hours that I don't always catch my typos.

Maybe the next Community Spirit Guru[/color] can hand out some informal awards for the many peculiar talents with peculiar talents we have here.

That would be fun! Gokul still has a few months on his term left, maybe we should tell him to get started!

Hm, geeky v. Russ in his pictures from Mexico. I fail to see the distinction.

This is why you're struggling to get a nomination for a guru award. You have to learn subtlety. See, in my post, I never came right out and claimed Russ = geeky.

 

[Lisa!]

Let's creat some new ones, for example:

The member with the ugliest avatar:Danger and Greg
The most talkative member

 

[Moonbear]

Let's creat some new ones, for example:

The member with the ugliest avatar:Danger and Greg
The most talkative member

How about the member with the most excessive use of exclamation points?

 

[Lisa!]

How about the member with the most excessive use of exclamation points?

I always like people who're clever and understand me well.

 

[honestrosewater]

Ooh, I want that one! I never spell check, but you probably have me beat, because I post at such strange hours that I don't always catch my typos.

Excuses, excuses - that's very unguruish of you.

I don't use SpellCheck because I don't trust it; I check any doubtful words myself. Maybe you could fetch Lowest Rate Of Spelling Errors Without Using SpellCheck or Other Spell-checking Resources Guru[/color].

That would be fun! Gokul still has a few months on his term left, maybe we should tell him to get started!

Sure, I'm always up for piling work on other people.

This is why you're struggling to get a nomination for a guru award. You have to learn subtlety. See, in my post, I never came right out and claimed Russ = geeky.

Ah, subtlety, I see. So instead of 'Russ = geeky', I should use 'G(r)'.

 

[Lisa!]

How dare you to say that? I say Russ = Cool.

 

[Pengwuino]

Yah! Russ is cool! You guys are mean :(

 

[honestrosewater]

S(pr) & S(!r). And what's wrong with being geeky anyway? I thought that was a compliment around here.

 

[Pengwuino]

*slaps you all with salmon*

 

[honestrosewater]

I feel a move to GD coming on. Sorry, SMs, getting back on track... I remember people saying last year that the physics award would be better split up into awards for each subfield. Does anyone still think that's a good idea?

 

[Moonbear]

Multiple categories in physics seems like it would be a good idea.

 

[JamesU]

there should be a special award for who kill franzbear for the longest. (evo doesn't count. she closed it)

 

[Clausius2]

I always like people who're clever and understand me well.

I like your modesty. Perhaps do you think that those both statements are neccessarliy united together?(i..e being clever and understanding you well).

I vote for lisa as the modesty gurú.