# Further prizes?



## HMF (Jun 8, 2018)

*I was wondering.*

*We already have the Project of the Month.*

*What would you guys think of further Ad Hoc (that means unannounced impromptu prizes, determined by the staff, for other "Good Work" that doesn't get the POTM award. We could give a $10 or $25 gift certificate to Lowes, HD, Amazon, Starbucks, whatever you like.*

*Sound good?*


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## David S (Jun 8, 2018)

Nelson I would rather forgo the monetary award, but rather have an "honorable mention" from you and the staff.

David


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## tweinke (Jun 8, 2018)

Just a thought, might be nice to give people a chance to "win" a membership or an extension of one. It might get more people posting projects.


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## T Bredehoft (Jun 8, 2018)

How about a symbol, like a mike, added to their avatar?


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## HMF (Jun 9, 2018)

I will look into the added avatar, but we will also be giving a few bucks to those whose projects are extra helpful as decided by the staff on an ad hoc basis.


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## markba633csi (Jun 9, 2018)

I like the mike idea too, and the honorable mention idea
Mark


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## Superburban (Jun 9, 2018)

I have seen many of these prize incentives come and go with other forums over the years. They all seem to only affect a small sector of the membership. After awhile, they all seem to turn into a rotating award, after XX months, your name will come up again.

I think many of us are asking why? It was not long ago, that you asked about membership., and gave the appearance that HM bank needed some help. Now you are appearing to want to hand out money. Kind of a mixed message we are seeing.

Please ask amungst the staff:

* Whats the objective of the new contest? 
*Is the cost help the objective?
* would a different prize accomplish the same results? (As suggested, membership extensions, atta boys, ect)
*Will it encompass enough of the membership to justify the cost?
*How do we keep it from being the same few members receiving the award all the time?


I see it as only affecting a handful of members, and not something that will promote more becoming paid members, or even promoting the members into showing off their projects. But, I know I do not see the big picture.

And Sorry, I do not have a great alternative solution, I hate those that complain, and do not offer suggestions, But I feel that if we kick the can around amung the members, we could come up with something.

I'll yield the remainder of my time to the gentleman in the blue hat. Thankyou.


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## JR49 (Jun 9, 2018)

Frankly,  I think this whole topic is strange!!!   Last week you were complaining about not having enough contributions to support the forum, now you want to give money away!!!   whats up with that??????????    JR49


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## Ken from ontario (Jun 10, 2018)

Maybe the objective  is to bring positive energy and enthusiasm to the site. I really can't see anything wrong with what Nel is proposing.
Just my 2 cents (or 5 cents  Canadian)


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## Bob Korves (Jun 10, 2018)

I am less impressed with shiny projects with oodles of time and money in them than I am in the people of all skill levels here who get quick, useful help with their projects, skills, and knowledge when they really need it.  I think that is the major reason for this site being here.  Glitz sells, but people working together to help each other grow and find success is what keeps it going and makes us a true community.


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## HMF (Jun 11, 2018)

Perhaps a free membership or extension of membership would be better?

I looked at add-ons that give "points" for activity, but that just encourages blind posting. None give special prizes for great posts.


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## HMF (Jun 11, 2018)

Here was the idea, superburban, and others.

We never offered incentives other than POTM, and that only recently pays $50.
It takes a heck of a lot of work to document a project. And time.
The photos cost money to do.
Videos cost money and time to do -- few people post to our video library:  https://www.hobby-machinist.com/gallery/categories/member-video-channels.6/

I wanted to acknowledge those of you who bust your asses to do the work, and spend the time and money.
How can we do that effectively, is the question.
People like gift cards (I love them) to buy more tools and do more projects.
(I now only use credit cards that give me points to get gift cards with from Amazon and Lowes)

So I figured if we rewarded people for their effort, and time, and money, that would be appreciated.
The money we collect in memberships pays bills, but any we have left over can reward people who post great projects.
It could become a self-perpetuating thing, perhaps. Perhaps not. I wanted to talk about giving it a shot.

No one makes an add-on that will give a special prize or avatar to someone who does especially good work on the forum.
All they have are online prizes for numbers of posts. That isn't what we want. 
Perhaps I can have someone create this type of addon, if we can afford it.
The addon would put a micrometer on your avatar. Or award a free or extended membership.
I just want to reward you guys for the great work you do here.


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## Superburban (Jun 11, 2018)

I understand the intent. I'm an assistant on, has gone through several different things to try to recognize the people that make the board what it is. We tried best project, best thread, best help, best picture, ect. Like any forum, there is the small core of members that enjoy showing off their work. Another that does not have the time/money, what ever to do full projects, but are more then helpful in offering help and ideas for others. Those that come to learn, but don't have the experience to assist others (Don't take that as a put down, I think those are ones that help keep the board going, by asking the questions that many others have been thinking about, and everyone can learn from their threads). 

Everything we tried, would usually do good for a few months, then slowly taper off, to the point of little participation. When we look back, we saw a lot of the same members as the winners. They all basically fit the description, of retired, enjoy working on their trucks, and enjoy showing off what they did.

Reflecting back, I think one of the ideas that generated the most interest, is when we started a section called How Tos.   Anybody could contribute, and many were what some would consider too simple, Such as how to change oil on your truck, others were more involved, like R & R a windshield. The How to for the how to of the month, had to be nominated by someone besides the originator. The prize was a special class of member ship called a contributing member. It was between a non paying member, and a paid membership. 

A prize that I think generated a lot of interest, was parts & tools. it was for the XXX of the month contests. Each month we had a small list of donated parts & tools that the winner could chose from.


Until reading your post, I never knew we had a video section. I bet there is others that just learned that. How about something like a banner each month, introducing a different feature of the board, along with a link describing it better, and what a member has to do to use that feature. 

Since I had a concussion a number of years back, I don't get my thoughts to words like I used to. I did not intend any of this to come across as complaining, I'm just wanting to offer some experience, and suggestions.


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## Silverbullet (Jun 11, 2018)

I'm not a paying member , not my choice , but my finances. My only goal on here has been to try and help the hobbyist , home shop worker or whoever. I spent my last fifty plus years working and dying and surviving multiple physical problems . I've all my life wanted to be a gunsmith and have my own shop. Well when I became disabled those dreams died , I took gunsmithing courses and have done many jobs on guns for friends and relatives. But never had my machine shop , four years ago I took the small amount of money I saved up doing small engines , mowers and every other thing I could. I bought a few machines and then my spine stopped me again. The last two full years I've had no extra money and I'm in debt at Jefferson hospital to over $8,000  just in copays . So I really wouldn't want to be eligible for prizes . If no pay , no play it's fair in my book.


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## dtsh (Jun 11, 2018)

I think I understand the intent of the prizes, but I am reminded of the thread not 2 weeks ago about how the money was vanishing so fast and that we needed to pony up some cash so I bought a membership. Now I see what seems to me to be a desire to find new ways of spending money that was so desperately needed to keep things going. I value the forum and don't begrudge the subscription, but the timing makes me _feel_ like I was played.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I value the likes and replies of the many knowledgeable members who have helped me, often without even knowing it, and it is they who keep me coming back for another lesson in creative thinking. I personally feel the prizes are a fool's errand, and when accounting for why the coffers are low will be like Oedipus looking for King Laius's murderer.


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## Superburban (Jun 11, 2018)

Another off the wall thought. How about a Spot on the home page, and a weekly anouncement for those with the top five likes for the week? Or maybe it should be the likes divided by posts, to even out the playing field between those that do a lot of posts, and those that only do a few. A little attaboy for those that go the extra in giving help.


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## Eddyde (Jun 12, 2018)

I don't think cash prizes are necessary, we already have the POTM for that. I like the Mic badge idea, could be progressive too, eg if one is awarded say 10 Mics they get a silver Mic 20 they get gold...


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## 2volts (Jun 13, 2018)

I agree with POTM to the extent that when someone nominates a thread/project they think is worthy of further recognition it is brought to many more peoples attention than would otherwise have seen it.
The forum has so many sub-sections that it is impossible to keep abreast of everything that people are doing.
Using the Seneca Falls lathe restoration as an example, there is no way known that in my "normal" browsing I would ever come across a subforum called _Specific Manufacturers of Machine Tools/Less Popular manufacturers/Seneca Falls & Sharp_ let alone see that thread/project.

I would rather see the "financial resources" of the Hobby-Machinist reserved for and used only for maintaining the forum. Notwithstanding the forums complexity as noted above, it has a good standard of design and presentation that makes it easy to read and use.

pete


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## mikey (Jun 13, 2018)

2volts said:


> I would rather see the "financial resources" of the Hobby-Machinist reserved for and used only for maintaining the forum. Notwithstanding the forums complexity as noted above, it has a good standard of design and presentation that makes it easy to read and use.



I agree with Pete that whatever funds now available should be put into a war chest against future financial challenges. Keeping the forum running is the top priority in my view. 

Insofar as recognizing the guys who portray their projects, I applaud their efforts and appreciate their sharing. However, they do it for their own reasons, recognition being chief among them, and they get all of that already with the responses and the likes they receive.

I happen to believe that the lifeblood of the forum are the new guys. They ask the questions that prompt the more experienced guys to respond and in so doing, teach us all. I know that some of us are tired of seeing the same questions arise over and over again but that is the nature of having new guys, and the question being asked is no less important to them for having been addressed before. In this regard, the help they receive is what keeps them here. 

If you want to recognize the guys who are at the heart of keeping HM healthy, recognize the guys who help everybody, especially the new guys. We all know who they are and they tend not to be the guys who show projects. Money or prizes are not necessary for these people but perhaps a cool logo or something (like your mic idea) could be awarded by the staff near their name or avatar. Having that logo would need to be earned and not lightly given.


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## T Bredehoft (Jun 13, 2018)

I wholeheartedly agree with Mike. Folks who  contribute answers and encourage learning should be recognized. It isn't done with the idea of accumulating points or likes or anything, just the spirit of continuing the trade/hobby. Time will come when all production is by CNC or whatever takes its place, and the hobbyist will no longer have retirees to depend upon.  We should encourage their participation.


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## Ken from ontario (Jun 13, 2018)

From what I gather we all want the same thing:


T Bredehoft said:


> Folks who contribute answers and encourage learning should be recognized





Nelson said:


> I wanted to acknowledge those of you who bust your asses to do the work, and spend the time and money.


As Nelson says,how to do it effectively is the question, some sites offer magazine subscriptions ,but gift cards may also be just the right encouragement for some,titles and labels are great  but traditionally financial rewards seem to create more fervor and eagerness in my opinion.
Saving the excess money is not a bad option either but if I were to look at the future of this site for the next 3-5 years, maybe spending *just some of the money* now  may  attract more members, more new project, new topics in the future.


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## T Bredehoft (Jun 13, 2018)

Please, no money, just recognition. Happy members will encourage others to join.


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## higgite (Jun 14, 2018)

If I could " like" Mikey's post multiple times, I would. I think he hit the nail on the head. IMHO, contests create a competitive environment and that's not what I think H-M is all about. Besides, not everyone has the expertise, resources or time to do POTM worthy projects. However, I do think the POTM is a good thing and the winners do deserve some recognition. I saw a college baseball team this past week that had a hammer that passed from the last player to hit a homer to the next to hit a homer. Maybe, in the same vein, we could not only announce the POTM winner, but also have a special icon, such as crossed golden machinist's hammers for instance, that appears in the winner's avatar until it's transferred to the next winner's avatar. Just a thought.

Tom


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## HMF (Jun 14, 2018)

Lots of good ideas here. I am looking for addons. I found one that allows us to give out medals, but the medals appear on the profile page instead of the avatar or left side of the posts where I would like them to appear, so I am asking it that is possible.


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