just a thought re: appreciation threads

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I was just wondering if it might be worthwhile making one 'Ultimate Appreciation thread' sticky in the member's forum, to prevent the '[insert name] appreciation threads' clogging things up.

Personally, I find them irritating as hell (no offence to the people involved) and I know I am not alone in this. This way, whoever wants to sing someone else's/ their own praises can, but just in the one thread so everything's neater and the place doesn't look so much like a school clique.

Just a thought. If everyone's happy with things as they are, no worries

Appreciation thread = spam.

i understand where you're coming from but i don't think an appreciation sticky would be a great idea. every now and then the member appreciation threads become popular but they seem to calm down eventually.

on a completely random note: one of the most random trends that happened here was church of chocolate, mustard, or ketchup threads that started popping up. most intriguing.

I don't think it's a good idea to have a stickied appreciation thread. Becuase it's always the same people that get all the attention like a gang of populars at school. And the newer/less well known members would feel left out.

I hear they aren't a good idea and I can guess it's because it can cause hurt feelings. But ironically I made one for one of my friends. I don't have a problem with them. I just don't care if I am not liked.

I like Superboyian too and enjoy reading his posts and playing games with him in Off the Wall.

However, I'm not a fan of these appreciation threads for the reasons people have already mentioned. I think they are likely to alienate other members, especially the younger ones who are struggling to make any friends or even feel noticed. It is likely to seem just another clique that they are excluded from. I think they generally cause more harm than good; despite the good intentions of the originator of such threads.

I am not a fan of the appreciation threads either, though I am not bothered by them. Mostly I am confused by them as that is not how I would go about things... if I happened to really appreciate a thing about someone here, I would simply send them a pm to tell them. That seems the logical way to go about it, to me anyhow... but I do understand that those who are appreciated benefit from them. I mean, most people are praise influenced and can benefit from an encouraging word or two now and then. Due to that, I voted for the sticky option. That way those who enjoy those things have a place where they can offer up appreciation for each other while those of us who are not fans of those threads do not have to sift through them when they become trendy... but now that I think on it, those people could just use the unsent letters to accomplish the same thing... meh... need more coffee... I make no sense this morning... just ignore me...

As informal policy, we try not to have member appreciation threads at all. It is far too much like the kid passing out exclusive party invitations at school; the right thing to do is mail them quietly and privately. The public display isn't socially appropriate, and feelings get hurt. We've pretty much all been there, knowing we were left out, haven't we? So why would you want to do a variation on the theme in a community where people who've never fit in before are trying to find a home?

If you want someone to know that you appreciate their posts, you send a pm. Those are lovely to get, and you acheive the result of making someone feel special without the flip side of making someone else feel hurt. Please do NOT post threads about it.

Maybe it should be added to the rules then.

Appreciation threads waste space and knock real threads off the front page. I dislike them for doing that.

They tend to be full of spam too... I contributed to a few but it's just too much. Get rid of them.

A stickied appreciation thread would be kinda pointless, since the person being appreciated would most likely never see the post.

Though, as busy as this messageboard is, and with as many subforums as it has, an individual thread with the person's name in the subject heading is also quite likely to be missed.

Seems to me, in addition to the reason's DW_a_mom gave for sending appreciation via PM, it also has the virtue of being most likely to be seen by the person it's intended for.