Thank You for Your Contribution

by Brian Sykes, Head Moderator

15th July 2016

In March of 2015, the TrekCC website published its first formal Code of Conduct (CoC) and established the TrekCC Moderation Team. There was widespread and varied feedback about many parts of the CoC, and I'm sure I could write an article - or a whole series of articles - about the opinions of various segments of the online Trek community. However, today is not the day for such writings.

Today's article focuses on one specific section of the CoC: Section IV, Paragraph 16 of the Moderation Team rules, which talks to Head Moderator duties. Specifically, the following:

16. The Head Moderator is responsible for, from time to time, assigning "Community Contributor" badges to users who, in his or her discretion, have contributed to the forum environment in a special and positive way. Any other moderator or user may recommend another user to the Head Moderator for a "Community Contributor" badge, but final judgment is reserved to the Head Moderator.

This is one of the areas of the CoC where there was never any real controversy over its existence, just challenges surrounding its implementation. There was no badge to award, and no way to really recognize outstanding members of the community aside from forum posts. Today, I'm proud to announce that, thanks to a partnership between the Head Moderator and TrekCC Chairman, and especially to the talented members of the Art and IT departments, that is about to change.

Introducing the new, official Community Contributor Badge:

The previous Head Moderator utilized this discretion once during his tenure, awarding this honor to three community members:

MattgomeryScott: This is for the ongoing creation and maintenance of the dream card threads and challenges which have become part of the lifeblood of the Dream Card forum. Every week a new, fun challenge is there waiting for spectator and participant alike, challenging creative minds and encouraging new ideas.

Commdecker: The rules of 1E are best described as Byzantine and at worst a surrealist abstraction. However, he is nonetheless there to provide help for those who have questions and queries, empowering novice and veteran alike to enjoy the game.

AllenGould: Allen is an ongoing and positive contributor to all aspects of forum life, across all fora. His sober and reasoned posts have shown him to be a conscientious poster and valued member of the community through no overt singular acts but rather an ongoing pattern of positivity.

As a member of the Moderation team at the time, I agreed with all three nominations, and today I'm pleased that we can finally, formally honor all three of these fine gentlemen in the proper way that they deserve.

When I was elected Head Moderator in late 2015, I had a list of my own Community Contributors that I thought deserved the honor, but I wanted to get this formal recognition in place before announcing anything. Now that the badges are active, I am pleased to announce two new Community Contributors:

Bortz65: Pat Bortz has been an active forum member for along time. He is best known for his "Card of the Day" series on the 2E Gameplay board. I've lost count of how many of these he's done, but it's a lot. There are some days during the Trek 'off season' when there aren't a lot of people posting content. Still, Pat's contributions serve as a starting point for gameplay discussion, of which we can never have too much. When I see various members of the community expressing thanks to Pat for his insights, and I wholly agree, it makes this award a no-brainer.

EdgeofHearing: Lucas Thompson has been playing 2E for a long time now, and has the data to back it up. In this case, I'm referring to his ever-popular and thorough Dilemma Popularity Analysis for Second Edition (and recently, he's expanded his repertoire to First Edition as well). As if that weren't enough, he's also written his "Road to Worlds" article series and, this year, added a predictions contest where the community had an opportunity to pick the winners each week, score points, and win prizes. It's this sort of enthusiasm that drives players to participate in the online community, and for that he deserves to be recognized.

Please join me in congratulating all five Community Contributor Badge recipients and thanking them for their contributions!

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