Comments
We’ve completed another step on the journey to a better commenting system at tumbledry. There are now ranking icons that allow one to see, at a glance, the seniority of a tumbledry commenter. I decided to name these “irons.” It fits in with the theme of tumbledrying … see? However, it is rather difficult to make an 11 pixel high iron look like a nice stylized iron, so I have gone with some different icons to indicate status. The tumbledry commenter, after submitting 20 comments under the same name and email address, will find themselves awarded a gray bullet. This gray bullet indicates that the user has left between 20 and 124 comments. Upon leaving 125 comments using the same name and email address, the tumbledry commenter receives their first colored bullet. This is generally an occasion to celebrate. Rankings continue along these lines … another 125 comments earns another gray bullet and 125 more comments changes that second bullet to a colored one. Users are notified of the number of comments remaining until their next promotion when they visit the front page of tumbledry. When a user leaves one thousand comments, their bullets are condensed into a higher honor: the gray maltese cross. Feel free to throw a party for this occasion. 5000 comments and the tumbledryer (we’ve discussed the spelling of this term previously, I think) earns the highly prestegious red and blue maltese cross. These crosses are accompanied by the usual bullets that track the commenter’s progress towards another cross.
This system is subject to evolve, but is (obviously) set out for the long term. Furthermore, additional improvements are planned which include voting for comments and replying to a specific comment so that discussions are more organized. These features will lend themselves to a user page which other people can visit giving a user’s rank, total number of votes received on comments, and total comments left. I’m excited about realizing these features sometime in July, 2006. That said, feedback and suggestions on these current changes are welcomed!
Comments
Dan McKeown
Yes! I am winning!
Markoe
Quality over quantity… post whore.
Justin Gehring
I wonder what mine is
Nils
Dan may be winning, but I am following in a close second place. I would also like to point out that this whole ranking system was my idea to begin with (I emailed Alex about it around 4 months ago) and for that alone I should be honored with 3 maltese crosses, preferrably of the gold variety. I mean, how else can my genius idea be rewarded if not with digital maltese crosses of the gold varitey? I patiently await my reward.
Mykala
Gold, Nils? I think not. Platinum, definitely… encrusted with diamonds… big ones…
Nils
I just had a thought. How "long term" do you want to these rankings to be? I have been commenting here since commenting was available (a couple years) and I don't even have 200 yet (albeit I didn't always use the same name to comment with). Considering this, I wouldn't get my damn maltese cross until I am about 30. Not cool man. Not cool.
Nils
Oh, and if I were more ghetto, which I am not, I would like the platinum/diamond idea, but let's be honest: I am pretty white. I don't want to be a poser, aight?
Dan McKeown
I agree with Nils' previous comment about how long it will take to get to the "damn maltese cross." I know I am fairly new to this game but still, I work had on my comments.
Alexander Micek
LOL. Ok, I may expedite the maltese cross-earning process, I'll have to think about it for a while - and take one more final.
I think I will also write some code to sort new comments by post. Right now with the number of comments coming in, it's a little harder to follow who said what to whom and when. With a few changes, you'll be able to follow the new comments a little more easily and see what you have missed at more of a glance.
Alexander Micek
And dangit, I spent so long in Photoshop making those maltese crosses that I would really really like one.
John T F Larson
Come on Alex, you could always just bend the rules and award yourself an honorary maltese cross, for hosting the site.
On another note, I propose that some sort of honorary maltese cross or bonus system be put in place, for especially insightful comments.
Alexander Micek
Well, Justin gets credit for actually hosting the site - but I'll take credit for designing and coding it! Anyhow, I'm glad you mentioned the "insightful comments" idea John, because that is exactly my goal with the "comment voting" system. People will be able to vote for your comments, allowing you to accrue some honors.
John T F Larson
Brilliant!
Nils
OK, I am still thinking about this whole process of promotion on the website, and I want to reiterate my position on making promotions occur more frequently with an added adjestment of simply creating more positions to be promoted to. We can become like decorated war-heroes with tons of little badges to display our actions and commitment to the TumbleDry environment. I want to be a decorated TumbleDryer, and I don't want to wait as long! Now who's with me?
Dan McKeown
I am! (as evidence by this short and basically worthless post just to get my numbers up)
Nils
Can Dan be awarded ceremoniously with the King of Pointless Posts badge? Can I give it to him? Kidding. Dan's posts enlighten us more than we know.