User talk:Sj/Archive/User Page Award

Archive 1

Judges who are late 2
Hey everybody, once again we have had judges late sending in scores, so we've found a replacment judge, pschemp, and we will be awarding this weeks winner with only 3 scores. We are trying to find a way to resolve this now as I write this. We will have a winner announced soon. ALSO for anyone who wants to be a judge I direct you to this: page There only two criteria to be a judge for this. Be a member of Esperanza, and be willing to do it. Thanks again everyone! KnowledgeOfSelf 15:49, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Meh, one of the late judges was me. No excuses; I just forgot about it. My apologies! I just sent my scores to Banes, so hopefully they can be counted. Perhaps a solution for late judges is to sign up alternate judges. So, 5 people sign up to be judges, and perhaps the next 2 sign up as alternates. --F a ng Aili 16:25, 9 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Another suggestion: Could we possibly post, in bold letters, and deadline for when judges need to get their finalist and scores in? It might help (*cough, cough* help people like me *cough*). --F a ng Aili 16:29, 9 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I was first judge to get my results to Banes :D ! Ian13/ talk 16:45, 9 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Both of those are really good ideas - making the deadline very noticable, and appointing alternates should hopefully take care of all possible problems. -- Nataly a 18:08, 9 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm going to be bold and rewrite some of the page, to not only reflect proposed changes, but to aslo make the page easier to understand. KnowledgeOfSelf 18:33, 9 March 2006 (UTC) I wasn't so bold, I made the changes on a subpage of mine! :P

User:KnowledgeOfSelf/Experiments Please check out the changes, but do not modify the page, unless you see spelling errors, or anything of that nature. Leave any changes you want to make to this new design/re-write on my talk page. That will make it easier for me to go over all new info that will be added. Thanks! KnowledgeOfSelf 19:17, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

As one of the judges who was late in sending the results, I apologise. The reason for this is that once I had chosen my finalist, I was under the impression that we were then prompted to score the 5 finalist pages by the overseer. I got confused by the wording of the talk page instructions that the judges get left. Again, I apologise.

Maybe if the judges were sent a second talk page message informing them of the 5 finalists and instructing them to get judging, this would eliminate the problem. Just a thought. haz  (user talk)e 17:49, 10 March 2006


 * Yes, when I saw the 5 had been choosen on the page - I was unsure of whether to score and send results or not. Ian13/ talk 19:04, 10 March 2006 (UTC)


 * We got such a message when we judged the first round - I guess it is not being done anymore? If not, that would probably help out a lot.  See my talk page for the message.  It was a good reminder to get. -- Nataly a  19:56, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I think that kind of thing is what we need. Perhaps something based on upajudge?

Hi. This is a quick message to remind you that all 5 finalists for the Esperanza User Page Award have been chosen. You now need to judge those 5 pages, awarding each one 1-10 points for attractiveness, usefulness, interesting-ness and general niceness. Refer to the Scores section at Esperanza/User Page Award if you are unsure.

Once you have scored the 5 pages, email User: using the specified format. As soon as all the scores have been tallied, a winner will be announced! Thanks.


 * Any thoughts? haz  (user talk)e 20:30, 10 March 2006
 * It's a good idea, but that brings the number of templates for this project up to four, granted that might not be very many when compared to templates for warning vandals, but those are templates that are used numerous times daily by many people. Already having three templates is confusing to me, so a fourth one is something I'd like to avoid. Then again that is just me. Maybe I should find a "full time spammer" whose job will be to maintain and spam the current users involved in the week's contest. Any takers for that position? :P Also I haven't heard any feedback from the proposed revision of the UPA page. In case you missed it, it is located at my experiments page. User:KnowledgeOfSelf/Experiments. Also to address comments like "Maybe if the judges were sent a second talk page message informing them of the 5 finalists and instructing them to get judging, this would eliminate the problem." and "We got such a message when we judged the first round - I guess it is not being done anymore?  If not, that would probably help out a lot." I apologize! I asked last week’s overseer to "prod" the judges who had not sent in their scores with a message asking them to. I think we had a miscommunication, which has led to this whole thread of conversation, which might not be a bad thing, as I feel we are improving this program already! Thanks again. KnowledgeOfSelf 20:49, 10 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I like, we could even merge with current template, just use switch, and |1}} or |2}} for which template you would like to use. Ian13/ talk 14:49, 11 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I've created such a template at User:Haza-w/Sandbox (visit User talk:Haza-w/Sandbox to see it in action). Practical? haz  (user talk)e 16:49, 11 March 2006


 * I would support it. Ian13/ talk 20:20, 11 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Hey, everyone. I do not think that this many changes should be made to the UPA. Over time I expect and welcome new and improved changes, but as of right now, I think the new rewrite of the UPA will do nicely. I'm going to implement it soon, and we will see how this next contest goes. If there still seems to be a problem than it can be discussed and attempts at improvement will be more than welcome. As of right now on both IRC, my talk page and to some degree here, the rewrite appears to be accepted. So I'd like the overhaul of template changes to cease for now. I just do not think the templates are the problem, it was the actual page which had some confusing and rather unnecessary content. Those issues have been addressed. Thanks everyone KnowledgeOfSelf 19:00, 11 March 2006 (UTC)


 * With regard to the templates, I agree that we should wait until the next contest is over before we begin to discuss changes to them.


 * I would make a request, which you are all welcome to ignore (I won't hold it against you!): that no-one who discussed the problems at this page signs up to be a judge this time. It would then be a more ideal environment to see whether or not the implemented changes have worked, which I hope they do.


 * With regard to the Upajudge template, I still feel that it is a bit confusing, and that the minor modification I proposed to it could help clear things up, if only a little. But, as I say, let's stand back for the time being, and let's hope there isn't a "Judges who are late 3" section at the end of this round..! haz  (user talk)e 10:06, 12 March 2006


 * I'd be interested in being an official spammer, but I'd need more information on exactly what I would do and what templates are at the disposal of the spammer. --[[Image:CVU2.PNG|18px]]  Drik  e   n   T  [[Image:Flag of the United States.svg|18px|]]  ND  18:34, 5 April 2006 (UTC)


 * You could try asking FireFox as he's done it before. Petros471 12:16, 8 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I may have to retract that offer, at least temporarily. My computer is broken. Only my leet skillz keep me on the internet... Well as a summary, until my laptop arrives, home internet time is sort of at a minimum. --[[Image:CVU2.PNG|18px]]  Drik  e   n   T  [[Image:Flag of the United States.svg|18px|]]  ND  18:21, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Time between judging
Is there any specific time one should wait between signing up to be a judge again? I didn't know if there were any guidelines, or if you just make sure anyone who wants to do it does before you do. -- Nataly a 22:49, 23 March 2006 (UTC)


 * No, I don't think there is. -- Run e Welsh | &tau;&alpha;&lambda;&kappa; 11:24, 24 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Only if your user page is nominated are you ineligible to judge. (Even then, you can choose to remove your page nomination and remain a judge.) Apart from that, all Esperanza members are eligible to become a judge. I'm off on a break, see you all soon! haz  (us e r talk) 12:35, 24 March 2006
 * If you did it last time, I'd ask you to let someone else do it this time, other than that....its fine. psch  e  mp  |  talk  13:14, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Nomnating a past winner?
It seems that Mailer diablo's userpage has been nominated for the UPA award, but it was a previous winner. I am assuming that pages cannot win more than once, so is there any good way to list past winners so that they are not re-nominated? If we listed them all on the page, it might get quite long as the contest progressed - maybe a link saying "Be sure to check if the page you want to nominate has already won the UPA", and then link to the archive? -- Nataly a 18:31, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
 * We tend to see many of the same pages nominated week after week. Perhaps we should consider a "once per month" rule, just to give others a shot? – ClockworkSoul 20:57, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I don't think there's any problem nominating people more than once - the problem arise when we nominate people who have already won the contest. -- Nataly a 22:44, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Problem with multiple nominations of the same page is that there are a fixed number of slots, and it's not really fair for one userpage to take up one every week.TheJabberwock 00:07, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Very true. The award isn't serving its purpose if it turns into a revolving door, where the same users are pretty much nominated every week. Really, it wouldn't hurt us to have to find a few gems among the less-known users: it would raise their respective personal profiles, and maybe integrate them a bit further into the community. – ClockworkSoul 00:25, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Moving things along.
Hey everybody, the 15 candidates have been up for a couple of days. When will the judges list their finalists? Because after that the 5 finalists have until Friday to be judged and the results handed in...  Ban  e  z  18:48, 10 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I just left a message on User talk:Rune.welsh that might explain why. I.e. with no official spammer we haven't been told to yet :) I'm happy to post mine up if it is ok to do so now? Petros471 19:08, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Award
The award has KOS's signature and seeing as he is gone, are we going to change it?--Ali K 08:39, 11 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I thought of that, however since nobody has contributed as much to this program as KnowledgeOfSelf, I feel that it should stay. --  Ban  e  z  13:55, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Spammer
Could someone give more more information about being the spammer? Let me know, as I might want to sign up. (^'-')^ Covington 17:54, 12 April 2006 (UTC)


 * As spammer you will need to notify all 15 candidates and the five judges after they have been listed on the page. There are templates you are supposed to put on the talk pages, which I will give you.  Ban  e  z  13:52, 14 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Oh if I'd have known there are templates, I'd have signed up for this myself. Next time. — [[Image:Flag_of_Ottawa%2C_Ontario.svg|20px]] [[Image:Flag of Ontario.svg|20px]] [[Image:Flag of Canada.svg|20px]]  nath a  nrdotcom  ( T •  C  • W) 19:59, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Have the...
...judges e-mailed Rune_Welsh with their scores yet? And happy Easter everybody! --  Ban  e  z  20:11, 16 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes they have. Results due out soon! -- Run e Welsh | &tau;&alpha;&lambda;&kappa; 20:12, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
 * W00t! For a moment there I thought that things had been forgotten, bla bla bla :P . Thanks for all your efforts!  Ban  e  z  20:18, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Next Round
Don't we need to start the next User Page Award round?

-- Primat e <sup style="color:#6699CC;">#101  04:26, 25 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I think we should start the next round straight after the elections are over. What does everybody think? --  Ban  e  z  06:46, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Good idea. Best to get the elections out of the way first. haz  (us e r talk) 07:11, 25 April 2006
 * Agreed, since many people are involved with them. -- Nataly a 18:59, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Sounds Good! That means I better finish my user page, which is still under construction! -- Primat e <sup style="color:#6699CC;">#101  23:16, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Elections Over
The elections are over---are we starting Sunday or Monday?

-- Primat e <sup style="color:#6699CC;">#101  02:57, 30 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I'd give the go ahead, but I cannot be overseer this time. The main issue, methinks, is to get a spammer to keep everyone aware. I already asked Pschemp if she could volunteer for this contest. -- Run e Welsh | &tau;&alpha;&lambda;&kappa; 19:01, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
 * We can use Miszabot or whatever it's name is for the spamming can't we? — FireFox (υ|τ) 21:05, 06 May 2006


 * And it's died. H ig hway Rainbow Sneakers 16:40, 7 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Oh, come on...I just got to Esperanza recently and this looks pretty cool. Let's bring it back. We don't need the AC or head-honchos to continue it. Ch<font color="Green">u ck(척뉴넘) 15:58, 10 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I've archived the results in preparation for a new round. &mdash;Wh o uk (talk) 19:11, 10 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm willing to step in as overseer for the next round (it'll be nice to receive some emails other than the 'why did you block me type). That still means someone needs to agree to do the spamming. If no-one else offers, I could do that as well, if that is ok? (I mean is that conflict of interest or not?) Petros471 19:24, 10 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Once the page has been prepared, anyone can volunteer to be judges and to do the spamming by adding their name to the relevant part. &mdash;Wh o uk (talk) 19:33, 10 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Yeh, that's very true- it was just that last time there was no problem getting judges, but it took a long time to get a spammer. Anyway, does anyone object to me putting myself down as overseer and clearing the page to let people start signing up/nominating? Petros471 19:52, 10 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Nope - sounds good! Thanks for taking charge. :) -- Nataly a  20:44, 10 May 2006 (UTC)


 * There is a spammer now, but the signature is very old. If there is to be a new one, can someone be both spammer and judge? Ch<font color="Green">u ck(척뉴넘) 23:56, 10 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure about a judge also being the spammer (though it seems like it would be nice to have them separate), but I've removed all the sign-ups since the contest does not start until May 12th. -- Nataly a 02:16, 11 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I was thinking about starting it again too. I have been a member for only a month or so and I didn't want to disrespect the heads by starting it up again. Nice work. (^'-')^ Covington 13:37, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

FWIW, two of the overseers have gone on lengthly wikibreak (or one of them is trying to :P) while another has left Esperanza. Its not that you need this "head honchos" blessing or anything, but I thought I'd just say I'm quite pleased to see Petros take over, as I was worried this thing would die. If Petros471 is still interested, I would appreciate it if he would keep this thing going until the heads get back, and then, if he is willing, it would be appreciated if he would step in as head #3, as this program was designed to work in a cycle like that. Just my 2 cents worth. Thanks everybody for keeping this going. :) --  Ban  e  z  08:24, 11 May 2006 (UTC)


 * That's good to hear, thanks. &mdash;Wh o uk (talk) 09:08, 11 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Yeh that's fine. Do you (or anyone!) happen to know where all the templates for spamming etc. are hiding? Petros471 09:17, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Templates
Template:Upajudge is one of them, but it says to email scores to Rune.Welsh, which isn't wholly accurate. I'm not sure about the rest of them, though. -- Nataly a 11:24, 11 May 2006 (UTC)


 * You alter that one (I think, templates and html are not my area of expertise) and it changes for whomever you want the name to show. As for the other templates for spamming, I think Haza-W had them in his sandbox IIRC, and some nice improved ones too. I don't know of any other place they are hidden, since I avoided spamming like the plague. You may want to ask him (Haza) about it. --  Ban  e  z 


 * There's also Template:Upanudge and Template:Upawinner. &mdash;Wh o uk (talk) 11:37, 11 May 2006 (UTC)


 * User talk:Haza-w/Sandbox is what Banes was talking about by the looks of it. I'll take a look now to see how it compairs with the ones mentioned above. Petros471 12:58, 11 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I changed to make the email adjustable for a different overseer.  I'm also plannin on being the spammer for this session. -  Pureblade  | Θ 14:49, 11 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Hey guys, haven't been around for a while due to a laptop problem, though I'd say Hi. (Hi!) Anyways, I've changed the signatures on the upawinner template, owing to the absense of Banez and KoS, and as per Petros471 (thanks for contacting me, by the way), reintroduced "subst magic" on all templates: when the templates are substed on a talk page, the user's name is entered rather than .  haz  (us e r talk) 15:05, 11 May 2006


 * Thanks to both of you, I'm glad we got the spamming issue sorted out before this round started :) Petros471 17:05, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

I created Template:Upaready so that we can tell all the participants when we are ready to start judging. Let me know what you think. (^'-')^ Covington 02:21, 12 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Covington also created Template:Upathanks, for the runners up. Do people think that's too many templates to be spamming people with? I think the upathanks one is good, to give the runners up something; but not sure upaready is needed. Thoughts? Petros471 13:19, 12 May 2006 (UTC)


 * From my experience with contests and such, we need Upaready. For me, at least, it's nice to know when the judging is starting so I can expect an outcome on a certain day. Yes there are many templates but they are not going to the same people. Judges get Upajudge and maybe Upanudge, contestants get Upaready and Upathanks, winners get Upawinner in addition to the last two. (^'-')^ Covington 13:50, 12 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Ok, two each seems ok. Does the winner need upathanks at all (I would have thought upawinner would say all they need to know :) ? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Petros471 (talk • contribs).
 * Yes, also I've added "good luck" to the end of upaready and added the subst magic trick to it (remember to subst it!) Also, for those who are confused, the full list of UPA templates can be viewed at Special:Prefixindex (follow this link ) Petros, sign your comments!!!! haz  (us e r talk) 17:50, 12 May 2006


 * Sorry :{ My only excuse is that I'm suffering from horrendous connection problems so I couldn't correct it straight away! Petros471 18:14, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Googleing for myself i was surprised to find myself here, why didn't anybody tell me I was proposed to wi a prize? My userpage is not finished! —Argentino (talk/cont.) 01:44, 22 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Maybe we should ask nominators (when it is not a self nom of course) to let the nominee know. You are very welcome to enter the next round with your finished (is that ever the case on Wikipedia ;) userpage. Petros471 11:31, 5 June 2006 (UTC)


 * That might be expecting too much of the people who nominate the user pages - not in an offensive manner or anything, but it likely wouldn't be a very reliable method. -- Nataly a 13:55, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Monthly round
It's nearly a month now since the last contest, so I was thinking of starting the next one soon. Monthly sounds about right for now (weekly is way too often). So consider this advance notice to start thinking about it if you want to sign up, finish some work on your userpage etc. Petros471 11:31, 5 June 2006 (UTC)


 * New round has started. Sign up :) Petros471 14:32, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm still waiting for the ugliest userpage award contest ;-). NoSeptember  06:25, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Non-Esperanzians?
Are non-Esperanzians' pages allowed to be nominated?-- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91(review me!) 18:21, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Absoultely!  -- Nataly a  18:26, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Yep. Computerjoe 's talk 18:29, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Spamming
The spammer for this round User:Covington, hasn't been able to do his job because of his Carpal tunnel syndrome, so I've been bold and informed all the judges using Template:upanudge. Should I take up spamming for the remainder of the round?-- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91(review me!) 08:36, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Yeh, that's fine (incidentally two of five judges have already sent me the scores, but I'm sure they can cope!)


 * On a related note I think the names on the award template needs updating. How about putting the names of the judges and overseer on the award template for that round? Petros471 08:46, 27 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Okay, I've removed Rune Welsh's name, and added the names of the judges (see changes).-- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91(review me!) 09:20, 27 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm sorry, but I will be unable to spam for this round since I have exams from tomorrow, ending on the 8th, so I've restored (^'-')^ Covington as spammer. If anybody else wishes to volunteer, please replace Covington's name with yours.-- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91(review me!) 09:41, 30 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I think I can spam. IIRC, I must spam to the winner,  and  have already been sent. So, I should send  to the 14 not winners or just to the finalists?  fetofs  Hello! 11:50, 30 June 2006 (UTC)


 * 14 runners-up.-- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91(review me!) 16:53, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

User talk pages
Do the judges consider the design of user's talk pages as well as userpages? If so, should nominators be providing a permanent link to those as well?

And if not, why not? :-) There are quite a few well-designed user talk pages (not just referring to myself here, honest), and user talk pages can get a lot more views than user pages. --Sam Blanning(talk) 12:58, 12 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I personally would check out not only the the user talk page, but all pages in the userspace to get a complete picture. I think we should have a separate rating for "Other pages" out of 10.-- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91 ($ |-| ŗ 3 $ |-| ţ |-|)  15:58, 12 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Ooo, that's a good idea! Having another rating for that will take care of everything! -- Nataly a  22:21, 12 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Are we going to start it from the next round, seeing as people have already nominated without considering this? --Ali K 01:37, 13 July 2006 (UTC)


 * That seems appropriate. -- Nataly a  11:02, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually, a problem has occured to me with having a separate score for "Other pages". Tony Sidaway has a large well-designed userpage with many subpages, but the actual User:Tony Sidaway is a redirect to his talk page - so his userpage basically consists of nothing but Other Pages. I'm sure there are similar examples, or at least could be. Why not just use the existing categories and judge the entire userspace when doing so? --Sam Blanning(talk) 17:24, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Fair Use Image on User Page
EvocativeIntrigue's nominated user page contained (at the point of nomination) a fair use image. I removed it from his page. So what should I do: a) ask the nominator to re-evaluate the page to see if it's still nomination-worthy, b) give Evocative Intrigue some time to add other picture of he so desires, or c) just evaluate the page sans the image (like how it is now)? --  tariq abjotu  (joturner) 23:01, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Spamming alt judges
Should the spammer inform the alternative judges when the 15 nominations have been made, and when the final 5 are selected (using upajudge and upanudge repectively)? -- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91 ($ |-| ŗ 3 $ |-| ţ |-|) 10:17, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

Rule Additions?
I believe that...


 * judges should not be allowed to nominate user pages or at least not be allowed to nominate user pages for positions in which they individually must judge.
 * nominees should not nominate other pages.

What do you all think? --  tariq abjotu  (joturner) 16:41, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree that judges should not be able to nominate, though I disagree with the latter. Computerjoe 's talk 17:07, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I concur with Computerjoe. --Fang Aili talk 17:12, 20 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Support the first proposal (even though I've done the same in this round), oppose the second. -- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91 ($ |-| ŗ 3 $ |-| ţ |-|)  05:07, 21 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I also agree with the first one. But I do think, while the reasoning behind the second is sound, that it is uneccessary and would be making the whole thing slightly less open and friendly. Look at our nominees, would any of them be the sorts to nominate poor user pages to win their coveted award? I think us Esperanzians play fair :) . --  Bane s  11:32, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Oh yeah, I didn't even think of that. But I do think that people have been playing fair. I guess if there are problems we can change the rules. --Fang Aili talk 17:26, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
 * What about Alternate Judges? Personally, I think the first perposal should apply to them too, but seeing as they are not that likly to have to judge, does anyone have any objects to them being barred from noming as well? Th ε Halo Θ 18:14, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Obviously not, because it has already happened this round :) --Ali K 02:40, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Handing out the actual award
Hi everybody. I was just getting ready to announce the winner (still awaiting two judges results, but I have to prepare ;) ) and I noticed that we no longer seem to hand out the actual "Barnstar" with the template anymore. While the large template is important, and looks great, it is far too cumbersome to add to one's actual userpage, as any other award. What we used to do was add the template to the talk, along with this as the neat little star to show off on your userpage.

Is it alright if I resumed this practice this round? What does everybody think? Cheers --  Bane s  19:35, 26 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Absolutely; reinstate it. --  tariq abjotu  (joturner) 20:02, 26 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Great, thanks. :) --  Bane s  20:04, 26 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't understand, isn't that what we already do; template on talk page along with barnstar (included in the template)? I guess we do hand out the actual "Barnstar" with the template, unless your browser has rendering problems. The image is in the template. -- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91 ($ |-| ŗ 3 $ |-| ţ |-|)  15:33, 29 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Well not exactly. Since the little star itself is hidden in the template, and, unless you bother to extract it, will not find it's way to the userpage like any Barnstar (not that this is technically a barnstar...). Cheers --  Bane s  19:21, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Retirement, for want of a better word.
Hi all. I just thought I'd drop a line to mention that I will no longer be an overseer, and that my position will now be in the very, and far more, capable hands of Shreshth91, who has offered to become an overseer. Things have become quite busy of late, and I havn't really been that active here lately either, so I'm afraid I'll have to step down so to speak. I'd love to get involved at a later date, as a judge perhaps, or even a candidate. :) Cheers guys, it looks like this project has a great future. Thanks for everything! --  Bane s  19:19, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
 * You flatter me. We'll miss you :-( It's been great with you around. -- May the Force be with you!  Shr e shth91 ($ |-| ŗ 3 $ |-| ţ |-|)  15:27, 3 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Lol no it is true. And thanks :) . Best of luck with this everybody! --  Bane s  15:54, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Since we are on topic... I just wanted to make my retirement official too since I just noticed I'm still listed as overseer. Right now I'm too busy at work and have no Internet at home, so I mostly do FLC and spellchecking at the moment <tt>:-(</tt> It's been great to get this project off the ground and the current overseers are doing a grand job. Keep it up! -- Run e Welsh | &tau;&alpha;&lambda;&kappa; 17:48, 3 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Why is everybody leaving?! We'll not be able to do half as good a job without you around :-( -- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91 ($ |-| ŗ 3 $ |-| ţ |-|)  08:06, 4 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Do not worry, Shreshth, I'm sure you will continue to do a fantastic job. And you can always harrass them if you have any questions. ;) -- Nataly a  14:50, 4 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I'll stand in as a provisional overseer (replacing Runewelsh) until we can find someone to replace Welsh. I updated the front page for the User Page Award accordingly. <font face="tahoma" color="#086F9A">Killfest2 —<font face="tahoma" color="green">Daniel.Bryant  02:37, 7 August 2006 (UTC)


 * [[Image:Symbol question.svg|15px]] Question: So will you assume "head overseer" position Shreshth91, and collect/tally all the votes etc.? <font face="tahoma" color="#086F9A">Killfest2 —<font face="tahoma" color="green">Daniel.Bryant  02:39, 7 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Yup, I will. And until we find a new overseer, we can do with 2 :) -- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91 ($ |-| ŗ 3 $ |-| ţ |-|)  15:34, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Nomination of Halibutt
Thanks for the nomination. I'd only like to point out (just like in the earlier nomination) that the page framework has actually been provided by User:Blankfaze, I merely modified it to my liking and kept using it for quite some time.  // Halibutt 07:38, 26 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Worth pointing out, that was. Remember to congratulate Blankfaze, too! :) Daveydw ee b ( chat/patch ) 08:06, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

This round
I have three scores, but User:Jorcoga and User:IAMTHEEGGMAN are yet to send. What do I do? &mdash;Cel es tianpower háblame 10:08, 17 October 2006 (UTC)


 * I suppose you could ask the alternates to judge, if those two are out of contact. Daveydw ee b ( chat/patch ) 10:23, 17 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Indeed. That's what they're there for! <font face="sans-serif">Daniel.Bryant 14:35, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Sorry for the wait - these scores took ages to come in, and I've had a lot on. Congratulations to those who competed. Regards, &mdash;Cel es tianpower háblame 10:23, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Judging
I'm so sorry, but something's come up and I won't be able to judge. Is that okay? How should I remove myself? Move the other judges up one, and then put Husond at the end (seeing as he's the first alternate judge)? Or just pust Husond where I used to be? Sorry. <sup style="color:#FDD017;">Well Drawn   Charli  e  11:38, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I've removed your name, as the competition hasn't started yet, and moved all judges up one, creating place for a new alternate judge. Cheers! -- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91 11:55, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks! <sup style="color:#FDD017;">Well Drawn   Charli  e  12:25, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I'd like to be a nominee or if it's not possible, I could be a judge. :) What to do? NCurse work 17:56, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
 * This round, there is an alternative judge position open; maybe next round, you'll be lucky enough to be one of the first 5 (if you get here quick enough :D) Daniel.Bryant [ T · C ] 21:26, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

What does an alternate judge do? How does It differ from a full one and what powers do they have. Culv e rin? Talk 08:27, 4 November 2006 (UTC)
 * An alternate judge is solely there to take over in case a judge becomes inactive, or takes too long to judge. Once an inactive judge replaces a judge, he/she has the same duties to do; until then, he/she just acts as a potential replacement. -- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91 14:45, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

No. may the force be with you User:Shreshth91 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Culverin (talk • contribs).


 * Thank you! -- May the Force be with you! Shr e shth91 09:06, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Can you help me understand the purpose of this page?
Hi there. I just saw the MfD for Esperanza. While I'm opposed to deleting Esperanza, because it does a bunch of good work, I do think there are some things you guys do that are excessively bureaucratic and may encourage people to miss the point. It looks like the User Page Award may be an example of this, because it encourages users to spend excessive time "prettifying" their user pages rather than editing the Wiki. But rather than prejudge, let me just ask... In the view of the folks involved, what does the User Page Award do for Wikipedia? Thanks, SCZenz 01:29, 15 November 2006 (UTC)
 * In truth, from what history tells, it just was created for people to have fun. Since the general consensus will surely say it does not help the encyclopedia, I imagine it will come up in the discussions of what will change.  -- Nataly a  23:23, 15 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, I am trying to have that discussion right now. -- SCZenz 23:24, 15 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Ahhh, I see it's started on Wikipedia talk:Esperanza/Overhaul. -- SCZenz 02:18, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

I agree it's not very encyclopedic. It is people having fun with their userpages. However I assume that if someone is active here they are also active editing the 'pedia. An hour spent editing one's userpage does not equal one hour not spent editing the encyclopeida--people like to just mess around sometimes. Also when people learn more advanced coding and such, it can translate to helping create templates or other things in use on the encyclopedia. So in sum, I think it has merits. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind it being userfied. --Fang Aili talk 14:56, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * The problem is not people working on their userpages. It's that the present page encourages a culture in which pretty userpages are overvalued, and may lead inexperienced users to believe they will gain esteem within Esperanza and/or Wikipedia as a whole by working on them.  It's time for Esperanzans who are integrated Wikipedians to think more about the messages they're sending to those who aren't. -- SCZenz 18:21, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * What is your proof that this encourages a culture of anything? Can you name a Userpage Award participant who does nothing (or not much more) than work on his/her userpage? --Fang Aili talk 18:31, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm talking about the people who see them, not the people who win them. I cannot point to particular detrimental effects of the User Page Award in particular, but Esperanza overall is producing users with a frankly fucked-up conception of what Wikipedia is about.  I think the User Page Award appears to be a likely contributor to this culture, and certainly has no beneficial effect for the encyclopedia; the era of "we're having fun, and that's good for Wikipedia" is over. -- SCZenz 23:45, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * In regard to your idea earlier of user page work encouraging people to learn advanced coding, I think our encyclopedia pages would be hurt by some of the "advanced coding" I see on userpages; we should be text-focused, not pretty bubbles-focused. Work on userpage appearence has very, very marginal benefits to the encyclopedia (if any), which is why I neglect it in my comment immediately above.  -- SCZenz 23:49, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Hello, I'm one of the new members here (I joined today). I just wanted to say that I learned Wikimarkup code on my userpage, by using it as a sandbox (and now I'm cursed with 800 edits to it). I also learned about templates, in the form of userboxes, as well as many other things. I think userpages are not as important when one becomes experienced, but it's still good to take breaks between edits. Increased "morale" leads to a better encyclopedia, and that's the goal of Esperanza. | A ndonic O  Talk 01:11, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree, and I used to edit my user page a lot more than I do now as well. My claim is that having an award for professional-level userpages doesn't lead to any of the benefits you describe.  Learning to edit and taking breaks are good; encouraging people to go far beyond that isn't. -- SCZenz 17:57, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I doubt Esperanza users would abandon Wikipedia, which they evidently love (otherwise they wouldn't be Esperanzians), just to edit their userpages. Even if they did, they would eventually get bored, as they can only win the prize once (I think). Professional level userpages, as you describe them, will not be edited much more; mainly, only subpages are added. The purpose of this, IMHO, is to have a little fun, and to award a userpage every now and again with a barnstar. Besides, if your userpage is judged the best out of 15, would you be in a hurry to change it? | A ndonic O  Talk 18:35, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Again, my claim is that those winning the awards aren't the problem, it's all the people who will get the impression from this award that they should be doing the same thing. -- SCZenz 22:51, 17 November 2006 (UTC)