*rolls up his sleeves*
Right. Off we go.
Tommy points
By Dirk van Boxtel (that's me.)
Prologue: (skip, if you want to read the important Tommy point bit)
Dear fellow Celtic fans and random Celticsblog forum visitors. I just had steak. I love steak. I get very tired, after eating it. This must be because I eat 2 pieces of steak right after I get home from work, with some bread rolls, or buns, whichever you'd like to call them. Most of the time, I eat them with some garlic butter. Tastes really good, and I pride myself in the juiciness of my home-made steaks.
When I eat steak, I mostly sit and watch a movie afterward, and today was no different. While I watch the movie, I start dozing off. I lie on the couch, head resting on my arm and a little bit of drool dripping from the corner of my mouth. Every so-often I get startled by the sounds coming out of the Dolby surround set (which I bought amazingly cheap, for it's quality), after which I wipe the drool from my mouth and continue my little beauty sleep.
Lately, I've been very tired, since I've been a bit sick, and work & my private life are a little stressed. This is mainly because I'm about to move to Australia, and because I work at a company at which I imagine myself to be fairly important, which means I take responsibility and pride in my job. So what I tend to do a lot, is sleep. After watching today's movie (a Dutch one, you wouldn't know it) I stretched, yawned and made my way to bed. Brushed my teeth, said my prayers (just kidding, you know I'm an atheist! :p) and I led my handsome body (*cough*) to rest in my bed.
At that point, I decided I should check NBA.com to see at what time the game was on, so I could set my alarm and watch it. When I picked up my Iphone (there ya go, Steve, free add!) I saw that safari (the browser used on that thing) still had my "unread topics" screen on, right here at CB. So I thought to myself - addicted as I am - "ah heck, why not refresh the page and see if anything happened". Nothing had actually happened in the threads I had posted in, but I did see that I had more than the usual (none lol) amount of personal messages.
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Just now, when I opened up my PM page... well... let's just say there were quite some messages about the whole Tommy point situation, to which I was, well, rather oblivious.
After checking this here topic, I'm still oblivious, but would really like to add my two cents. Or rather my 55 bucks and 23 buck-cent. (all I got to give atm, saving up for the trip to Aussy-land) Here's the disclaimer though: I by no means feel my opinion is worth more than that of any others, even though I was unfortunately born as a person that likes to talk a lot about issues about right and wrong, which is why I'm writing a good, long reply.
1) The past (for as far as I know)Tommy points (named TP from here on (lol)) were intended to be used as a way for posters, to show their appreciation of certain posts. This meant that people with a lot of TPs were people held in high regard, for, as it seemed, they had been given a lot of respect by everyone else here at the Celtics Blog forums. In a way, that does mean that TPs could definitely been seen as ego-boosters.
The whole thought behind it though, in my opinion, should be based on the fact that people should be trying to think their posts through. They should be trying to post things that make lots of sense, trying to be kind to others or in whatever way possible contribute to the blog. This would be seen by others, and the T's will start flowing in.
Note that to me, it really doesn't matter whether you're being nice because you get Tommy Points or because you're just a nice person, because being nice = being nice. And it's the result that counts. You are what you DO.
2) The presentApparently, some people have been "caught" "cheating". I must say I have no idea about all of this, because of a couple of reasons.
For one, I'm not keeping an eye on anyone's TPs, because I really, honestly and deeply, don't give a poo about how high peoples TPs are. Don't get me wrong, when I congratulate people on reaching a certain amount of TPs, I mean it, because it means they add a lot to the community. What I mean, is that I don't judge someone on their TP count. Half the posts I reply to, I don't even notice *who* is posting them, because I read the message, not the name of the poster.
Secondly, I'm totally unaware of any groups, cliques or whatever forming. I will have no part in it. Yes, there are some people who I like a lot here at the CBF. That doesn't however mean I automatically TP them. In fact, when I TP someone, I take care not to TP them too often (generally speaking. FLCelticsfan doesn't count,
her (my bad!) game-threads are humongous!) This also means that I have no idea who has been forming cliques, and am quite surprised this is happening. Call me naive here if that makes you feel better.
Thirdly, and lastly because I want to go back to bed in a bit and I still gotta write part three about the future; I never saw any "bad" posts in that topic. This might be because I haven't read there in a while though. Or are we talking about different topics? Sorry for being a bit oblivious here.
3) The futureSo here we are, in the "Change TPs" thread. I'm still a bit puzzled, but I'll voice my opinion on the options in the poll, because I feel there's more than a single viable option.
First off, I'll tell you what I voted for; Only mods, Nothing wrong, and I don't care. One of them being the opposite of two others, I'll get to that later.
Secondly, here's my thoughts on the options:
TPs should be eliminated;- This is a viable option, as long as you think it adds nothing. I will solve all TP issues. Taking them away doesn't add anything either, though.
Negative TPs should be brought back;- Since I wasn't here when that was an option, I haven't a clue on this one. It could be good, but I could see how this doesn't solve any of the alleged problems we have right now.
Threads related to TPs should be locked;- Well, that's an option, and in my eyes a good one, as long as you're closing the right threads. I don't mind TP threads as long as they talk of why you give/receive TP's, or the threads
Only mods should be allowed to give TPs;- I like this option. It makes them even more special, though. And we all know what Uncle Ben said; "with great power, comes great responsibility." Up to the mods to judge themselves on this one, I for one am all for it - but only if it's a last option. If we can keep it "public", all the better. But this option beats "no TPs at all".
Members should only be allowed to give each member 1 TP per 24 hours;Members should be allowed to give more TPs than they do now;I think these two are a bit weird. The first one "delays" the whole TP issue, the second one increases it. I hope you guys feel me on this one, because I'm a bit too tired to come up with a different explanation
Everyone's TPs should be reset;- As above, but this one just resets the whole flow, and doesn't solve the issues.
There's nothing wrong with the TP system;- This one got my vote because I'm the most naive and, as mentioned, oblivious person out here: what the hell is happening people? It's just a bunch of numbers in front of peoples names too, so I don't really get the fuss.
I don't care;- This one, like the above one, states my confusion: I'm puzzled as to what's happened. I thought they were a great system! I'd like them to stay, but if they cause issues, hey, might be best to remove them! So erm... yeh, you guys figure it out :p I'll keep posting here whether you remove them or not :p
Anybody caught boosting their own TP count should be suspended;- Yeh well, as stated, I don't really care about the situation so maybe suspending people is a bit harsh. Might as well just set them to 0 TP's, bit of a weird option. No offense Roy.
Members should be allowed to "bet" their TPs;- Isn't that a lot of work for the mods? I myself really don't feel for it anyway, because they show you how you're being appreciated. You
can't trade appreciation.
Members should be allowed to "sell"/"trade" their TPs for charitable contributions, etc;- Same, it's TP's. Not some kind of currency. Though, if I can trade my star for some bucks... (... wait... that came out wrong. I don't swing that way!)
My personal additions to the options:
Make it optional- Maybe it's possible to make TPs
optional. Make it like the "display signatures" setting, and show/hide TP count for those that don't want it. Or maybe go further and make it a subscription thing, where people only get to give and receive TPs based on a setting.
In closingAs said a few times before, I have no idea what's going on here, and quite frankly, it doesn't really matter to me. You'll always have people grunting at the whole issue, but you'll also have people grunting while they're gone. I don't think they cause more problems than what they add to the community. I still feel a slight drive to post well-thought out posts, work on my discussion techniques and on my English, because of TPs. Really, personally, TPs drive me to work harder. And I don't think a couple of "cheaters" should take that away from me, or others.
Finally, I would like to leave you with the following words:
Boobies.
There, ended on a high.
- Dirk
.edit: edited twice; once for spelling and once for layout.
.editē: and edited once more, because I didn't know FLCelticfan was female, instead of male, so I had to change "his", to "her". My bad, apologies.
Poll