weeding out the spotlights

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Brandon Martus

So, if you look near the bottom of the posts, next to the 'report to moderator' link, there is a 'spotlight' link. When you see something worthy of attention, (FIRST-related, of course) you click that, narrow the post down to the 1-sentence blurb you would like, and then eventually it will appear somewhere. [yet to be determined, most likely randomly in the upper right of the screen in the blank gray area].

This was what was posted about the spotlights when they were started.

Now that the spotlight database has gotten to be quite large (396), I thought it might be a good idea to do some "spring cleaning".

One thing that I've noticed is that some things are not related to FIRST. For example, "Did I really just say AOL did something good?" by tkwetzel. Now, I think that is quite funny, but it isn't related to FIRST, and i don't think it needs to be spotlighted among the other great quotes.

Another thing I've noticed is spotlights that are quotes of something, without attribution. One example is this quote: "We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals." by HuskieRobotics. Now, not only is this not related to FIRST, but it isn't an original quote by HuskieRobotics. When you click on the thread, you notice it is a quote from "The Mentor" (whatever that is). I definitely don't think we want quotes which plagiarize being spotlighted (Of course, it isn't HuskieRobotics's fault that the quote seems plagiarized but rather the person who spotlighted it).

However, if I were weeding out the spotlights, I wouldn't allow the above quote even if properly attributed in the spotlight, because it doesn't directly apply to FIRST.

I'd even go so far as to say that quotes such as this one: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein by Edward Debeler shouldn't be spotlighted, because, while it does apply to FIRST, it isn't really original, and with as many original quotes as there are, I think it's unnecessary to go to outside sources.

I even have a problem with one of my favorite spotlights "After the norovirus outbreak at VCU, we had our entire team sterilized. Oh, wait, that doesn't sound right... -dave" by dlavery. Why is the -dave in there? The quote is quite clearly by dlavery, and so the -dave is wasted space and should have been removed when the quote was spotlighted.

Other simple things that I don't think deserve a spotlight are "We'll fix that in programming" (who hasn't heard that before?), "I'm looking forward to the challenge!" (aren't we all?), and "Texas! Here we come!" (was it that interesting then, and what about now that the championship isn't in Texas any longer?).

I hope I didn't offend anyone by picking on their spotlighted posts. In fact, I think that the only one that spotlights me probably shouldn't be spotlighted. One thing that I noticed was that I liked almost all of the newer ones, it's just some of the older ones that I don't think live up to the same standards.

Any chance we could come up with some type of process to weed out the spotlights?

[Ken Leung]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

Any chance we could come up with some type of process to weed out the spotlights?

One thing that's being done is now spotlights have to be approved by moderators before they go up to the list. It doesn't help the old spot lights, but it will help the new ones.

I know it is possible to delete individual spot lights, and all that really does is hide it away from the list. If you found some spot lights you don't think should be up there, write down which one it is, by which user, spotlighted by which pers, you can report that to Brandon and he can delete them.

I share your concerns about every some very random, very unrelated to FIRST quotes up there. But bear in mind, VB3 just got installed at the end of 2003 off season. We are very to have the spot lights at all.

I have a feeling Brandon is going to make a lot of improvements over this year's off season. But its going to take a lot of encouragement from the rest of you to motivate him. So keep bugging him.

[Brandon Martus]

Originally Posted by Ken Leung

I have a feeling Brandon is going to make a lot of improvements over this year's off season. But its going to take a lot of encouragement from the rest of you to motivate him. So keep bugging him.

Yep.

Jess Boucher & I are working on fixing this now. There are a couple moderators who can weed out the new ones, but there is no way to weed out the old ones. I will make an interface to do that now -- shouldn't take too long.

[Yan Wang]

In addition to moderation, what if there was a box next to each quote, similar to the reputation system, which users could click to say that they liked the quote. This would be like bash.org's system. Though we wouldn't need the negative box.

[Bharat Nain]

Originally Posted by Yan Wang

In addition to moderation, what if there was a box next to each quote, similar to the reputation system, which users could click to say that they liked the quote. This would be like bash.org's system. Though we wouldn't need the negative box.

In that case, a positive reputation/whatever should also be given to the person who nominated the quote. Well, atleast thats what I think, but I don't know how possible it is(just because old quotes don't have records).

[Cory]

Why should you get positive rep for highlighting *someone else's* post? Reputation was designed to either give credit to a poster for posting good, quality material, or take it away for posting stupid, innane, useless information, attacking others, etc. The key here is it's for *your own* work, not the work of someone else.

If anyone were to get positive rep for a spotlighted quote, it should be the author.

$0.02

Cory

[Brandon Martus]

Originally Posted by Cory

If anyone were to get positive rep for a spotlighted quote, it should be the author.

The reputation system will be sticking to just posts. I don't plan on changing that any time soon, don't worry.

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by Cory

Why should you get positive rep for highlighting *someone else's* post?

Agreed. If you get rep for nominating, the moderators would have a lot of extra work for useless quotes, because people want the rep. (don't start a rep thread on that sentence... or else. Already had three because of something I've said related to rep. )

[Trashed20]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

One thing that I've noticed is that some things are not related to FIRST. For example, "Did I really just say AOL did something good?" by tkwetzel. Now, I think that is quite funny, but it isn't related to FIRST, and i don't think it needs to be spotlighted among the other great quotes.

Ok, i see your point here, but disagree. While this is a first related community, we talk about things other than first. Most of us do things other than first, and have interests in other topics. I think that if we focus on just the FIRST aspects it would be boring as watching paint dry. Personally, I think most spotlights are dull. While some of them may have "inspiring" messages or messages of gratitude to other teams, many are vomitusly sappy and make the whole system feel like a bad script mashing of the morals for ABC's lineup of after school specials. Seriously. It is all P.C. and takes the fun out of it. Everyone needs to just have some fun sometimes, and I think quotes like the one you mentioned keep the atmosphere light, and keeps the friendliness flowing.

[Ken Leung]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

Any chance we could come up with some type of process to weed out the spotlights?

When I look at this thread, I can't help but think about the first time the spot light was introducted to the CD forum.

I remember back then when the spotlight was introduced, the quotes were actually printed in the Championship event booklet. It was all great quotes from FIRST participants about the competition, about the 6 weeks, about good times, about bad times, etc. It was really cool to read some of those spot lights.

It is rather difficult to define a "cool" quote, but you know one when you see one. Like the following ones:

"FIRST is an amazing combination of principles that, when applied to the world, has had a monstrous effect on the way High School students learn, think, and relate to others." by Amanda M

"FIRST is kind of like charity work... you are, even if only in some small way, helping our future just a little bit, and you get a great feeling from it. Even if you are just ringing a bell (or clapping MOE sticks together), you're helping. " by Amanda Morrison

" Building a 'bot is kinda like washing your hair, but instead of "rinse, lather, repeat"... you should "engineer, test, repeat"." by Andy Baker

"When I give something, I often give it without expecting anything in return. I give because it gives me great joy to give it. So when a team leader decides to give all their heart to a team, it is true love that they exhibit towards it." by Anton Abaya

"I think being successful in FIRST is creating an environment where people can grow, learn, change, and recreate... It's about making an environment where kids feel they can be successful... in whatever discipline they choose. " by colleen-t190

"People in FIRST ARE lucky, because they are living a very creative adventure which just doesn't let up, and that is okay. Who wants to sit there watching TV and being a spectator anyway." by DougHogg

"FIRST is privlidge that I am glad to be a part of and any award we recieve is a blessing to be cherish not an expectation to be agonized over." by Koko Ed

"...we are all winners when people come out of this program and strive to make the world a better place." by Patrick Wang


There are some other cool quotes too, but I didn't select them because they don't mention FIRST in them. To me, one of the cool things for the spotlight feature of the CD forum is to see what cool things people have to say about this program, about the competition, and about the experience in it.

The great thing about a quote is that even though it is so brief, it brings great insights about a topic, about a story, or a discussion to the reader. Using just 5 seconds of your time, you can clearly understand what the writer is saying to you, and learn a little something from him or her.

Soooo, my advice to all of you is this: think a little before you press that spotlight button. Is this quote really worth going up to the top of the webpage and be spotlighted? Are you even going to remember this quote after 2 days? Do you really think others must see this quote or they are missing out a lot?

I will let you decide on that yourself. And if I happens to not agree with your spotlight I will just go ahead and delete it.

...

Just kidding .

Just try not to be too trigger happy with that button, will ya?

[Elgin Clock]

Joe, While I like the idea of your proposal to keep the spotlights FIRST related, I do believe that once in a while there should be a funny quote allowed as well, like the AOL quote you posted about.

I believe that any thing that is spotlighted, obviously should be moderated, but I think it should not be all FIRST related things. Maybe about 90% FIRST related stuff, and 10% other funny, or inspirational quotes should be the norm.

[Redhead Jokes]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

I believe that any thing that is spotlighted, obviously should be moderated, but I think it should not be all FIRST related things. Maybe about 90% FIRST related stuff, and 10% other funny, or inspirational quotes should be the norm.

That's what I'd prefer.

[Joe Ross]

I cleaned up a few of the spotlights today, but only removing double quote marks and the such.