Stormblood said:
Another reason I suggested this is because sometimes I see very good or even excellent replies by people who post less or don't have yet the same respect as other members. I would want to praise them but I wouldn't to seem patronising, which is why I generally avoid.
I thought about the qualitative part and the only possibility that came to mind to evaluate that is the usage of different symbols to determine how good, rather than a simple thumb up. Maybe other people have ideas of how this could be implemented and whether it holds value.
The easiest way as I see it to bring more attention to these kind of topics, is for other well known and more respected members to reply to those posts and affirm their quality.
The idea on that with the JoS Guardians in mind would be, someone makes a good post, a moderator or Guardian sees this, and gives a reply.
The known name and reputation of the said Guardian or moderator would be enough to serve as a highlight to uplift the post in my opinion.
Especially if more than 1 person makes a reply.
Good posts deserve recognition and praise.
Personally I have already done that from time to time, as I know my name is relatively more well known in the community, so if I see something I believe is valuable, I tend to make a short and curt reply giving appreciation for the persons work or affirming it's value.
Whether someone has a title or not, this can be done already by anyone.
When the Guardian rank is established, this will become easier as the names of these people will be more recognizable, especially to anyone new who may not know yet about reputable members who have gained a deserved reputation after being here for years and contributing with a certain standard of quality and value.
For example, all of us who have been here for over a year, know Lydia as one of our most valuable members, so if she were to give an affirmative reply to a post, people would definitely give more attention and value to that post as well.
Perhaps something that could be done is add a special flare to posts where a JoS Guardian replies.
This way the replies of the JoS Guardians which people may be interested in (I am always interested in reading what Lydia has to say, as well as what BlackDragon has to say as a few examples) are easier to find for members and it can serve to highlight topics and posts as well.
Or perhaps certain JoS Guardians could have the ability to flag a post with a flair when they deem it important or valuable enough, which would highlight it for other members.
Then perhaps after a week or so that flair disappears automatically so as not to clog up the forum.
At the same time, a list could be kept if all those good and valuable posts which could be posted periodically, perhaps weekly, perhaps monthly, to create a recap of all the great discussions and posts people have had and made, to highlight these valuable and good things from our community, which can be kept and posted by one of the Guardians.
This would require the personal input and evaluation of advanced members who are verified by HP HoodedCobra, which the Guardians are to be, to manage this and keep track of this, rather than an empty voting system which in the end causes more problems than benefits.
HP HoodedCobra has already been doing this by lifting some user posts up to the announcements for some time, which highlights the importance and value of this post, and serves as a motivation and reward for the people making good quality posts as well at the same time.
A flair system could be a middle ground there, something in between that the Guardians could manage, without having to give people any moderation rights that are necessary to highlight posts up to announcements, which would be a higher level of authority reserved for HP HoodedCobra and other future verified Clergy members.
Hail Satan!