I think it would be a great idea to have a Motivational Member of the Month each month. There are so many motivational and inspirational members here but some truly do amazing things and should be recognized. For example, Alta just ran her first marathon and her journey has truly been amazing and inspirational. It shouldn't always take a marathon to win but there are plenty of other members who have had some incredible accomplishments.

I think we could have one thread at the end of each month for nominees, narrow it down to 5 or 10 and then have a voting thread. We could keep it in the Diary/Journal section and limit it to members who have current journals/diarys that have been in existence for at least one month. Any interest in this? Alta gets my nomination for October 2009.

I like the idea, but I am not sure it should be limited to a motivating member.

To me a member of the month is more than a good motivater they should also be someone that is having sucsess in weight loss or maintaining a loss and passing quality information on to newer members.

KaraCooks gets my nomination for October 2009 if your asking for nominations.

Oh. Heh. *blush*

I'd nominate Omega. She takes the time to say hello to all the new members and points them in the right direction.

ditto *blush*
Funny - because I would nominate Kara for exactly the same reason...

hey, great idea! I'll mention it to the admin!

can i nominate myself? or should i tell one of my employees to nominate me

Sounds like a BLAST!!!

Although I wonder....isn't there a "bragging rights" thread? I know that is kind of different. Some may not want to "brag", but other's do post their accomplishments there as well.

Since there is so much come and go to the forum, even if they were here for a month or longer, is there enough staff, and/or volunteers on board to keep track of the going's on without a personal opinion of someone?

Such as there are so so many threads and so much activity that who's to say whether anyone in particular should be a nominee?

What is an accomplishment to some, may not be an accomplishment to another...

What if ppl may start to feel left out because what they've accomplished isn't high on someone else's standards? What if they're not seen as acceptable or driven enough ect ect...?

This could either be a thriving environment for something like that, or it could be fatal...(just an observation)

The rep points may not be enough if someone has or is doing something completely worth celebrating, so yes that is a great idea, will it fly?

My idea of the ppl on this forum that could be nominated would be the ones who keep coming and working their hardest:

I definitely agree to nominating Karacooks, Omega, Alta, I also would nominate the following: **Sorry if I gut name spellings***
San, Korrie, Steve, Kereransu, Reluctant Cabbie, ChefChiTown, Cord the Seeker, Unreconizable, M_Marie, BrazenlySasse, Trusylver, Wishes, Camy, Karebare, Cate, Baglady <<<I don't even know half of these ppl, but I see their post's around a lot. Some of them are my own bias opinions. And than all the ppl that I cannot even fathom.

The ppl that created this site. Everyone else who has ever tried to be a part of this site...is that not an accomplishment? Anyone whom has posted their b4's & after's what about that?

Or is it a new thread that just happens to be a place where other's can go and talk about who they want to nominate and why? Maybe with some kind of guideline towards asking that person first. IDK

Well either way it's handled, could you please weigh out each option. I just see a really good side to this idea, but a really bad side to it as well....

Anyways whatever is decided. Keep up the great work, I love this site, it's helped me over some great mounds.

I think it's a great idea, actually.

I don't like the idea to be honest. It's like e-peen stroking for those who need that kind of thing. Like the reputation function. And you'd have people complaining that they haven't been nominated nearly instantly.

I'm ambivalent about it.

On the one hand, I like the idea of recognising the people on this forum for their quality, service, or accomplishments. There are people here who really merit recognition.

On the other hand, I could see it becoming more of a popularity contest than anything else. It could also lead to hurt feelings, and people feeling left out or snubbed if they don't get nominated or voted in.

Not that protecting people's feelings is a big concern of mine, but rather that it could lead to negative emotions that might cause friction on the forum.

I'm not thinking it should be about service.

I think it should be about extraordinary accomplishments. Such as coming from overweight/obese to running a marathon, or something of that nature.

That would probably be better.

i agree with what you have all said. I think it is a good idea and people are always going to feel like they are being treated unfair. A suggestion would be to have the nominations private. They send the nominations to the mods via PM and the mods create a thread in their mod section to discuss. Break it down to the top 3 or 4 and try to have a category each month, so that the reasons for the nominations are clear before people start nominating.

First month: top admin - since i'm the only one, that should be easy
Month 2: best progress
Month 3: most influential poster
etc, etc ... since there are more small posters than big posters, i think the majority of the categories should fit them. The main idea of this is to encourage people to be more active in either helping others or themselves, and that should be weighed equally.

Now that is a good idea!

Well except of the first month