Quote Originally Posted by fiosreach View Post
I'm very new here; I posted my intro a day or two before this thread was started, and while I'm a little reluctant to jump into this debate, I figure the best introduction award would be relevant to me.

I was very nervous about posting my intro, took about an hour to do it, whined to my friend on MSN that it was awful, and was worried about how it would be received. I had to give myself a good talking-to and remind myself that it's not a competition, I'm just saying hello. And then the next day I read this thread and to be honest, my first thought was "Well crap, now it is a competition." And I started feeling as though, by posting a bog-standard "hello", I was losing.

I can see the idea behind it, but I'm a little worried that the people the award would encourage to introduce themselves would be those confident enough to do it sooner or later anyway, while those who might be shy or afraid of what people think of them are unlikely to be encouraged by the thought that their post is being judged.

Just my two cents.
great thoughts here.

I definitely understand that posting an introduction can be hard and then saying to yourself that it isnt a competition and then finding out that it actually turned into one makes it feel even worse.
For me it isnt a competition and I dont really care about winning things like this. I just take it as a forum with people that I like and things I can learn and things I can teach others. Sure winning something like "most knowledgeable" is flattering but does it really change anything? I mean we all feel who has lots of knowledge and those who share their knowledge with us. Do we "need" awards? No not really but it is a fun thing to do anyways

This is for me a recognition of what Rabbit did for us and "best introduction" isnt a bad way. Perhaps it could feel like that for some but it does have its merits.