Nominations

Hey there.

Had this conversation with one of my YWS buddies who is also a real friend of mine, if you know what I mean, and I'd just like to hear you thoughts.

Is it frowned upon to request nominations from YWSers? I'm currently on just two out of five for my Reviewer 1 badge, so some nominations would really help, and at this rate, it seems the only way I'm going to get them is from requests. Is this a bad idea?

What have you guys done for nominations (those of you with badges)? Just sit back and wait for them, or be proactive and make requests to your followers?

If someone deserves a badge, they will get the badge. If you feel like you aren't being nominated when you should be, then the chances are it's simply because people don't know or forget about the nominating system. Instead of requesting nominations (which, personally I would count as bad form) just try to improve your reviews and the quantity of them. At the moment, you'll notice that you have done 51 reviews and the minimum for reviewer 1 is 50, so you've actually only just become eligible for the badge. Don't worry, you'll get there. Just don't think of the badges as too important - sure, it's nice to get recognition, but that's not what it's all about.

I wholeheartedly agree with AquaMarine. Sure, I bet most people forget about nominations because I know I do, but when I see someone who I think deserves a badge, it's most likely that I'll nominate them. Nominating people isn't what I do on a regular basis because then nominating people would lose its meaning and just become... nominations. There's a sense of accomplishment when you receive a badge because you're thinking (at least I do), "Oh, wow, these people thought I deserved this badge so they went out of their way to nominate me."

I think it means so much more to let time do its thing and wait for a great sense of accomplishment rather than pressuring others to vote for you. Then it's just silly.

If you want to get your badge soon, you may want to go and see who the top nominees are for the Reviewer 1 badge and the Reviewer 2 badge. It might give you some sense of who people think are deserving of such badges and what they are looking for. Also, it helps to read the guidelines. Like AquaMarine said, it's a lot more than just the recognition.

While the nominations system is nice (look at my flashy internet bling), I don't think it's very important. How much does a gold star under your name really matter? Most people probably forget about, or can't be bothered to nominate someone, so if badges are really important to you, you could preface a work by saying something along the line of "Please nominate me, if you feel I am deserving." You obviously should not demand nominations, but a reminder that the system is in place may well work to your advantage.

I'm in the same position as you are except with a different badge and I think you should just wait, rather than go out there and seek nominations. A badge is only one way of YWSers expressing their gratefulness for what you've been doing, sure it's nice to have a badge but it's not everything.

After all would you want to receive a badge knowing that you had to ask for the nominations? I know I wouldn't. Just be patient and continue doing what you were doing before to get the first couple of nominations and just think of the badge as a reward and not necessarily the only thing that you need to feel accomplished as a reviewer/greeter/storybooker!