For those who joined Fluther after the make-over, would you have been as eager to join without the awards?

Yes, I would have.

Yes.

What? Say it ain’t so, Joe! The awards are dead? I was patiently waiting . . .

But yeah, I joined because a Fluther answer came up on Google to my tech Q above forums like Major Geek and the continuation of info I got was first quality, then I discovered a few art and linguistics questions, and then I got my first outrageous insult as part of the raucous repartee back then and, yeah I was in.

Yes, I would have joined despite the lack of bells and whistles. The only time I pay attention to my lurve score is when it’s an interesting number. As of this writing it is 17676, which is kind of funny.

I have stopped handing out GAs like candy, but I try to give a GQ to every question I answer. I’m here for the long haul, and the awards don’t mean a thing to me.

I can’t honestly say, because I have never seen it as anything other than what it is now. But if the people were the same quick witted, cleaver way they are now, I don’t see why I wouldn’t have loved it.

Yes I would have joined and participated just as much. Collecting awards is of no interest to me at all.

Yes I would have joined and participated. I agree with what you say about seeing so many threads with no GAs or GQs given when the question is excellent and the discussion has generated some fabulous responses.

It is what it is though and I enjoy fluther anyway and really try not to worry about how much lurve I get or don’t get. That is a recipe for resentment. I would like the Robot Crush award… sighs.

Some have accused me of being bot-like – so here’s a Robot Crush for you, dear. I got a crush on you.

Awww, that’s the best award! Thank you @zensky.

I’m generally more of a commenter than an asker, and I’m not saying I don’t like getting GAs and GQs but what would really make me happy would be if more people would answer my goddam questions. I have one lingering out there in the ether, regarding a subject I know for a fact that a number of people here who have very strong opinions on and it only got 2 responses. The question received 3 GAs and only 2 responses. I want to know who the hell thought it was a great question but not good enough to actually answer!

Then again, maybe I would do better on my questions if I didn’t ask them at 4:00 in the morning. I keep pretty weird hours.

Edit: Actually, I don’t really want to know who. I don’t like things to get personal here.

It makes no never mind to me.

Clearly I’m not here for rewards; apart from learning the odd thing or two…… I came here when Answerbag destroyed it’s community spirit, I needed a new home to expand my mind, plus some of my old friends came through here too, but have since left for pastures new :-(

I was here both before and after the awards. I don’t think they were added to attract new people so much as just to inject a bit of fun and whimsy.

I would have joined before the awards without giving it a second thought. The main reason I joined and the main reason I’m here is to help people, all the other stuff is just icing on the cake. :)

I joined when I heard about that cake in the frizzer. I’m gettin’ ticked off about not gettin’ my cake! It better not have frizzer burn!

Perhaps not, because Fluther was already an established community of longstanding jellies. The awards, and the way they are structured to reward long-term participation, imply that newbies are welcome, not just to ask a question, but to stick around. It can otherwise be difficult to break into a group where most everyone knows each other.

It was the quality of the majority of the questions and responses that attracted me. So, yes, I would have joined anyway. I’m actually surprised at how “competitive” I’ve become around the awards. I find I disappoint myself if I don’t reach certain arbitrary goals I set. If the rewards went away, it would certainly alleviate some self-inflicted pressure here ;-)

I have to say I enjoy getting and giving GAs and GQs but then they’ve been here as long as I have. However, while I have never cared at all about the awards, they don’t particulary annoy me if someone else gets pleasure from them. What I do miss lately is some of the very sophisticated discussions and arguments we used to have but these things usualy wax and wane.

I didn’t join for the awards, initially. But once I realized what they were all about, I did strive to achieve some and some I could care less about.

So yes, I would have stayed…not sure how long though.

nevermind :)

I came because the questions looked like fun. I didn’t even know about lurve until I got it explained to me from a friend a few days after I joined. It makes no difference to me.

(You do like to flog this horse, don’t you, Zen?)

There are awards??? ;-)

I’m not really sure if the awards were in place already when I joined.

Personally, they seem kind of pointless, especially the mystery ones. To me, if you don’t even know what you did to earn an award, how does that give any sense of achievement? It’s basically a by-product (and therefore pointless). And I find all the coyness about the mystery of them rather irksome. I basically ignore them. If I had to name which ones I do or do not have, I couldnt do it if my life depended on it :)

So, obviously I would have joined regardless. But if some people find them enjoyable, it doesn’t bother me. Everybody is different.

Yes. I came here with a question and liked the people.

I stumbled upon here to get a helpful response, I stayed for the laughs and the fights and the make-up sex afterwards. : )

Sure.

There’s make-up sex???

@janbb By “make-up sex” I mean calming down after a somewhat bitter trade of words, exchanging pleasantries. Like a group hug of sorts, internet style. I think jellies who stay are part of a funny dysfunctional family who loves rational and smart conversations but tends to intentionally annoy other family members once in a while just to make it more interesting.

(Dang – I thought I was missing out on something!)

Is putting things in parantheses the new whisper?

Naw – I just heard there was an award for it!

I snorted my home-made espresso.

We aim to be snort-worthy! :-)

In between the horse flogging?

Can we put a date on the make-over, I don’t remember if I came before or after.
I only remember that the different sections were implemented.
But I would have joined anyway, as I don’t care really what a site looks like.

@rebbel I was wondering when the change @zensky is talking about happened as well. I joined in May 2010, just a few days before they gave us the “general” and “social” sections. So this is really all I remember.

Check out this question from October 2009; JLeslie hadn’t heard of the awards yet – so it probably started around then.

http://www.fluther.com/59196/i-thought-id-finally-ask-when-giving-lurve-do-you-consider/

@rebbel For some reason I happen to be a person that cares about how a website looks. Fluther’s design was very pleasing to my eye and no doubt played a factor as to why I got addicted.

But going back to @zensky observation that it’s a popularity contest sometimes when it comes to giving GA’s scores. I think that’s inevitable. I find it hard not to give a GA to a jelly I like even if it the post does not deserve it. I think jellies eventually evolve focusing on the jellies themselves not their answers. Is that so bad? I don’t know.

It’s just natural. I like to compliment in real life. I have no problem telling a guy he’s good looking, or complimenting a woman on her shoes or dress. I tell people when they are funny, smart or both – my favourite compliment. GA is like a high five – it comes automatically – and it’s like a mi-fluther complimet.Now GQ’s should be 100 lurve as it’s much harder to ask a question.

@zensky Yes agree that it is much harder to ask a question that would start a great and meaningful discussion. I regret not being a jelly who could ask anything meaningful. If you scan my questions, they’re pretty out of here and senseless! Lol.

Mine aren’t much better. I think I’ve asked about 1000 Flutherfluff questions.

OMG!!!! Awards!!!! You have no idea!!!!! The day I found out about the awards I had seven spontaneous orgasms in a row!!!!!!

I had to sneak my pants into the wash. How could I explain to my wife that it was fluther?

Okay, I found the blog post announcing avatars. Of course, the blogs only say the time – not the date – for some strange reason. I asked Lisa to look into it once – I mean, who cares at what time (somewhere in the world) it was posted – what’s important is the date!!!

But the replies to the blog say “two years ago” so it started about then – give or take an hour and a few minutes. ~

Here

I didn’t even know there were awards until like, a year later after I joined.

I’ve never understood the appeal of the awards or what they are supposed to do.

I’m with @Neizvestnaya

I could care less about the awards, the 10 and 20k parties are fun, otherwise I’m just here to learn, share and socialize a bit. :-)

So… am I to understand that I am doing something wrong by enjoying the awards? Does this make me, somehow, a less pure jelly?

Yes. You are marmalade.

@dappled_leaves

Nah, just preference, hey, I think the award names are amusing, and I do check ‘em out once in awhile to see what they are, but..if you dig it, don’t worry, be happy! :-D

@dappled_leaves Psh, you’re pure jelly. Psst…I like ‘em, too. To each their own.

Aw, thanks @augustlan… though now that @zensky has me thinking about it, I always have preferred marmalade…

I joined before the awards and I enjoyed it, and I’m here after the awards and I enjoy it.

I would have because I just appreciated the answers to the first question I ever posted and decided to stay.

I might have still joined because, if I recall correctly, my motivation to sign up here had nothing to do with getting awards. I came here because this site was talked about by other users on another site and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. One of the reasons I actually left before was because I found the awards system here pretty childish. I found it hard to take the site completely seriously with all the cutesy messages. I’ve come back, though, and it’s grown on me. I appreciate it more.

@AnonymousGirl Which site was it talked about on?

@janbb Answerbag. I try not to make a big deal about coming here from there, though, because I didn’t come here because I don’t like the changes over there. I still like it and use it, even though I’m currently taking a semi-break from there until the 12th.