I've been reading several posts about the "Editor's Choice", and I have my feelings on this that I wish to share. Please read on and I pray that my post and opinions help all who read this find internal peace and satisfaction in all areas of their lives, not just in this marvelous tool that is FunTrivia.


I asked myself, "Would it be nice to receive an "Editor's Choice Award"? Sure it would. I'd love one, BUT receiving an award is not the reason I write quizzes in the first place. Of course I want my quizzes to be played, to be enjoyed, even to be loved by FT editors and quizplayers alike.

I'm writing quizzes, not to receive pomp and ceremony and awards and badges. Oh no. My reason for writing them is much more selfish than that.

I write quizzes because it's the WRITING that makes me feel good. I write them because it provides ME with an 'avenue of release' that provides me with personal satisfaction and ways that I can express MY interests in a manner that serves ME and MY needs.

The selfishness I'm speaking about is something we should all strive for as an accomplishment that is personally satisfying to US without sitting around afterwards and mulling over unimportant issues such as,"Why didn't I get that award?" and "why did that editor give the other editor an editor's choice award?" and "what about me?" and "what about what I want" and yadda yadda yadda blab yap pout whine.
I love it when I see my quizzes hit twenty ratings and that's about it. To think of the billions of things we could write about and the millions of people from all over the world who each have their own level of education, their own level of language skills, their own levels of interest, it THRILLS me to see that 50 or 60 or 1,000 have chosen to play MY quiz out of thousands of choices and then to see that I'm averaging over 70% on all of them in the good and excellent category is an "Editor's Choice Award" in itself! If one can't get excited over that very fact, but rather desperately need an award from a group of editors whom they really don't know and who have the right to establish their own personal interests, just so they can feel good about themselves, they really need to have a 'long and psychologically intense chat' with the one they see in the mirror and ask themselves as to "why am I really doing this?"

I admit that I do have some issue with the ratings system. I feel it leaves too much room for negativity and gives too much opportunity for 'virtual strangers' to sit in judgement of others' likes and dislikes and abilities and disabilities by simply clicking a rating that is based on their own imperfect way of thinking. But that's a subject for another time and posting.

It's too easy today for individuals to point their fingers and lay blame elsewhere and express their opinions as to how the system failed them, and in this case, just because they didn't get a little 'thumbs up' icon placed beside their work for really no other reason than they can say "Gee, look at that thumbs up icon. Ain't I just so great?"
For a change, try writing for yourself, and if ONE person out this awesome, internationally diverse FT group sends you a compliment or thanks you for making them laugh, then in my opinion, that is worth more than all the badges and editor's picks combined. I can honestly say that there's little that makes me feel better about myself and my quizwriting than to think that I made somebody laugh. When I receive a letter or a compliment that has a smiley logo or has a message that says, "Thanks for the laughs!", or "Great quiz!", then the badges and awards seem so much less important.

That's why I write quizzes, and I firmly believe it's the best reason as to why ALL of us should write them as well. So next time you're feeling down or blue about being 'passed over' for what you think is "the greatest quiz in the world", take a few moments to ponder the compliments you received from fellow FT players all over the world and take some time for yourself to feel good about that.


Thanks for reading.

I remain, the krazykritk

If all you do is write quizzes for YOU, then why go through the process of having them placed online for anyone who so choses to play?

I will never, ever, strive for Selfishness.

I will be proud of personal accomplishments.


I will not go around dumping on something which means something to someone else.

It's not for me to say what is important to someone else.

There are some rather useless things I enjoy doing, some goals for myself that others will find not worth their time.

That doesn't lessen them, or make them more important then other peoples goals.

But that's just me.

Two things:

1. I love how you tell me and everybody else here what we should "strive" for, and also why we should write quizzes. Know that I do NOT share your view on this subject.

2. It seems to me that you are feeling jaded because you have not received an Editor's Choice badge.

FunTrivia is a sandbox.

There are some basic rules (no throwing sand), some sand and water (templates), and some teachers (editors). The teachers walk around now and then and hand out some awards to creations that they think are particularly nice.

You are free to play in that sandbox and create in any manner that fits within the rules and which pleases you. You can try to build castles that you think the editors will like, or you can play with Fred and John over with the trucks and just build whatever.

In the end there is no right way to play. That's what makes FunTrivia special. How you experience the site is entirely up to you.

I think my point has been missed. I'm talking that from a personal viewpoint that I gain my satisfaction from writing the quizzes and making other people happy who play them. That's what I meant by selfishness, not a selfishness that is to do with greed, but a "selfishness" that has to do with my own idea of feeling good about what I do.
I don't "tell" anybody to do anything. It's a suggestion for those who understood what I meant by saying, "My enjoyment in writing quizzes doesn't come from the badges I get, it comes from the act of sharing what I do with others." I like badges to and try to get them, but if I don't get them, I've still had a lot of fun doing what I'm doing."

Sorry for seeming misleading. Darn autism sometimes interferes with my true intentions. Thanks for reading.

Mike

If you had posted in let's say, the Blog section of the site, I don't think I would have taken much notice after reading it.

Perhaps the FT Lounge section would be better place for a post like the one that startedt this thread.

I wouldn't put down having people read something different than you are thinking to anything more then, it's near impossible to be 100 % clear when writing posts, especially longer ones.

I don't know anyone who at some points, or often, hasn't had the meaning of their words taken in a completely different manner then intended.

Thanks for that info about the lounge Bx. I sometimes have a pretty hard time scanning the FT setup and still haven't got the gist of how everything works, but I'm trying.
It's been a hard go but I want to assure you that I've gotten as far as I have in life by changing the pattern of autistic thinking and really REALLY working at hearing what others have to say.

I really put my heart into that post as a way of getting readers to try to give themselves the permission to say, "I did great!", without relying upon a badge or an award to tell their inner selves that they have worth beyond the world of badges.

I'll strive to work at finding the proper place to put my posts and I can only do that when people let me know what they feel too. I just wish that it didn't seem that I'm trying to "tell" folks what they should do. That's just me trying to share my excitement about what I'm writing.

KK

Thread moved to the quiz author forum, where it best fits.