rms wrote:

We accept purple star nominations from everyone, even non-giants so in effect, the entire Squidoo community is already the Purple Star Review Board.

Send your Giant Squid lens Purple Star nominations to:  purplestar@squidoo.com

So, if no one nominates a most worthy lens for a purple star ... then NO purple star?  I'm just thinking outside the box that it would be good to have a transparency factor added to the mix with over one million lenses.  You see, I am in no group or on really no team, aside from the Giant Squid 100 Club, but I haven't been to a club meeting lately.  You know what I'm saying?  I'm thinking some great lenses can fall through the cracks when groups and teams might be nominating fellow team members or such.  It is good to know that the entire community can nominate -- even Mom? 

Also a reminder that Purple Stars are not awarded based solely on lens rank or Page rank:

Here's Megan's description found on the Purple Star Program lens:

"Your Giant Squid Organizers will dust standout lenses, both new and old, at any time of the day or night, with purple stars. Masterpiece lenses. Lenses making a name for themselves. Lenses trying new things.

The best way to get picked is to get yourself noticed for your incredible content, for trying new ideas and modules, for running conversations on your lenses, for standing out from the crowd. Do that enough, and the purple star fairy will find you.

You can also drop a line about a stellar lens (your own or someone else's) to purplestar@squidoo.com if you want to make sure you're getting noticed."

Julie have you nominated your own lenses?  If not you should!

I don't wait around for others to notice me...I send in a lens if I think it's worthy.

I'm with you 100%!

For what my 2 cents is worth.

aj2008 wrote:

I am thinking that the more people you have on board as Volunteers, such as Angels, Mentors and in Review Committees the more cumbersome it becomes for The HQ Team to keep an eye on them. And the more people you have, the more chance of getting someone who is perhaps behaving in a way you wish they did not

There's always going to be worthy lenses that get missed because there's so many worthy lenses on Squidoo. Good Google Page rank does not necessarily equate to quality or worthiness, just like being in the Top 10 or Top 100 does not guarantee quality either. In some cases it is just because a lens is well optimized.

There does seem to be a suggestion that people may be banding together to give each other a boost but with only two people (Bonnie and Robin) running the Purple Star programme, then that makes it easier to keep an eye on things and spot any unwelcome patterns emerging. If there was a review committee to spread the load it may be more difficult to catch.

I think the various positions should be spread out among more people.  I like that the Angels are rotating positions.  I would like to see a Purple Star committee (and this has NOTHING to do with the good work of Bonnie and Robin) or to have it as a shared, rotating position.  Again, I respect their work and strong leadership in the Squidoo community.

It is not healthy or good for the community as a whole to have so much responsibility and influence in so few hands.

Rotate the positions.  Alumni positions could be given to those that have held a given position so many times (lets say 5 total quarters).

Rotating positions:
Pros
Less chance of burnout of the volunteers
More opportunities for others to hold positions
A healthier balance of power within the Squidoo community
More opportunity to have new ideas and opinions of quality to influence our community 

Cons
More need for involvement and oversight from Squidoo HQ (not a bad thing really...)
Difficulty for new position holders to learn the ins and outs


I don't think anyone should have overlapping positions.  Conflict of interest is a concern. 


I think a balance of age and gender would be healthy for the volunteers.  I would really like to encourage more young people taking part in Squidoo.  It would greatly help expand the scope of topics of our lenses.

From the Purple Star lens,

You get a pretty little star on your lens.
And a small onetime lensrank boost.
And an awful lot of bragging rights.

I don't give too much thought to the PS star program these days because the main benefit I see of the program is the bragging rights.    The lensrank boost is a perk, however, it is too short lived to really make a difference.  And, the 'pretty little purple star' kinda of goes together with the 'bragging rights'.   While a PS is nice to get and I appreciate it when I do receive one,  I don't need a PS to let me know that I am doing well here.  And, Julie, you shouldn't either.  Don't let a little PS define your success or failure on Squidoo.  You are an awesome lensmaster with a long, long line of fans that truly respect and appreciate all you do here.   I am one of them.  

That being said, anytime there are 'awards' handed out, there is bound to be hurt feelings and disappointment in the process.  That is simply human nature.  That is one of the reasons I am not a big fan of the PS program.

Is there a list of the New Purple star lens somewhere?

Greekgeek wrote:

Yeah, the email we get from having a purple star lens suggests we should go tell people when we've gotten one, but (a) on the one hand, I want to post a thank you to whoever nominated a lens, but (b) on the other hand, I have conflicted feelings about bragging. 

I think that inevitably, being active in the Squidoo community in one way or another draws more visitors to your lenses. It is partially a social site, for good and ill, so quality of content is only one factor in getting noticed.

This is how I feel too - "bragging", like other similar phrases that I see on here from time to time, are not at all complimentary phrases in the UK, so whenever I see it used on Squidoo, I do tend to wince! And to be perfectly frank, although I am sure it was a coincidence, seeing this conversation start up just after I announced my Purple Star, may put people off from announcing theirs if they want to.

If someone in our Community is happy about something, then I see the fact that they are happy as a cause for celebration throughout the Community. If we then start a conversation that makes it seem as though the process that led to their happiness is questionable or unfair then that is rather sad methinks.

I am sure there's lots of Purple Star worthy lenses out there that don't get noticed. They remain undiscovered because for whatever reason the Lensmaster does not promote them and yes, it is sad that they dont get the awards that they may deserve. But that is life I am afraid. My girls suffer disappointments all the time, as do all children, particularly with failing to get the parts they wanted in a show. So what do I do? Say the Director got the selection wrong, blow holes in the selection process and say it was not fair or do I teach them to handle the disappointment and encourage the hope that next time it will be their turn?

I agree with Tri, when he suggests rotate all the Voluntary positions. That is a very fair way to spread responsibility and the limelight that comes with it. Set Tours of Duty would also seem to be sensible, so people know exactly how long they will have the position. I also agree that anyone who does a Tour of Duty in one post should be disqualified from having another post at the same time. I also strongly feel they should be disqualified from having a new post for at least six months or perhaps a year after their Tour finishes. That will ensure that it does not appear to be the same people being recalled and "hogging" the positions all the time.

Having just finished what turned into two Tours of Duty as an Angel, I wont be volunteering for anything for awhile, not just because I am enjoying the extra time it has given me, but also because it gives others the chance to take a turn.

Obviously, if HQ suffers from a lack of Volunteers, then they would have to rethink the "disqualified" term, but it does appear that a lot of people are only too keen to help out, so hopefully that wont happen.

I am proud of my Purple Stars - in fact I am so proud I have published a Lensography about them. There's also a Duel module if you want to debate this further

Last edited by aj2008 (01/21/2010 4:31 am)

Well, how do we as humans with feelings make sure there is objectivity in the awarding of them purple stars?  And no perception of any favoritism(s) whatsoever?

oops, duplicate post.

Last edited by triathlontraining (01/21/2010 5:42 am)

JaguarJulie wrote:

Well, how do we as humans with feelings make sure there is objectivity in the awarding of them purple stars?  And no perception of any favoritism(s) whatsoever?

I guess that it is the same in any activity that involves a selection process. Even the most ethical and fair amongst us are always going to have their actions questioned by some.

I just dont see how any process that involves people making judgements will be deemed to be 100% fair by 100% of the people the decsions are made about. I think we all have people we prefer above others but that does not mean we will favour them. My main concern is always to make sure that I am scrupulously fair with the people I dont like

Thanks for keeping this discussion civil and "on topic!"  As intelligent human life forms, I know we "all" have our opinions and although we tend to disagree, we agree that we can disagree in a civil manner.