VM /ETC introduces the UGG/UGH awards and DISQUS comments
January 16th, 2009 | 
Author: 
Ugh!
Hey, it’s been a week of announcing new virtualization awards so I had to chime in with my own announcement, right? VMware announced the vExpert reward, vinternals.com announced the humerous vIdiot awards, and now I am announcing the UGG (Ugly Green Guru) and UGH (Ugly Green Hero) awards.
Can you think of a better award for stressed out, overloaded, virtually insane virtualization professionals who take the time to help others?! Maybe you’re not a vExpert (and hopefully not a vIdiot!), but everyone should recognise the value of publicly announcing a good “UGH”!
The winners will be announced Quarterly and will get a special t-shirt so they can proudly display their accomplishment.
Here’s the details for determining the winners:
- Take the time to comment on posts here at VM /ETC. Help others, add information and links, answer questions, and keep me straight.
- If you’ve already commented in the past, claim your profile on DISQUS by creating a free account. (More on DISQUS comments later in this post) Otherwise open a new DISQUS account.
- Make sure I add you to my DISQUS Community Friends.
- Keep an eye on the Top Commenters via the PEOPLE tab of the multi widget in the VM /ETC left column.
- Award clout points to other comments. I willl do the same. Participate in the discussions.
- The top commenter wins the UGG Guru award, and the second and third place finishers get the UGH Hero award.
- The fine details of using clout points versus number of comments to determine the winners will be subjective and my call – it really depends how I well I can track my comments.
- I will mail the shirts to the winners.
I am not trying to become the next VMTN Communities or virtualization forum. I have no illusions about that! I just want to recognise and thank those that help make this blog informative and helpful for both myself and all subscribers and readers.
So, what is DISQUS? Why did I switch to it for VM /ETC and why should you sign up?
Here’s some general info from Disqus.com:
“Disqus is a powerful comment system that easily enhances the discussion on websites. In minutes, connect your community with those of over 45,000 other websites.Track conversations across the web, plus bridge discussions with your favorite services such as FriendFeed and Plaxo. Threaded replies reveal the conversations in your comments. And now it’s easier to keep the discussion alive with email and mobile replying. Features such as ratings and video comments make comments interactive and expressive.”
There are various administrative benefits for VM /ETC to switch to DISQUS, but what’s in it for you? The best way I can describe DISQUS is that it aggregates all the comments that you make, not only here but for all other web sites or blogs that also use DISQUS, into your own web / social profile page. When you link your other social networking profiles and feeds DISQUS also displays them too. Alot of commnets could be classified as blog posts anyways, so having a web page with all of your comments is like an instant blog. Your DISQUS Profile even has an RSS feed. Check out my profile here as an example.
If you are thinking “I do not need to sign up for another social networking site”, believe me, I understand. So even if you don’t open an account DISQUS makes discussions easier for you on VM /ETC. If you just leave a comment with a valid email address you will be able to follow other’s comments from that post in your inbox, and a simple reply will automatically post a new comment from you. If you have a profile, you can sign in with your account to leave a comment. Don’t worry, I don’t want your email address and will not use it for spam or marketing.
There are already a handful of virtualization related blogs that use DISQUS. A few that come to mind are:
If you know of other sites using DISQUS too let everyone know with a comment. Once again, the value of using DISQUS is it is not just for one blog.
Like I mentioned earlier, if you’ve ever commented here at VM /ETC you already have an unverified profile. When I switched I imported all of the existing comments from vmetc.com. Claiming that profile is explained, along with some other helpful info, from the DISQUS help page:
How do I claim a profile?
If you’ve made a comment on a blog using Disqus, you automatically have a profile. To claim the comments and profile, verify your identity by clicking “Claim” on the profile. Once the profile is claimed, no one else will be able to use that profile or email address to comment aside from you.
What are clout points?
Clout (measured in points) is a person’s reputation across the Disqus network of blogs. Clout is determined by a few different things, but mainly by the rating of comments by others.
Clout helps blog moderators separate top commenters from trolls. This number also helps our system detect spam and unsavory behavior. Since it may imply greater legitimacy, a higher clout will allow for more privileges in the near future.
I plan on designing the t-shirts over the next few weeks, and I’ll post what they look like then. I’m sure there will be some details about this I have not thought of yet. Just leave me a comment or send me an email. This will be an evolving program I am sure.
I want to thank Sean Clark for inspiring me to try this (maybe I’ll end up blaming him later on) with his tweet from earlier this week:
vseanclark: @rbrambley How about a points system for VMETC comments? You could pay me with ugly green t-shirt to wear at VMworld next year.
As always, thanks for reading, subscribing and participating on VM /ETC!
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