Welcome to the first blog post for the new Council Spotlight series o n Thursdays!
What better way to kick off our new Thursday theme than to launch our new reward system for TechNet Wiki???
Who did what?
This is a new system that I started with the help of Margriet Bruggeman. Eric Battalio came up with the original theme of ninjas. I first started drafting this concept in fall 2010... to come up with the different levels as Ninja Belts and to reward the community with a fun theme and fun rewards... and lots of them! Lots of requirements, lots of belt ranks to burn through, and lots of rewards! The basic idea is if anyone actually makes it through all the rewards Then in 2013, with the dawn of the new TechNet Wiki Community Council, I realized that we now had enough people helping so that something like this would even be possible (previously it just seemed like a pipe dream).
So I launched the system with a rough pass, really not knowing too much about martial arts (I did some research to try to get it so that it looked good). Well Margriet stepped up and helped me by giving me a ton of feedback on how to get the belts, ranks, and titles more accurate and authentic (plus other Council members with Martial Arts experience helped a little as well). I made a first pass on the Requirements and Rewards. Margriet went through the 25 different ranks and gave them all the fun "Sensei Says" (and similar) quotes, to make the theming even more fun! (Special thanks to Margriet, because I think this really takes it to a new level of "fun!") Then I added the "About" sections so that we can speak to the different belts, rewards, and requirements a little (like maybe we can drop a few hints there). I made a pass at tweaking the rewards (note that they will require a lot more tweaking, especially the ones that might cost some money, like stickers or T-shirts). Then Margriet, Richard Mueller, and I made a pass at tweaking the requirements. And Bruno and Yagmoth have been helping us think through how to make the physical rewards a reality (like the pens or buttons). Once again, thanks to Margriet and Richard for helping get it "done enough to launch."
I'll start by properly introducing the first three belts (that make up the first class, Novice Wiki Ninjas)...
NOVICE WIKI NINJAS
White Belt
Sensei Says: "A white belt is like a finger pointing to the moon… Don’t concentrate on the finger or you miss all the heavenly glory. Don’t focus on the achievements too much for now, they will come. Just enjoy working together in the TechNet Wiki community."
About: This is only the start of a journey. The white belt can be achieved with 1 week of putting in extra effort.
Requirements:
- Bronze Achievement Medal: New Wiki Editor - You made one revision.
- Bronze Achievement Medal: New Wiki Commentator - You left one comment.
- Bronze Achievement Medal: New Wiki Contributor - You authored one article.
- Benchmark - You placed in the Top Weekly Contributors 1 time.
Rewards:
- Wiki Ninjas Blog: Belt Rankings - You first appear in the regular Belt Rankings blog post
Yellow Belt
Sensei Says: "A yellow belt means practice, practice, practice... And when you're done? Practice some more."
About: Your journey continues as you prove you're a consistent editor. The tweety bird sings your song.
Requirements:
- Silver Achievement Medal: Wiki Editor II - You edited 25 articles, and 10 of those received 500 views.
- Benchmark - You placed in the Top Weekly Contributors 2 times.
Rewards:
- Tweet - We tweet your TechNet Profile and primary Site out to our followers
Orange Belt
Sensei Says: "Someone always knows more. Don't let that faze you, you're well on your way."
About: After writing your first 10 articles and seeing your name on the Wiki Ninjas blog a few times, it's time to feature you as a Wiki Ninja on the blog.
Requirements:
- Silver Achievement Medal: Wiki Contributor II - You wrote 10 articles, and 6 of them have 500 views.
- Silver Achievement Medal: Wiki Commentator II - You left 35 comments.
- Benchmark - You placed in the Top Weekly Contributors 3 times.
Rewards:
- Featured Wiki Ninja - We feature your accomplishments as a Wiki Ninja with a blog post dedicated to you
- Tweet - We tweet about your featured blog post
You can find all the Ninja Belt Ranks here: Wiki Ninja Belt Rankings
And now, let's start tracking who has what belt...
How to Get your Wiki Ninja Belt Rank Determined
So in the spirit of interaction, the people who will get their Wiki Ninja Belt Rank first, are the people who respond to this blog post! When you respond to this blog post, you become the top priority for getting your belt rank calculated! And then of those who respond, they will be calculated in the order of who commented first! We'll update this blog post here and in the comments when this process changes (we'll probably eventually switch to a different blog post or forum thread).
Second, we will go through the Wiki Ninja Blog Authors, in the order of who posted on the blog first (the one exception is that I will make sure I'm calculated last in this group). See . If someone new posts a comment to this blog post, we'll make that one a priority before calculating more of the blog authors.
Third, we will go through the Wiki Ninjas who we've interviewed. See Interview with a Wiki Ninja. We'll go through them chronologically (starting with the first interviews).
Fourth, we will go through the "Saturday Top Contributor Awards" blog posts to pull more people. We'll go through them chronologically (starting with the first blog posts), and we'll focus on the top 3 contributors for each award/category.
So leave a comment below, and we'll calculate your Wiki Ninja Belt first!
As we track your belt, we'll announce it in the Wiki article, Wiki Ninja Belt Status: Who Has What Belt Ranking, in future blog posts here, and as a response to your comment below.
Come on in! The Wiki is fine (and now it will earn you Ninja Belts)!!!!
- Ninja Ed