Barnstar and Award Proposals (BAP) is where Wikipedians offer and discuss ideas regarding the "standard" Barnstars, WikiProject's awards, Other Related Awards and Personal User Awards, which may include, but are not limited to: creation of a new barnstar, altering or changing an existing barnstar or award, or delisting an award entirely.
Ideas and their discussions take the following guidelines into account. Please note that these guidelines are not strict rules, chiseled in stone. Rather, they are guidelines agreed upon by the community as a way to standardize our approach to barnstars and awards. If you have questions, WikiProject Wikipedia Awards is a group of volunteers who help guide these pages.
How to use this page
Creating awards
Any person or any group can have an award and add it to the Personal User Awards page straight away, as long as the award meets the guidelines in the opposite panel. In this state, your award can be used by others as they wish, but it is not an 'official' award, and should not be added to any other award pages.
If your award is a Barnstar, an award for a WikiProject, or some other related award, then you must propose it to the Community by following the steps below.
How to propose a new award
Read the guidelines in the opposite panel to make sure your proposal agrees with them.
At the bottom of the 'New Proposals' section, add a clear header separating it from other proposals. Use ===Barnstar Name===.
Specify the type of award you are proposing. Is it for a WikiProject, a new Barnstar, or some other award?
Give some details about the award. Is it a general award, or is it for special circumstances? Is it a topic-related award?
Post your proposed design for the award. If you don't have one, describe one and someone might make a mock-up for you.
Describe the award, and give some reasons why it should be an award.
Remember, there must be clear consensus during the discussion!
Don't forget to sign your name with four tildes: ~~~~
Modifications or deletion of existing awards
At the bottom of the 'Changing existing awards proposals' or 'Delisting an award' section, add a clear header separating it from other proposals. Use ===Editing/Delisting Barnstar Name===.
Give some clear reasons as to why you think the award should be changed. These must be proper reasons, not just because you don't like it!
Consider making a template for your award to make it easier to use. Look at some other templates to see what other award templates look like, and try to use the same style.
Make sure to categorize the template with <noinclude>[[:Category:Award templates]]</noinclude>.
Guidelines
General
All awards must encourage WikiLove, WikiCivility, and the other constructive aspects of the Wikipedia community, and may not award or promote the destructive (trolling, flaming or flamebaiting, vandalism, etc.). They shouldn't just be for insulting others!
Awards should not, in purpose or image, concern any nation, race or creed over any other.
Creation of an Award
For how to propose an award, read the How To panel opposite.
General awards may be created and placed on the main award page by anybody as they see fit, so long as they do not violate the basic guidelines below.
You should explicitly spell out in the description of the award what it is for.
Barnstars are meant to be unique and exceptional. If you wish to propose a new Barnstar, it should be reviewed by the community, and be added to the Barnstars list only when the community reaches consensus on a page specifically designated for Barnstar and award discussion.
Images
If you want to use and image for your award it must not, obviously, violate any of the existing guidelines governing the use of images in Wikipedia.
The "Barnstar" image should be generally reserved for Barnstars, and rarely (if ever) incorporated into other awards.
Medals or commendations awarded by any nations or organizations, past or present, may not be used.
If your new award uses a template, please categorize the template with <noinclude>[[:Category:Award templates]]</noinclude>
Guidelines for Barnstars only
Barnstars should not be redundant, with the general guideline being "one barnstar, one WikiVirtue".
Barnstars should be general and broad in their scope.
Finalizing Proposals
General consensus must be reached in order for a proposal to be accepted.
If enough time passes without objections being resolved, the idea will be removed from this page and archived.
If more than a week has passed, the idea has not gained a consensus, and the discussion has been inactive, the proposal is eligible to be rejected and archived.
Proposals should be allowed to mature, so it is suggested that an idea be left in proposal format for at least two weeks for comment before being finalized.
Wikihalo
This award should only be given to users who have been on Wikipedia for at least one year and who have made over 10,000 edits, or a lower number of exceeding quality. Please do not give this award to someone merely because you like them or because they have helped you out.
If you are unsure whether someone meets the requirements, then do not award it. This award should only be given to users of the highest experience and skill.
DYK Barnstar or medal (proposal currently held up - do not archive for the time being)
How about something for Wikipedians who have achieved at least 5 or more nominations of Wikipedia's newest articles which were featured on Wikipedia's Did You Know? section on the Main Page? I suggest that successful nominations for someone else's new article should count equally with self-created new article nominations. It's a lot of work either way. the DYK section helps keep the Main Page vital. There is a bit of healthy competition among editors currently. Someone else with art talent will need to come up with an appropriate image for the award: I just write and edit, I don't draw!
Reading through the archive, I am left to conclude that the idea was just sorta put "on hold"? Personally, I like the Trailblazer concept. So, now what? Vaoverland18:02, 20 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I like this idea and had also previously requested for such a barnstar since i like DYKs. Can we renew the discussion here? Idleguy19:27, 20 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Possible image. (Sango123)
As mentioned in the previous discussion, a DYK Barnstar seemed too narrow for an official award, so how about using the Trailblazer concept for creating new articles? A possible image could be the barnstar to the left; green suggests growth and newness. Any thoughts or ideas? Sango123(talk)19:41, 20 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hmm. Not bad but not really great. I was thinking something like those product ads that come with labels like New, Improved etc. Actually make that a shining/sparkling (silver maybe) barnstar to denote the freshness. Idleguy20:16, 20 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I also like the expanded thinking of the Trailblazer, since it encompasses more than just DYK. So, how may we renew consideration? I am a writer, not a Wiki-Politician!! Vaoverland20:51, 20 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Though I may be a bit biased (I proposed the original idea) :-), I think that we should have a Trailblazer barnstar. As I said in the archived discussion, I imagined a fire-red barnstar with a zig-zag path/trail behind. I'm not an artist, though (don't even have Photoshop!), so I couldn't create this myself. Comments? Thanks. Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk | WS21:37, 20 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I like that image even better. However, I writes, not draws. <gr> Vaoverland
This trailblazer seems better. maybe the trail fire can look better though its still draft version. Unfortunately I don't have an eye for art and am poor at designing else I could've helped. Idleguy05:13, 23 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The trail reminds me of the video of the Challenger disaster. What's with the squiggle-zig-zag? Some straighter traces would be better. It's still better than the passive green concept, though. Vaoverland14:31, 23 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Where the star represents the barnstar, and to the left would be a brown trail or path. As I've said, I write, not draw. Pardon my drawing, as I'm artistically challenged. :-) Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk | WS20:44, 24 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Ah... I wasn't sure exactly what you meant by "trail", but your drawing effectively clears that up. :) By the way, do you want the trail to come from only one point of the star? Sango123(talk)22:06, 24 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. :-) I'm not sure, I really didn't think about that. Maybe try one version like that, another version where the trail comes from the bottom two points, and another version where the trail is in the middle? See what looks the best. Thanks a lot! Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk | WS22:14, 24 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
With all due respect to its creator, I think the most recent version looks like a vehicle skidding to a stop instead of streaking forward. But then, I am a transportation writer. Mark Vaoverland19:30, 30 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I second vaoverland's view. I just don't see it falling in place somehow and i'm also unable to imagine. but keep the ideas coming since I'm not good at artsy things. maybe how about changing the image idea to one I had proposed initially like a "sparkling barnstar" (silver color probably) That would be also different. Just my 2 banana cents. Idleguy06:04, 1 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Welp, the first idea for a DYK barnstar (also available in non-animated version!)... other ideas would just be a circle with the DYK-updated ? mark in it, or more emphasis on a shiny-new theme instead of a question/information theme... And, yes, I know it sucks, why do you ask? :) Bushytails05:38, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's a good idea. Remove the animation (and all the black question marks) and it will be the best one so far. Seriously, simplicity > bloat. -- Ynhockey06:11, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I strongly believe that the barnstar or medal should be exclusive to DYK. We hv a FA medal, why not for DYK which is the second feature of the Main Page? And while we are at it, we can have the cutoffs as 5 DYK entries (self-noms), 8 DYK entries (articles created by me but DYK suggested by others) and 15 DYK entries (articles created by others but suggested by me). No need for a hard and fast rule - for example, I may self-nom 4 suggestions but nominate other articles 3 times etc. I like the last version by Bushytails (the one with a single "?" and shining barnstar), though I'd want to see a version where the star is below the question mark, as if the ? is a hanger from which the barnstar is hung. Regards, --Gurubrahma11:09, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I like the idea of an award for DYK, since I do most of the updates I know the frequent and highly quality contributors, and I can think of 5-6 users that I would give the award to now. Since I'm potentially in a postition where I would award this barnstar- I don't think a numerical limit (4 DYKs = 1 barstar) is a workable or desirable, my criteria would be based on the quailty of new article, the supply of articles with free pics and the contributors persistence for example 8 DYKs over 6 weeks over a range of subjects. I can also think of at least one RC patroller that suggests lots of new artilces and has done so over a few months who I think would be a candidate. Also, I like Bushytails simplified, less sucky version, but the question makr should be bigger.--nixie10:15, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Bigger enough? I don't have the font used for the DYK-updated image, so had to pick another font... trying to scale the little image bigger was rather ugly... I could vectorize it and scale the vectorized version (I need one of those photography/image barnstars. :), but I figure that for now, a different font is ok... I kinda like the shining version better (with the blinkies every 5 seconds), and it isn't too over-animated. Any ideas? Bushytails06:15, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
A silver barnstar would be a tad too similar to the Resilient Barnstar. I think the question mark alone works well, as it's simple and concisely portrays the DYK aspect. Any extra animation might draw focus away from the barnstar's purpose (although the sparkles on the Bushytails' third version are quite pretty. ;-) The fourth version would look great with a solidly colored question mark, possibly beveled or embossed. Any thoughts? Sango123(talk)19:11, 27 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I had previously spoken of a version where the star is below the question mark, as if the ? is a hanger from which the barnstar is hung. The third draft of AFD rescue barnstar (see below) seems to be similar in thought. --Gurubrahma05:17, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I prefer the fourth barnstar with the larger "?", though I agree with Sango it should have a more solid appearance. Nixie is absolutely right that this should be rewarded on subjective criteria rather than some formula, as the quality of entries varies greatly.--Pharos14:15, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Broad enough?
Just to play devil's advocate for a bit, is this star really broad and general enough? I really think that we shuld do our best to minimize creeping barnstarism, especially since we already have a whole zoo of the things buzzing around. – ClockworkSoul16:03, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Well, I think DYK is really a horse of a different color than the valiant deeds which other barnstars honor. We shouldn't have arbitrary barnstars, but this really isn't at all analogous with creeping featurism in software; an exotic zoo with all the bells and whistles is rather efficient for an awards system.--Pharos14:15, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
So, folks, I ask once again, what may we do to get a consensus and determine whether there will be a DYK barnstar? Meanwhile, I am back to working on WP content. Mark Vaoverland11:24, 24 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
How about something that isn't a barnstar? Maybe a gold questionmark? Barnstars seem really special and shouldn't be introduced too willynilly (I think I have minor standing to make suggestions but not to participate in consensus discussion itself, as I've had 5 selfnoms selected as main page DYKs... not sure that merits a barnstar, really, but something small/minor might be nice.) There ARE people who deserve barnstars for their work on this, but those would be the admins who do the moving around gruntwork... and those could be handled with existing barnstars, IMHO. ++Lar: t/c18:33, 24 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Proposal - Manga and Anime Barnstar
Awarded to great contributors to manga- and anime-related articles.
This is a proposal for a category barnstar. It will be awarded to whoever makes a great contribution to articles in the field of manga and anime. Since there's already a personal award called the 'Pokestar', and possibly more similar ones will be created, why not have an official manga and anime barnstar?
First off, the category barnstars are for the actual categories listed on the Main Page {e.g Culture, History, Science etc.) So this barnstar wouldn't fall into the class of Category barnstars, but rather topical ones. Secondly, what images did you use for the 'star? I ask this only because if they are copyrighted anime images, there might be a copywrite issue in using the barnstar. Bratschetalk | Esperanza15:41, 30 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I used an old picture from Dragonball (Z) that's been circulating around the net for years. Thought it would constitute as fair use whether or not the image was copyrighted. However, if you think this is an issue, the image can be changed easily since I have the PSD/CPT files. What kind of image are we looking for in order to not be copyright infringement for sure? Is a screenshot OK? Would a fan colouring of a B&W page be OK? Because I don't think there are many non-copyrighted anime or manga images. Oh yeah and, I did mean topical barnstar. Sorry. -- Ynhockey00:17, 31 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Discussion on the Manga and Anime Barnstar has been at a standstill for about a month. If no attempts at reviving it are made within a week, it will be archived. Thanks, Sango123(talk)15:18, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I think we should let it go: it simply isn't "broad and general" enough (I just skimmed the guidelines again), and I think we would be better off to avoid creeping barnstarism in general. – ClockworkSoul15:55, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I think anime/manga is pretty broad - it has hundreds if not thousands of related articles. It definitely has more articles than Spoken Wikipedia, which already has a barnstar. -- Ynhockey07:30, 5 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
As I said before, I took it from an anime image that was floating around the web for years. IMO it constitutes as fair use since the use was limited and non-commercial, but if you disagree, please clarify what kind of images are valid to not constitute a copyvio. Without this clarification, I cannot use another image because you might just say it's copyvio again. -- Ynhockey07:30, 5 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I support the existance of this barnstar, though the image needs work. Question is what makes Anime special? Image of that should be on the barnstar or on the background etc... --Cool CatTalk|@14:13, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
While I like the idea of an anime/manga barnstar, here's a question: note the Wikiwings bit below for aviation articles. In short, does it have to be a barn star? We're talking about anime and manga here, folks - we could award an anime fish sausage, or taiyaki, or something else. I say we go with something original that defines us as otaku/anime fans/whatever.--み使いMitsukai20:07, 10 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I like the idea of something original in principle, but somehow it seems to make the award seem less 'official'. Unless the image is really well-made, like the Wikiwings. Any ideas? -- Y Ynhockey || Talk Y 20:17, 10 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Well, there's my suggestion of the taiyaki (yeah, I'm stuck on it - blame it on Kanon), or maybe a henshin wand. Something that is defining as an anime or manga award, but doesn't quite specify a particular series. Here's my thoughts on it; maybe someone else can come up with some as well:
taiyaki
henshin wand
fish sausage
magatama
a sakura blossom (looks close enough like a barnstar, yet without the actual barnstar-ness)
I'll see if I can come up with something. I've got that "barnstar"-like sakura blossom in Adobe Illustrator; I can see about a tree as well.--み使いMitsukai08:01, 11 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
The barnstar-like blossom would be great. I probably won't be able to participate in this conversation for another 2 weeks (although I'll be home tonight), you know, army stuff, but hopefully you will find something nice and more users will participate in the discussion before I return. -- Y Ynhockey || Talk Y 08:48, 11 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
That depends on whether you consider manga as a part of comics. While technically it is (and in Wikipedia, manga is under Category:Comic books), whoever voted for the barnstar might've not realized this. There are currently about 1000 articles under the parent category 'manga' alone, with 28 subcategories. The comic books category, not including manga, is much smaller. Spoken Wikipedia has even less articles (although I admit its potential scope is as large as that of Wikipedia itself). -- Y Ynhockey || Talk Y 07:24, 11 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Yesterday, after some debate, the scouting barnstar was moved from the barnstar page to the PUA page. As an adherent to that discussion, I believe that this should be a PUA. On an entirely different note, I was wondering if this GFDL image can be used, after relevant modifications, for this award. --Gurubrahma19:56, 11 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Wow, someone must have spent a fair bit of time on that! I like the idea; since it refers to Wikipedia, it doubles the meaning of the award. I agree; this is a great award idea, but too limited for a barnstar. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)19:59, 11 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I'd like to see something like "Honourable Order of the Wikipedia Stub Rehabilitation Society", which could be awarded to people who rescue items from AFD and similar lists by making comprehensive rewrites duing the voting period. I've one particular recipient in mind, but I know of several whom this could easily be awarded to. Grutness...wha?05:30, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Just took a stab at it, a lot of directions we can go from there. I especially want to do some creative changes to the Barnstar in the background, just unsure exactly what would be best to compliment the helicopter, or if we want a RedCross instead; and/or I could make the helicopter a brown barnstar color scheme and do something bright in the background, such as a RedCross (second draft) but inside a Barnstar outline (didn't look good when I tried it). (also I don't like the blue roter blades... but making it look cool might be beyond my skills) - RoyBoy80018:25, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe I could change the basket to a Wikiglobe... or better yet a Wikipedia "W" puzzle piece to represent the article being rescued. - RoyBoy80001:50, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
For some reason, my browser's not letting me see your designs, but if I get the drift of them right, what about simply a rescue helicopter with a small barnstar hanging from the end of a rope below it? Grutness...wha?02:14, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I definitely thought of that too, yeah we can do that. Now to cut down drafts, what color scheme for the copter (original, or barnstar?), what barnstar should be used... the original makes sense given creating/rewriting articles is the very essence of the barnstar... or could it be the Working man's barnstar. Although each article is different, rescuing poor articles from the AfD is a constantly needed, tireless task. (and the tireless barnstar would add more color if we went with the barnstar color scheme on the copter) - RoyBoy80015:31, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Then most importantly the size of the barnstar... it could be proportational to the copter and so it fits inside the frame, or I could keep the barnstar the normal size and it would go outside the boundaries of the image (that would emphasize this is a big deal). - RoyBoy80016:23, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I also like the third one, it's much better than the other two overall. However, you should probably improve the rotors. -- Ynhockey14:43, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Coo, which rotors... the top ones? If so... that may be the limit of my artistic ability, if you can do it... or recommend someone I'd be more than happy to copy and paste their improvement and credit them in the final upload. If you mean the tail rotor, just in case its too small... its the WikiGlobe!:"D - RoyBoy80020:06, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hmmm... this would be tough now. We need a balance between wit and information. A nice name that is also informative. Red Cross Barnstar, or M.A.S.H. Barnstar, for example, don't really emphasise that the awardee rescued articles from AfD. How about something like Operation: AfD Rescue Barnstar? Granted, that's slightly unwieldy, but I'm just brainstorming here. My brain has a lot of rubbish in it. --Deathphoenix17:48, 29 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Well, I suggested a (somewhat flowery) title originally, but it could be shortened - how about "Article Rehabilitation Barnstar", or just "Stub Rescue Barnstar"? That means it doesn't have to be for AfD, just for turning something hopeless into somethig encyclopaedic. Grutness...wha?23:02, 29 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm sorry to come in late and be a wet blanket, but I'm not so sure about this star. We have so many barnstars already, wouldn't a "Working Man", "Editor", or "Diligance" star be just as good? At 25 stars and counting, we're starting to suffer from serious barnstar creep. – ClockworkSoul07:40, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I really like this idea, and I think article rescue is a unique enough activity to merit a separate accounting. It's not unheard of for something to be deleted just because folks on AFD aren't familiar with the topic, and this barnstar would award a much-needed service. The 'hanging barnstar' is also a great graphic concept.--Pharos13:50, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I do like the current image more than the old ones, but would it be possible to get a helicopter that looked more like a Search-and-Rescue machine? Possible source images with compatible licences: 1, 2, 3, 4. Sorry they're all American; the British, Canadian, and Irish ones I found don't allow derivative works... -User:Lommer | talk06:31, 2 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I prefer image 3 and it is a great barnstar; what I've been noticing more is "good users being fed up" creep. Too many barnstars is not high on my creep list... simply put there are a large number of specific ways people make a real positive impact on this encyclopedia. Acknowledging them specifically for those efforts, as I see it, can only be a good thing. - RoyBoy80023:30, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I agree with Royboy and am already feeling lonely with three afd rescues and nothing to show for it ;-) --Gurubrahma12:25, 13 December 2005 (UTC) (sorry just couldn't resist the temptation of attrating people to my userpage)[reply]
Support. I'm not concerned about what this barnstar will look like, but I think it is a good idea in general. I like the idea of making it a broader "stub rescue" star as well where serious verification must be done. Crypticfirefly22:37, 22 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Strong support for this barnstar as long as the final graphic maintains the general image 3/image 4 concept of a chopper airlifting the barnstar. That really makes me smile for some reason. --Aaron21:20, 15 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
good idea, but already covered by several barnstars. Why not club it with Investigator's barnstar (discussion above) as busting copyvios calls for some investigation? --Gurubrahma10:04, 16 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think this is exactly covered by other barnstarts, but I also don't support the barnstar in principle. For example, many Wikipedians mindlessly delete images after 7 days because they have no copyright status, even though a simple Google search would reveal that it was a fair use image, logo, etc. This barnstar farther encourages this sort of behaviour, which IMO is inappropriate. -- Ynhockey20:06, 20 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Unfortunately (depending on one's philosiphy) that exact behavior is endorsed by Wikipedia policy. I however agree with it because if you are uploading images, you should already have read the copyvio rules, and even if you haven't it says several times right there what you shoudl and shouldn't do. If a user wants to take it upon him or her self to take the time to verify an image they would be doing a great service, however, to not delete them after their time is up without correct labeling would be counter to wiki-policy. Also,this barnstar would easily cover the work of those who choose to verify the source of an image. I propose that a better name would be the Copyright Enforcement Barnstar.--Oni Ookami AlfadorTalk|@07:11, 21 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
That name would be better. If someone is mindlessly enforcing stuff without common sense, then don't give it to them. But this isn't just about images, lots of folk identify, tag and research textual copyvios. --Docask?10:24, 21 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Knight barn star
Here is a nomination for a high-ranking barnstar for only really special peoples:
The image Depicts a barnstar at risk of toppling off a drooping flat earth.
I propose awarding this in recognition of the defenders of reality against those who would impose the pseudoscience of their belief system. Editors who heroically fend off trolling anons trying to subvert articles on vaccination , medicine (vs. various forms of quackery), government health policies (vs. conspiracy theories), intelligent design being a mask for creationism etc etc come to mind as worthy recipients. This is not just about ensuring SPOV, NPOV or reverting vandalism, but about arguing and defending against trivial minority viewpoints who argue (often eloquently) and post large number of references, most of which are selectively misquoted, do not draw the claimed conclusions, are anecdotal reports rather than null-hypothesis statistically vetted research etc. etc. David RubenTalk15:52, 31 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Have made some new, rather big barnstars, as shown here. Havn't thought of a special award for them, you migh perhaps have a idea. →AzaToth21:52, 2 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Spooky... If we're using random barnstars we've made, I've got an old 'ghost' barnstar I made for some reason a while ago but never bothered uploading(I think it was meant to represent a blueprint). It's not too good, but it's semi-transparent. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)22:56, 3 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
A Minor Amulet
This image shows a golden amulet with the images of a book, W (for Wikipedia), and "hero", and is a minor file that is meant as a minor award, ie. for someone who helps you quite a bit. Why??? Of the many awards given, the vast majority are for high-grade users, leaving many of the lower-level contributors with no encouragement. Because of its minor size, the heroamulet.jpg is perfect for stacking up...
It's quite self-explanatory really, it's for exemplary monitoring of Recent Changes or New Pages. It's a bit low-quality right now, but it's just a start.
I like the idea, but how about a modern clock face, since the stone-sundial looks a little 'old' for recent changes. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)22:12, 6 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Understand, here I made a more modern varian, imitating pastel plastic (P.S. do NOT comment the number tvelve):
Hmm, I don't really like the clock (mostly because it's measured in hours, and recent changes is measured by seconds or less ;)). I do like the sparkling new, though. Maybe a combination of that and my original one? I'll whip one up in a second. --Rory09603:54, 7 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
It's just something I found on the Commons. Actually, I got another idea to add to it while dreaming last night (yes, I dreamt about Wikipedia, I'm probably a Wikiholic). I'll add that on in a second. --Rory09615:21, 7 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I would like to propose a new Barnstar for people who work tirelessly to promote a NPOV on Wikipedia, especially on controversial articles like Northern Ireland, Taiwan and others with very opposing points of view. There are Wikpedians out there who try to keep things neutral despite constant attacks, some personal, from other users and I feel they deserve their own award for their perseverance and dedication to neutrality. The image included here is just something I've knocked up quickly based on the traditional barnstar merged with the flag of Switzerland, a country famed for its neutrality. If someone can come up with a better merging of the two then it would be appreciated and would put my poor image editing skills to shame. Ben W Bell08:50, 7 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
How about a yin yang (☯) type barnstar, to represent the two sides of the arguement in balance and equality, although my design seems to includes lots of odd swirls around the edge. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)17:15, 7 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I like that idea, but the colors I dont like, here is my suggestion:
When creating new Barnstars, there's a couple of preliminary considerations, to determine if the proposal will yield an award that will be useful, interesting, etc. a) Determine the scope of the award as clearly as possible (this seems to have been done); b) Establish that there's a demand for it; c) This is the really tricky one, and where most of the proposals fail: make sure that the scope of the award, and effectively the award itself, is not already covered by another already-existing award (which people will tend to prefer). In this particular case, one might say that the scope is already covered by the Defender of the Wiki Barnstar — it doesn't mean that the award is not viable, but we'd need to establish that it presents a specification in scope that can be of particular use. I'm not sure that this can be done here, since the DoWB was created exactly when people were trying to push POV and misinformation in a particular article. Regards, Redux14:12, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
The above barnstar is very attractive looking and rather sensible. I do wonder about the colours. Maybe some of them should be tweaked to match the NPOV tag itself? yonkeltron21:10, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Inclusiveness Barnstar
Draft 1 of Inclusiveness Barnstar
This barnstar is to be awarded to anyone, by anyone for recognition of efforts to incorporate contributions made by multiple contributors with multiple bodies of research. Many different people from many different backgrounds often come together when working on an article. Making sure that every piece of input is considered and given the appropriate voice can often mean the difference between a weak article and a solid one. Those who are able to successfully integrate differeny streams of input and varying interpretations with eachother are furthering the collaborative cause.
The idea for the graphic is basically a star with different coloured orbs about it. The orbs represent the different pieces of information that need to be weighed. Each one is in a different position relative to the star to symbolize the fact that different people come from different places and backgrounds. In the center of the star is a swirly-magjig intended to signify the coming together of the varying sources and contributions. yonkeltron11:25, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Featured Article Barnstar
I sugest a special Barnstar for those who endlessly attempt to get an article into a featured statues, and almost single-handedly succeed. Such an award may look like the ordinary Barnstar, but coloured gold or something. —The preceding unsigned comment was added byDavidpk212 (talk • contribs) .
This layout seems to be already covered by awards such as The Tireless Contributor Barnstar. But there's a deeper problem with this proposal: normally, we tend to create Barnstars aimed at recognizing broader commitments to the project — that is, if you are a "tireless contributor", to stay with the Barnstar I mentioned, you are such on multiple instances, and not just in relation to one or two articles. For this award, people would be getting it for a significant commitment to, I suppose usually, one single article. Not that people can't be recognized for work done in just one or two articles, they can, and they are, but we do it using Barnstars that are more general and can adapt to these situations (such as the Original Barnstar, The Tireless Contributor Barnstar or the Working Man Barnstar). But if you could somehow find a way to broaden the scope some, I'm not sure how, then we could try to run with it and see where it goes. Regards, Redux03:15, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I think this should maybe go to Barnstar Proposals. But I do have a proposal where the design is the same, but updated (I also have an alternate version where the centre using the (PD) Blue Marble image of the earth). smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)23:56, 18 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Unnecessary, imo - several people (incl. me) like the current version. I'd support moves that would increase resolution or reduce size of the current version. By and large, I am not in favor of re-inventing the wheel and re-doing things that have already been decided by consensus. Also, this may have potential for inducing edit warring. --Gurubrahma15:06, 19 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I like the medal idea. The only thing is that while most barnstars look fairly sharp, the Barnstar of National Merits looks as though it was designed on Microsoft Paint. I like the design, it's just the implementation of it I don't like. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)15:11, 19 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Three of our old barnstar stalwarts, Redux, Alkivar, and Zscout370, had a huge hand in designing this barnstar. I don't remember too much because I was on a bit of a barnstar hiatus at the time (I didn't jump back on board until it was going through the final stages of design). There were reasons that the original barnstar wasn't used. Please take a look at this entry to take a look at the original discussion (boy, that was a walk down memory lane!). In addition, I think it would be best to contact the people involved in the original discussion (including the above-mentioned and the other Barnstar veterans such as Clockworksoul and Grutness) before we muck around with the current design that has been in use for a year and was the result of several day's worth of discussion and effort (maybe they have some suggestions for mucking around with the design ;-) ). --Deathphoenix13:11, 20 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
If you wish for the ribbon to be shorter, sure, I can make it shorter. But, the reason why I did not use the BS image that is displayed to the right is that I thought it looked "ugly" when it came to what I wanted to do. So, I decided to make the star for the BoNM medal sharp, clear and give it almost a professional look. I based the medal pattern after some of the other medals I drew for Wikipedia, such as the Hero of Socialist Labor and Hero of Ukraine graphic. I am willing to make some of the easy changes, such as making the ribbon shorter, but I oppose the overhaul that is suggested. User:Zscout370(Return Fire)Fair use policy06:41, 21 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not too fussed either way, to be honest - the current design has got a sharper image (as Zach says), but the actual barnstar as proposed is more consistent with the other awards. I would suggest that if the change goes ahead then the ribbon colour should be lighter, more like the current award, since IIRC United Nations blue was deliberately chosen so as not to favour any country (my memory could be off on that one, though). Grutness...wha?06:54, 21 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Um, all I really wanted is to increase image quality. It looks like my creation in MS Paint. I don't really care about colors/lengths. Just make it look sleek and nice and professional. Renata07:01, 21 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
My viewpoint is, no matter we use a mspaint or "barnstar" style image, the strap needs to be shortened, otherwise we will still end up with a medal instead of a barnstar. Deryck C.07:27, 21 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
If it's consistency that people are concerned with, you could also try to blur the image slightly so the lines aren't as sharp. Personally, I like the medal design. --Deathphoenix13:17, 21 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Back when we created the award, we agreed on a medal-shaped image — after going through several other possible shapes — because of the correspondence between a country-related award and the fact that countries award medals for those who are deemed to have performed relevant services to that given country. I do believe the award should remain shaped like a medal — especially now that a little more than a year has passed and this appearance has become associated with the award — although it seems that this is not the goal of this discussion anyway; and I also must agree with Gurubrahma on the potential problems, at least in theory, of reopening discussions that had already been settled by consensus, although, again, this seems to be a non-issue here. In addition, the other relevant point about the present appearence that needs to be brought up is the color of the strap — taking the opportunity to compliment Grutness on his excellent memory —, which was chosen deliberately as "UN blue", so that no questions about any national color being favored could arise. That logic is still valid, of course, and thus the color needs to be kept. Other than that, I don't particularly oppose adjustments in the BoNM's appearance, although I will say that I like Zach's design — yes, the thing about not using the actual Barnstar could be taken as an issue, but I do agree with Zach that it just doesn't look that good in the award. Although I do remember, and now it's my turn to dig up the past, that the original Barnstar was used in the award's first official design (being replaced sometime later with the present design). Redux16:10, 21 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Not really. What we have there is a very large, general page, mixing wiki awards and user awards together (there's even a double entry, for the Music Barnstar). On the BoNM "front", what we do have is a bunch of country-centric awards inspired by the BoNM. They all follow the same basic format, which is to be expected, since they were all created and added by the same user . That, of course, makes all of those personal user awards, not wiki awards, which only the original BoNM is. Regards, Redux17:31, 21 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Zach is right. I suppose, if people feel it is necessary, we could consider small adjustments, such as making the strap shorter, or reducing the general size of the whole image (resizing). Personally, however, I don't see a need for that, since we can determine the size of the image to be shown on each page. I mean, if we use the template for awarding a Barnstar ({{award|image=IMAGE|text=TEXT}}) the size will already be a very reasonable one, and when we "hang" the award on our user pages, we can resize it in loco, by making it a thumb, using the gallery format or the good old size code ([[Image:IMAGE.JPG|50px]]). IMHO, we should not fix what is not broken. Redux14:02, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Without weighing in on the new vs. old comparison, I'd suggest that you keep the ribbon restricted to a U.N. blue, like in the previous design. --Deathphoenix15:41, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, the UN blue is a lot lighter. Check out the UN flag for reference. I will insist on the importance of determining if any changes are actually necessary. I, for one, don't think so, per the reasons I stated in my last comment. Redux20:21, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that we don't need any changes (hence my header on the new vs. old), but I still wanted to weigh in on feedback on the design. You're right, UN blue is a lot lighter. I need to get my eyes checked... --Deathphoenix20:30, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
In terms of feedback: yes, AzaToth's design does look good (except for the color, which is not yet right). Hey, do what I do: it's always the computer's fault. So, if you got two shades of blue confused, just say it was your computer screen that was malfunctioning at the time ;). Redux20:55, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I do think that the version now used is to ugly to be allowed to be given to anyone. I have redone it again, with a more U.N. like blue color, and a simpler star:
Seems ok now, but maybe others could confirm, since my eyes...I mean, my computer could be deceiving me. But once you've gotten the color right, it's right back to the central issue: there is no consensus to change the layout significantly. On the contrary, consensus now is leaning towards either keeping it unchanged or making only minor adjustments (shorter ribbon, resizing, or something along those lines). Redux03:02, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I think I agree with you. Call it stupid or whatever, may be, someone like me who received 2 BoNMs and spends a lot of time looking at them ;) is too attached to the old design. More importantly, I don't see any need to re-invent the wheel. On a tangential note, I feel we as a community are spending more time on secondary activities such as userboxes and barnstars. --Gurubrahma03:31, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I prefer the star from Azatoth's initial proposal better... the ribbon is like 25% too long... but thats just my opinion. I like the last blue ribbon best. ALKIVAR™22:17, 23 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I have to say, I'm a little sad. My old buddy DeathPhoenix mentions a bunch of old-timers that should be notified, and somebody (*cough* Renata *cough*) mentions it to all but me. What am I, chopped liver? ;) Oh, by the way, I'm pleased with the idea of a bit of a polishing. :) – ClockworkSoul06:22, 24 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]