Preamble:

The recent discussion of the 2008 Holiday Wish Lists Gift contest in ONE POST WINNERS? reminded me how much this site's existence is owed to the regular contributions of talented (or at least inquisitive ) home baristas. Their contributions are what brings many visitors to the site in the first place and it's their willingness to help these visitors that leads many of them to become regular contributors in their own right. In response to the concerns expressed in the "one post winners" thread, the contest rules were modified slightly to give a bonus time reduction between entries to those who had contributed to the forums in the recent past. In the end, this advantage didn't noticeably affect the outcome, but it was at least symbolic recognition of the value of regular contributors.

Welcome conundrum:

A few days after the contest ended, Henry Flory (hwieniawski) contacted me. He expressed his appreciation for the nice gift of a Paradise Roaster's custom espresso blend to your taste, but felt he didn't have the experience or equipment to make good use of it. I suggested he give it to a family member or friend; I also offered it in trade to the other winners. None of these options panned out.

Unexpected gift of the season:

It's such a nice gift from Paradise Roasters, it would be a shame if nobody had the pleasure of enjoying it. So Henry and I discussed alternatives for awarding it to one of the other members (or giving it to one of the deserving members of Team HB? Sorry guys, we're not eligible ).

Recognizing valued contributors:

Team HB tossed around some ideas. Dave suggested randomly selecting among the top 3 posters. I liked the idea in general because it rewards participation, but one could interpret it as rewarding quantity over quality. Combining the idea of the bonus time reduction for the recent contest, I've coded what I hope is a reasonably fair measure of a member's contribution, dubbed the "Most Valued Participants (MVP) Score".

Most Valued Participants (MVP) Score

Some of those who are logged in will see a new field below the post count in the poster's profile to the right of each post. In the current implementation, it's simply a filled bar and the alt text is the score whose value I'll explain in a later post.

How will this gift be awarded?

Should the prize go to the one with the highest MVP score? While my technical side liked the formality of a calculated score, it lacks an element of human judgment. So I propose that those having the top five MVP scores be entered into a poll vote and the member with the most votes wins. To avoid ballet box stuffing, only members having a minimum MVP score would be allowed to vote.

More details to follow...

I'll hold off on the details of the metrics used to calculate the MVP score so as not to influence opinion at this point. However, it is not "karma based" nor is it a measure of popularity.

You read my mind (sort of). We're not eligible for prizes, but I already planned to ask Paradise Roasters if they would be willing to help us with a friendly espresso blend competition between the MVP winner and Team HB.

According to the secret MVP Score algorithm, these members are candidates for Paradise Roasters' gift:

1. Marshall (*)
2. AndyS
3. cafeIKE
4. zin1953
5. Randy G.
6. aindfan
7. roblumba
8. IMAWriter
9. espressme
10. farmroast
11. narc
12. mhoy

I eliminated ineligible entrants (Team HB and those residing outside the lower 48 states... sorry!). I'll send a note to these gentlemen to ask whether they wish to participate. Those that agree will be entered into the MVP poll (depending on how many say yes, there may be two rounds).

(*) Marshall, judging from your prior comment, I want to assure you that I did nothing to produce this outcome. The algorithm was developed without any particular attention to who ranked where.

aindfan wrote:Instead of having all (some) members vote on a winner from the top MVPs, what about unlocking the contest thread for the eligible (top) MVPs and giving the prize to whoever gets the highest (or lowest) random number?

I suggested a vote as a way for the membership to say "thank you" to the winner, though there is the potential interpretation that it's a measure of popularity as Marshall warned. Barring any objection, let's go with your idea.