Hi people
It would be nice if Paydirt got humming again. Personally I’m not a FB fan, but it certainly has lots of activity on the detecting page and drawn a lot of members from here. Can some of these ex Paydirt members be enticed back? I hope so.
One of the reasons I like Paydirt (there are many) is the quality posts, usually including a few good pics and some form of story relating to the post and often a small novel is written including extensive research on the find…not just a pic of some finds freshly dug covered in mud, which is often the case on FB (although not always)
Lots of different personalities, styles of humour, interpretation of words/meanings etc, can and has caused friction in the past and I don’t think anything can be done to avoid this. (But maybe there are ways to minimise the friction?) any ideas anyone?
One thing I have noticed in the past is there seemed to be some tension at times between the gold and metal detector section/members, although things have settled down lately.
Show and tell section…some people may feel that there finds are not worthy or are a bit daunted by some of the incredible finds being had so choose not to post. We all have those hunts but it’s still nice to see other members finds regardless of greatness.
Monthly competitions
Just a thought maybe mix it up a bit…worst hunt, finds- Biggest, best, oldest, smallest, most spendies or 1/2 cent coins etc etc not all in one month
Don’t know how practicle competitions would be in practice though.
Just my 50 cents worth, feel free to add anyone
Iggy
Gold vs metal detector sections… I got the impression that this was because the swingers were a lot more active so the “new posts” section at the bottom tended to fill with detector only stuff. With the new site it’s easier just to focus on the categories you’re interested in and both get equal weighting on the home page.
Monthly competitions… kick one off mate under Coin & Relic > Show, Tell and Identify and we’ll see how popular they are. If it’s popular then we can spin up it’s own dedicated category or something. Experiment
Cheers Gavin, yeh I will have a crack at setting up a wee comp… Might be a bit soon yet, a few more people needed I think.
One possibility may be running say smaller duration competition like over a long weekend which may make choosing a winner easier, could be quite simple like oldest coin for example.
Nice little cheap desirable prize (foreign coins off Trademe etc) could be sent off to the winner with the catch being its there turn to sort the next comp, but not compulsory to do so.
Someone may have some suggestions and maybe it’s just something that won’t take off.
Competition update… I have managed to source some (I believe) desirable, cheap, semi awesome keepers as prizes. So when the time is right and a format is agreed apon we will be good to go whether it be here or on Paydirt.
Just my shillings-worth. Keep it to bragging rights only, or maybe top find sits at the header for the next month?
I’ve experienced a couple of instances where physical rewards in forum comps have brought out the green-eyed monster and resultant bickering. Most notably where members of the fairer sex have posted an entry and, rightly or wrongly, got the most votes. Fallout from those cases resulted in both ladies leaving the forum.
Maybe at the end of the month, the Mods decide amongst themselves as to the best post? Can be a find, a well-thought out photo, or a good story…
I’d like to see more people posting the mediocre results too. Every hunt tells a story and I enjoy watching people progress through the hobby from their first exciting rusty tent peg find through to silvers, then maybe a ring, and into the gold.
We’ve all been there and it’s nice to revisit the memory through others experiences.
Bit OT but I haven’t had my coffee yet.
Hey, thanks for that - much appreciated. I think @Iggy will be running the show on this one though (empowering the community). Cool for him to contact you directly?
Yes, I could imagine that could be an issue I’d still like to have an experiment and give it a go though. If it starts to turn ugly we just pull the pin.
I like the idea of having a few prizes as it might encourage better participation. Also don’t mind having a particular months competition “sponsored by xxx” to give back to the dealer / supplier providing the prizes that month. To keep it fair for dealers, we’ll just rotate through any that are interested in providing prizes - everyone gets a turn.
I’ll also add a special “Competition Winner” badge that can be awarded alongside the physical prize - /badges
@Iggy you’ve got me quite excited about the competition idea now! I may have to run a gold one too, but probably over the course of a summer. Biggest nugget found, most unusual looking nugget, etc. Will have to hit Daniel up at DredgeNZ to see if he’d be keep on providing a few prizes.
A few more thoughts regarding competitions.
One concern is honesty and members trying to bend the rules so to speak.
I’m hoping this won’t be an issue but human nature being what it is…
One way to lesson this temptation might be to keep any physical prizes value low and to only disclose what the ‘mystery prize’ is until the comp is over.
Initially I was thinking shorter duration comps say over a long weekend (mainly for easier management) but this may be too restrictive. A monthly comp would help to involve more members.
Themes that encourage all to get involved, and suit all styles of detecting and ability would be ideal, and for starters nice and simple.
Maybe if the theme is not cut and dried so to speak such as ‘Oldest coin or token’ then a voting system is used to decide the winner.
This could be as MW suggested or maybe even done by number of ️ By members.
That’s where simple clear themes may be best to remove emotion and opinion from the decision making process.
Oldest coin or token sounds simple enough but even that needs some guidelines in particular the legibility of the date…is it all coins or only foreign? Etc
Simple and fun way to help keep people honest, is at the start of each comp, a “key” image is supplied
eg
which has to be printed out and feature in the “in the hole” photo when the item is dug. This should prevent previous photos or those without genuine ownership being used.
Some ideas:
A Kids Comp, say 5-10years
Brand-specific (eg Kamakuza brand machines only - I used that one to avoid offending any dealers )
Copper only, Brass only etc
Mystery date (disclosed after the comp) eg Mystery Date …Shillings. Closest to the secret date wins. In case of a tie, first coin posted wins.
A month could be too long, could try and make it a full week, Midnight Friday to Midnight the following Sunday (9 days, incl 2 weekends)
No doubt there’s many other curly ones to make it interesting.
I’m happy to sit these out and be part of the judging panel if needed.
Yes agreed good ideas. Funny you should mention the 2x weekend/9 day scenario as I had thought of same for first comp as I will be uncontactable last week in Sept not that it’s a biggy.
Thirty odd days may be a bit long and a long weekend a bit short so good compromise.( if a member is busy one weekend they still have midweek and following Sat/Sun to try there luck.
A small break between comps to sort winner/s, medals and prizes if any, then notification of next upcoming comp.
I like the ‘key image’ idea. It’s not foolproof though and could be manipulated, but it may help for sure and would add a bit of spice. Couple of potential bugs maybe the hassle factor of keeping the image with you, reprinting when it gets lost/soggy.
Mystery date… Brilliant
I’m hoping that these comps will encourage more activity in the posts, particularly in the show and tell section regardless of how successful the hunt was.
One last minute thought on that start at midnight. It’s clean and tidy but wondered if say mid day Friday start might be better suited for those early finish of work/early start to the weekend hunts?
I’d still like to have an experiment and give it a go though. If it starts to turn ugly we just pull the pin.
️ By members.
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