Quote Originally Posted by N3XU5 View Post
Congrats Carlos,

Do you have any advice on how I can get motw.
Quote Originally Posted by Jenste View Post
Keep posting in other areas of the forum - not spamming and not just to increase post count - but genuine, creative, encouraging, knowledgeable, helpful posts and in time I am sure some one will nominate you. Nominations are often in the form of "So-and-so gave great advice/really helped me out/put together an awesome tank and I want to know more about them/their methods" etc.

Carlos - your frogs are lovely! I don't mind you beating me to the punch! Hope your morning goes well!
OK Mark, Jen already gave you some good tips and there are some more in the MOTW sticky. What I did was be myself and always make the forum experience pleasant and fun. At least if you go by my standards will see it took time and effort. Now, it meant to me lots because the members who nominated me and the moderators that supported that nomination are people I've learned from and respect. I found the responsibilities for the week fun, revisiting my past, selecting pics, and introducing my Pixie "Duncan." Now you asked for tips and here they are, but be aware this is what worked for me so you will need to fine tune it to your personality.

First and foremost I treat forum members as persons! Behind each forum name, no matter how private or impersonal it sounds, there is a human being. We need to be compassionate, emphatic, and respectful to everyone in the real & digital world, or we can loose our way in life. Yeah, I know there is lot's of bad out there; but with few exceptions frog people are nice . Learn about frogs (read lots, many good books around) and care for your animals well. Web information is a mixed batch and could mislead anyone starting anything, but there are good places to utilize. Among a few I use are: AmphibiaWeb; In Depth Information on Common Aquatic Clawed Frogs; International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature; Melissa Kaplan's Herp and Green Iguana Information Collection; New England Herpetoculture LLC - 10 Commandments of Vivarium Building; POLLYWOGS WORLD OF FROGS; and The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Do not make MOTW an objective above everything but rather be yourself, grow in the hobby, participate in forum, and eventually it should happen. I had almost 2K post and probably over 1/2 of those are helping others when it happened! When helping, read the original poster thread carefully and ask any questions needed to get the whole picture. The sticky "Trouble in the Enclosure" is a great way to figure out problem areas, even if it ticks off some members . It's not about being the first or of creating a clinical thread. It's about listening, feeling the sick frog, visualizing the wrong set-up; and then communicating and guiding the usually new member in a way they understand. Remember, we are helping out the sick frog first and foremost. Sometimes it is about helping them do available options; not everyone has deep cash pockets or a frog veterinary available so sometimes we need to find a workable solution .

If you go out the thread writer route; then need to read a lot so your writing is as perfect as possible. Also, this and every forum article section has a flavor... a style. Do read the present articles and learn that. If for example I get a frog that does not have a care article; once experienced with it (including breeding and raising tadpoles to juvies) then would write a proposal which format is as close as possible to John's. He writes excellent articles so if you want to get published in there... you got to beat him in his game . I haven't done that yet, but looking forward to it; only takes time... and $$$ to buy the frogs!

Can also increase your member reputation by creating informative threads or at least ones that members find interesting, participate on, and give you positive rep. No matter which way you go, have fun! Take breaks as required so you do not burn out. If another member(s) feels abrasive to you, avoidance is better than confrontation, because no one wins a forum flame war. I can get in middle of conflict and defuse it; but have 3 decades of experience in that. Do not create conflict and walk away from it when you can, not only here but in real life. Hope did not bore you to death and good luck Mark and all others desiring the MOTW selection !