HuntingNet.com Forums - Your turn to earn the respect of your fellow posters!

OK guys...

Back in the day--when this was little more than a fledgling venture fighting for its place on the net among the hunting community, there was a seeming abundance of quality, thoughtful andsoundly reasonedposts here on a regular occurence. Not that there aren't some great ones occasionally now, but... I think we can all agree we've become more conditioned to become a "microwave society" -- and it gets worse every year. We're all expected to do more with less, and there's more distractions than ever competing for our time.

Perhaps that's why some of us have noticed what I referred to when conversing with a couple friends as an "atrophying" of quality posts; in other words, it's often easier to bang out a couple words quickly than to put the time into developing a thought.

In light of that,we're bringing back the old HRAOP award. That stands for Honorary Rack Award for Outstanding Post, and any moderator who deems a post to be extraordinarily well-written, one that just "nails it" ... or one whereyou go "Man, that's exactly how I feel; only I didn't say it that well!" may attach the award to the bottom of that post.

I remember my first several years here; I had fellow posters blowing by me in post count, but I was waaaaaay more proud (and still am) of the six HRAOP awards I garnered as opposed to merely being the first to 1,000.

Here's a current example just posted within the last couple days that I feel serves as a perfect example of what I'm referring to; there are many, but this one sticks out in my mind. The author was responding to the question, "What would you consider a buck of a lifetime?":

[blockquote]quote:

It's definitely more than just the size of the rack. It's the hours you've logged glassing fields, staring at topo maps andtalking to your hunting partners. It's the rain-soaked clothing, the miles on your boots, the sweat in your hat - it's your fingernails chewed into the meat,the gunmetal on your release worn to silver. It's aboutall the people who said you were nuts for hunting through a downpour - certifiably insane fordriving a half hour after work just to change clothes in the car and hunt for 30 minutes...

It's about going into overtime with a week of archery season to go and your tag feeling ever-so-empty, moving stands, re-hanging, relocating, thinking, relocating some more, and finally pulling the trigger.

That's what brings me back every year. Mynext buck is always my buck of a lifetime. - Quiksilver[/blockquote]

Here's what it will look like...

If you see one of these at the bottom of your post... congratulations! We will be judicious in the awarding of these, so that they stay "special" but at the same time we will absolutely not play favorites or be stingy with them.

Good posting, and I look forward to awarding many HRAOPs!!