• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Congratulations!
 
Congrats on your fourth and very well deserved awAARd!
 
Well done, @Specialist290! We two have both been around these parts for quite a long time but I must admit that I don't recall having gained the great benefit of your excellent comments in "the olden days" as much as I have these past 8 months for my current work. Now that I have, I can only say that anyone else that is gaining your insight is truly blessed! There is no doubt that this award is well earned and I offer a hearty congratulations for it!

All I may ask is this - what does one have to do to earn one of your red special cookies? ;)

Congrats again, buddy!
 
Congratulations @Specialist290! A devoted fan and welcome presence on the forums indeed. :)
 
As always, I deeply appreciate all the congratulations from my fellow board members :)

I do want to single out coz's comment in particular:

All I may ask is this - what does one have to do to earn one of your red special cookies? ;)

Given it's been years since I've last awarded one, I figure I should tell a little story as background:

Way, way back in the day, there was a user named @Lord Strange, who would hand out his fabled Lord Strange Cookies of British Excellence to AARs which he deemed excellent (especially, presumably, for exceptional portrayals of the British). These spawned about half a million imitations as various other users took to inventing their own distinctive flavors of cookies as a way of showing that they had found an AAR they had particularly enjoyed. It proved to be something of a passing fad -- most of them have passed into oblivion long since.

I don't really have too many specific criteria that I use to judge whether I award one or not -- I simply hand them out for works I deem worthy of particular merit, those that stand out from the norm and are worthy of exceptional attention in my mind. There are, however, two criteria I do try to hold to more than others:

1. The work must be complete. Usually it must have been brought to a definitive conclusion by the author (not necessarily the same as playing the full amount of in-game time). I will occasionally bend this one for sufficiently exceptional works, though those still tend to be rather solid tales already at the point of the award (by which I usually mean at least a complete "narrative arc" or its equivalent that could stand alone as a tale in itself). Nevertheless, such exceptions are rare, as I want to encourage people to finish what they've started.

2. One cookie per author. Essentially, a Red Special Cookie ● is meant to be a "lifetime achievement" type of award. (This is as much a measure meant to keep me impartial and the award itself meaningful as much as anything else; many of the authors I've awarded in the past would deserve more than one such award, but I feel I would "cheapen" it in a way if I kept awarding it to the same people over and over again.)
 
Last edited:
Congratulations Specialist290, a well deserved honour! I've always appreciated your intelligent and curious comments. :)
 
Well, it's about time to pass the torch along once more. I make a point to keep an eye out among the "new blood" for active, encouraging, and insightful commenters. As such, it is my honor to nominate @Captain Waffles as the new Fan of the Week! Congratulations, and keep up the good work :)
 
Well, it's about time to pass the torch along once more. I make a point to keep an eye out among the "new blood" for active, encouraging, and insightful commenters. As such, it is my honor to nominate @Captain Waffles as the new Fan of the Week! Congratulations, and keep up the good work :)
Well thank you, until I found this thread accidentally, I didn't even know this existed. Now that I'm aware, I'm glad it does. Funnily enough I had followed Stnylan formula of commenting on nearly every thread I see. So I guess I should find a Fan of the Week for next week and probably picking Stnylan is considered cheating. Into the Abyss of Paradox Forums I go! :)


Very many congratulations @Captain Waffles


Thanks to all of for the congratulations. :D
 
Last edited:
Congratulations!
 
One week has passed and a new person should be awarded fan of the week, well, that will be @Alex Borhild. Picking a new person was difficult and I had to rummage around several AARs for a whole week (not really), he was chosen for his marginally consistent commenting on the No Prey, No Pay AAR through all the hardships that AAR and its author suffered. A true fan.
My congratulations @Captain Waffles .

Congratulations!

Congrats !


Congratulations to @Captain Waffles!
Thank you for the congratulations, they make me feel warm inside. :)
 
Last edited: