Wikipedia:Barnstar and award proposals/Archive2/The General Alexander Haig Medal of Honor

The General Alexander Haig Medal of Honor

The General Alexander Haig Medal of Honor is awarded to those exceptional individuals who take control.

This award was introduced by Xiong on 2005 May 7.

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I moved it from the main Barnstar pages, since this has been added without any debate. I have no vote now, but I seriously think this award will be rejected. Zscout370 (talk) 16:54, 7 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

First off, what exactly is meant by "individuals who take control"? Sango 123 23:04, May 7, 2005 (UTC)

Probably take control of an issue, situation or problem. However, the Medal of Honor is not awarded for taking charge, but to perform actions that are above and beyond the call of duty, while engaging the enemy at a time of war. Zscout370 (talk) 02:09, 8 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, isn't that covered by a normal barnstar? I fail to see any purpose for this award. Certainly, it could be covered by the Working Man's, Diligence, or Editor's Barnstar. I guess it could be used as Xiong's personal award, since some users have these sort of things. Bratsche^{talk random} 02:24, May 8, 2005 (UTC)

It's probably also related to some of the cases he's been involved with (I won't mention where or with whome, in the interests of Wikilove). If he wants to use it as a personal award to give to others, he can go right ahead, but I don't think this should be an "official" Barnstar. --Death phoenix 04:27, 8 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well, sorry. I didn't know we had a formal process for award creation. {sigh} Kinda takes the fun out of it.

No, this award has nothing to do with anything related to me personally. This is not a barnstar at all, but a humorous award, similar to the Atlas Award For Raking the Sandbox Clean. (No insult intended to recipients, but Sandbot does, after all, obliterate even the worst Sandbox content.) This being a humorous award, it contains humorous references; and once you explain a joke, I think it is no longer funny. {sigh} Often, this community seems very gray and stolid. We really need more funny stuff. I'm not talking about sawing the legs off chairs, but yes, Laughter is the Best Medicine©.

Anyway, there is an explicit rule against incorporating real awards into WP-sanctioned awards -- not a rule I would endorse, but I'm not going to slug it out here. For the record, the photo was taken by Stars and Stripes during Al Haig's tour of duty as top man at NATO. The medal is the original 1862 design of the Army Medal of Honor. The medal has gone through several versions since that time. If you want to understand this award's significance anyway, you may want to research Haig, the history of the Medal of Honor, and for good measure, see the Talk page of the user to whom I awarded it.

Sorry for any bother. I assume I may still be permitted to make the award; just not allowed to list it here. — Xiong 熊 talk * 11:01, 2005 May 8 (UTC)

You can make, give it to whoever, but until an award goes through this process, it cannot be listed at the Barnstar page. It is ok, but thanks for stopping by Xiong. Zscout370 (talk) 12:43, 8 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You are free to make any award you wish and give it to anyone you wish (I think someone's awarded a moldy cheese or bread to a few people), but if you want your award to be listed in the official Barnstar page, you gotta put it through the proposal process (which it's going through right now). --Death phoenix 12:58, 8 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There's no process to complete. A specific restriction is violated and I certainly am not going to debate that restriction or claim an exemption. Dieser award ist kaput.

If anybody cares about my opinion, it is that two distinct classes of awards exist -- those created by a single user, and those endorsed by the community. The former should be reduced in number, not increased. Multiple variant barnstars contribute to barnstar inflation. I would not desire to add to the former class. I carelessly put this Frankenstein's Monster on Wikipedia:Barnstars on Wikipedia#Other awards because I thought that, by definition, such other awards were not barnstars, therefore not to be taken seriously at all. If the Atlas Award is to be taken seriously as a quasi-barnstar, then perhaps barnstar inflation has passed the point of no return. — Xiong 熊 talk * 01:30, 2005 May 9 (UTC)

Well, if you wish to create a page of User awards and allow for people to add awards there, that is fine with us. However, those who contribute here created a policy on how awards are dealt with. Zscout370 (talk) 01:36, 9 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]