UT should hold awards for it's most helpful community members

People like @bgolus, the Unity forum's resident shader guru, who have answered countless questions and provide accurate information to people searching for answers to common questions. For me personally, @bgolus has provided more solid, reliable information on shader issues than the entire unity answers platform.

These super posters (@Kiwasi is another) provide immense value to Unity users and help make sure that when googling a problem you can actually find a solid answer now and then.

UT should take a minute and put a spotlight on these guys, maybe give them some award (lifetime free pro subscription?). They've provided immense value over the years.

 

I don't know. I like what Unity does now- the odd invite, license, tshirt or freebie when the opportunity arises. And it does happen.

The biggest reward for these posters will likely be able to get a dialogue going with Unity's developers - being able to get more knowledge is a very precious thing. I won't speak on behalf of the mentioned people (they are great guys), but I'm just commenting in general.

 

The exact form doesn't matter, as long as these guys get some kind of recognition for their contributions.

Some guys have really contributed thousands of dollars worth of value to UT in terms of supplementing documentation and helping users.

 

I'm not really looking for any kind of spotlight or public recognition. Sure, it's a nice ego boost to get public recognition, but mainly I remember how hard it was getting into shader dev early on and want to help others get through it more easily than I. As perhaps counter intuitive as it may seem, not having any kind of significant public recognition makes this easier as it means people have done at least some attempt to solve the issue on their own and have done some searching on the forums / google before they post or msg me. Basically I'm spending less time dealing with people who aren't interested in putting in any effort in learning and just want things solved for them.

Also, I'm a long time professional game dev. I already talk to many Unity employees directly through other means. It would help more to have the Unity devs themselves be more involved in the forums than for a select few to have increased access, and that's already been the happening the last few years.

 

The kind of people who help like this are going to help regardless of recognition. But if you start handing out prizes, you may start seeing lots of less-than-qualified answers pointing beginners in the wrong direction.

However, it's always good to give credit where credit is due.

 

That might be truth.

 

I want a prize for that.

 

I see the error of my ways already ;D

Anyway, really I just wanted to thank guys like @bgolus - you've saved me (and many others) tons of time and frustration. But maybe some kind of official award is a bad idea

 

Like your thanks thread to him, @bgolus is indeed a very respectful person here.

 

I try to be as helpful as I can, but would do it regardless of an award or not.
I just don't see many questions about Editor Tools (My favorite thing in the world to make with Unity) lol. Even more so than making games. Editor tools just fascinate me lol. But then again, I rarely ever leave the General Forums, so there may be quite a bit of questions about Editor Tools that just fly past me on a daily basis.

 

When I saw the title of the thread I thought "If @bgolus isn't on that list I'm gonna be really sad".

+1

 

Its been done publicly before.

There have also been some private thank you gifts for participating in specific projects and focus groups.

I'm blushing.

My current reward is that its hard to google anything Unity without coming up with my name. Its a good base to work from if I ever decide to do this full time.