Hi all, David here with some thoughts on Exemplar as we approach the deadline for the current wave.

Exemplar, to me, is a way to express something that I always felt lacked a mechanism in the program prior to its creation. Often, I saw a judge do something for a player or for others where I felt like a compliment fell short – I wanted something formal, to really impress on them how what they did was part of why I am involved in judging – why I enjoy it.

Reviews weren’t quite right, though. The review feedback mechanism is for evaluation, and should be private to the reviewer and the reviewee – so, it wasn’t a total loss, but because nobody could see the acknowledgment, it falls short where I feel exemplar shines. It’s just the right place to write up the positive feelings you had about seeing another judge excel or act out of the goodness of their heart that you might have kept to yourself, but now have incentive not only to let that person know but to share with the community about their work.

Exemplar publication day is the best day of each quarter for me in terms of participating in the judge program, hands down. It is a surpassingly awesome thing to see all the positivity that people feel about their fellow judges.

For those folks that have never been nominated – a decently large number, I think? It can be a little bit difficult to appreciate the system that seems to just miss you entirely despite what you are putting into judging. This is certainly a flaw in the system – creating feel-bads for folks that are working hard but that don’t have the visibility. What I have to recommend here is something that is hugely uncomfortable for me as a person that dislikes the spotlight and generally doesn’t get through a sentence without some sort of self-deprecating remark: let people that have the ability to nominate know what you are doing. Let them know why it matters. Get feedback on whether you are understanding how exemplar works, or at least, find out if your understanding is congruent with theirs.

The reason I’m suggesting this is not so that you can get nominated – though if you do, well, that’s cool – it’s because in this, as in many other things, the judge program gives you an opportunity to get out of your comfort zone and learn skills that have practical value in daily life. Self-promotion is one of those things. Learning how to make sure you get the credit you deserve is important – and doing so diplomatically – is a good thing. An important thing, in many situations.

I’ll leave you with that thought – thanks to everyone that has written their recs already, and good luck and godspeed to all the procrastinators out there!

— David