WAmmy Awards Hall of Fame 2009

What are the signs of child abuse and how can you help the abused child to overcome the harm it has caused?

... First of all, the child needs to know the abuse is not their fault. Children have a tendency to blame themselves for the abuse, thinking if they had been more ... or less ... then they wouldn't have been abused. So reassurance that the abuse was NOT their fault is crucial to their emotional healing. ... [more]

...(walking up to the podium, accepting the little orange Wiki dude from Matthew)... ahem, 
 
Wow, this is such a tremendous honor, yet a humbling experience, too.  We have so many wonderful contributors from all over the world, so to have won this award has left me pretty speechless, which is a rare thing for me.  I really did not expect to win it; there were so many incredible nominations!  We have so many here who give such great answers, and help so many people who come to this site for answers, and I am proud and honored to be part of such a great team of people.  
 
When I saw that question, it tugged at my heart and, as I began to write the answer, it tugged even harder.  This is a topic that is near and dear to me, and what I wrote in that answer came from putting myself in the place of every child who has ever been abused, and in every form of child abuse there is.  
 
I shed a few tears while writing that answer, thinking of all the children who are being abused, yet have no voice, no way to protect or defend themselves from their abusers, and live in fear and misery every day.  The more we can educate people on the signs of child abuse, as well as how to help the children who are being, or have been abused, the better the chance of helping those who are being abused at this moment, as well as the ones who were previously in abusive situations.  This award means more to me than mere words can say. 
 
I want to thank Laary (Kamuna) for all the times she took the time to correct my spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc., to make my answers the best they could be.  I also want to thank Matthew, whose patience with my constant questions is greatly appreciated.  And last, but not least, I want to sincerely thank all those who voted for me.  Winning this award went beyond my wildest expectations.  On behalf of all abused children, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
 
...(stepping down from podium, trying not to trip or drop the little orange Wiki dude)... Oomph...!  It's okay, I'm alright, and the little wiki dude is not broken.

Most Answers

Viper1usmc

Once again, I find myself privileged to hold this honor. I would like to thank the entire community and their efforts for making WikiAnswers the success that it is, and Brave3 for his continued support throughout the year.

Most Contributions

Steven Keyman

The quality of a contribution is more important than the number of contributions. I would like to share this WAmmy Award with all the contributors that helped preserve the integrity of WikiAnswers. As a team we make the most contributions with the highest quality. Thank You.

Most Trust Points Earned

Dlmick

It is with great appreciation and humility that I accept this prestigious award.  I share it with all of the users who gained knowledge from one of my answers.

Special thanks goes to Bum Phillips for telling me, in a relative way, how to go about answering a person's question and to the multitude of reference sites and manuals I use to gather information.

I also want to congratulate the management, staff, and supervisors at WikiAnswers for putting together the best Q&A site on the Internet and thank them for their warmth and hospitality. These folks are the best... TRUST me!

Most Vandals Blocked

Mike 2

For the second year running I am finding myself saying thank you for this award.
 
Blocking users is not an easy option at times, but sometimes it's all we can do in our ongoing fight against vandals and spammers.  I am proud to receive this award again and I'm looking forward to the badge being placed on my profile.  Thank you once again.
 
P.S.  Vandals beware.

Most Category Changes

Steven Keyman

Good news: As I read some of the questions that I moved into new categories, I found out how smart I was. Bad news: I also found out how dumb I was, but I learned. With bad news like this, the work I put in was well worth it. Thank you WikiAnswers for the added knowledge.

Most Questions Improved

Ginezumi

Thank you for this totally unexpected honor! Editing questions is such a balance between what the original asker said and meant to say, what I think the asker said and meant, and how editing can please and inspire the question's asker and all its future viewers. My thanks go out to each and every one of you, most especially to Blue, Brave3, Ganderton, KMac, Nirel, Sarah, and Shaya. And to Bob and Bruce for making the WikiAnswers/Answers community possible for us all!

Most
Reverts

Keats

When Brave3 told me that I had won a newly-created WAmmy award he said, "Think Samuel Jackson and the Crime Scene Cleaner."  I liked the nickname.  I had not thought about how much "crime scene cleaning" I do on this website; it's second nature on Vandal Patrol, so the award came as a surprise. 
 
Unfortunately, I share the award with the spammers, plagiarizers and vandals who kept me busy. Fortunately, Vandal Patrol is a hard-working team who help to ensure the ongoing quality and integrity of WikiAnswers.com. Given the exceptional drive and strength of Vandal Patrol, I am happy to accept this award in recognition of the first-rate work done by the whole team and our exceptionally supportive team leader, An8thg.
 
WikiAnswers.com is an outstanding web presence (I'm pleased to have played a part in its phenomenal growth) thanks to a terrific behind the scenes team and an outstanding troop of supervisors applying their skills and knowledge to a wide variety of tasks.
 
In conclusion (as our treasured CA, Crystal, creeps forward to drag me offstage), I thank my mentor, Brave3, for his time. I also thank him for patiently listening to my constant advocacy to apply search engine optimization, search-term values and related features, to WikiAnswers at grass roots level.

Most Contributions by a
New Supervisor

Lazarus1950

The lovely Kamuna drew my attention to the fact that I had got a new shiny badge for 50,000 contributions.  I hope they really did help the site.  Thanks to you all!

Most Trust Points by a
New Supervisor

Elosery

I am very pleased with the award for Most Trust Points Earned that reflects the appreciation of my contributions and answers. It was something that I was not expecting. I started my contact with the site when searching for information on the internet. One of the sources was WikiAnswers. Then I started contributing to the answers. I selected to quit more than once due to some negative feedback on my answers to some religious questions but the good understanding and positive interference of the site supervisors encouraged me to continue. Then by time I got addicted to answering and/or improving answers to questions on science and religion & spiritual categories. Really, it is my great pleasure to help and to contribute in getting this lovely site more and more successful and beneficial.

My success in this mission should be attributed to many supervisors who supported me with their advice and experience and with their friendly feedback and comments to my contributions. Of those supervisors I may mention Jadeacres, Dick Harfield, Gregg, Kiwimac, JohnWelsh, Crystal, Matthew,  Grevillea, Justin, Blue, Lesley, Amel mosad, Delltechie, and many others.  Thank you all again with my best wishes.

Best Contributor in a
Supporting Role

Jadeacres

People helping people, I really mean it when I tell people to drop by the chicken coop for help. This is what WikiAnswers is all about and our growing family of supervisors are the cream of the crop. Growing WikiAnswers into the premier "go to" site on the web takes everyone's cooperation.  I am humbled that I have been chosen by my peers for this year's award. Thank you all for your support.

Best Contributions by a
New Supervisor

Lazarus1950

"Best" means different things to different people. I must have done something right, though for the life of me I cannot figure out what it was. To those of you that have helped and supported me I would like to say "thank you."

Kind words when I was off course, suggestions when I was at a loss, and always support when required. Those are the things that make anyone's contributions a collaboration so we are all the "best." Thank you and be helpful.

Best
Profile

Keats

For six years I experienced an offline stalker. Until the new laws were introduced, it created myriad problems for my family and I (including moving house five times in five years). Because of that, I don't add personal information to my profile. Rather than having the page looking desolate and uncared for, I simply paint it. :)
 
It was a challenge to create the page. I enjoyed learning (by trial and error) how to paint via a computer. Not easy, I discovered, when there is no such thing as a curved line online. Did you know that everything is made up of small squares? 
 
I hope that the badges and frames do not appear egotistical. I almost deleted the top half of the page in case it appeared that way. The artwork is simply a learning quest and a few creations of mood, shadow, and color. Something to look at. Nothing more is implied.
 
Thank you very much to those who voted for me. That was thoughtful of you. Thank you to those super supervisors who kindly permitted me to practice online painting on their own profile pages. I hope to do better in the future. :) Thank you to those who did not vote for me but nonetheless graced my profile by their presence.

Premier Answerer
of the Year

Brainblocked

My Goodness!  I am very surprised, and deeply moved (well, sort of!) by this award!  I've learned a tremendous lot from WikiAnswers about all sorts of things.  So enjoy WikiAnswers, as I have. It's good fun!  My biggest challenge invariably is: What does the questioner actually MEAN?

Forever BrianBlocked! 

postscript: "The future is expecting us; it just doesn't know what route we will take!"

post postscript: Merci, Muchas gracias, Danke, Shukran, Dhanyavad, Domo arigato, Obrigado, Spasibo, Wiyarrparlunpaju-yungu, and Thank you, one and all! All good wishes.

Special Project
Assistant of the Year

Smartyme

WikiAnswers is truly a remarkable web property. As for me, I don't know where to begin! Behind this award is the helping hand of many fellow contributors and mentors, I would like to thank them all! In the end I can only say that I consider it a great honour to be recognised by my peers as I am delighted with this award. I hope I can take my WikiAnswering to a whole new level and I am sure I will be able to as I continue Happily WikiAnswering side by side many supportive personalities. Thank you! God bless us all!

Lifetime Achievement
Award

HisPowr4U

I want to thank all those who took the time to give me a chance, to believe in me and to vote for me to be the recipient of this award. I am honored to be the winner of the Lifetime Achievement WAmmy Award. WikiAnswers and all of you mean a lot to me. It is like being part of a huge family who all love and care about each other. We all stick together and help each other out when a need comes up. I am so thrilled to be a part of this family and am glad to be of help to everyone here at WikiAnswers.

Best Advice Answer

JoyceP

How do you explain to young children that their parents are getting divorced to make the transition as easy on them as possible?

Wow, what to say?  This, too, is an area which is near and dear to me.  Much of what I wrote in this answer came from observing parents who were divorced/divorcing (family, friends, co-workers, etc.), as well as seeing the damage it did to their children.  I truly hope parents who divorce will put the welfare of their children first, which was the message I hoped to convey in my answer to this question.  
 
Children are such special and precious innocents, yet they often pay the highest price in a divorce.  I am grateful and humbled if I was able to help even one family in this situation.
 
Thanks again to Laary (Kamuna) for her never-ending quest for perfection in all of WikiAnswers, "tweakin' here and there", and to Matthew for his help with all of my questions, and especially to those of you who felt my words were worthy of this award.  I feel it takes a special caliber of people who are willing to give their time so freely to help others, and I am truly honored to be a part of such a special team.

Best How-To Answer

Doditov

How do you potty-train a 3-year old boy?

Thank you to all those who voted for this particular answer in this category.  As an older mom who learned the ropes from even older moms, I found the answer to be a tried and true one. Thanks go to Kamuna for browsing and finding this little forgotten piece of advice and her skills in seeing what I could not. I am delighted, surprised and humbled that so many people think that this is a WAmmy worthy answer and even more amazed that a practical piece of advice is interesting to so many people.  This is a great honor in our site, and I am pleased to have received it.

Best Researched Answer

Dick Harfield

Why do scientists think Earth is 4.5 billion years old?

In researching my answer, I enjoyed exploring the mental processes of the early scientists, when they set out to find ways to establish the age of the earth. It was even interesting to see the repeated reluctance of scientists to arrive at conclusions far removed from what was then accepted orthodoxy. 

For me, research means making sure of my facts, and for some questions my research includes establishing the credentials of an author and even verifying previous sources that the author claims to be citing. Writing WikiAnswers is fun, but I find researching those answers even more fun. I hope you enjoyed reading my answer to this question as much as I enjoyed producing it. 

I am grateful to WikiAnswers for the opportunity to contribute, and to all who voted for my answer. Thank you.

Best Answer in a Team Effort

Alcohen2006, Woodwose, and D4est

Can you see through walls?

Alcohen2006: When I heard about my good fortune in having been selected to receive this honor, not only was I totally incredulous as a relative newcomer to WikiAnswers, but it certainly led me to deeply wondering thoughts of the judges, particularly concerning their fundamental state of mind.  

I can only say that things always work out in mysterious ways ... Whereas it's obvious that I certainly don't deserve this recognition, I didn't deserve kidney stones or bankruptcy either but that never made any difference.  Every man learns to take what's coming to him, to dodge it if he can, but 
always to accept it graciously and keep still about it.  

In the relatively short time since I fell into the company of WikiAnswers, I have always strived to remain accurate but fair, precise yet indecipherable, dedicated and committed.  I am confident that with the help of the behind-the-scenes staff of advisors and critics at WikiAnswers, I can become even more accurate and indecipherable, and that I will be committed very soon.  

In closing, let me just say on behalf of myself and all of my co-contributors who I admire so much, how truly nonplussed and chagrined most of us are, at having been encouraged to continue, onward and upward, and to grow ever deeper into the addiction that each of us tries so hard every day to overcome.  Thanks a lot.        

Woodwose:  Getting a group answer that resonates with the community is like the old R&B music of my teen years. There's a good beat and everybody contributes. It's hard to say who has lead vocal, I suspect its Alcohen2006 because he set the tone for the answer, but D4est and I were happy to be the doo-wop backing him up.

D4est:  Thank you for the award for my part in this team effort!  But it should be noted that I just played off the excellent work that came before me.  The other two collaborators actually wrote the formula and I just followed it to a logical conclusion.   Now that's the kind of team to join!  Thanks, guys!  I am honored to have been allowed to participate in the answer and I am honored to receive the award.  *Bop-She-Wop!*

Funniest Question

Samurai Girl

Why is it that Donald Duck never wears any pants but when he goes swimming he puts on shorts?

Funniest Answer

Jadeacres

How do you take off your house arrest bracelet without breaking it?

Wiki's little chuckles can turn into amazingly funny situations. The question I answered was one of those "read it twice" and shake-your-head kind we all see. Those questions you just can't believe someone would really ask. I wrote a flippant answer, forgot it for months and then got an e-mail from the contributor who asked the question. It seems he actually took my advice and was quite upset. With all we do here, some humour into our daily routine is just what we need once in awhile. Thanks for both the nomination and the award and if anyone wants to see the e-mail I got for my troubles, well, just ask because it really does make that answer even funnier.

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