Yes Timmappa. It is really no fun any more winning these awards without any competition. It feels like playing and winning a football match all by yourself.
And what you are guessing, I think is right. I think our members have either lost interest in the site, or they have found their fields of involvement elsewhere. I have given this a serious thought, and a few things that are coming to my mind as per the situation is somewhat like this:
Firstly, the award system that is currently existent in this site, rewards only the bulk contributors where there is no separate booster for quality contribution.
You remember our friend Vandana? She repeatedly complained about this system. It so happens that people might feel like contributing here in a while, whenever they get time. But our lengthy editing process and the criteria of choosing the winners who can only win if they can score higher than others in "number of contribution" are irking out the members.
Like currently the MOW and MOM awards are actually the same type of awards which obviously the same member would win. So TEC is paying double the amount to the same member for the same reason.
Moreover seeing the same names listed again and again in the award announcement gives a wrong impression of partiality to the new members, who do not know the system behind which is so impartial in its true sense.
Seeing new names in the list would make them feel appreciated and the impression of neutrality will win the hearts of contributors, which our site actually deserves.
If our site includes a couple of awards for quality contribution, like "the best article winner" or "the best technical expert winner", our quality of content will improve, our members would be more involved and at the same time TEC won't have to pay double for the same reason.
Secondly, the topic of technology has reached and gone beyond the saturation level, and I think it is high time, we should broaden our umbrella of subjects if we want a decent traffic ushering in our site.
Please friends, let us know what do you think on this matter.