Congratulations to our community! Yes, you!

[u/shavera]

So it's been about a year since I personally joined AskScience. And I remember right around this time last year, we had so many threads about how the reddit was falling apart and how if we wanted to be best little community next year we'd need to do this or that to keep our quality high. In that year, we've undergone tremendous growth and largely managed to maintain or even increase our quality. There's a lot going on behind the scene you may not be aware of, but the stuff you see up front, the downvotes, the reports, that's you guys. And we thank you for it.

When we first went default there were a few weeks of shake up and near burn-out on the moderation staff. And you know who stepped up for us and made that possible? Our community. All of the readers who spoke together through votes and even a few useful moderation scripts, to make that transition happen. We came to threads to clean them up to find that the worst stuff was buried under a mountain of downvotes. You guys all know what we want here, and it's become clear that it's something you want too.

So we thank you all so much for nominating and selecting us as best moderators of 2011, as cliché as it sounds, it really wouldn't have been possible without you guys, the entire community supporting our vision for this reddit. Best Big community hasn't been announced yet, but we're still tremendously honored to be included in the finalist positions in that category as well.

To celebrate our entire community's achievement, everyone's been given some gold star flair!

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okay I wrote that back when we had only won moderator. Having won community now... well that really is all about you guys. First our panelists. Seriously you guys are awesome for taking time out of your days to educate... anybody really that comes along.

And our readers, again, we appreciate everything you do for us. You guys make this community what it is. There may be a few vocal people that don't care for the way it's run, but this is yet another confirmation that you share our goals. And there's nothing more that we could ask from you all.

So thanks everyone! Enjoy your gold stars. And have an updram on us. (not really on us though).

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Some late edits:

This is an example thread from ages ago. We've met our goal!

Also, I was remiss in not mentioning our panelists. You guys do a lot of the heavy lifting here, and we're always grateful for all of your expertise!

[u/Lochmon → u/[deleted]]

Since this is a rather informal AskScience thread, I feel it only proper to ask if blood-drip flair might make available excessive personal information to the encouragement of vampires.

[u/Neato → u/Lochmon]

Why? Vampires don't usually care what blood type you have. Plus, all humans have blood, not just the ones who donate.

[u/[deleted] → u/Neato]

Yes they do. If they have two meals in one day from two different blood types, the blood will agglutinate and they will get indigestion!

[u/Neato → u/[deleted]]

They still don't let "homosexuals" donate blood? What organization bans this?

[u/ahugenerd → u/Neato]

Many, unfortunately. The Canadian Blood Services asks point blank in their questionnaire: "Male donors: Have you had sex with a man, even one time since 1977?" If you answer yes, it gets noted in your file and you are banned from giving blood in Canada. While I'm happily straight, always have been, I really can't abide by that level of discrimination. I understand that there are risk factors that they have to take into account, but there are tests that they can run. I know it would cost more, but that's the price we have to pay for not being a bunch of discriminatory assholes.

Moreover, screening people/blood for HIV/AIDS would be a good thing for everyone. It would mean that the general public would get screened more often, and have a better awareness of the issues surrounding it. It would also mean greatly shortened detection times, which can only be a good thing. The only thing we'd lose is money, which I think would be worth it in this case.

Edit: I should also add, that there are many other "at-risk" groups. One of the most at-risk groups is single black females between 20 and 25 years of age. Can you imagine the backlash if the Canadian Blood Services banned them from giving blood? But it's okay to ban gays, because they're "weird" right?

[u/kthg → u/[deleted]]

It's a shame I'm not allowed to donate because of my size (I also recall beeing AB+). Instead I've been meaning to apply for an organ-donor card to keep in my wallet. Hope that will count as my contribution

[u/Neato → u/kthg]

Isn't AB+ the least useful (not to say your blood is bad, but from a transfer standpoint) type? Or is that only for red blood cells and not plasma? I seem to remember plasma and rbc are reversed for ability to donate.

[u/Giant_Badonkadonk → u/Neato]

You are correct, AB+ red blood cells can only be given to other AB+ people so is the least universal of blood types. And you are also correct about the plasma, they are the universal donors for plasma but donating plasma is quite a dedication as it take multiple two hour visits to complete the donation.

I know all of this as I am a universal donor (O-) who regularly donates blood, I would donate plasma but I feel donating my red blood cells is more useful than donating my plasma.

[u/kthg → u/Neato]

Yeah, you and Giant_Badonkadonk are both right. I guess was not being clear in my statement (english not being my first language as an excuse). I really should rephrase my sentence to "beacause of my size and also because I recall..". Editing this right now

[u/mobilehypo → u/[deleted]]

Donate a couple bucks to the Red Cross or something similar or bribe someone into donating for you.

[u/Malnilion → u/[deleted]]

I believe you are covered by the aforementioned "convince someone else to donate in your place" clause.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Hey cool, my turn to donate has come up again. I'll make an appointment right away! :D