The Bolt Award

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This year marks the introduction of something new. An award, or more accurately a recognition of achievement that goes above and beyond the normal call of duty.
This will be given out a mere once per year, every August 7th on the Birthday of the site.
What are the criteria for this award?
For contributions to the site that have had a massive impact on it and have caused things to change that affect every single one of us whether we know it or not.

Why then is it called "The Bolt"?

This is in honor of its first recipient, someone who goes very unnoticed and quietly has kept the backbone of this beast firmly in place during all sorts of hell and high water.
This individual would be none other than the coding tour de force known as $Chris Bolt who has been writing code for us since before day one.

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In the tradition of most awards of this nature, here are what those who know him, or in some cases don't know him, have to say about the mystery that is chris

"This is the easiest paragraph I've ever had to write. Chris Bolt is a
one man army, who has more tenacity and fight mixed with generosity and
spirit than I've ever witnessed in any person I have ever worked with. I
mean it. I really mean it. His dedication here is unmatched... in fact
about a month ago Chris went on vacation for 3 weeks. It was the first
time he had taken time off in nearly 7 years. I could say I've pretty
much dedicated all but a few moments of the last 7 years to deviantART
and DMusic when they overlapped, but I've taken time for myself here and
there, and so has pretty much everyone else on a fairly regular basis.
Chris never did. While you may not know his real name as well as
everyone that's ever worked at deviantART does, you know him by another
name. "Read Only." And while you've never really liked seeing "Read
Only" around when you came to browse, it's always been a flag of Chris
under the hood ripping up the innards and making this ship sail. I ask
you one favor; next time you see "Read Only" - tip your hat a little
forward knowingly, or wink your eye or some such thing. This man
deserves it. Considering the intimacy with which he's involved himself
in the guts of the joint; he'll probably feel your kind gesture
resonating through the pipes for sure.

Aside from all of this, I think it's a pretty human trait to think
sometimes of all the things that could go wrong in life. You know,
people do this, right? You do this? I do this sometimes. Anyway, at the
very tip top of my personal list of the things I'd never want to lose,
and that I hold dearest is a friendship I've held for the past 9 years
to a guy I couldn't be more proud of.

To Chris Bolt, the namesake and first recipient of The Bolt Award,
cheers to year 7 and to many more.
"
--spyed


"Recently chris took the first vacation he has ever taken in his 7 year history with deviantART. That alone blew my mind. Shortly after his plane took off I was in an office with a few people and spyed came in and says "chris just got on a plane and is going to be gone for 3 weeks. Let's all say a prayer."
Of course we all laughed and it was said in fun but at the same time I know we all did say a little silent prayer. He is just that vital to the site. And actually we also ended up calling him probably about 50 times during his vacation to fix things. Sorry bout that Chris ;p
"
--lolly

"When I first met Chris he was complaining about the resolution on his camera phone and I have to admit I was too in 'fan girl' mode to really be paying attention.  Chris, in my opinion, is the reason the site exists.  I realize the weight behind a statement like that, but just the existence of this award proves that more than one person feels as I do.  His dedication is admirable, his knowledge supreme and his commitment unwavering.  I have the deepest respect for Chris and find it not only fitting, but obvious that this award be named after him." ---moonbeam13

"Yes Chris is a vital link in the chain which holds deviantART together; or at least that's what everybody gets told because this reclusive hermit of a man can never be found or spoken too directly and some question his very existence&"
realitysquared

"Chris Bolt.  He keeps deviantART running like a well oiled machine.  Its
lean.  Its mean.  It serves millions of pages to millions of deviants
each day.  It lets Photographers (not me) and Anime/Manga fanboys (me)
and Software Skinners (not me) and Nude Artists/Models (way not me,
although if you are interested...) share their work and explore the
works of others.  Usually.
It doesn't always work perfectly.  Theres always a limit to what the
hardware can handle.  And someone keeps walking by and letting all the
oil out.  But Chris' herculean efforts get the site back up in mere
hours (sometimes minutes!) rather than weeks.
And what does he get in return?  Hours and hours of coding, of people
asking him 10,000 questions, and then minutes of sleep.  And then he's
back into the fray, kicking software bugs and hardware issues in the
[expletive deleted].

Now just imagine what someone like that could do if he were EVIL...
"
--silvein

"To me, Chris has always been one of the unsung heros of deviantART. He's a crucial part to the community and his dedication to providing the site with his skill and support deserves recognition. He appears to have the patience of a saint when dealing with questions regarding which I am sure he at times should yell RTFM!"
--fourteenthstar

"I love that you get cold when it is 71 degrees out. I love that it
takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get
a little crinkle in your nose when you're looking at me like I'm
nuts. I love that after I spend day with you, I can still smell your
perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want
to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm
lonely, and it's not because it's The Bolt Awards. I came here
tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your
life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon
as possible."

--pachunka
© 2007 - 2024 lolly
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frozenpandaman's avatar
Who's going to get it this year? ;)