Josh Root 
, Sep 09, 2010; 04:49 p.m.
When this was initiated, the administration's intention was to keep the gold cup next to a member's name for a year,
This isn't exactly right. When the POTW icon was created, it was just meant to be there permanently. I was the one who thought it would be a better idea to have a year's limit on the icon. Due to multiple long time users (who had been POTW choices) getting bent out of shape over this idea, frequently in very strong language, I gave up on it. While I still think it's a valid idea to limit the timeframe, anything that the change would bring to the table isn't worth pissing people off for. Particularly when those people are some of our most dedicated users.
Your confusion may come from that fact that about the time that the icon was updated is when I made the 1 year proposal. But unless my memory is failing me, we always had a POTW icon and I'm pretty sure it was always a cup. The design was just different back in the day.
In fact, a very frequent comment is that there were much better photographs in the POW recipient's portfolio than the one selected as the POW.
Perhaps true, perhaps not. That sort of statement is entirely subjective and depends on who is doing the viewing. thus, it's not really the kind of thing that should be used as the basis for changing anything.
then the symbol of a gold cup is not appropriate. Frankly, I think a better symbol would be a gold question mark.
While the gold cup may imply more meaning than it ideally should, it really isn't that big of a deal. While not ever meant to be a "best of" contest, there is still value and something to be proud about if someone thinks an image of yours is "interesting and worthy of discussion" on a site with almost a million members. Even if I were inclined to make a change to the icon, I would find something with a more positive connotation than a straight "?".
Alternatively, if the letters "POW" could be made small enough or arranged vertically, I think the inclusion of those letters would also be better than the symbol of a gold cup.
Given that the phrase "POW" tends to hold special meaning to current and former members of the military the world over, I do not think we would go in that direction. "POTW" perhaps, but that is even more letters in a small space and would probably become unreadable.
Finally, considering the nature of the POW, I think the administration's original intention of recognizing a POW recipient with a symbol for only one year is appropriate; it's not something that is sufficiently worthy to be recognized as a permanent fixture on a recipient's name.
As I said previously, I'm not against either thing in concept. But to be honest, those changes won't make much of a difference in the overall POTW system and are far more likely to end up upsetting the same people who were upset the first time around, the payoff just doesn't match the trouble.
Please don't misunderstand me, I do get the gist of what you are saying and why you would feel that way. There are some valid points made within your post. And there are changes on the horizon for the POTW system. But they are far more likely to be changes in the larger selection/nomination/elf-membership/etc process than they are cosmetic changes such as messing with the icon.
