Remember last year's best of the web contest?

July 31, 2006 4:38 PM

Remember last year's best of the web contest? What if we did a best of the web contest for the entire month of August? [more]
posted by mathowie (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 4:38 PM (46 comments total)

Last year we did it one day and people lobbied for extending it to more days. I was thinking that there were so many great posts in one day, I wouldn't mind seeing good posts sprinkled throughout the month instead of jam-packed into 24 short hours. Incentives are good and I think last time it was for a $50 gift cert at Amazon.

I was thinking this time around that me and jessamyn would pick out a favorite post each day and the winner would get $30 (as another throwback to another classic contest). It'd be possible for someone to get the best post multiple days. Number of favorites wouldn't solely determine who wins but it would certainly help me narrow down what people liked the most. Winners would get the loot via paypal the next day. I know cash incentives can lead to weird behavior in some contexts but last time around, we got one amazing day of spectacular posts and I think the regulars here could use this opportunity to shine (and get a little more attention for their good links).

Everyone game for it? It'd run August 1st through the 30th.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:38 PM on July 31, 2006

I say, yes!

(looks forward to innumerable cat posts)
posted by adrianhon at 4:43 PM on July 31, 2006

But seriously, I do think it's a good idea. It'll be interesting to see how people 'ration' their good links.
posted by adrianhon at 4:44 PM on July 31, 2006

I'm in.
posted by jonson at 4:45 PM on July 31, 2006

Are (known) sock puppets allowed? Cause Lilbrudder might be rearing his head more often...
posted by jonson at 4:46 PM on July 31, 2006

Woah. $30 a day for 30 days? That's $900 in "contributor incentives". Did Fiona win a baby beauty contest, or did jessamyn rent out her spare room to Donald Trump? I would support it wholeheartedly. In fact, if it really catches on, you could have other contributors put up the $30 for future days. I'd committ to September 30th, if I get a vote toward the winner.
posted by wendell at 4:48 PM on July 31, 2006

oh shit, sockpuppets. I didn't think of those. ugh. Don't fuck it up, just post once every 24 hours max.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:51 PM on July 31, 2006

Yay!

Funny that you suggest this now. I don't post very much because my standards are high and because I've always thought that posts should come about serendipitously (though I certainly don't object to those who go looking for them). It's not been my opinion that actually working at finding and churning out good posts was a membership requirement. So I've not done so.

But just yesterday I was thinking that I wanted to attempt to do for some sustained period of time. This gives me more incentive.

And so, too, to many other people. I think it's a great idea.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 4:51 PM on July 31, 2006

"because my standards are high". jerk!
posted by jonson at 4:58 PM on July 31, 2006

Yes. Please. Thank You.
posted by ltracey at 4:59 PM on July 31, 2006

- Your sock puppets are ineligible to win, choose one login to make FPPs with in August, or at least one per day.
- My room is still for rent.
- Mathowie and I have to nominally agree, so plan accordingly.
- No special attention to all-of-a-kind theme posts, so unless they're killer posts on their own, don't be cute but cryptic.
- Try to do it without dragging out three year old doubles.
- No bribing, though I will be at a meetup in DC (this Sunday) this month.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:06 PM on July 31, 2006 [1 favorite]

how about chicken fucking pics, posts about fat people, circumcisions, lebanonfilter, and religious posts?
posted by shmegegge at 5:38 PM on July 31, 2006

"'because my standards are high'. jerk!"

You're taking that the wrong way. Very little of what I come across on the web qualifies to be posted, by the standards which I believe exist for MetaFilter posts. Those standards are relatively more restrictive than many other peoples' because by their apparent and explicitly stated standards, I come across stuff every day worthy of posting. To be very, very careful of offending someone with your delicate sensibilities, I should have used the more neutral term "restrictive". But it didn't occur to me. I'm pretty sure, though, that calling you a "jerk" would be unnecessarily offensive, so I'm avoiding that.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 5:48 PM on July 31, 2006

This should be great! Thanks for giving those of us with less links and more reading time something to look forward to all August!
posted by yhbc at 6:10 PM on July 31, 2006

Oh, and Matt - even though I still don't like it, could you please apply your new formatting standard for the "x members marked this as a favorite" to MeFi as well as to MeTa? If we're all going to marking a lot of favorites in the coming month, it might help.
posted by yhbc at 6:16 PM on July 31, 2006

Actually, EB, I wasn't offended, I was absolutely kidding.
posted by jonson at 6:27 PM on July 31, 2006

Oh.

Well, then. I guess I was the oversenstive one, wasn't I?
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 6:28 PM on July 31, 2006

yhbc, I didn't change the way favorites show up on posts. This is a contest about posts, not comments, so the formatting shouldn't matter.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:17 PM on July 31, 2006

Sounds like fun and a good time to break out the super secret internets that I don't show to anyone, except my dog and she's not talking!
posted by fenriq at 8:58 PM on July 31, 2006

oh, I guess it goes without saying (because I forgot) but I'm thinking each "day" is midnight to midnight, pacific time.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:15 PM on July 31, 2006

Sweet, let the filtering begin!
posted by patr1ck at 10:22 PM on July 31, 2006

Matt, I think yhbc is asking that the new "July 22 [+ 2] [!]" formatting be applied to the blue (it only shows up in the grey right now, mefi still uses the old verbose format).
/continued derail
posted by whir at 11:10 PM on July 31, 2006

What if we did a best of the web contest for the entire month of August?

Only if we can somehow combine it with the "ban one of these two annoying members" contest.
posted by the_bone at 12:15 AM on August 1, 2006

where's the meetup in dc this sunday?
posted by empath at 5:49 AM on August 1, 2006

no idea, I'm just visiting. I'll try to get something posted about it today or tomorrow.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:04 AM on August 1, 2006

Metafiler: Very little of what I come across on the web qualifies to be posted
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:40 AM on August 1, 2006

+t

shit
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:41 AM on August 1, 2006

So... is this a go or what?
posted by dobbs at 7:12 AM on August 1, 2006

August should be a very good month around here.
posted by caddis at 7:38 AM on August 1, 2006

So... is this a go or what?

It's been sidebarred, so I'm guessing it's an official live thing.
posted by Godbert at 8:38 AM on August 1, 2006

Matt, I think its really cool that you're doing this. I almost emailed you last week and asked if I could do another "day" on August 1st, but with a three week old in the house I just can't always know that I'm going to be able to sit in front of the computer for any length of time on any given day.

You and Jess rule.
posted by anastasiav at 9:23 AM on August 1, 2006

dc meetup info is here.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:53 AM on August 1, 2006

Now I have an incentive to sit down and put together those links I have thought about, researched but never posted. Thanks Matt and Jess - this is a really great gesture to the community, I am looking forward to what it results in.
posted by greycap at 11:30 AM on August 1, 2006

whir: it looks like matt has now updated the blue to match the grey's "favorites" formatting.

/end derail
posted by yhbc at 11:41 AM on August 1, 2006

I think this is a fine idea, and I'm looking forward to participating. However, I predict it will lead to a 100% increase in people scribbling "OMG, BEST POST OF THE DAY!" in threads they don't like.

I think blind.wombat is on to something...

maybe the prize for the best post of the day should be paid for by the poster of the worst post of the day...

posted by the_bone at 12:42 PM on August 1, 2006

This sounds like a plot for mateo to get a quick, tax-free $930. But it's a good idea nonetheless.
posted by ibmcginty at 1:12 PM on August 1, 2006

Jesus, today is loaded with great posts. It's going to be tough to decide each followup morning
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:26 PM on August 1, 2006

Absolutely, really good stuff lately, including today. And without wanting to reignite old arguments, I've been happy to notice the frequency of Youtube links declining in the past few weeks.

Question: is jessamyn ineligible?
posted by gsteff at 4:37 PM on August 1, 2006

mathowie: So very true! I had that thought all day long. I didn't notice until just now this link on the sidebar.
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:58 PM on August 1, 2006

This is a good idea, it's much better (I think) to have it a month long rather than a day long. Everything else I might have said on the topic seems to already have been said by EB - I agree with every single line in his comment, except for the bit where he talks about wanting to do more. I am lazy and hate promoting communication and dialogue.

The rest of you should definitely have a go at it though.
posted by blacklite at 12:42 AM on August 2, 2006

Can the worst posts be fined?
posted by thirteenkiller at 5:15 AM on August 2, 2006

flagging fingers are standing by!
posted by blue_beetle at 7:40 AM on August 2, 2006

*plans DDOS attack on metafilter for all of August 20th with the exception of a small undisclosed period of time when I'll post the days single link (picture of a turtle)*

Being the only person able to get to the site, I'll automatically win.

Ha!
posted by seanyboy at 4:37 AM on August 3, 2006

Are the winners being announced somewhere?
posted by spilon at 8:18 AM on August 4, 2006

If I won that $30USD I’d get a buncha sock puppet accounts. The rest? I’d blow it all on a luxury car wash. Oh, yeah.
posted by Smedleyman at 3:54 PM on August 7, 2006

"Can the worst posts be fined?"

Oh no! I'd be in the red in a manner of seconds!
posted by ZachsMind at 4:09 PM on August 14, 2006