2015 Mefites' Choice best post contest December 1, 2015 9:50 AM Subscribe
The last few years we've run a Mefites' Choice December best post contest: everybody votes for posts via the Fantastic flag, one overall winner per week, and also community members can offer their own prizes for whatever kind of posts they most want to see. Let's do it again!
-This is for FPPs on the blue only.
For the overall Mefites' Choice award:
-Vote with the Fantastic flag. You can vote for as many posts as you want, and apply any criteria that you think make a post great.
-One overall winner per week, four total for the month. Overall winners are the posts that get the most Fantastic flags in that week.*
-Prize: $25 toward a purchase from any shop in the Mefi Mall.
*Fine print:
-Only one overall prize per member, so if you win one week you aren't eligible the next.
-Must be a member of the site as of Nov 30 to be eligible.
-Honorable mentions and alternate awards are at the mods' discretion.
-Winners are responsible for claiming their prize - we'll contact you by MefiMail or the email address we have on file.
For the community awards:
Individual Mefites can offer their own prizes, for whatever kind of posts they want to reward. Name your prize, name your criteria. Sign up on the wiki page for the 2015 Mefite's Choice contest.
-This is for FPPs on the blue only.
For the overall Mefites' Choice award:
-Vote with the Fantastic flag. You can vote for as many posts as you want, and apply any criteria that you think make a post great.
-One overall winner per week, four total for the month. Overall winners are the posts that get the most Fantastic flags in that week.*
-Prize: $25 toward a purchase from any shop in the Mefi Mall.
*Fine print:
-Only one overall prize per member, so if you win one week you aren't eligible the next.
-Must be a member of the site as of Nov 30 to be eligible.
-Honorable mentions and alternate awards are at the mods' discretion.
-Winners are responsible for claiming their prize - we'll contact you by MefiMail or the email address we have on file.
For the community awards:
Individual Mefites can offer their own prizes, for whatever kind of posts they want to reward. Name your prize, name your criteria. Sign up on the wiki page for the 2015 Mefite's Choice contest.
Yay! The most wonderful time of the year! Good luck everyone! Looking forward to reading your awesome posts!
I'll offer one or two Amazon gift cards again. :)
posted by zarq at 10:09 AM on December 1, 2015
I'll offer one or two Amazon gift cards again. :)
posted by zarq at 10:09 AM on December 1, 2015
Looking forward to some great posts - love this contest!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:12 AM on December 1, 2015
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:12 AM on December 1, 2015
I will send any currently available version of Fluxx to whomever makes the best post about games or gaming.
posted by Etrigan at 11:35 AM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Etrigan at 11:35 AM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
I will send any currently available version of Fluxx to whomever makes the best post about games or gaming.
As a devoted board game snob, I would do almost anything to not get a copy of Fluxx!
posted by aubilenon at 12:19 PM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
As a devoted board game snob, I would do almost anything to not get a copy of Fluxx!
posted by aubilenon at 12:19 PM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
Then you better hope someone makes a better gaming post than you. (Who doesn't like speaking like a pirate for extra cards? Not me, matey! Beware the zombies, they be awfully bitey in these here waters. Yarr!)
posted by filthy light thief at 12:33 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by filthy light thief at 12:33 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
If you don't like the occasional round of Fluxx in between Here I Stand marathons, you are tired of life.
posted by Etrigan at 12:35 PM on December 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 12:35 PM on December 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
And a pointer for anyone who wants to offer up prizes this year: here's the contest page from last year, and I'll note it was sometimes there were no posts made within some narrow categories that were limited to a certain week.
In other words: if you like a specific topic and want to reward such posts (or maybe prompt the creation of such posts), look to see how many were made by browsing tags. If your criteria has few matching posts in the past, I would suggest you list your prize as a month-long prize instead of week-specific.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:38 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
In other words: if you like a specific topic and want to reward such posts (or maybe prompt the creation of such posts), look to see how many were made by browsing tags. If your criteria has few matching posts in the past, I would suggest you list your prize as a month-long prize instead of week-specific.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:38 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
#TopPostAboutHamilton
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:47 PM on December 1, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:47 PM on December 1, 2015 [5 favorites]
I have pledged a delicious pound cake to the best post about sports. So please make some posts and tag them sports.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 1:08 PM on December 1, 2015
posted by everybody had matching towels at 1:08 PM on December 1, 2015
#TopPostAboutHamilton
Let's just give that award to ColdChef right now.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:53 PM on December 1, 2015
Let's just give that award to ColdChef right now.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:53 PM on December 1, 2015
#TopPostAboutHamilton
Let's just give that award to ColdChef right now.
I am not throwing away my shot.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:05 PM on December 1, 2015 [10 favorites]
Let's just give that award to ColdChef right now.
I am not throwing away my shot.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:05 PM on December 1, 2015 [10 favorites]
Let's just give that award to ColdChef right now.
It's a best post contest, not a best tweet-from-beside-a-freshly-dug-grave contest.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:31 PM on December 1, 2015 [16 favorites]
It's a best post contest, not a best tweet-from-beside-a-freshly-dug-grave contest.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:31 PM on December 1, 2015 [16 favorites]
My fastest faved post missed this by a few days. I will never be able to do so well again as I never have in the past 10 years. Damn it all... and the damn literature review that is due on Christmas. Yep, us furriners work through the holidays.
My only hope is to get to the other side of the planet and make a post on informal cross border trade in east africa and pray y'all are as interested in it as I will have no choice but to be.
Meh meh meh meh meh.
*flounces out dramatically with flourish*
posted by infini at 2:50 PM on December 1, 2015
My only hope is to get to the other side of the planet and make a post on informal cross border trade in east africa and pray y'all are as interested in it as I will have no choice but to be.
Meh meh meh meh meh.
*flounces out dramatically with flourish*
posted by infini at 2:50 PM on December 1, 2015
Awwwww, if I'd remembered this was coming up I'd have saved last week's vagina post. OH WELL, TIME TO THINK OF NEW TOPICS
posted by sciatrix at 3:00 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by sciatrix at 3:00 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yay. I will make some prizes. If I recall last time there was some lull between all the end-of-month prizes and the weekly prizes because some smaller categories may not have had a post in the week the prize was scheduled. So we may want to have MeFites signing up to give out week prizes that are slightly general in nature or specific to the poster like "Best post by a user over 100K" or "Jessamyn's Favorite Post from Week Two" for example. I'll go sign up for that one right now actually. Anyone else want to take a Favorite Post Week?
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 3:07 PM on December 1, 2015
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 3:07 PM on December 1, 2015
I have a prize for a themed contest but I think it is too broad to run a whole month. As soon as the wiki emails me password reset (sometime today would be nice) I'll add it. I guess that will be in addition to a weekly favorite contest.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:26 PM on December 1, 2015
posted by Room 641-A at 3:26 PM on December 1, 2015
I did this last year, but I can't remember if anyone won...whatever. Best craft, baking, homemaking post wins something homemade!
posted by Sophie1 at 3:31 PM on December 1, 2015
posted by Sophie1 at 3:31 PM on December 1, 2015
Do we have a "Best Comment" category?
posted by Thorzdad at 3:33 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 3:33 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
The world is your oyster, Thorzdad!
posted by phunniemee at 3:47 PM on December 1, 2015
posted by phunniemee at 3:47 PM on December 1, 2015
Sorry everyone I won all the prizes with a pretty thoughtful takedown of Lauryn Hill this morning, sorry, everyone.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:08 PM on December 1, 2015
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:08 PM on December 1, 2015
I believe that my birthday should be celebrated as a national holiday, so as I did a couple years ago, I will again offer a prize for the best post on my birthday. Everyone gets presents for capricorn's birthday!
Also, I echo what jessamyn said - themed prizes work much better as monthly prizes as opposed to more general weekly prizes, because as jessamyn said, there might not be a post on the theme that week, and a super great post on the theme during another week of the month might miss out on the prize!
posted by capricorn at 4:25 PM on December 1, 2015
Also, I echo what jessamyn said - themed prizes work much better as monthly prizes as opposed to more general weekly prizes, because as jessamyn said, there might not be a post on the theme that week, and a super great post on the theme during another week of the month might miss out on the prize!
posted by capricorn at 4:25 PM on December 1, 2015
I love how this contest gives 25$ to two members; the poster and the MeFi shopkeeper.
Well played!
posted by el io at 4:33 PM on December 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
Well played!
posted by el io at 4:33 PM on December 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
I'd like to offer a prize to the best post with a supervocalic post title. I will define supervocalic to mean a title containing each of the vowels a, e, i, o and u exactly once; and if the letter y appears it must appear only once, but it is not required. (Different definitions vary on how y is treated. My prize, my rule.)
The determination of "best" will be entirely undemocratic, my opinion alone, and will be judged primarily on the content of the post, and need not have anything to do with supervocalics, or even wordplay or language. Aside from the title qualifying the post for this prize, the title will be at most a minor consideration as far as which is "best," although a title that seems unrelated to the post, or unnaturally forced, may be looked upon poorly.
I believe I've worked out a mostly-automated way to identify qualifying posts, but as a precaution it wouldn't hurt to add a "supervocalic" tag to qualifying posts.
For curiosity's sake I searched November's posts to exhaustion, and found only one post with a supervocalic title there: Mature minors.
The prize will be the winner's choice of one or more supervocalic items from Amazon, the MeFi mall, or other agreeable source; here "supervocalic" might refer to the name or title of the item, or the name of a person creatively involved. Examples could include My Cousin Rachel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Dial M for Murder, Police Squad!, Born in the U.S.A., anything starring Julia Roberts, music by Count Basie, etc. However, the total cost of the item(s) shall not exceed twenty-six US dollars.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 5:06 PM on December 1, 2015 [9 favorites]
The determination of "best" will be entirely undemocratic, my opinion alone, and will be judged primarily on the content of the post, and need not have anything to do with supervocalics, or even wordplay or language. Aside from the title qualifying the post for this prize, the title will be at most a minor consideration as far as which is "best," although a title that seems unrelated to the post, or unnaturally forced, may be looked upon poorly.
I believe I've worked out a mostly-automated way to identify qualifying posts, but as a precaution it wouldn't hurt to add a "supervocalic" tag to qualifying posts.
For curiosity's sake I searched November's posts to exhaustion, and found only one post with a supervocalic title there: Mature minors.
The prize will be the winner's choice of one or more supervocalic items from Amazon, the MeFi mall, or other agreeable source; here "supervocalic" might refer to the name or title of the item, or the name of a person creatively involved. Examples could include My Cousin Rachel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Dial M for Murder, Police Squad!, Born in the U.S.A., anything starring Julia Roberts, music by Count Basie, etc. However, the total cost of the item(s) shall not exceed twenty-six US dollars.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 5:06 PM on December 1, 2015 [9 favorites]
I had fun participating/sending out prizes last year. For this time around, I'll send a picture postcard for my favorite post about a woman or women doing awesome things (continuing the topic that ocherdraco started a few years back!). In case of a category tie, I'll send a postcard to each of the winners.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 9:48 PM on December 1, 2015
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 9:48 PM on December 1, 2015
Do we have a "Best Comment" category?
Just give the award to It's Raining Florence Henderson if we do.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:44 AM on December 2, 2015
Just give the award to It's Raining Florence Henderson if we do.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:44 AM on December 2, 2015
Do we have a "Best Comment" category?
In reality, that's just a much wider net to cast and so probably a lot more difficult to practically wrangle. Sorting through a few hundred posts any given week is one thing, searching through tens of thousands of comments is another entirely.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:18 AM on December 2, 2015
In reality, that's just a much wider net to cast and so probably a lot more difficult to practically wrangle. Sorting through a few hundred posts any given week is one thing, searching through tens of thousands of comments is another entirely.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:18 AM on December 2, 2015
Just give the award to It's Raining Florence Henderson if we do.
Poffin Boffin.
And just like that, we have a horse race.
posted by zarq at 7:33 AM on December 2, 2015
Poffin Boffin.
And just like that, we have a horse race.
posted by zarq at 7:33 AM on December 2, 2015
I'll again offer a custom designed/illustrated commemorative poster of the Best FPP of the Month (as determined by favorites, fantastics, my general mood, and a complex algorithm developed by one of the Quonsmas hamsters in the off-season).
posted by Kabanos at 9:22 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Kabanos at 9:22 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Is the wiki having issues at the moment? I made an account but it seems to keep complaining about my email address:
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 12:20 PM on December 2, 2015
(I checked and the email address seems fine, the ampersand and dot are the only non-alpha characters...)Mefi Wiki could not send your confirmation mail. Please check your email address for invalid characters. Mailer returned: Unknown error in PHP's mail() function.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 12:20 PM on December 2, 2015
An ampersand in an email address? Might be a non-starter. Wiki is working for me, maybe try the wiki owners.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 12:29 PM on December 2, 2015
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 12:29 PM on December 2, 2015
>ampersand in an email address
Sorry, I'm apparently still asleep today, I meant to say at-sign ('@') not ampersand ('&'). No unusual characters for an email address, I guess was my point. Still, maybe it's just me.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 12:34 PM on December 2, 2015
Sorry, I'm apparently still asleep today, I meant to say at-sign ('@') not ampersand ('&'). No unusual characters for an email address, I guess was my point. Still, maybe it's just me.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 12:34 PM on December 2, 2015
Supervocalic tag is go.
🎵May your days be merry and bright, and may all your posts sound less contrived.🎵
posted by knuckle tattoos at 9:21 PM on December 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
🎵May your days be merry and bright, and may all your posts sound less contrived.🎵
posted by knuckle tattoos at 9:21 PM on December 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
If anyone wants to provide a prize or two but are baffled/ bothered by the wiki formatting, I'm happy to update it on your behalf. I'll also periodically check this thread to see if people's offerings via comments made it into the wiki.
And as of this time, there's one offering for the first week, and one for Dec. 30. For comparison, last year there were a few prizes per week, in addition to the broader selection of month-long prizes.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:05 PM on December 4, 2015
And as of this time, there's one offering for the first week, and one for Dec. 30. For comparison, last year there were a few prizes per week, in addition to the broader selection of month-long prizes.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:05 PM on December 4, 2015
Just a reminder here to folks who have this in their recent activity:
Vote early and often! Flag some posts as fantastic. If you've got a little time tonight or over the weekend, take a few minutes and buzz back to any posts this week that you thought were great and flag 'em.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 4:27 PM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Vote early and often! Flag some posts as fantastic. If you've got a little time tonight or over the weekend, take a few minutes and buzz back to any posts this week that you thought were great and flag 'em.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 4:27 PM on December 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm gonna offer a copy of Undertale for the best post tagged "anime" this month.
Fine print: Winner must have Steam account and provide email address or friend request for gifting purposes. Playing fast and loose with the definition of anime is a-okay, like in terms of medium and place of origin. If you've got Undertale, you can request a different ~$10 Steam game. I am ineligible for this prize even if I get my shit together and write that Hiromu Arakawa post I've been talking about. I really want to put in an Undertale anime reference here but I also would regret spoiling anything like that. Moral dilemmas, yo.
posted by knuckle tattoos at 9:29 PM on December 5, 2015
Fine print: Winner must have Steam account and provide email address or friend request for gifting purposes. Playing fast and loose with the definition of anime is a-okay, like in terms of medium and place of origin. If you've got Undertale, you can request a different ~$10 Steam game. I am ineligible for this prize even if I get my shit together and write that Hiromu Arakawa post I've been talking about. I really want to put in an Undertale anime reference here but I also would regret spoiling anything like that. Moral dilemmas, yo.
posted by knuckle tattoos at 9:29 PM on December 5, 2015
First round of winners will be announced tomorrow - so get your first-week votes (fantastic flags) in now!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:01 AM on December 7, 2015
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:01 AM on December 7, 2015
Is it too late to offer prizes? I'll mail someone an aerogram from Malaysia for the best post related to something outside the US that's not a news story.
posted by divabat at 5:17 PM on December 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by divabat at 5:17 PM on December 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Not too late at all! People can add prizes all month.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 5:18 PM on December 7, 2015
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 5:18 PM on December 7, 2015
OK, I updated the Wiki page with the two people whose prizes weren't on the list yet (zarq and everybody had matching towels), and tweaked the layout, re-labeling the weeks with the date ranges, relabeled the week titles as "offerings" instead of "winners," because there hasn't been any winners yet (even though we've made it through week 1). Also, I moved the month-long offerings to the end, and moved the week-specific offerings to the specific weeks. This all made sense to me, but anyone can change it to something that makes more sense to you.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:14 AM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by filthy light thief at 7:14 AM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have my winner selected for this week (and a runner up). Is there going to be an official announcement of this weeks Fantastic Flag Favorite that I can add my pick to?
This all made sense to me
It looks very nice.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 9:44 AM on December 8, 2015
This all made sense to me
It looks very nice.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 9:44 AM on December 8, 2015
Thanks - I didn't want it to seem that I stomped in and tried to commandeer the wiki page.
And the first week's winners have been announced.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:36 AM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
And the first week's winners have been announced.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:36 AM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yes, the wiki looks great, thanks for working on it! I changed the date ranges, which had gotten moved around some from what we're actually doing. We're doing 4 weeks, with the last week being a tiny bit longer than the others. Announcements at mid-day, Tuesdays.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:44 AM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:44 AM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Thanks! I tweaked the dates to make the weeks run from Tuesday to Monday, unless you plan on having the tallies run through mid-day Tuesdays. In which case, I'll undo my edit.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:00 PM on December 9, 2015
posted by filthy light thief at 3:00 PM on December 9, 2015
Yeah, my thought was basically it would run from noon Tues to noon Tues. (Noon eastern, because that allows a while to compose the week's roundup post and still post it at a week interval from when I made the initial announcement post, around 2 eastern.)
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:40 AM on December 10, 2015
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:40 AM on December 10, 2015
I just added a prize (one rad hen cap) for the best post written using only words 3 letters long or less! ( That is, mad ape den style.)
posted by Secretariat at 5:45 PM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Secretariat at 5:45 PM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
Second round of winners will be announced tomorrow, last chance to getcher week 2 votes in!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 2:17 PM on December 14, 2015
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 2:17 PM on December 14, 2015
I voted. Was thinking it would be neat if we got little profile badges for this ... maybe too late for this year.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 2:29 PM on December 14, 2015
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 2:29 PM on December 14, 2015
That's a totally fun idea that we should think about, yeah.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:15 PM on December 14, 2015
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:15 PM on December 14, 2015
Another reminder comment, get your votes in for Week 3! Voting closes Tuesday at noon eastern US time.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:33 AM on December 20, 2015
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:33 AM on December 20, 2015
And the last reminder comment - take a few minutes now to run through and vote for great posts you've noticed this past week!
The final week is a couple of days long, but get your votes in now -- vote with the fantastic flag as always. Voting closes at midnight eastern New Years Eve, winners will probably be announced on Jan 2.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:47 PM on December 29, 2015
The final week is a couple of days long, but get your votes in now -- vote with the fantastic flag as always. Voting closes at midnight eastern New Years Eve, winners will probably be announced on Jan 2.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:47 PM on December 29, 2015
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I honestly don't remember if I actually drew a picture last year...if you won, or know who won, memail me. IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE.
posted by phunniemee at 10:05 AM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]