July Best Post Contest! CATEGORIES June 30, 2017 7:04 PM   Subscribe

The July Best Post Contest is ON. Vote with fantastic flags! Rules and categories inside!

1) Weekly best post: This will be determined by member fantastic flags on July 9, 16, 23, and 31 (so mostly Sundays).

2) First and Second Time Posters: This will be month-long, noting the best posts that were first or second posts, to encourage new posters and posters who have only tried once before! Tag your post with "FirstPost" or "SecondPost" for easier searching on our part. Feel free to ask for help!

3) Mod Categories: These are month-long, looking for the best post in certain specific categories that just happen to be things the mods like to read posts about! You can add tags to your post to make it easier for us to search (or we may add them as we see things in those categories!).

Categories:
Consider the LobsterMitten: Our most crustaceous mod asks for "Pleasing posts about anything water-related -- boats, navigation, seafaring peoples, oceans, rivers, lakes, aquatic animals, etc. But post must be pleasing/interesting/cool/ diverting/wonderful rather than horrifying/depressing/doomy; my judgement." (Tag: Aquarius)

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Mod: cortex would like "Something to do with [handwaving] ART." (Tag: Art)

From the Mixed Up Files of Mx. Jessamyn E. Librarian: The librarian herself offers a prize for "Best 'Have you heard the good news about reading, books and/or libraries?' post ... Winner gets a postcard from Jessamyn. Second prize gets TWO postcards from Jessamyn" (Tag: Libraries, Books, Reading, something like that)

Children of a Lesser Mod: Eyebrows will give an award for the post that she most enjoys sharing with her children. It's kind-of a wild card category, since it's a bit unpredictable what they'll like! But they tend towards silly, sciencey, or transit-related, and you've got to work clean. (I'll tag them "kidfun" when I show them to my kids.)

Tazzy Drew and the Greek Symbol Mystery: Taz wants to see your posts about "Mystery! (real life or fictional, modern or historical, animal, vegetable or mineral)" (Tag: Mystery)

The Electric Kool-Aid Frimble Test: frimble is after high weird, saying, "Basically, the weird or offbeat thing that interested me the most." (Tag: Weird)

4) Member Categories:
If members want to offer their own categories, post them in the thread and I'll add them here! (Yes, you can come up with your own silly fake-literature title but, no, you don't have to.)

Remember When We Was Swell: for rediscovery of a semi-forgotten Pop Culture Gem (but not something that the Media Powers That Be are working on reviving, so no DuckTales but Darkwing Duck is OK). (Tag:PopCultureGem) -oneswellfoop

It Did Wendell: for best surprise ending to a story; not necessarily Twilight Zone Irony, but actual extra points for surprisingly HAPPY ending. (Tag: OHenry)-oneswellfoop

Sunshine Sketches of a Big-Ass Country: To commemorate the sesquicentennial of the declaration of Confederation, and with the hope that we do better in the next 150 years for our First Nations, for the best post about or pertaining to Canada and/or the First Nations. (Tag: Canada, FirstNations) -Homeboy Trouble

Best Post About An Old Video Game That Makes You Go, Oooh I Remember Playing That - (Tag: Oldvideogameooh) - Fizz, who puts the whole thing in the title so all this text is extraneous

The Hard Way: low-tech but ingenious devices or methods, possibly obsoleted by computers or digital devices. Examples: mechanical fire-control computers using cams and shafts, slide rules, celestial navigation, punch cards, gray code, etc. Can contribute a slide rule as a prize, and potentially a letter of commendation written crudely with a pencil. (Tag: LoTech) -ctmf

You Type Like a Girl: Posts about womanhood, cultural femininity or gender identity online (or offline). Bonus points if this is a positive post. Prize will be a only slightly dog nibbled, horribly expensive, absolutely wonderful copy of The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service. (Tag: Jane) -Darling Bri

Run the World: Posts about a woman/women doing awesome things, prize is postcards! You can probably also tag these Jane since there's probably a lot of overlap with the above! (Tag: Jane, women) -rangefinder 1.4

Good Doggos: a prize for best dog-related post. Bonus points given for mutts/rescue/adoption-focused. Buzzfeedy-style memes/cutesy viral videos prolly don't count as much. Winner will get either a toy sent to them from petsmart.com (not sponsored thing, I just have a gift card from them I need to use) or a donation to the shelter/rescue organization of their choice, up to $25 US. (Tag: Awesomedog) - Ufez Jones

Game On!: Best post about board and / or card games gets their choice out of several card games in a homemade but pretty slick if I do say so myself laser-cut wooden box. (Tag: games) -aubilenon

Best Non-US-Centric Non-Political Post Prize: What it says on the tin, and since it's the 5th when I'm proposing this, I'll select winners on the 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, and 31st. I have a collection of charming little abstract watercolors (unframed) that an artist friend gave me once, and I'll select one at random for each prize. (Tag: NotTheUS) -hippybear

Global South: Best non-political post about something to do with the Global South (Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania sans Australia/New Zealand). Bonus points if it's a country that's hardly ever written about on Metafilter. I'll pick a post at random to get either an aerogram or a postcard depending on what I can wrangle from the local post office. (Tag: Global South) -divabat

Bippity Boppity Boo: best post about magic - both stage/performance magic and witchcraft. I'll pick one from both subcategories; if you manage a post about something that's a hybrid you get extra bonus points and likely an award for your own. (Tag: BippityBoppityBoo) -divabat

Alt Planning: best post about planning, organising, productivity, etc that is not the usual fare. For example, planner decoration subcultures that are niches within niches, or weird productivity apps, or resources for organising targeted towards a hyperspecific minority audience, that sorta thing. Something that would be hidden amongst the waves of bullet journaling/Travelers Notebook/GTD/the usual. (Tag: AltPlanning) -divabat

Carry On MetaFilter: for an amusing post concerning the use of innuendo or double entendre. Keep it the right side of the offensive line. (Tag:OooMatron) -wordshore

FOOOOOOD: I'd love to see some great posts about food itself. Niche foods, not the latest food fad. (Tag:food) -aniola

As noted in the prior thread, we'll be excluding the politics megathreads from "best post" because they're already making metafilter great again and we want to focus on some more nook-and-cranny best posts!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 7:04 PM (59 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite

Yay!
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 7:13 PM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


Okay, let me offer a couple categories:

"Remember When We Was Swell" (reference)... for rediscovery of a semi-forgotten Pop Culture Gem (but not something that the Media Powers That Be are working on reviving, so no DuckTales but Darkwing Duck is OK).

"It Did Wendell"... for best surprise ending to a story; not necessarily Twilight Zone Irony, but actual extra points for surprisingly HAPPY ending.
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:31 PM on June 30, 2017


Good catch, lalex, vote with FANTASTIC FLAGS! I've edited the post to correct the error, d'oh.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:53 PM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]


This is full of awesome! I am looking forward to MF this month to counteract the rest of the web.
posted by blurker at 8:06 PM on June 30, 2017


Reminder that a great post can be, but is not necessarily, a megapost! Don't feel pressured to pull together two dozen links on the philosophy and politics of cat pictures, unless that's your jam, of course.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 8:50 PM on June 30, 2017


Roughly how old are Eyebrows' kids?
posted by salvia at 10:41 PM on June 30, 2017


Awesome! Some great categories!
posted by ellieBOA at 1:08 AM on July 1, 2017


They're six and eight (and almost one). Frequently popular are goofy videos, webtoys, and games ... They still love "Mansion Maniac" (NYPL webtoy/game featuring old floor plans) and "Dumb Ways to Die," the video/game about Australian train safety. But sometimes it's cool articles about space or morphing subway system maps or whatever, it's hard to say what will tickle their fancy!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:57 AM on July 1, 2017


Who will dare to attempt to write the one post that wins ALL of the awards? It would have to be about a weird happy boat with a sturdy library of books about paintings of fish, which are in fact not books at all, but clever camouflage that conceal the world's only complete collection of Barney Miller episodes, which have been secreted away on the high seas until the legal issues are resolved and the show can finally go into syndication.
posted by notyou at 9:12 AM on July 1, 2017 [9 favorites]


I would like to request a category:
Sunshine Sketches of a Big-Ass Country: To commemorate the sesquicentennial of the declaration of Confederation, and with the hope that we do better in the next 150 years for our First Nations, for the best post about or pertaining to Canada and/or the First Nations.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:27 AM on July 1, 2017 [4 favorites]


To correct a suggestion that just came up elsewhere -- there's no tag for participating in the overall best post contest. The tags are for the other subcontests.

If you see a post you think should be in the running for best post, flag it with the Fantastic flag.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:27 AM on July 1, 2017


Does that mean you are disqualified for being the Best if you tag your post under a category? Or can you win both overall best and specific best?
posted by FirstMateKate at 11:22 AM on July 1, 2017


Not disqualified by tagging, no. If a post wins best overall, then historically we've usually chosen a different post for other awards, at most one award per post -- so we don't get a single post sweeping a bunch of categories.

For individual-judged awards it's up to the discretion of the individual judging. So if you offer an award for a post about foo, you get to decide who gets it, period.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:32 AM on July 1, 2017


Also, in general tags aren't strictly required, and we might add a tag to something if the poster doesn't realize they could. One of the tough things about these month-long contests is there are a LOT of posts, and you want to be fair -- and even following the site as closely as the mods do, it's hard to be sure you've seen every post on your subject. So tags make it more manageable to keep track of which posts are relevant.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:45 AM on July 1, 2017


For my best MYSTERY! post category, I asked limeonaire about purchasing one of her Pony Illuminati Pins as a prize for the winner (it's MYSTERIOUS *and* it's PONY!!!)), or maybe just the Pony if the winner prefers (okay, "horse," but in MefiLand, sometimes ponies do get a bit long in the tooth before they're finally granted stable space, so).

But limeonaire generously offered to donate this prize, so the brilliant winner of the Mystery category will be getting an enigmatic equine for their excellent effort from limeonaire! Thank you, limeonaire, you do rock!
posted by taz (staff) at 12:13 PM on July 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


Yeah the tags aren't required (and you're not limited to one category ... Tag aquatic mysteries about art as all three!) but they'll make it a lot easier to go back through posts at the end of the month, which is always a rather daunting task.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 12:41 PM on July 1, 2017


MetaFilter: the tags aren't strictly required
posted by hippybear at 3:01 PM on July 1, 2017 [2 favorites]


I'd like to create a category for "Best Post About An Old Video Game That Makes You Go....Oooh I Remember Playing That".

And I plan on participating myself. So keep an eye out. Mostly, any chance I get to post about video-games on MetaFilter, I will. But I'd love for others to join me. :)
posted by Fizz at 3:11 PM on July 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


I will try to get my children to draw you a picture as a prize, which means you probably get a crayon drawing of a train or a taxi, is that is the big subject for summer art right now!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 3:16 PM on July 1, 2017


My name is adamvasco and I approve of this message.
Great stuff metafilter. It' about time we have a diversion from the horror of reality.
posted by adamvasco at 3:49 PM on July 1, 2017


Proposed Category: The Hard Way - low-tech but ingenious devices or methods, possibly obsoleted by computers or digital devices. Examples: mechanical fire-control computers using cams and shafts, slide rules, celestial navigation, punch cards, gray code, etc.
Can contribute a slide rule as a prize, and potentially a letter of commendation written crudely with a pencil. Tag LoTech
posted by ctmf at 5:08 PM on July 1, 2017


Would the judges please clarify the bribe preferences? k, thx.
posted by theora55 at 6:58 PM on July 1, 2017


You Type Like a Girl. Posts about womanhood, cultural femininity or gender identity online (or offline). Tag: Jane. Bonus points if this is a positive post. Prize will be a only slightly dog nibbled, horribly expensive, absolutely wonderful copy of The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:09 PM on July 1, 2017 [2 favorites]


As mentioned in the announcement about this contest last month, I'd be happy to continue the MeFites' Choice tradition started by ocherdraco, and offer picture postcards for my favorite posts about a woman/women doing awesome things.

Eyebrows, or another mod, could you please add the mefiteschoice tag to this thread? (Thanks in advance!)
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 7:19 PM on July 1, 2017


low-tech but ingenious devices or methods, possibly obsoleted by computers or digital devices.


Have to do that post about circular slide rules then.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:51 PM on July 1, 2017


When is the "Best didn't make any posts" contest? Because I've got that one in the bag!
posted by aubilenon at 10:30 AM on July 3, 2017 [2 favorites]


Voting is participating! Support your local poster. Vote early and often, with the Fantastic flag.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 3:03 PM on July 3, 2017


I hope it's not too late to sponsor a contest. I'd like to offer up a prize for best dog-related post. Bonus points given for mutts/rescue/adoption-focused. Buzzfeedy-style memes/cutesy viral videos prolly don't count as much.

Winner will get either a toy sent to them from petsmart.com (not sponsored thing, I just have a gift card from them I need to use) or a donation to the shelter/rescue organization of their choice, up to $25 US.

Use tag awesomedog.

(will mods let me know which posts get the most fantastic flags?)
posted by Ufez Jones at 6:09 PM on July 3, 2017


Within your category, you can just pick the post you like best. The overall Best Post awards will be based on Fantastic flags, but the individual ones are just judged by the individual who's proposing them.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 6:44 PM on July 3, 2017


Ok, sounds good. Count me in.

Edited to add: if you want a title for the category, let's call it Good doggos.

Thanks, LM!
posted by Ufez Jones at 6:59 PM on July 3, 2017


Tag mine as: oldvideogameooh
posted by Fizz at 8:15 AM on July 4, 2017


I'll be providing a small video-game related toy prize of some kind, so I should mention that to anyone interested in making a video game post for my category.

:D
posted by Fizz at 10:50 AM on July 4, 2017


Ahh this is all so exciting! Great categories.
posted by Secretariat at 11:49 AM on July 4, 2017


Okay okay! I'll chip in

Best post about board and / or card games gets their choice out of several card games in a homemade but pretty slick if I do say so myself laser-cut wooden box. (Tag: games)
posted by aubilenon at 2:21 PM on July 4, 2017 [2 favorites]


Anyone who wants to participate in the "Run the World" category: you can also use the "women" tag for your post if it doesn't overlap at all with DarlingBri's "You Type Like a Girl" category. (I'll browse through the "jane" tag regardless, but I definitely don't want to make DarlingBri wade through irrelevant posts if she doesn't have to.)

Mentioning this because...I'm writing my first post (I have to admit, I'm a little nervous; restless_nomad has been helpful in reviewing it!). It's about a woman doing something very cool, and I think it's something MeFites might like. But it doesn't fit in with the YTLAG category so I figured I'll use a different tag.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 11:26 PM on July 4, 2017


I'm looking at the front page of the Blue and realizing how US-centric it is, I'm going to offer up a Best Non-US-Centric Non-Political Post Prize. And since it's the 5th when I'm proposing this, I'll select winners on the 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, and 31st. I have a collection of charming little abstract watercolors (unframed) that an artist friend gave me once, and I'll select one at random for each prize.

Um... tag it NotTheUS but I won't be only looking at the tag for possible winners.
posted by hippybear at 11:52 PM on July 4, 2017 [3 favorites]


Hey, are we doing prize announcements in this thread? Obviously a MeMail to the winner too, but announcing here, or in a different thread?
posted by hippybear at 2:36 AM on July 6, 2017


Ha, I came here to propose hippybear's exact idea. So I'll refine my prize:

Global South: Best non-political post about something to do with the Global South (Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania sans Australia/New Zealand). Bonus points if it's a country that's hardly ever written about on Metafilter. Tag it GlobalSouth (feel free to tag it as NotTheUS too). I'll pick a post at random to get either an aerogram or a postcard depending on what I can wrangle from the local post office.
posted by divabat at 6:31 AM on July 7, 2017


Also more random suggestions:

Bippity Boppity Boo: best post about magic - both stage/performance magic and witchcraft. I'll pick one from both subcategories; if you manage a post about something that's a hybrid you get extra bonus points and likely an award for your own. Tag: BippityBoppityBoo

Alt Planning: best post about planning, organising, productivity, etc that is not the usual fare. For example, planner decoration subcultures that are niches within niches, or weird productivity apps, or resources for organising targeted towards a hyperspecific minority audience, that sorta thing. Something that would be hidden amongst the waves of bullet journaling/Travelers Notebook/GTD/the usual. Tag: AltPlanning

Prizes for either TBD, but most likely something related to your post. Actually let's make that true of the GlobalSouth challenge too - the prize is something related to your post, which may or may not be a postcard.
posted by divabat at 6:38 AM on July 7, 2017


I think we should have a new MeTa thread for prize announcements, so there's a clear chronological log of when they were selected without all this preliminary bullshit at the top of it. Anyone else with me? Prizes should be announced today or tomorrow!
posted by hippybear at 12:23 AM on July 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Also, the small unframed watercolors I'm offering for a prize are not randomly selected, but instead I had Death And Gravity sort through all that I had and he picked the 5 that will be rewarded. I will just go from the top of the stack down for the 5 prize dates.

Honestly, I don't know if this has to do with me offering this prize or whether it's one of those "you look for it and it's everywhere" things but I have a nice collection of non-USian posts already since the 5th. Fascinating how big the world is!
posted by hippybear at 12:25 AM on July 8, 2017


I think we should have a new MeTa thread for prize announcements, so there's a clear chronological log of when they were selected without all this preliminary bullshit at the top of it. Anyone else with me? Prizes should be announced today or tomorrow!

There's a weekly best post and then there's the other categories and that's an overall pick for the entire month based on our choosing, correct? Just a tad confused and wanted to make sure I had it right.

Also, I'm loving that people are posting in my category. I'm sure some are less than enthused about the number of video game posts that have recently flooded the front page, but for me its pure joy. I think we've had like 3 different Final Fantasy related posts and they're all very different and tackling unique subjects within that franchise.

I love it. Keep them coming. :)
posted by Fizz at 8:33 AM on July 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


There's best posts happening in all kinds of categories. I'm doing 5 prizes across the month, I think others are weekly, and there are prizes to be awarded at the end of the month.

Basically, if there is no new thread by when I give my award, I'm going to start a new one. If prize announcements begin to appear in this thread, I'll keep my announcements here.
posted by hippybear at 8:38 AM on July 8, 2017


I'm having my own little MetaFilter competition with myself. Only video-game related posts for the entire month. That is all I'll allow myself to post. I'm having lots of fun so far.
posted by Fizz at 12:44 PM on July 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Yes, go ahead and start a new thread when you're ready, hippybear!

I'll probably do a big All The Prizes thread at the end of the month, but let's have a running prize thread for the weekly ones.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:55 PM on July 8, 2017


For your convenience (and my reference, I'm trying to go through all the FPPs every day and add tags), here's a list of all the tags:
Aquarius -- Art -- libraries/books/reading -- kidfun -- Mystery -- Weird

PopCultureGem -- OHenry -- Oldvideogameooh -- games (card/board)
LoTech -- Jane -- women -- Awesomedog -- AltPlanning -- OooMatron -- food
Canada/FirstNations -- NotTheUS -- GlobalSouth -- BippityBoppityBoo
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 5:01 PM on July 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


I'm trying to go through all the FPPs every day and add tags

Oh thank goodness. I was afraid I was going to have to actually read the site!
posted by aubilenon at 11:38 PM on July 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


Please explain to me what we are doing like I'm 5?
posted by Dressed to Kill at 10:04 AM on July 9, 2017


There's a MeFi best post contest this month, weekly winners, determined by math. You vote for posts you like with the Fantastic Flag. Other MeFites are sponsoring themed "best in a topic" posts with their own criteria and topics, usually monthly not weekly. If you want your post to be considered for one of those, you need to add the relevant tag so the individual judges can find them.

So, for example, I am sponsoring one which is about books/libraries/reading and will be determined subjectively by me. Winner gets a postcard. I admit it's a little confusing it figure it all our from the thread and the funny names, but that's the gist. Make sense?
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 10:27 AM on July 9, 2017


Please explain to me what we are doing like I'm 5?

We're trying to have a MetaFilter front page that isn't entirely politics or outrage bait by giving away stuff to people who post things that aren't political or outrage inspiring.

Make posts to the front page that are entertaining or excellent or simply make the front page feel more like a fun place to be instead of blood pressure raising. Maybe you'll win a thing, who knows?
posted by hippybear at 11:09 AM on July 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


And in case this helps anyone else*, this is how to flag something as fantastic:

- In the byline of the post, look for the flag link which is labeled "[!]"

- Select "[!]" to get a dropdown list with the title "pick a reason to flag:" and then select the title to expand the list. (Might have to zoom in on mobile)

- Select "fantastic post" which is the very first option. (This part is a little tricky for me -- unlike favorites, there is no "undo" function after picking a flag reason, so I usually slow down here to make sure I select the correct option and not one of the others by accident.)

More info in the FAQ about flagging and how it works.

* because it wasn't immediately obvious to me when I first joined MetaFilter -- I associated flagging content only with reporting something problematic, so it took me a while to get used to "flag as fantastic"
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 2:58 PM on July 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


Feel free to test out your new found flagging powers by finding high quality content over on the front page. July has been a great month so far.

:D
posted by Fizz at 5:10 PM on July 9, 2017


Awards Meta
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 8:10 PM on July 9, 2017


If it's not too late, I wish to enter a Member Category. I will send a postcard to the best such post:

Carry On MetaFilter: for an amusing post concerning the use of innuendo or double entendre. For inspiration, a clip from the most popular film at UK cinemas in 1969, as well as Mrs Slocome's cat. Keep it the right side of the offensive line. (Tag:OooMatron) -wordshore
posted by Wordshore at 4:01 PM on July 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'd love to see some great posts about food itself. Niche foods, not the latest food fad. Inspired by wikiwandering to armudu, so I am apparently ok with kind of a loose definition of food that includes food paraphernalia. Tag: food
posted by aniola at 9:53 PM on July 12, 2017


prize: tbd
posted by aniola at 9:54 PM on July 12, 2017


You are on your own for locating food posts from the first 12 days of the month! But I am trying to go through and tag everything plausible every evening before bed with the currently active tags.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 9:06 PM on July 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best This Is Just To Say version.



This is just to say

I have stolen
the icebox
that contained
your plums

and which
you were clearly
using
for storage.

Forgive me
if you don't want
to be out
of a job
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:57 PM on July 21 [13 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
posted by Oyéah at 5:12 PM on July 21, 2017


I just came here to ask what a fantastic flag is.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:37 PM on July 24, 2017


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