December is for giving good FPP November 21, 2017 2:48 PM Subscribe
It's that time of year again and it brings out the best in us.
Are we having a December best post bonanza as previously?
With all the crap out there in the real world I think we deserve it.
I will kick off with an Amazon $25 voucher for best Art post.
I will kick off with an Amazon $25 voucher for best Art post.
Yes! This is a thing we are doing! I was going to announce it right after Thanksgiving but I'll go ahead and do it here!
We'll be using basically the same system we used in July (and I will once again be organizing it and managing it). We'll choose a weekly best post based on fantastic flags, and a month-long overall winner. We'll also recognize first-time and second-time FPP posters to encourage new people to give it a shot. All first- and second-time posters will get shoutouts, and we'll give an end-of-month award to the most-fantasticed first and second posts.
Then everyone is invited to have categories! Many of the mods will offer categories (all currently TBD!), but posters can offer their own too. We'll assign each user category a tag for your ease of searching through them at the end of the month. I try to go through all the FPPs every day and add post-contest tags (since many users won't be aware we're doing this and won't know to tag).
When picking a category, I suggest you be neither too specific nor too vague. Cortex picked “art” last best post contest, which was maybe a little too broad, and had to go through DOZENS of posts. Similarly, if you pick “Best post about convertible hot rods 1963-1967,” you're probably not going to get ANY posts, because it's too narrow. Relatedly, if YOU'RE the person who always posts about a particular topic, sometimes if you offer an award in that category, nobody else posts about it because they assume you will! (Fizz didn't get too many choices for his best video game post award, since everyone expects him to post them!) So, don't pick something so broad you'll have to comb through 100 posts, don't pick something so narrow nobody will post about it, and don't pick something so unique to you that everyone will be waiting for you to make the post! Finally, while you're welcome to offer prizes, you don't have to! Bragging rights are a perfectly fine prize.
If people would like to post their categories here, I'll collect them and when the month begins I'll make a big “let the best post contest commence!” MetaTalk with all the user categories and rules and so on. I probably won't do silly category names this time but maybe I'll get inspired.
And, special thanks to frimble who is making me a tool to use in checking fantastic flags, etc., instead of bothering them every week. :)
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 2:56 PM on November 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
We'll be using basically the same system we used in July (and I will once again be organizing it and managing it). We'll choose a weekly best post based on fantastic flags, and a month-long overall winner. We'll also recognize first-time and second-time FPP posters to encourage new people to give it a shot. All first- and second-time posters will get shoutouts, and we'll give an end-of-month award to the most-fantasticed first and second posts.
Then everyone is invited to have categories! Many of the mods will offer categories (all currently TBD!), but posters can offer their own too. We'll assign each user category a tag for your ease of searching through them at the end of the month. I try to go through all the FPPs every day and add post-contest tags (since many users won't be aware we're doing this and won't know to tag).
When picking a category, I suggest you be neither too specific nor too vague. Cortex picked “art” last best post contest, which was maybe a little too broad, and had to go through DOZENS of posts. Similarly, if you pick “Best post about convertible hot rods 1963-1967,” you're probably not going to get ANY posts, because it's too narrow. Relatedly, if YOU'RE the person who always posts about a particular topic, sometimes if you offer an award in that category, nobody else posts about it because they assume you will! (Fizz didn't get too many choices for his best video game post award, since everyone expects him to post them!) So, don't pick something so broad you'll have to comb through 100 posts, don't pick something so narrow nobody will post about it, and don't pick something so unique to you that everyone will be waiting for you to make the post! Finally, while you're welcome to offer prizes, you don't have to! Bragging rights are a perfectly fine prize.
If people would like to post their categories here, I'll collect them and when the month begins I'll make a big “let the best post contest commence!” MetaTalk with all the user categories and rules and so on. I probably won't do silly category names this time but maybe I'll get inspired.
And, special thanks to frimble who is making me a tool to use in checking fantastic flags, etc., instead of bothering them every week. :)
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 2:56 PM on November 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
(haha, adamvasco, I wrote my comment before I actually saw the post -- LM let me know it was in the queue so I could add my comment as soon as it posted -- so I was not picking on you for the category art! cortex was legit a little overwhelmed by the quantity at the end of July, but if you're happy going through that many, go for it!)
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 2:58 PM on November 21, 2017
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 2:58 PM on November 21, 2017
Are we married to the post title?
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:05 PM on November 21, 2017
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:05 PM on November 21, 2017
(Fizz didn't get too many choices for his best video game post award, since everyone expects him to post them!)HA! I sort of burned myself in this regard. I won't be making that mistake this year.
:)
posted by Fizz at 3:11 PM on November 21, 2017
Cortex picked “art” last best post contest, which was maybe a little too broad, and had to go through DOZENS of posts.
[insert “You break it, you bought it” joke here]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:13 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
[insert “You break it, you bought it” joke here]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:13 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Are we married to the post title?
Joined at the hip, in fact.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:38 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Joined at the hip, in fact.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:38 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
I am copying and pasting from July because I am consistent and also lazy. 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)
mandolin conspiracy, MovableBookLady, carter, not eligible this time around (sorry folks).
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 6:34 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
mandolin conspiracy, MovableBookLady, carter, not eligible this time around (sorry folks).
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 6:34 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Thanks for that insight Eyebrows.
In that case I will recalibrate to Art by a deceased artist.
posted by adamvasco at 4:09 AM on November 22, 2017
In that case I will recalibrate to Art by a deceased artist.
posted by adamvasco at 4:09 AM on November 22, 2017
I still have only heard from a couple of my prize-winners from July about whether or not they actually got their prizes. This is discouraging me from wanting to provide prizes for things again this time around.
posted by hippybear at 6:29 AM on November 22, 2017
posted by hippybear at 6:29 AM on November 22, 2017
Are we married to the post title?
Friends-with-benefits, apparently.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:09 AM on November 22, 2017
Friends-with-benefits, apparently.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:09 AM on November 22, 2017
hippybear, I did receive my prize! Apologies if I forgot to thank you.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:34 AM on November 22, 2017
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:34 AM on November 22, 2017
jessamyn, I hope I remembered to thank you for the postcards. I thought they were charming. Thanks.
posted by MovableBookLady at 8:43 PM on November 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by MovableBookLady at 8:43 PM on November 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
The Best Post / MeFites Choice Contest is always a highlight for me. I'd be happy to award prizes* again for my favorite posts about a woman or women doing awesome things.
Include the two tags "women" and "awesome" please (although not required to be a candidate).
* Winners each get a picture postcard; top winner this time may also opt to receive a MetaFilter sticker.
Among the winners of my category in the summer, I got a MeMail confirmation from almost everybody I sent a postcard to (IIRC there were a couple of folks who I didn't hear back from); and there were a couple of folks who didn't reply to claim their prizes.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 12:00 AM on November 26, 2017
Include the two tags "women" and "awesome" please (although not required to be a candidate).
* Winners each get a picture postcard; top winner this time may also opt to receive a MetaFilter sticker.
Among the winners of my category in the summer, I got a MeMail confirmation from almost everybody I sent a postcard to (IIRC there were a couple of folks who I didn't hear back from); and there were a couple of folks who didn't reply to claim their prizes.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 12:00 AM on November 26, 2017
Best Literary Post (About a Book(s) or an Author). Tag with #FizzLit
Prize will be bragging rights and a hearty thank you from your video-game obsessed friend. Cheers.
posted by Fizz at 12:29 PM on November 30, 2017
Prize will be bragging rights and a hearty thank you from your video-game obsessed friend. Cheers.
posted by Fizz at 12:29 PM on November 30, 2017
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Get your best-posting engines running (or get them in the shop anyway because we'll kick the actual voting off in 10 days)!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 2:52 PM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]