DECEMBER BEST POST CONTEST! Rules & Categories November 30, 2017 12:48 PM   Subscribe

The December Best Post Contest is a GO. Vote with fantastic flags! Rules and categories inside!

1) Weekly best post: This will be determined by member fantastic flags on December 10, 17, 24, 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!).

cortex will mail out a little bit of geometric art as a prize for your best examples of Geometric Art. (Tag: GeometricArt)

Jessamyn 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)

Eyebrows is feeling in the Chrismukkah spirit and will give an award for a post in the general arena of religion and/or theology. Preference for posts that are more along the lines of "huh, how interesting!" rather than "fight about religion." Doesn't have to be holiday-related, and all religions (living, dead, and emerging!) are fair game! (Tag: religion, theology)

LobsterMitten wants posts about old technologies -- say, pre-1950 -- including sailboats and other transportation, farm implements and food prep, textile-making, steam power, water power, metalsmithing, mills, fire, old medical stuff, weather prediction and scientific instruments, etc. (Tag: historictech)

frimble is interested in food and the culture around food (Tag: foodculture)

taz wants to see posts about "Pattern Recognition," interpreted as broadly as anyone would like: decorative patterns, mathematical patterns, AI, data wrangling, dress patterns, fractals, social behavior, textile patterns, engineering, repeating patterns, wallpaper, tiles, William Gibson, couture ... whatever. (Tag: PatternRecognition)

4) Member Categories:
If members want to offer their own categories, post them in the thread and I'll add them here! (You may offer prizes if you wish, but you are not obligated to do so -- bragging rights are prize enough!)

adamvasco is offering an award for art by a deceased artist. (Tag: deadart)

rangefinder 1.4 wants to see your best posts about women doing awesome things. (Tag: awesomewomen)

Fizz will give an award for Best Literary Post (About a Book(s) or an Author). (Tag: FizzLit, Book, Literature)

DevilsAdvocate offers a prize for the best "nobit" post, which for the purposes of this contest, I'll define to be a post highlighting the life and/or work of a living person at least 80 years old. The subject of the post may be very well-known or very obscure or anywhere in between. (Tag: nobit)

sammyo is excited to see your best procrastination post, and offers a prize which will arrive utterly unexpectedly at not the next apartment you live in but the one after that. (Tag: procrastination)

bondcliff promises to make a small (probably wooden) thing for the best post about a maker who makes stuff. Physical things only. It should be a maker who has maybe not been featured on the blue before. That's it. Beyond that the rules are open to however you want to interpret them. (Tag: decmakers)

Miko is offering a prize for best museum-related post. Could be a museum project, exhibition, essay about museum, whatever. (Tag: museum)

Uncleozzy is eager to see your posts about musical novelties (e.g., weird theme songs, deep dives into one-hit wonders and novelty songs, nearly-forgotten audio ephemera, oral histories of synth presets), and will record you an imaginary TV theme as a reward. (Tag: weirdmusic)

capricorn will provide a prize for the best post about something weird, wild, and/or wonderful in the US of A. Roadside attractions, homegrown single-topic museums, cryptid sightings, minor dialects, map oddities, outsider art, architectural follies, small-town history; you name it, I'll take it. (Tag: americana)

julen will offer a prize (it'll be paper-based art) for the best post about paper: making it, making art out of it, looking at the science of it, the collection of it, the economics of it, the innovations around it, how people use it creatively, in big formats or small, commercial uses, non-profit uses, the scarcity or absence of it, experiments with it, people who love it too much, , or even-better something I hadn't considered here... seriously, if paper is the primary medium or subject, I will enjoy the heck out of it. (Tag: Paper)

Reading slightly between the lines and with the help of Wikipedia, I can tell you that in honor of Finland's centennial celebration of independence on December 6, 2017, infini offers up something from Finland for the best post about Finland. (Tag: Suomi100)

filthy light thief is excited to see posts about interesting topics for non-US locations and will pick the best of such tagged posts and send ... something. (Tag: RestOfWorld)

filthy light thief will provide a second award to the best post of general oddity, weirdness, kooky fun, etc., without regional limitations. (Tag: KeepMefiWeird)

mrcrow wants to see animation! The winner gets an airbrushed picture of the Futurama robot devil. (Tag: Animation)

aniola will send a thank you haiku to the person who makes the best post about something they learned about from someone who is/was at least 50 years older than them. (Tag: bestofthepast)
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 12:48 PM (39 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite

WOOHOOOOOOOOOOO
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:41 PM on November 30, 2017


I'll offer a prize for the best "nobit" post, which for the purposes of this contest, I'll define to be a post highlighting the life and/or work of a living person at least 80 years old. The subject of the post may be very well-known or very obscure or anywhere in between. (tag: nobit)

There will be a prize, but I haven't decided what it will be yet.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 5:05 PM on November 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


Prize for the best procrastination post, which will arrive utterly unexpectedly at not the next apartment you live in but the one after that. Tag: youvegottobekidding and procrastination.
posted by sammyo at 6:48 PM on November 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


I will make a small (probably wooden) thing* for the best post about a maker who makes stuff. Physical things only, coders and musicians (who are still very much makers) don't count. It should be a maker who has maybe not been featured on the blue before. That's it. Beyond that the rules are open to however you want to interpret them. (tag: decmakers)

*of my choosing... though I might ask for your input. Thing to be determined and made when I'm able to make it. Delivery when I get around to it. I'm generally pretty reliable though.
posted by bondcliff at 7:00 PM on November 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


Offering prize for best museum-related post, tag: museum. Could be a museum project, exhibition, essay about museum, whatever. The prize will probably be your choice from some past exhibition catalogs I have around.
posted by Miko at 7:48 PM on November 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


Just FYI, I do the bulk of the tagging so I will change your tag if it makes it easier for me to tag every day!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:50 PM on November 30, 2017 [2 favorites]


Jessamyn 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)

Does this mean that Third prize gets THREE postcards from Jessamyn? Is it Dewey Decimal Turtles all the way down? If I make a post that is the worst evar 'Have you heard the good news about reading, books and/or libraries?' post, will I then get INFINITE postcards from Jessamyn? If I make a post that is negatively correlated to reading, books and/or libraries, will Jessamyn become my personal librarian for all eternity? I have so many questions.
posted by The Great David S. Pumpkins at 10:43 PM on November 30, 2017 [4 favorites]


I'd like to read posts about musical novelties (e.g., weird theme songs, deep dives into one-hit wonders and novelty songs, nearly-forgotten audio ephemera, oral histories of synth presets).

I'll compose and record the theme song to an imaginary TV show of the winner's choosing (e.g., an hour-long baking procedural starring the Swedish Chef that was cancelled after six episodes on CBS in 1984).

Tag: weirdmusic
posted by uncleozzy at 5:45 AM on December 1, 2017 [3 favorites]


Yay, Best Post Contest!

I will provide a prize for the best post about something weird, wild, and/or wonderful in the US of A. Roadside attractions, homegrown single-topic museums, cryptid sightings, minor dialects, map oddities, outsider art, architectural follies, small-town history; you name it, I'll take it.

Tag: americana
posted by capricorn at 6:50 AM on December 1, 2017 [2 favorites]


Oooh. I'd like to offer an prize (it'll be paper-based art) for the best post about paper: making it, making art out of it, looking at the science of it, the collection of it, the economics of it, the innovations around it, how people use it creatively, in big formats or small, commercial uses, non-profit uses, the scarcity or absence of it, experiments with it, people who love it too much, , or even-better something I hadn't considered here... seriously, if paper is the primary medium or subject, I will enjoy the heck out of it. (Tag: Paper)
posted by julen at 9:55 AM on December 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


Prize for the best procrastination post,

Oh and don't rush, entries accepted at least until mid may.
posted by sammyo at 10:15 AM on December 1, 2017 [5 favorites]


Silly request because I'm the laziest person on Earth: Could the tags listed in the main post be turned into links that go to the page for those tags? (example: foodculture)
posted by bondcliff at 10:56 AM on December 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


capricorn: I will provide a prize for the best post about something weird, wild, and/or wonderful in the US of A.

Why focus on USA? There's a glorious world of weird, wild and/or wonderful things! Suggested re-tag: internationaliana ;)
posted by filthy light thief at 12:07 PM on December 1, 2017


Because I want to! If you want to do internationaliana, go for it.
posted by capricorn at 12:27 PM on December 1, 2017 [4 favorites]


bondcliff: “Silly request because I'm the laziest person on Earth: Could the tags listed in the main post be turned into links that go to the page for those tags? (example: foodculture) “

Yes but I will get to that next week when all the categories are in!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 8:15 PM on December 1, 2017 [2 favorites]


Tag categories so far (quick roundup for easy reference) -

-GeometricArt
-Books, Libraries, Reading
-Religion, Theology, etc
-FoodCulture
-PatternRecognition
-AwesomeWomen
-Book, Literature, FizzLit
-Procrastination
-WeirdMusic
-Museums
-Americana
-Paper
-HistoricTech -- old technologies
-DeadArt -- art by deceased artist
-Nobit -- living person over 80 yrs
-DecMakers -- maker who makes physical things
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:05 AM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]


And reminder to everyone who has this in their Recent Activity:
vote early and often, using the Fantastic Flag!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:08 AM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]


I've made my first post for this month's contest. Enjoy Cortex. [GeometricArt]
posted by Fizz at 3:35 PM on December 2, 2017


I'm jumping into the deep end, and making up for months of not posting by attempting to create one each for as many different tag categories that I can - I need a hobby now that I've been silenced on the internet for daring to have a vid go viral.
posted by infini at 5:26 AM on December 3, 2017 [2 favorites]


After discussing it over with Mr soon to be finished, I'd like to offer up something from Finland for the best post tagged #Suomi100
posted by infini at 5:44 AM on December 3, 2017 [2 favorites]


In case it's not clear above, I am giving out prizes for the awesomewomen category: will send out postcards to the winners, and top winner also can opt to receive a MetaFilter sticker.

Which reminds me - MeFi stickers would be a cool possible prize for the top vote-getter of the month, if that's an option? (Easy to mail, etc)

Thanks, Eyebrows, for running this again and all the mods and everyone for offering categories and participating!
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 4:24 PM on December 3, 2017


DevilsAdvocate offers a prize for the best "nobit" post, which for the purposes of this contest, I'll define to be a post highlighting the life and/or work of a living person at least 80 years old. The subject of the post may be very well-known or very obscure or anywhere in between. (Tag: nobit)

Don't know if this is the right place to say this (delete if not of course) but I would simply LOVE to see a post on the leftist philosopher Agnes Heller. She was born in 1929 and is just an amazing person, still full of wit and energy. She is one of those people who for me represent the concept of/stand for restistance and how to be true to yourself.

I would do it myself but cannot as we know each other. Not privately but through work and well enough that I cannot make a post about her. I am happy to provide any help to back ground links but the internet has plenty to offer as is.
posted by 15L06 at 4:19 AM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]


Pony request: please start calling them "fantabulous flags"
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 9:05 AM on December 4, 2017


capricorn: Because I want to! If you want to do internationaliana, go for it

Fair point, and challenge accepted!

For posts about interesting topics for non-US locations, tag your post RestOfWorld and I'll pick the best of such tagged posts and send ... something (TBD -- I was looking on the weekend, but failed to find anything that appropriately struck my fancy, so it might be a grab bag of weirdness, or an interesting book. Yeah, TBD, for now).

Also, for the best post of general oddity, weirdness, kooky fun, etc., without regional limitations, I'd like to revive KeepMeFiWeird. The winner will get a used copy of The Happy Mutant's Handbook.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:06 AM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]


RestOfWorld

*flexes fingers*
posted by infini at 12:36 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]


In accepting the challenge or to write a retort to the term? I was going to clarify my use of the term (it's marketing speak from US- [and maybe EU-]based companies, as I understand it), but I didn't. And now I did (and I see you're the one MeFite to have used the term :))
posted by filthy light thief at 12:40 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]


Is it too late to offer a prize?
I’d love to see some animation. A lot of info about a particular animator, an overview of something, whatever inspires you. All styles! The winner gets an airbrushed picture of the Futurama robot devil.
posted by mrcrow at 1:52 PM on December 4, 2017 [2 favorites]


Yah, I believe I used it thus RestoftheWorld(tm) or RoW(tm) quite often on the grey back in the day when I was trying to globalize ;p
posted by infini at 2:42 PM on December 4, 2017


RestOfWorld

*flexes fingers*


Yeah, that's pretty much every post I make. I will be posting more often this month though.
posted by Start with Dessert at 1:07 AM on December 5, 2017 [2 favorites]


mrcrow: Is it too late to offer a prize?

I think anyone can offer a prize at any time, because why not? But it's probably better to make the offer earlier than later, to avoid making it seem like you just want to give someone a present for their post. (Which you can still do, because why not? As long as you're not being a creep.)

Start with Dessert, I look forward to more posts! :)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:27 AM on December 5, 2017 [1 favorite]


New categories added to post, and here's the updated tag list, which I will linkify this weekend:

-GeometricArt
-Books, Libraries, Reading
-Religion, Theology, etc
-FoodCulture
-PatternRecognition
-AwesomeWomen
-Book, Literature, FizzLit
-Procrastination
-WeirdMusic
-Museums
-Americana
-Paper
-HistoricTech -- old technologies
-DeadArt -- art by deceased artist
-Nobit -- living person over 80 yrs
-DecMakers -- maker who makes physical things
-Suomi100
-RestOfWorld
-KeepMefiWeird
-Animation
-BestofthePast
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:50 PM on December 5, 2017 [1 favorite]


Eyebrows, I saw the word "linkify" and the list of tags and the next thing I know, I was opening up Excel to make a link generator for tags (I've had to linkify things like that before). Hope this helps. Let me know if you'd like a copy of the Excel sheet.

- GeometricArt
- Books, Libraries, Reading
- Religion
- Theology
- FoodCulture
- PatternRecognition
- AwesomeWomen
- Book, Literature, FizzLit
- Procrastination
- WeirdMusic
- Museums
- Americana
- Paper
- HistoricTech -- old technologies
- DeadArt -- art by deceased artist
- Nobit -- living person over 80 yrs
- DecMakers -- maker who makes physical things
- Suomi100
- RestOfWorld
- KeepMefiWeird
- Animation
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 11:18 PM on December 5, 2017 [4 favorites]


Is it too early to declare December Finland month?

(Also, so many good, weird posts!)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:05 AM on December 6, 2017 [1 favorite]


I will send a thank you haiku to the person who makes the best post about something they learned about from someone who is/was at least 50 years older than them.

Tag: bestofthepast
posted by aniola at 1:43 PM on December 7, 2017 [2 favorites]


That list is great, it's just missing firstpost and secondpost. I'm really hoping some of the lurkers break through that barrier.
posted by Start with Dessert at 10:27 PM on December 8, 2017


Just to confirm--if a post fits into more than one category, it can have more than one tag?
posted by zorseshoes at 7:30 AM on December 9, 2017


Yup, tag away!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:44 AM on December 9, 2017


"That list is great, it's just missing firstpost and secondpost. I'm really hoping some of the lurkers break through that barrier."

Yes, and just FYI, frimble made me a tool where I can see all first- and second-time posters over the past X days. Generally what I do is when I put together the Sunday weekly awards post, I run that report to grab all the first- and second-posters from that week to give them a shout-out, and at that time I add the tags to the posts in question. Definitely check the weekly posts when they go up to see the up-to-date first- and second-time post tags!

Usually I try to go through the front page about 10 o'clock every night (after my kids are asleep) and tag EVERY FPP from the past 24 hours with EVERY contest tag I think applies, if they haven't already been tagged (lots of people don't come to metatalk and don't know the categories!). If you see strange tags appearing, that was probably me. And if your category seems to be tagged a bit overbroadly, that was probably ALSO me: If I'm hesitating over whether the tag fits or not, I generally just tag it, figuring that you as the category-creator can ignore any posts you think don't fit your criteria, but that I want to make sure you don't miss anything that might be relevant!

(And definitely tag with multiple categories if they apply, otherwise I'm going to come through behind you and do it anyway, you'll be saving me time!)
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:57 PM on December 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


The Meatbomb award for last-chance slapdash excellence: best post of the last 6 6hours (server time) that does not exhibit any evidence of advance preparation. "best" to be at sole discretion of judges. (edit: last 6 hours of 2017, on Dec 31)(edit: prize is my respect adoration and accolades)
posted by Meatbomb at 9:12 PM on December 19, 2017


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