anastasiav prize July 28, 2005 9:48 AM   Subscribe

anastasiav is offering cash moneya gift certificate for the best link posted on 1 August 2005, as judged by her.
posted by kenko to MetaFilter-Related at 9:48 AM (50 comments total)

Crazy MetaChat. Crazy anastasiav.
posted by OmieWise at 10:33 AM on July 28, 2005


When I win, can I spend it on hookers and blow?
*wishes for annual contest*
posted by NinjaPirate at 11:02 AM on July 28, 2005


Only if you can get those things from one of the four online services mentioned in the post (I'd try Amazon first for that sort of thing if I were you...)
posted by anastasiav at 11:08 AM on July 28, 2005


smell her! ; >
posted by amberglow at 11:17 AM on July 28, 2005


I'm sensing double posts and a deleted spite post or two on the 1st and a "THAT was the best FPP of the day?!?" MeTa on the 2nd. Good times. Thanks anastasiav (seriously, thanks).
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 11:30 AM on July 28, 2005


Neither Mathowie or Jessamyn is eligible to win this prize.

Damnit! I thought usually those sorts of caveats were for paid employees?
posted by jessamyn at 11:37 AM on July 28, 2005


? ? ?

It's a "putting her money where her mouth is" thing, cuz she's unhappy with all the newsfilter.
posted by amberglow at 11:42 AM on July 28, 2005


Mathowie, the background is here.

Feel free to email me if you have an issue or if you think that by doing this it'll somehow overload the site.
posted by anastasiav at 11:59 AM on July 28, 2005


? ? ?

Entity bug got your toung?
posted by delmoi at 12:26 PM on July 28, 2005


I was testing out character entities, not questioning this. I'm all for it, anastasiav!
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:30 PM on July 28, 2005


Nowhere do the rules say that there must be a 'best' link awarded? It seems so, especially in the light of the newsfilter caveat (what if all busy threads are newsfilter, does that mean no "best" link?). Is the criteria strictly relative or does some threshold have to be achieved?
posted by Gyan at 12:32 PM on July 28, 2005


Gyan, it seems pretty obvious to me... every once in a while someone posts the most incredible site we've all never see before, and they frame it in an interesting way. I suspect it'll be pretty easy to spot the best post of the month.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:34 PM on July 28, 2005


I suspect it'll be pretty easy to spot the best post of the month.

Day. Best post of the Day. Not the month. (Although that's a good idea....)
posted by anastasiav at 12:36 PM on July 28, 2005


So what are you getting madamjujujive for her lifetime achievement award? ;)
posted by filmgoerjuan at 12:52 PM on July 28, 2005 [1 favorite]


I'm all for it, anastasiav!

Good. thank you. It occured to me afterwards I probably should have asked you first.

If you really like it, would you link it on the sidebar? :-)

Gyan, the criteria is strictly relative. Go read some of my replies to questions in the MeCha posts that's linked here and I think you'll find the clarification you're looking for.

I really just mean for this to be a fun thing that will remind of us what Metafilter (and the web) can be.
posted by anastasiav at 12:53 PM on July 28, 2005


[this is really good]
posted by frykitty at 12:56 PM on July 28, 2005


but is it best link or best thread?
posted by amberglow at 1:05 PM on July 28, 2005


I'd say it was best post.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:15 PM on July 28, 2005


Maybe we should have some sort of companion piece where the person who makes the worst post gets the MetaFilter Detective Corps sicced on him. After all of his personal info (including credit card numbers, SSN, and browser history) has been dug up, it gets posted for the whole world to use as they see fit.
posted by COBRA! at 1:19 PM on July 28, 2005


It is best post. I'm also answering questions in the linked conversation over on Metachat if anyone wants more info about how I got to this point.

Or, you can always email me.
posted by anastasiav at 1:44 PM on July 28, 2005


Oh, btw, I'm shooting for an August 1st launch of something new, along with a prize for best post (been planning this for months now).

Here's all the details. When the site's done, I'll make a full post about it, but I just wanted to give a quick preview to everyone reading this.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:04 PM on July 28, 2005


*dances*
posted by frykitty at 2:34 PM on July 28, 2005


Shit yeah!
posted by cortex at 2:35 PM on July 28, 2005


Unicode, mefi projects, and anastasiav's challenge: August is looking mighty nice on ice, alright!
posted by safetyfork at 2:37 PM on July 28, 2005


Just so you know, I'm going to kick all y'all's asses.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 2:45 PM on July 28, 2005


Hot damn, it's a MeFi renaissance!
posted by me3dia at 2:58 PM on July 28, 2005


Great idea!

However, newsfilter is nothing new. I was just combing through the archives of June 2000 and was struck by what a high percentage of the posts would qualify as newsfilter. They were still pretty interesting. Kind of like RobotWisdom.
posted by caddis at 3:21 PM on July 28, 2005


I propose the winner also get the Stan Chin Memorial Gold Star a week or something, too.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:39 PM on July 28, 2005


Wasn't there another Gold Star, too? Stan didn't - ahem - stan' alone, I believe.
posted by yhbc at 4:54 PM on July 28, 2005


Ooh! Ooh! How about a Silver Star? Like, "there's a new Sherrif in town this month, so watch out, you one-link-to-CNN wonders!"
posted by yhbc at 5:06 PM on July 28, 2005


Is this one of those "enter as often as you like" contests?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:42 PM on July 28, 2005


How could you enter more than once in a single 24-hour period?
posted by kenko at 5:56 PM on July 28, 2005


why thank you kindly, filmgoerjuan!
(the check is in the mail)

anastasiav, you good citizen, you! nice idea!
posted by madamjujujive at 7:25 PM on July 28, 2005


cuz she's unhappy with all the newsfilter.

That's a bit of a distortion. anastasiav's made it more than clear that the primary issue she's trying to address is a flood of posts with links to commercial, corporate sites, which are often - but not always - commercial, corporate news sites:

I don't think all newsfilter is crap. But I'm sick of seeing the same eight or ten mainstream news sources all over the front page.

I want to encourage people to find independent voices out on the web and then post their finds to metafilter. Big Corporate Media and Big Corporate Corporations -- stuff I can find on the front page of Yahoo, or with a quick glance at Google news -- those aren't (to me) 'good posts'.


She's also made it clear that a news post could very well be the winner Monday:

Maybe this out-of-the-mainstream stuff is news. Maybe its opinion. Maybe its art. Maybe its history. Maybe its just weird...

It's an interesting idea; I'm curious to see how it'll work out.
posted by mediareport at 11:12 PM on July 28, 2005


Which misses the point. What if a CNN article does happen to be very well-written and informative? Stop laughing. I suppose, she'll automatically skip it. If it's content you're looking out, then judge on content. Don't use source as a proxy indicator.
posted by Gyan at 4:15 AM on July 29, 2005


I suppose, she'll automatically skip it.

Well, normally I would. But on Monday I won't skip anything (unless it breaks my computer). I swear.
posted by anastasiav at 4:47 AM on July 29, 2005


This is a wonderful idea. I'd love to see this become an ongoing thing - we could have a best link contest on the first of every month. I'd be glad to be one of the sponsors some month when I have the free time on that day.
posted by orange swan at 6:14 AM on July 29, 2005


I'd be glad to be one of the sponsors some month

I had this thought as well, though I think I'll wait and see how the first one goes. I expect wonderful things, and will be interested to see what unexpected outcomes emerge.
posted by frykitty at 7:32 AM on July 29, 2005


Who knew reading and writing would pay off?
posted by gigawhat? at 10:42 AM on July 29, 2005


Which misses the point. What if a CNN article does happen to be very well-written and informative?

No, that's exactly the point. "Best of the web" is one of the criteria for a good MeFi post, but not the only one. Google may be the best of the web, but I don't recommend making a post with the only link being one to Google's front page.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:27 PM on July 29, 2005


If this goes well, (and I still have the money in my PayPal), I'll put up $25 for the best post one week later, on August 8th. It would be nice to get a day-of-the-week tradition where people try to make good posts.
posted by Jairus at 1:33 PM on July 29, 2005


I'll put up $25 for the best post one week later, on August 8th.

I'll take Wednesday September 7th -- which is my birthday week -- prize to be determined sometime beforehand.
posted by jessamyn at 3:10 PM on July 29, 2005


Well, okay then. I'll take my birthday: October 1.

We're probably going to need a calendar somewhere for this.
posted by frykitty at 3:56 PM on July 29, 2005


"Best of the web" is one of the criteria for a good MeFi post, but not the only one.

I'm aware of only 3 criteria:

1)quality
2)novelty
3)discussion fodder

A well-written CNN article can satisfy all three, including (2), since individual articles don't necessarily have the same exposure as the front page. There's no a priori objective reason to disapprove of a corporate/newsfilter post unless you personally tend to dislike it.

DevilsAdvocate : "Google may be the best of the web, but I don't recommend making a post with the only link being one to Google's front page."

What?
posted by Gyan at 4:10 PM on July 29, 2005


What?

Heh. One point to Gyan. But a single link to Google's front page is still not recommended -- it'd be a double post.
posted by anastasiav at 4:39 PM on July 29, 2005


How could you enter more than once in a single 24-hour period?

Just goes to show I've never tried posting on the frontpage more than twice in a 24 hour period.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:13 PM on July 29, 2005


anastasiav wrote:"But on Monday I won't skip anything (unless it breaks my computer). I swear."

I just hope posts that won't break your computer, but may cause you to want to wash your brain, do not proliferate in response...
posted by birdsquared at 3:42 PM on July 30, 2005


Which time zone?
posted by srboisvert at 7:06 PM on July 30, 2005


RTFA srboisvert..
posted by srboisvert at 7:24 PM on July 30, 2005


srboisvert -- check the link at the top of the page for the complete rules.
posted by anastasiav at 7:26 PM on July 30, 2005


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