[helene_t]

Until a few years ago, we had an annual newyear poll to chose a handful of outstanding contributors/contributions to this forum. It was just about the honour - no money prices or formal privileges involved.

I would like to volunteer to run the 2016 Posty Awards.

It would work like this:

- until 7 october, we can discuss here which categories there should be. We might decide to cut this deadline a bit shorter if a consensus emerges. Traditionally, we have had six:
-- Poster of the year (a person who has made significant contributions to bridge discussions on this forum)
-- Post of the year (a single post on a bridge topic that was memorable)
-- Thread of the year (a thread on a bridge topic)
-- Newcomer of the year (someone who didn't post long before 2016 but already made significant contributions to our bridge discussions)
-- Most helpful poster for B/I
-- Off-line achievement of the year (a poster, or a pair/team of posters, who achieved spectacular results in real life bridge during this year)

- Until 15 november, people can nominate candidates for each category by posting their nominations here. I don't qualify as a nominee (but will probably make some nominations) since I will be doing the vote counting and I will get to know what people voted for (I suppose I could set up a system that could process the votes automatically but I think it would be too much hassle for a fairly small number of votes).

- Until 31 december, people who are forum regulars by some criterion (say have made at least 20 bridge-related posts or such) can vote by emailing me (helene dot h dot thygesen at gmail ) including "posty" and their bbf username in the subject, which candidates they vote for in each of the categories.

- Early january I will count the votes and announce the results in a separate thread.

- "Winners" will receive bragging rights and can put their "posty" title on their bbo/bbf profiles if they want.

[Phil]

I think Helene would be a great choice. She's been here for a very long time and has a good grip on who's active and who isn't.

[diana_eva]

Moved replies about forum profiles to a separate thread.

[MrAce]

I am with Phil. We can't go wrong with Helene.

[helene_t]

First deadline is approaching. Are people happy with the six categories outlined above?

Let's open up for nominations on Friday.

By the way, shall we agree that in the even that one of the categories get no more than one nomination, that category is cancelled? I don't want anyone to "win" by default. Do other people agree or disagree with this?

[Phil]

If someone gets nominated and no one else gets added, that seems like a strong ratification that the person is clearly the winner.

[barmar]

Phil, on 2016-October-05, 11:26, said:

If someone gets nominated and no one else gets added, that seems like a strong ratification that the person is clearly the winner.

It depends on the category. Since the whole process is pretty informal, you could make up a category that only one poster fits into, and they'll automatically be the winner. (This reminds me of a trick that government agencies sometimes use when they want to get around the requirement to open a contract up for competitive bidding, but they want to buy a specific product -- they just write the requirements to match all the features of that product.)

[MrAce]

I nominate KaitlynS for the 'Newcomer of the year' title.

She obviously posts frequently, her bridge knowledge is definitely equal to or above BBF average poster, she raises good questions and makes very reasonable arguments. She is polite. She uses a plain and clear language that those of us with non native English skills can easily understand. I already started to see her as one of our regulars and a good one. I hope she stays. I think she has a lot to offer to BBF regulars and she appreciates instead of fighting against it blindly when someone points something she did not see.

Good luck Kaitlyn.

EDIT for mods: If this was the wrong place for nominations, please move it to where it belongs.

[MrAce]

helene_t, on 2016-October-05, 11:23, said:

First deadline is approaching. Are people happy with the six categories outlined above?

Let's open up for nominations on Friday.

By the way, shall we agree that in the even that one of the categories get no more than one nomination, that category is cancelled? I don't want anyone to "win" by default. Do other people agree or disagree with this?

I have mixed feelings on this one Helene. Most people in forums forget this topic. I have no problem with whatever you decide is best. But sometimes there is a post that is so good that people may not want to nominate another one. Sometimes there is only one newcomer that posts significantly more than any other and shows effort. Just because there is no one else nominated should not prevent them from getting what they deserve IMO.

[cherdano]

helene_t, on 2016-October-05, 11:23, said:

By the way, shall we agree that in the even that one of the categories get no more than one nomination, that category is cancelled? I don't want anyone to "win" by default. Do other people agree or disagree with this?

You can still have a yes/no vote on that nomination? I have no opinion on whether a simple majority is enough, or it needs to be 2/3 or 60% or unanimous though

[Kaitlyn S]

MrAce, on 2016-October-06, 16:49, said:

I have mixed feelings on this one Helene. Most people in forums forget this topic. I have no problem with whatever you decide is best. But sometimes there is a post that is so good that people may not want to nominate another one. Sometimes there is only one newcomer that posts significantly more than any other and shows effort. Just because there is no one else nominated should not prevent them from getting what they deserve IMO.

There is another issue too - if someone is nominated alone, they can simply nominate someone else who can't win in order to disable the "single entry" rule.

[sfi]

Kaitlyn S, on 2016-October-06, 18:11, said:

There is another issue too - if someone is nominated alone, they can simply nominate someone else who can't win in order to disable the "single entry" rule.

Indeed - I was planning to do this for any category with only one entry, just to make a point.

[Kaitlyn S]

MrAce, on 2016-October-06, 16:41, said:

I nominate KaitlynS for the 'Newcomer of the year' title.

Thank you! While I'd like to be considered for "great accomplishments in bridge outside of BBO" I can't ethically accept the award for New Poster. I posted here under a different username many years ago. (Inquiry seemed to be the most frequent poster at the time.) I tried to log on to these forums using my old username and it didn't work for several days, so I just created a new account. My old account was anything but polite, in fact I might be voted for "most improved poster" by anyone who remembers my old posting style. But, it's nice to post here and not be despised by a few of the other posters, so I think it's probably best to let that old username remain in the dustbin.

BTW, I can't ethically accept the award for "great accomplishments outside BBO" either as I don't have any.

[MrAce]

Can I nominate 3 people for one category?

I nominate Justin Lall for the " Offline achievement of the year" category since he won the US national team trials. It used to be harder than winning the European Champ but with recent successes of France-Poland-Netherlands- and teams like Monaco-Italy-Britain I think EC is much harder nowadays. It is still damn hard to win team trials in USA.

I also nominate Frances Hinden for making to the national team of England and the way she played in Wroclaw. AFAIK. England chooses their players by a committee or a person, depending on their achievements in the league and overall. (they can correct me if I am wrong). We do not get to watch her as much as Americans in BBO Vugraph, but she would not be chosen had she not earned it. And she proved that in the matches I watched.

I also nominate Gonzalo Goded for this category. I know some of us may still be not happy with how things proceeded during the USA-Spain match, but we have to remember Gonzalo not only made to Spanish national team but also he and his team played very well overall in Wroclaw. I would nominate him even if they lost the match vs USA. He contributes to BBF a lot.

My list is in no specific order.

[Phil]

Drama aside, I also support Gonzalo for real life feats.

[helene_t]

Kaitlyn S, on 2016-October-06, 18:35, said:

I can't ethically accept the award for New Poster. I posted here under a different username many years ago.

Thanks for being honest about this.

I will nominate Kaitlyn for Most Helpful Poster. Timo said it all, I would just like to add that Kaitlyn very often takes the effort to come up with illustrative examples to back up the general points, as in the recent thread about underleading kings.

I have been thinking about the Real Life Bridge Achievement award. Hopefully it won't generate too much controversy. If Justin and Gonzalo are in a close heat, then I will make some tallying error that will be discovered too late so that we will eventually have to share the price

[helene_t]

MrAce for poster of the year.

[Fluffy]

Justin also won the South American Team Championship this year. I won the incredibly tough spannish trials... twice!

[nullve]

nullve for complete ******** thread of the year.

[Kaitlyn S]

helene_t, on 2016-September-20, 02:55, said:

-- Post of the year (a single post on a bridge topic that was memorable)

This might be a tough category to nominate for because I'd think that for most of us, the most memorable post is one that affected us negatively. I'll bet this isn't what you're looking for.