Award voting 2014

Malte279 · **on:** August 29, 2014, 01:54:10 PM

For the eights time now (with the first vote in 2006) it is time for the voting on the GOF awards to give credit where credit is due to some of the many members who make the GOF the place we enjoy so much. The voting of the awards (excepting the appreciated member award which can be won but only by those who didn't win any of the other awards and thus must be voted on later) will run for two weeks. Everyone who has posted at least 100 times, has been active in 2014 and has been around for at least three months is hearty invited to cast their votes and they can be voted for (but only those who do cast their votes may also receive one of the awards).

The Philosopher's Award is usually one of the trickiest awards for me to make up my mind about, but I got to admit that this year it has been surprisingly easy for me to make up my mind about this one. Not for lack of worthy candidates, Hrvoje (jansenov) and Cal (Pterano) for example both posted many posts which I found very interesting, but I think that for the past year the most elaborate threads on many political topics and current events were most frequently started respectively kept active by the insightful posts of a member who joined us only last year. For his great and thought through contributions my vote for the Philosopher's Award goes to Rhombus this year.

Helpfulness is often experienced very individually by members who receive help from other members and therefore the vote on this award is often distributed far among many worthy candidates. For me this individual act of helpfulness came from a member this year who directed my attention to an auction which I would have missed otherwise. Said auction was about a Ruby shoe charm which I was looking for to create a new tin mould (posted a Ruby wanted thread in the GOF about it which, come to think of it, I seriously need to update). The moulds I made from it didn't live up to my expectations (she is a very tricky figure to cast due to the very thin limps etc.). The member who gave me this decisive hint and whom I therefore want to nominate for the Helpful Member Award is Littlefoot3897. Thank you

Now this will be a surprise to nobody, but same as last years I haven't been following the Role play game sections and must therefore skip my vote on the Role Play Gamer Award.

I still need to make up my mind about the other awards.

rhombus · **Reply #1 on:** August 29, 2014, 02:27:17 PM

This is my first time voting in the GOF Awards and I must admit that I found the task to be difficult. Not because of a lack of suitable candidates, but rather because of an overabundance of helpful, friendly, and productive members. In fact, looking back at the help and kind words that I have received from members has reminded me of just how much I appreciate this forum and the friends that I have been introduced to as a member of the GOF. Nonetheless, despite the multitudes of deserving candidates, I have narrowed down my choices and have decided to vote for the following members.

~Fanart Award:

There has been a lot of spectacular art featured on the Gang of Five, from Ducky123, RockingScorpion, DarkHououmon, StrutEggStealer, and many others. However, I feel that I must nominate RockingScorpion for this award. His work is breathtakingly good and I always find myself looking forward to his next creation.

~Feedback Award

There have been many members who have given very helpful feedback on my fanfiction, but by far the most detailed and consistent feedback has come from Ducky123, which is why I give him my vote. If it wasn't for his encouragement and his feedback on my draft plot synopsis, then 'The Seven Hunters' may have never been written in the first place. I am very grateful for his encouragement and helpful criticism. I would also like to thank CeraTheRed, DarkHououmon, jansenov, vonboy, and my other reviewers for giving me helpful feedback on my work.

~Friendly Member Award

This was a very hard choice to make due to the fact that the Gang of Five is completely full of helpful, friendly members. In fact, this is the friendliest forum that I have ever had the privilege of being a member. In the end, however, I have to vote for Ducky123 for this award. He helped to make my time here an enjoyable and welcoming experience, which was especially appreciated when I was just getting started on the forum. I would like to give special thanks to StrutEggStealer, Chiletrek, jansenov, and Malte279 for the same reason.

~Helpful Member Award:

In light of the great amount of assistance that he has given me, this was not a difficult choice. Based upon the helpful feedback and advice that he has given me concerning my fanfiction, and most importantly, giving me the encouragement to actually begin writing it, my vote goes to Ducky123 for this award.

~Philosopher Award

I have had the opportunity to engage in many discussions on this forum concerning topics as wide-ranging as the situation in Ukraine, to the Affordable Care Act, to evolution and most of the discussions have been quite civil and enlightening. Although this was a close call between Malte, Pterano, and jansenov, in the end I have to nominate jansenov for this award. His very thoughtful and enlightening posts are greatly appreciated.

~Proactive Award

There have been several members who have shown up on the scene and greatly expanded participation in the caption, party room, and other often neglected topics. However, I feel that Dalekdino is most deserving of my vote for this category. The contributions of this member in terms of captions and fanart have been quite voluminous in the last several months.

~Role Play Gamer Award

Although I am only participating in one RP at the moment, I have seen several members deserving of recognition in this category. However, at the end of the day, I would have to nominate bushwacked for this award. The ideas that he has brought into the 'sudden change of species' RP were superb and we are only now beginning to see the fruits of his efforts. I look forward to seeing how the RP develops.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #2 on:** August 29, 2014, 05:50:08 PM

Note: I don't know the genders of everyone on the GoF. For that reason, I use the male pronoun for all, and my apologies if I refer to you with the incorrect pronoun.

~Fanart Award - Skip, as always. I never view fanart.

~Feedback Award - Pterano is excellent at giving tips and advice to others. Critiques he's given me on my roleplaying have refined my characters and comments he's made on fanfics indicate a level of analysis clearly designed to be beneficial to the writer who wants to improve. In addition, he encourages users to leave their comfort zones and try new things, and has even brought several new users to the Gang of Five through inviting them into his role-plays.

~Friendly Member Award - Jansenov always has something nice to say, even when nobody else feels like being nice. A recent event in the After Midnight section involved a lot of users flaming an (admittedly completely inflammatory) user, and jansenov nevertheless stayed congenial even when voicing a side. This is the sort of behavior he has demonstrated from the day he first joined the Gang of Five, and why he's one of the most positive influences on the board.

~Helpful Member Award - Rhombus is a virtual treasure trove of information. Whether he's supplying the After Midnight section with information on world happenings or informing interested parties of science facts from every branch I've ever heard of, rhombus is always happy and ready to explain things to those do don't know, but would like to find out.

~Philosopher Award - I want to nominate Serris in this category because his philosophies were recently put under fire by a disruptive user, and not only did Serris stick to his guns, he behaved as politely as can be expected given the circumstances. He is also a common sight in threads revolving around philosophical matters regarding ethics, law, politics, or science.

~Proactive Award - Nick22 has as insane a posting output as he always does. Few other users have the activity in every single section of the board as he does. Starting roleplays, making announcements, creating threads, participating in games...the fact that I'd have enough material to justify voting for him in any of these other categories is evidence as to just how well-rounded a polymath he is when it comes to the GOF.

~Role Play Gamer Award - Bushwacked is not only an active RPer, he does something I see very few other RPers do; works to improve the storytelling opportunities for other writers. He often supplies support characters who buff others, and he writes into his scenarios exciting chances for characters he does not control. He also juggles a strong variety in his characters, all of whom are fully fleshed-out people I look forward to seeing what they do next.

Nahla · **Reply #3 on:** August 29, 2014, 07:34:11 PM

~Fanart Award
No contest,my vote goes to RockingScorpion. I adore his art,and though I never really post on his thread with a comment,I do look at each piece of work he posts. I adore his style and each work is a masterpiece. It is clear it takes time and care into each piece of work and that is what matters for an artist. Ducky123 posts wonderful art as well but RockingScorpion is vote this year.

~Feedback Award
Oh where would I be without my beloved Ducky123. He awlays encouraged me to try better,his reviews really do help me improve as a writer,if it wasn't for him I would of just given up fanfiction writing,but instead I was able to change my style to what it is today.His feedback his constant and even when the work sucks he encourages me and instead f just saying what I did wrong,he tells me how to improve. I also want to thank Zimba for her contest feedback as well,and some others who give me some from time to time. It's all very welcomed.

I still have not decided on the rest of my votes,I will have to do them later.

The Anonymous Person · **Reply #4 on:** August 30, 2014, 07:19:24 PM

Hoh boy, here we go again...

Fanart Award: This member's art is, as rhombus had stated, breathtakingly good, but is also very outstanding and inspiring too. I am often surprised at his ability to draw Ducky, who, from what I understand, is quite a difficult character to draw. For him to also do characters in a variety of styles (like that Ducky tree

) also makes his art always a treat to see. For those reasons (and maybe some more...), my vote for this award goes to RockingScorpion.

I don't know if you can do this or not (and if I missed a rule anywhere that says you can't, forgive me), but I have decided to nominate the Feedback Award, the Friendly Member Award, and the Helpful Member Award all together, mostly because I nominate them all to the same person. This member meets all three of the criteria, not just for me, but for many members here. He is very encouraging to my ideas, and I often go to him for advice on something, whether it be a fanfic idea, something for a RP, or just to have a PM chat, which we have had quite a few. He seems to be like a brother to me, even though we live, like, six time zones away or something. For all this, my nomination for all three of these awards go to none other than Ducky123.

Philosopher Award: From what I have read, this member is always eager to start very meaningful discussions, some scientific, some politicial, some current event stuff, but all-in-all, very informational, which is why rhombus gets my vote this year.

Proactive Award: For his many contributions to the caption threads, as well as many fanart uploads, among others, my vote for this award goes to Dalekdino

Role Play Gamer Award is skipped, for even though I am in a RP myself (A Sudden Change of Species), I am not much of a follower of RPs on this forum, as well as overall.

bushwacked · **Reply #5 on:** August 31, 2014, 07:11:02 PM

These were some tough decisions...

Fanart Award: My vote for this award goes to Ducky123. I’ve been following his art for some time, and you can really see how far he’s come through sheer practise (not that his work wasn’t good to start off with

). He keeps expressing a desire to continue improving, and I’m looking forward to seeing where he goes.

Friendly Member Award: This was one of the hardest decisions, since I don’t think there’s a single unfriendly person on the forum. I was stuck between users such as LettuceBacon&Tomato, Pterano Jrd89 and rhombus, but I’ll have to go with Ducky123 again. He’s always been especially friendly to me both on the forums and on skype, and we’ve had loads of fun playing different games on the internet. He’s always up for a laugh, and I feel that the amount of time we spend talking puts him just slightly ahead.

Helpful Member Award: My vote for this one goes to rhombus. A little while back I was having problems while writing my dissertation for my Bachelor’s degree, and when I (a little nervously) asked rhombus for help he was extremely helpful, giving me online links and tips on how to continue. His advice was really helpful, and he was more than happy to give me more if I ever needed it.

Philosopher Award: Again, my vote goes to rhombus for this one. While I haven’t really participated in any of the After Midnight discussions, on the occasions that I’ve been looking through them, I’ve noticed that rhombus has always passed on his viewpoints in a clear and balanced way, and he’s always willing to listen to and take on board the opinions of others. While this also applies to a lot of users like Jansenov and Malte279, I’ve seen it first hand when talking to him on skype, which edges him out just in front.

Proactive member Award: Pterano gets my vote for the Proactive section. He’s boosted the activity in several areas such as the games section, but in particular the Role Play section through the creation of several role plays and actively taking part in their discussions.

Role Play Gamer Award: I’ve been RPing with some truly talented users such as Serris, Pterano, and Nick22, but in the end I’m going to go with LettuceBacon&Tomato. While I always look forward to reading each of their posts, LettuceBacon&Tomato has come up with such a diverse range of characters, each incredibly distinct from the other and it’s always fun to see how they’ll react to the situations they find themselves in. He’s also always ready to provide suggestions and scenarios to add to the story of the RPs he participates in.

Kor · **Reply #6 on:** September 01, 2014, 08:40:56 PM

FanArt: For my Fanart vote I'll pick Ducky123 . Though it was a very hard vote to narrow it down to just one person. I have enjoyed the artwork done by the many who have and do post on here. I've seen the artwork posted by Ducky123 and have enjoyed the artwork, both the coloring and on colored artwork showed over the time Ducky123 has been here. I look forward to both Ducky123's artwork and those of the others I've enjoyed. Even though I have seldom posted any comments or reactions to the artwork posted by Ducky123 and others.

Think I'll be going down alphabetically. Easiest for me to know what I've voted on and what I have not.

Nick22 · **Reply #7 on:** September 02, 2014, 12:22:32 AM

Fanart- Skip. Cant Draw worth a lick. while this board has some good artists i must confess to not be up to date with the latest drawings.

Helpful Member- My vote goes to LettuceBacon&Tomato. LBt was kind even to give me some pointers recently on how to improve my roleplaying, by fleshing out myy characters more and making them more distinct from each. as a thank you for that servicve, I cast my vote for him.

Kor · **Reply #8 on:** September 02, 2014, 07:58:30 PM

Fanart Award: Ducky123 Gets my vote since among all the folks who post in the fanart section I noticed he tends to post the most often, among all of those who post, or like me and seldom post though we do look at fanart some of us seldom post. And I assume most artists enjoy feedback, especially from fellow artists.

Ducky123 · **Reply #9 on:** September 03, 2014, 09:13:08 PM

Fanart Award:

This might be the easiest decision for me... The member I'm going to nominate fulfills all criteria a good artist should: Skill, dedication, creativity and originality, variety in both style and media, love for details, RockingScorpion fullfils them all. His art is outstanding and he never fails to surprise me which is why he is getting my vote for this category. You rock!

Also worth a mention is dalekdino whose art I enjoy looking at too.

Friendly Member Award:

Regardless of the sheer amount of suitable candidates for this category, this vote is a very easy decision for me this year. rhombus has been very welcoming to new members and he has always tried to make people who were feeling bad feel better. Not only in the forum but also in our private chats he has proven his friendliness and I'm therefore always happy to communicate with him.

People like rhombus are the reason why the GoF is the friendliest place on the internet after all!

Helpful Member Award:

My nomination for this category is based on personal help I received from this member and good friend. bushwacked is not only the person kindly reading my stories and catching odd mistakes, wordings etc. which is a great help but also offering his help whenever I need it. Thanks for that, man!

Philosopher Award:

This award is usually reserved to people like Malte279, jansenov, DarkHououmon, Pterano and others who, year after year, contribute to meaningful, philosophical, political or historical discussions. This year, however, my vote will go to rhombus for his strong engagement in particularly political threads but also in other subjects.

Feedback Award:

Feedback is utterly important for young, aspiring artists and authors trying to get better at what they love doing hence this is maybe the most important award for me personally as a writer and artist. I don't want to sound repetitive but yet again I have to nominate rhombus for his honest, analytical, constructive and, most importantly, continous feedback on not only my own work but also on the work of many others. There is just no other member as dedicated to giving feedback as him

Worth a mention are also Dalekdino, RockingScorpion, bushwacked, Kor and everybody else I forgot to mention here

I will have to make up my mind for the other two categories. Just need some more time

The Chronicler · **Reply #10 on:** September 04, 2014, 11:10:18 PM

I haven't really been focusing a lot of attention on this site lately, so I had quite a hard time figuring out who would best deserve each award without giving a lot of my votes to just one member.

Fanart Award: Dalekdino
I'm voting for this member due to the wide variety of LBT fanart he's been able to make. Among other works, there's human OCs meeting the gang, a threehorn version of himself joining the gang, and (my personal favorite) the humanized gang in a post-apocalyptic world. Despite his self-proclaimed inability to write fanfiction, the artwork he's created has done a rather good job of telling those stories, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more.

Feedback Award: Ducky123
This vote is influenced by the fact that the only fanfiction on this site that I've been following for the last few months has been rhombus's "Seven Hunters". In that topic, I've always seen Ducky having thoughtful things to say about each chapter (despite frequently being a few chapters behind the latest update). I'm pretty sure Ducky and rhombus do a good job of sharing feedback with each other, but I can only vote for one, so I'll go with Ducky here.

Friendly Member Award: Ducky123
This award is always one of the hardest votes to make, but I've ultimately decided to go with Ducky over rhombus and countless others that I can't think of right now. He's been friendly in not only giving feedback, but also receiving it as well, as shown by how well his writing has been improving over time.

Helpful Member Award: rhombus
Whenever he comments on someone's fanart or fanfiction, he always has positive things to say, as well as giving advice on how to improve. In addition, his discussions on current events often include links to prove that what he's explaining to everyone came from an actual source that we can see for ourselves (much like I do on the rare cases that I point out current events).

Philosopher Award: rhombus
Every once in a while, a new member comes along who puts a lot of thought into what he posts and is willing to share his wisdom with everyone. This year, that type of new member is definitely rhombus. I've enjoyed reading all of the various subjects he's had to talk about over the past year, and I hope to see him stay with us for quite a while longer.

Proactive Award: Dalekdino
In addition to all of the fanart he's been making, he has also contributed a lot to the "Caption This" section (some of which have even inspired a few fanartists, recently). rhombus has also contributed to that section as well, so he deserves an honorable mention here.

Role Play Gamer Award: N/A
I do not follow the RPG section, so I will be skipping this vote.

RockingScorpion · **Reply #11 on:** September 05, 2014, 11:43:23 AM

So, I guess if I really want to vote, I need to do that now, because next week I won't have time for that due to reasons (like, swimming in the Red Sea

)

Anyway, here goes:

~Fanart Award
Probably the easiest decision for me. Considering things like the art quality (clean outlines, well done coloring), improvement (when two pieces look like they've been made by two different persons because of that), presentation (a good-looking digital version is important, too) and regularly updates, my vote here goes to Ducky123.

~Feedback Award
This one was more difficult to me. I had to check a lot of topics before, but in the end I feel that the one who qualifies the most would be rhombus. He posts in a lot of topics where feedback can be given and isn't afraid to tell someone when he thinks that improvement is possible. And he also does that in a kind way, which is also important if you don't want to discourage people (I know what I'm talking about here - art classes lead by a professional can be like that xD).
I also feel like I should mention Ducky123 here, since he writes reviews in my art thread regularly.

~Friendly Member Award
This was easier for me again. My vote goes to Ducky123, since he was the first one who approached me directly (to tell me I made a typo or something

) but war also very kind to me back then when I was still a newbie, and he's the one from this community I'm having the most contact with right now.

~Helpful Member Award
I hope you're allowed to give three votes to the same person, because once again, the one who really welcomed me here and explained to me what makes this forum different from all the other ones, like awards, the ranking system, user titles and so on was Ducky123.

~Philosopher Award
I'm not someone to write long posts with a lot of thinking involved while writing them, but I do like to read them from time to time. My vote here goes to rhombus, who is very well informed when it comes to a lot of subjects.

~Proactive Award
My vote here goes to Dalekdino. He has a somewhat insane output when it comes to new threads, posts and whatnot, and all of them deserved to be made as far as I can tell. To be honest, I think it's almost crazy in a good way, because I always was someone who kept his posts and threads to an absolute minimum.

~Role Play Gamer Award
This is the only one I sadly need to skip because I don't really know anything about it. One more week might've changed that, but as I said, I won't be able to vote next week.

Mumbling · **Reply #12 on:** September 05, 2014, 04:07:40 PM

Because of my inactivity on the GoF and having virtually no time to spend online next to checking my email, I will not participate in this years awards. Good luck to everyone else

Kor · **Reply #13 on:** September 05, 2014, 08:34:42 PM

Feedback Award (noticed that I mislabled my 2nd vote above, meant the 2nd fanart to be feedback, but that's ok. Ducky123 Gets my vote since among all the folks who post in the fanart section I noticed he tends to post the most often, among all of those who post, or like me and seldom post though we do look at fanart some of us seldom post. And I assume most artists enjoy feedback, especially from fellow artists.

==================

Friendly Member Award: Chiletrek Gets my vote since I have enjoyed our IM conversations over the years, and still do to this day. We've talked many times on a wide variety of subjects, tv shows, cartoons, and many other subjects. I look forward to our conversations we have almost every day, when bot of us have time.

==========================

Helpful Member Award: Nick22 gets my vote since he has been of help with some rp post ideas, and other things, over the years we have been talking on im. And he has been of help in other ways also over the years I've been on the forum. I look forward to talking to him when we both have time to talk online.

Nick22 · **Reply #14 on:** September 06, 2014, 12:56:36 AM

Friendly Member- My Vote goes to RHOMBUS for his contributions in the after Midnight Sections, where he is respectful to people but also not afraid to voice his opinion, this also goes for his imput in the rping games he is in.
Philosopher- There are quite a few philosophers on this board, and i usually give my vote to Malte out of inertia, because he usually has a lot to contribute, but not this year. this year my vote in this category goes to RHOMBUS, again for his discussion on history as well as his other contributions to the forum,

Kor · **Reply #15 on:** September 06, 2014, 08:11:24 PM

Philosopher: The Chronicler

I choose this person to get my vote, though it was a hard choice due to his posts in the history section, which I've read, even though I've not posted much in that section. His many posts I've enjoyed reading, as well as others who have posted in the section also. And not just his responses, but he has started some threads in the history section also.

Malte279 · **Reply #16 on:** September 07, 2014, 03:53:18 AM

I think three members in particular have been active with fanart this year. Dalekdino, Ducky123 and RockingScorpion. Dalekdino has been the one who posted most fanart and Ducky123 has posted many a very well done drawing too. My vote for the fanart award goes to RockingScorpion however, because I consider the quality of his art really unsurpased in terms of quality and variability. Both in gray-shades and in color and most of his art is strictly LBT which (without any offense meant) is my personal favorite over cross-over art.

Malte279 · **Reply #17 on:** September 07, 2014, 06:44:45 AM

Feedback turns out to be tricky for me this year. Our main artists this year, RockingScorpion, Ducky123 and Dalekdino are, along with rhombus and CeraTheRed, also the most frequent posters giving feedback and discussing art. With most art being really good it is kind of tricky to spot posts which apart from well deserved and easily given praise for the art are also giving some kind of constructive criticism to help with the further improvement of future art. I spotted one such post from landbeforetimelover and also some from DarkHououmon, CeraTheRed and Chiletrek. I do have to admit that this is one case where a truly absolutely objective and fair vote ranking one feedback giver over the others is pretty much impossible. The main reason for my choice is that reading through a thread the constructive criticism of one critic apparently had the most direct effect on the work of one of our artists which is why my vote for the Feedback Award goes to CeraTheRed.

Kor · **Reply #18 on:** September 07, 2014, 09:55:08 PM

Proactive Rhombus Gets my vote this year since from what I've seen he has posted on a wide variety of subjects, including starting threads himself on a wide variety of subjects in a wide variety of sections, history, caption this, and many others which helps to keep those sections active and members looking at and posting to them.

Nick22 · **Reply #19 on:** September 08, 2014, 08:20:34 PM

RPing _ As the Admin of this section, it is often difficult to pick out the best rper, since we have a number of accomplished rpers here./Kor, Serris, brekclub, LBT, Belmont, Pterano and Rhombus, are all very deserving, but since since I have to pick some one, this year i will go with PTERANO. Pterano has been one of those rpers most involved with the "Into the Black' and "Racing the Storm" storylines. He is an excellent rper, and imo deserves this years award.