Please use this topic for any general discussion about the nominations, voting, etc.

With all due respect to my colleague, BoF, I do not wish to be nominated for Best Overall Debater or for any individual award.

Thanks for the consideration, but I do not care to participate this year.

I may not be looking under the right heading, but I can find a forum to nominate the Best Post in the Current Events & Headline News forum.

If it is yet to be created, I'd like to nominate Mrs Pigpen's US Charitable Giving Declines. If not, my apoloies for positng in the wrong place.

Aha! You've caught something I've forgotten - thanks. We don't have an award for Current Events & Headline News because it is usually (supposed to be) a fluid forum. Topics don't normally stay there long. Once they are not a 'current event' I try to move them out to a more appropriate forum. I had forgotten to clean out that forum before I opened the awards. I have gone ahead and done that now. I moved Mrs. P's topic to General Social Issues. US charitable giving declines


Classic. One of 's finest debaters attempting to debate his way out of a nomination. Seriously classic. This does, however, put us in an unusual situation. No one's ever declined a nomination before.

Thanks for the backhanded compliment, Jaime, but I assure you my decision was not arrived at casually or without consideration. Nor do I mean to be disrespectful or insulting to you or anyone that might consider nominating me.

After five years here, I know where I stand on the food chain and I no longer need "Best of" kudos to reassure me or validate my own opinion.

The great basketball coach John Wooden said, You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one., and I have no desire to be weak. Moreover, if I'm willing to accept the praise, how can I not accept the criticism? The best option for me is to take both and my ego out of the equation.

Plus, I've won an award of some type five years running now. There is a tendency for some members to become "the usual suspects" and they suck up all the air out of the room.
It's time for some new blood to step up and some of the usual suspects to step back.

I don't want to stand in the light of someone else. By taking myself out of the running means somebody else gets in the running. I do not think that's a bad thing.

As it says in the board's Survival Guide: There are no winners here. By the nature of this process we are designating some as winners and conversely others as losers. I've enjoyed my time on the board and I feel I've made a contribution, but I have no desire to be become a debate board Tyrannosaurus Rex stomping the life out of all in my way. It's a ego stroke and my ego doesn't require the stroking right about now.

I hope you can understand this explanation Jaime, but even if you can't, I hope you can respect it.

I nominate nighttimer for all categories.

I would also like to recommend the inclusion of a Worst category.

In accordance with nighttimer's wishes, I reluctantly withdraw my nomination of him for "Best Overall Debater." NT has been a member for many years. We should respect his wishes.

I am asking Jaime to delete the post where I nominated him.

Nighttimer mentioned "individual" awards. It is my guess that he would not decline a nomination of one or more of his threads in best of categories. As was pointed out last year, these are group awards, honoring all who participated. One banned member had a thread, nominated by none other than NT, that received serious consideration last year.

BTW: Many have nominated Wertz for "Best Overall Debater." It would be hard to argue against this. Given Wertz's contributions, I think we should add a category where by one or two members, who have been around for three to five years, be voted a lifetime achievement awards. This should be a one time thing, and other people would have to be added the following year - sort of like a hall-of-fame. is old enough that now is an appropriate time for such awards. It could be added this year.

Sorry Barnaby, but I don't think we should get into the negativity of "worst of."

Hey, I'm just happy my post is still on the board. If there was an award for Most Deleted Posts, I'd be the winner hands down. Hmmmm... I have an idea.

NT brings up a great point about the nature of the individual awards and the 'usual suspects' issue. I think BoF has a very interesting idea about a Hall of Fame, which would address that issue. Perhaps that would allow some of the newer members some opportunity to be recognized for their contributions while still 'honoring' the old-timers

If I were more active, I might be able to help nominate newer folks who are deserving of the individual awards, but I really don't read often enough anymore.

But I do like browsing through old topics during this time of year - I think I'm always most active here during the summer because of Year in Review - it's a great way for those of us who don't participate as often as we like to catch up on what we've been missing!

Maybe we take ourselves too seriously. Maybe...