The 2008 CS Christmas Card List - Discussion

[JuniorMintz]

JM,

Altho I am sure we don't need to you come walking around with your big stick to ensure that we mail out our Christmas Cards on time next year, I know I would definitely be ok with you showing up at my door in February (if you can handle the winters in delightful New York!)

That was sweet. Especially because I'm seriously pouty that what was supposed to be my snow day (ice skating in Yosemite, yaaaay!) turned into a EpicSnowSuperFail Day and I'm stuck at home instead.

Damnit, I should be drinking hot chocolate and bitching about the cold right now!

[SteverinoNY]

Christmas Cards!

JM,

Altho I am sure we don't need to you come walking around with your big stick to ensure that we mail out our Christmas Cards on time next year, I know I would definitely be ok with you showing up at my door in February (if you can handle the winters in delightful New York!)

Again, thanks for all you do in taking on this monumental task of running the list each year and tsk tsk on those who cant be bothered to read signs or follow directions.

[JuniorMintz]

LOL, yea, I'm pretty sure the only truly fail safe way to ensure 100 percent participation is for me to go to everyone's homes and mail them out myself.

So next year if a five foot something brunette with thick ass glasses and a big ass stick shows up at your door, you'd better hope you have a receipt from the post office lying handy!

[One-Fang]

Hmmm, I guess the only really fair way is for a panel of a couple of mods to look through all the applicants to the list and approve or disapprove of their listing. You'll know most of the names, and the ones that you don't know offhand you can check on the site what their activity is and make a judgment call.

Of course, that would imply that such a tactic would have worked this time. Sigh. I dunno. Maybe apply any tactic you can come up with, to 2008's list, and see if it weeds out those that ended up not contributing. If it doesn't, it's probably not a reliable method to weed them out for 2009.

[Rapscallion]

(Why don't OT posts count, anyway? 4500+ posts and I never realized that?)

As per the names of the sections, we decided that posts should only count in the 'heart of the site' areas. For some reason, a minority of people feel that their post count is a matter of ... importance, really, whereas its actually the quality of a person's posts that truly counts.

Rapscallion

[BookstoreEscapee]

Wait, I've made that many posts in the main forums? Wow. I spend more time in OT than elsewhere...huh.

(Why don't OT posts count, anyway? 4500+ posts and I never realized that?)

[AdminAssistant]

Yeah, my "post count" isn't very high, but I've made quite a few posts - just in Off Topic. (I don't have time to even begin to keep up with the main board! )

[Ree]

So maybe one way to reduce, if that is the pattern, is to say that unless you've made something like 200 posts in the previous year or something, you can't go on the list.

That's an interesting idea, and it's one that has certainly been batted around, but it's not an accurate or fair way of handling it, either, since off topic posts don't count. A person could have well over 200 posts in off topic, but only a few in the main forums, so they would only show as about 10 or 20 posts.

We have a few months to work it out, and we are always open to suggestions, though.

Post count isn't always a reflection of participation, either, since there were a few with low post counts who did send out their cards.

[JuniorMintz]

I can't really elaborate much at this time as to some of the changes I'm kicking around, but I will say that the post count thing, I'm really going to have to think about. Not only do I want to take into account people who post a lot in OT and thus have lower post counts (like yours truly!), but I *really* don't want to do anything that will encourage post padding.

[One-Fang]

I am curious about the changes - I'm not sure how you could minimise no-shows. Can you elaborate, or is it a secret till it happens?

I would hope that the no-shows are not very active members on the site. If they're active members, constantly posting and discussing, I would have some major problems with that. So maybe one way to reduce, if that is the pattern, is to say that unless you've made something like 200 posts in the previous year or something, you can't go on the list.

It's sad to see, yet AGAIN, people begging to go on the list past the cutoff date and then bailing.

[BookstoreEscapee]

So, who didn't send their cards?

Of those, who actually contacted Juniormintz with a reason for not completing them?

Well, I can't answer your second question, but if you go back to my post here I tallied up everyone I did and didn't get. Not necessarily definitive, and doesn't rule out the possibility that one or two of the missing got lost in the mail, but it seems in line with the numbers that other people have said they are missing.

[DesignFox]

Well I don't think I directly stated it, so thanks JM!!! I had a lot of fun with this. (I don't blame you for the no-shows, so please don't feel like you have to apologize for them)

It's too bad your fire and brimstone hasn't seemed to have any effect on the people who flaked out on us, but I guess no matter where you are, or who you talk to, you're gonna have slackers.

Thanks again to everyone who sent out cards and made this fun! I really enjoyed it.

[JuniorMintz]

Ok, that is it, I'm officially calling it a wrap for the year 2008.

If you still haven't sent out your cards, shame on you. Seriously, as long as I'm putting my *Valentines* away I think I'll put away Christmas too. It feels weird looking at Christmas stuff when the trees in my front yard are blossoming.

As always, to those who participated, thank you, and thank you for all the kind words some of you have given me.

To the 14 slackers who took advantage of the kindness of myself and everyone else who joined? You should be embarrassed. I'd be less angry if even ONE of you had had the decency and manners to at least PM me ahead of time. (One of you sent a PM to a mod, who then had to forward it to me- )

I'm especially mad because there were people who tried to join after the cut off date and despite my better judgement, I let them in anyway. They repaid me by not following through and making me look like an ass.

All I ask is that if you make a promise, follow through, and if you can't, TALK TO ME. I don't know how people like that function, I really don't. If you no showed at your jobs like this, your asses would be canned. To be honest, if I were you I'd have felt like a total douchebag every time I opened my mailbox.

Anyway, like I said, I'm calling it a year. Thanks again to my friends, and my apologies for the high rate of no shows. Next year, there will be changes which I hope will prevent this.

And I know it's a bit early, but Happy St. Patrick's Day in advance!

[Ree]

So, who didn't send their cards?

Of those, who actually contacted Juniormintz with a reason for not completing them?

[Kiwi]

15 people didnt send cards to me, I can understand 1 or 2 getting lost in the post but not over ten cards.

I want to say a big Thank You to JM for doing the list, I hope you know JM that the people who did contribute really appreciate the hard work you do for the list.

I'm really sorry to see so many people didn't stand behind their word.