2019 was an awesome year!
I was just having a browse down memory lane and I came across the thread celebrating the
actually useful people of 2018. Let's see how that lineup went, and how we're all doing today.
Last Year:
SpartacustheGreat and Chanbot received a paltry handful of pity points.
OriginalClamurai and Undr got the main recognition for reviewing.
TheNewIAP got an impressive and unique tearjerking story published in featured games.
WouldntItBeNice was really cranking out the stories, improving with using more natural sounding language by a noticeable amount, and got a fanfiction featured, which is still featured.
Chris11302 had an even more dramatic transfiguration and got his first story featured, also a fanfic.
Ogre11 was reviewing like a madman to become the most commended person on the site, and had a massive stable of games that needed acknowledgment.
So that was all well and good for 2018, but
where are they now?
SpartacustheGreat and Chanbot: still kicking, good for them. They both managed an entry for the last contest and Ford even put a surprising amount of effort in.
Undr: died for like half a year, briefly resurrected, then broke up with us to see other sites. It's not us, it's her.
Last Relevant Action: Featured comment on 2/23/2019.
OriginalClamurai: Who? Oh right...think he got eaten by an overpriced fish or something.
Last Relevant Action: Featured comment on 3/3/2019
TheNewIAP: Last seen boarding a plane for India.
Last Relevant Action: Won the EPIC contest and was featured with a game published on 9/24/2018.
WouldntItBeNice: Still in Missouri. Exclusively writes sad abused waifu stories on fanfiction.net now.
Last Relevant Action: Published a contest story in August 2019...oh wait, it was taken down. Uh, had a featured comment on 3/24/2019, then.
Chris113022 - Still here! Got another featured story! He and Ford are the only ones from that list that improved.
Ogre11 - Still here. No longer has anything near the most commendations, lol.
Okay, that was all fairly pathetic. But let's look at 2019, which by any standards was an
amazing freaking year.
Most Meritorious Members of 2019
Jesus, where to even start. You know we had
fifteen featured stories written in the past year? Sixteen if you count AzBaz's rerelease of Frameshift. That's a lot of people doing things of value.
@Gower - the most obvious one. Three featured games, countless reviews, hosted a contest, judged a few more, saw a multi-thread let's play through to the end, became an integral part of the community, and all of that while doing professor things, writing a million word sequel to Tally Ho and having a family. I hope Jason gives him a raise, he is truly the most dedicated spy.
@Cricket - It really blew my mind when I realized Cricket didn't even start doing things on the site until midway through 2018. She is inarguably one of the most core parts of the community now, an all around cool person, one of the most dedicated reviewers throughout the year and the greatest evangelical the Church of Endmaster has ever had. Also won the Lords of the Land comp despite hating writing even more than I do.
@Bill_Ingersoll - Literally just parachuted in in April, skipped the noob phase entirely and started writing amazing reviews and awesome professional quality stories left and right.
Needs More Reviews.
@ninjapitka - Another one that joined midway through 2018 and came into his own in 2019. Published four quality stories, two of them featured, and one of those winning the honor battle against CoG over on CYS. Steadily reviews things and was literally the only person to finish reading and commentating on the real actual book on paper that Gower assigned.
And then we have @BradinDvorak. BD has been faithfully updating the extension for years, modernizing the site, and making it a thousand times more usable if you're like me and can't stare at light pouring from a bright screen and searing its way into your skull anymore. (Seriously,
This and
this are what you're missing out on, as well as searching by tags and a bunch of other quality of life improvements. If you've got a computer at all I highly recommend swinging by Brad's profile and at least trying the extension out.)
@MadHattersDaughter meanwhile just popped back in one day after a long hiatus, wrote a featured story and has been steadily wowing us with so much cool and cute art, the rarest and most magical thing among people who can only type words to describe things. And also my hips are apparently gigantic now and seem like they're just going to stay that way in the canon lore.
@enterpride is literally just some fuckin noob who showed up and won a contest and got his very first story featured. 2019 was the year of random fuckin noobs outperforming the regulars. It makes me uncomfortable.
@Camelon, same. Joined in September, four months later he has a 60k featured story with some really lovely prose, nearly finished another massive story on IS, has been doing reviews and giving great writing advice on the forum. Already in the top 10 list of Architects, if that means anything. (not really)
@Chris113022 - Well obviously the big thing was writing When the Music's Over. Fantasy is THE most contended for category on the site, and he was blessed with this sudden magical burst of divine inspiration to
kill Steve. Also as noted above, he's only one of a few from last year's thread still standing and one of two that has gone on to do even cooler things. (And okay let's be real, you can't REALLY compare Chris' trajectory to Ford's since he did lot of things the year before as well and then had to top it, as compared to Ford's cool new trick being doing anything at all...) This all being done with some big life changes and new demands on his time going on, he now officially writes gud, previous years weren't a fluke, and I'm looking forward to the new WIPs he's got going on.
@Shadowdrake27 - Continuing the trend of bizarrely competent noobs. Joined at the end of 2018, has written several stories (which show rapid improvement) and has been extremely giving of his time with proofreading for others as well as writing reviews.
@poison_mara - the only fully reformed CoGite we have and an amazingly dedicated writer. Her English is constantly improving and in terms of sheer word count, discipline with daily writing, and enthusiasm for participating in community events she has not slowed down or been surpassed.
@pugpup1 - We had overlapping contests this summer, and we went and won them both?? Pug doesn't say much so I think he's often forgotten, but can turn out some quality writing when moved and writes some thoughtful reviews. Never know when he might just snap and take 2020 by storm, you just can't trust the quiet ones.
@Avery_Moore and @TurnipBandit both contributed a ton of reviews and feedback in the earlier half of the year (and obviously Avery published Price of Freedom and it was kind of a big deal) before getting sidelined by personal stuff and health issues. Hoping for the best for both of them, they're just bizarrely nice people who deserve better.)
And then of course @Chanbot deserves a mention for Most Improved. Ford was just a fixture around the place no one ever expected to do anything, getting these badass ongoing stories in the Creative Corner and then a contest story that displayed some actual effort were some pretty surprising and welcome things.
@lopz66 @TheChef @DarkSpawn @Reader82, and probably others I've missed all continue the trend of noobs just coming out of nowhere and doing unexpectedly cool things and becoming an accepted part of the community with unprecedented swiftness. (or appearing and disappearing mysteriously when contests go up, in lopz case...
Even @Megumeme will probably be a fixture on the site by this time next year, it seeming that all attempts to bully her off have failed.
Anyway, even if we have some casualties this year like we did last year, that is a LOT of people going charging ahead to just continue being awesome, so I'm expecting some pretty great things out of 2020, and also ignoring the fact that we're already two weeks into it and I'm just now getting around to making this thread.
