we all would have picked differently from you, i bet, and that's why mefi is still good (even with all the newsfilter).

I would have picked the Ern Malley hoax "My Life as a Fake" post, but that's just me.

So, spill!

amber, trust me that I'd love to spill, but I said I wasn't going to reveal the winner until the 3rd, and I'm going to stick to that. Plus, I'm interested in knowing what others think without any 20/20 hindsight going on.

Wait ... hmmm ... an hour and 40 minutes.

I would have voted for dhruva's Maunsell Sea Forts, even though I had a post in myself (gee! guess I didn't win, then!)

Why? It was an interesting topic, well presented, with both striking images and a fascinating backstory, which most people probably weren't aware of, and which engendered a modicum of additional links to add to the topic.

awwww

LeeJay for the win!

Besides, it's 3 August where I'm sitting...go on...whisper it, I won't tell. Honest!

Ugh. Commish, I hadn't thought of it that way. Oops. I'm ver sorry about that. Taking your comment into consideration I'm going to go post the winner right now...

Good choice. I too would have gone with LeeJay, but I liked that post as well.

NO! I want to know what others here would have guessed, too ...

Damn, I hope I'm not too late.

winners posted

to penguins
*clink*

aye. to penguns.
*clink*

Boo. Too esoteric, and not interesting to anyone outside of the literary/poetry realm.

ah, see, but this is where we agree to disagree. I was ready to browse quickly and move on, but then got caught up in the story of the hoax and the trial. I still haven't really read any of the poems.

: >

(and you totally rock for recognizing more than just one person--crunch should be praised all the time, and others too.)

yhbc: yup--we all have different ideas of what makes a great link.

yhbc: i'll mail you my copy of "My Life as A Fake" if you want--it's worth it. I didn't even know that it was based on a real thing. And Carey is a truly wonderful writer--i recommend him to everyone.

I was most pleasantly surprised at how many of the posters were posting their very first thing ever in the blue -- some (see Servo5678) after extrememly long and quiet membership.

I was also strikingly surprised at how long and wordy most of the posts were. Very few, if any, posts like I typically make -- link, brief description, and done. I guess that's what happens when you give people an entire weekend to prepare.

Lastly, there were several posts that I would have put in the top five, if only the poster had an email address on their user page. Watching Grass Grow stands out amoung these.

anastasiav - okay, fair enough. When I get a job, I'll do a contest day myself, and I hope I will have as many great posts to choose from and agonize over as you did (by which I mean to say, good on you for inspiring us all!)

amberglow - I'll take you up on that! email to follow.

No matter the winner (congrats!) or the fun categories, I hope this becomes a regular feature at the first of each month. Prizes could be contributed something like they are for the Dylan Pool. I'd be willing to throw in something for a fun category or a gift certificate.

Anyway, thanks for a fun day of posts anastasiav. :-)

I really like the idea of an incentived metafilter. And I think that the whole "benevolent monarchy" or "philosopher king" ad-hoc model is the only way to do it. "Hey, it's my bounty, I'll reward it as I see fit".

It seems like it was pretty darn apolitical and refreshing. I hope others take up the torch and continue the tradition. I might even consider sponsoring an art related link bounty, where the reward is one of my posters. Because that's about all I have to offer at the moment. :|

ok, yhbc : >

It was such a great day of posts. The whole site seemed to take on a more festive atmosphere. I don't know how you managed to get through all of them. Frankly, I think you deserve the prize just for the hard work. ;) Thanks anastasiav, I thought you made a good choice. (I really liked dhruva's sea forts post.)

I really enjoyed participating, so muchlove to anastasiav for the idea and carrying it through. I had actually composed a HUGE comicgeek post (if the acronym COIE means anything to you, there you are) but then I went to kevspace's blog and saw Infinite Flickr. Given that my last MeFi FPP was a) on the first of July, b) alliterative, and c) about Flickr, I couldn't resist being repetitive and self-referential.

AND KEVSPACE BABY I WAS A TOP FIVE FINALIST ALL THANKS TO YOUR LITTLE BLOG. Had I won, I woulda asked anastasiav to give the prize to you, but since I didn't ... will you settle for a nice cozy backrub?

I would have given the prize to LeeJay or sgt., and it would have been a very tough choice for me, so I'm glad I didn't have to do it.

Thanks again anastasiav!

You're all very welcome. I sincerely wish I had the cash to send something out to each of the top five, and I have to confess that around 4pm on Monday I started thinking "oh shit, how can I pick just one of these? The other 50 posters (or whatever it turned out to be) are going to form a mob and kill me for not picking them."

There was not a single post on Monday that I didn't enjoy (well, that's not strictly true -- the mangle post did drive me to some weird site that crashed firefox and locked my whole computer, but I thought it was a good idea).

The whole site seemed to take on a more festive atmosphere

I think this is true, and (amberglow, are you listening?) that was really what I wanted to "Take Back" metafilter from -- its not the snarking so much as the hating and the "Fuck offs" and all the other ... well, the noise. So often its about the arguing and the hate. It makes me ill sometimes to read it, to think that people out there are so filled with anger and resentment that they have to take it out on the invisible people on the internet. I just wanted to have a day that was fun and surprising again. I have to admit at being both surprised and pleased at the quality and quantity of the responses.

I am a bit fearful that if this turns into a regular "thing" it will be a bit less special, or that people will save up the good stuff for a regular "First Monday" or whatever, and then the other days will be .... I'm not saying I don't want other people to sponsor days .. far from it, as this worked out so well .. but I'm also a bit leery of where it could lead. Although it does give a whole new meaning to "paying for content"...

On the other hand, in Portland here we have a thing called "First Friday" which is a real celebration of art and music and creative culture, which has been wildly successful.

Anyway, thanks to everyone ... muchos grande thanks. I wish I could afford to reward everyone -- even (and maybe even especially) the ones that didn't get a special shout out in my MeTa post.

Of course, we could "take back" MeFiDi. I used to contribute to that, but stopped when my life got busy/complicated a couple of years ago. Where's y6³?

here is his blog

last updated July 1st. He hasn't posted to the blue in nearly a year, although he did comment as recently as July of this year. I'm hoping maybe he'll see my MeTa shoutout to him....

Frantic Penguin

Congrats to steef and thanks, anastasiav!

that was really what I wanted to "Take Back" metafilter from -- its not the snarking so much as the hating and the "Fuck offs" and all the other ... well, the noise.

I completely agree that this is worst aspect of Metafilter, which is why I was really, really disappointed to see it crop up in the denouement of the zombie flash mob thread.

I got in a little tussle there myself, but I never meant it as anything other than lighthearted geekery (I hope that was obvious).