Historical notes

[Hermes]

Mister M has a very full statistical record of the 667 awards here (now updated to include this year's awards). This is meant to supplement his work by commenting on some of the general trends etc.

The current series of awards began in 2008, though there had been various award events before that. This means that next year will be the thirteenth - Reba take note. There have been four organisers so far, Willis, Emma Squalor, Anka and Zortegus, though from now on we may get a new organiser each year.

Nine of the awards have been effectively the same since the start, though with some changes of name: volunteer, writing, art, funniest, compassionate, new member, pairing, thread and Most Valued Poster (now the Linda Award).

In 2008, there were three awards which were never heard of again - Best Moderator, Best Gag Account and Greatest Moment. This last was won by 'Daniel Handler hangs up on Hermedy', something which was presumably impossible to top. It's also striking that there were enough gag accounts that it was possible to have a competitive award for them (though one of the nominees was Triangle Eyes, by most accounts a real person; allegedly she came second).

In 2009 these were replaced by Most Notorious, which is still very much with us, and the rather moralistic Most Consistent and Most Improved. Most Improved was retired in 2012 to make room for Best Profile Decoration; its high spot was achieved in 2011 when Colette won both this and Most Notorious (for fairly good reasons, it must be said). Most Consistent, having briefly been renamed Most Active, was retired in 2013 to make room for Best Organiser.

One other award that has been retired is Best Writer, which was originally distinct from Best Story. They were merged in 2014, allowing the creation of the Special Award. In 2014 the merged award was called Best Storytelling; in 2015 it was expanded to Best Writing, in order to allow poetry and drama to be included (Nominatissima having once won Best Writer for her poetry), but the actual effect of this was to allow in Snicketology and journalism, and the award was won by the 667er. From 2016 onwards the award has been restricted to creative writing.

[Foxy]

Jul 17, 2019 8:49:23 GMT -5 Hermes said:

In 2008, there were three awards which were never heard of again - Best Moderator, Best Gag Account and Greatest Moment. This last was won by 'Daniel Handler hangs up on Hermedy', something which was presumably impossible to top.

Okay, I really want to know: please explain this!

It's also striking that there were enough gag accounts that it was possible to have a competitive award for them (though one of the nominees was Triangle Eyes, by most accounts a real person; allegedly she came second).

As a still pretty new person, I don't know - what happened to Hermedy, and who was Triangle Eyes? How did trip become the administrator?

[Hermes]

The full story of DH hanging up on Hermedy may be found in this old edition of the 667er.

As for how Trip became our leader: Hermedy, after many years of being invisible, decided to retire, and held a sort of competition, which Trip sort of won.

[Hermes]

The Special Award has had a rather chequered history. It was introduced in 2014 with the aim of stopping constant debate about new categories - twelve should remain unchanged, and one each year should be distinctive - and it does seem to have achieved this aim quite effectively. The rule, rather firmly enforced by Anka, is that it must be for something which has a special relevance to the year. In the first year it was Most Missing, a theme repeated this year with Most Conspicuously Absent; the first time, when voting for this to be the special award, I think we largely had Hermedy in mind, but in fact it was won by Charlie - which, given that this year's winner was Lemona, suggests that our most missed members are always Australians.

The most successful years of this award, in my view, are 2016 (Best Out of Context Quote) and 2018 (Best Person at Finding Out Stuff to do with the Netflix Series (that Probably Needs a Snappier Name)) (always so referred to, in full). The first of these was won by Lemona (quoter) and Comet (author) for 'because I want to see yours and show you mine'; the latter was won by indefatigable Netflix researchers Ryan C. Trimble and gothicarchiesfan.

In 2015 we marked our thirteenth anniversary with 'Most Thirteen Year Old', which caused some confusion, as there are many ways of interpreting it. While some young members were nominated, in the end it went to the two members who had been with us throughout the board's history, Hermedy and BSam, and I'm sure there was no other reason for giving it to Hermedy.

in 2107 it was 'Most Likely to Secretly be Daniel Handler', which went to alvaromolina (apparently for his ability to know Netflix stuff ahead of time) and the mysterious 'Trip from the future', seemingly an in-joke within an in-joke.

Rejected suggestions for the special award include Best Group (of which more later), Best Old Member, Worst New Member, Moat Prickly Darkies Organiser, and Best New Name for These Awards. Actually, here is the thread from 2017 so you can see for yourselves. Others that were ruled out of order, as having nothing to do with the year, were Cutest Member and Most Patient.

[Hermes]

In Best Pairing, by far the most common relationship represented is friendship. Romantic couples have won just twice (so far as we know), Hermedy and Fancy in 2008, and Mister M and Anka in 2014. The archetypal 667 couple, M and Derik, had already largely retired from 667 when the awards began.

Although e-relationships once played an important part in 667's life, none have ever won this award. Pandora and Linda campaigned heavily for the award in 2015, but unsuccessfully; Terry and Pen were nominated once, but also without success.

There have been a few enemy nominations (tk and MasterViolet, Tiago and colette - who confused matters by being reconciled before the vote - Bandit and Teleram, Bandit and Mister M, Bandit and Quisby). But none were successful before this year's Bandit and Terry, which is really more of a frenemy nomination.

In 2011, one of three pairs of winners was Hermedy and Beyonce, on the grounds that 'they are both fierce'. This would not have been allowed in more recent years, as Anka was very insistent that all nominees be 667ers (though in fairness, we don't know that Beyonce isn't a 667er).

[Gamla Anka]

This thread makes me look like everyone's least favourite teacher

[trip]

Jul 18, 2019 12:22:33 GMT -5 Foxy said:

How did trip become the administrator?

cruel twist of fate

[Hermes]

Anka: Awww. No, I admire you for it: without the discipline you brought the awards would have fallen apart.

[Hermes]

Best Thread is a rather curious award, since so many different kinds of thing are eligible for it. I have always felt that its main purpose is to reward things that do not fit easily into other categories, that are not fiction, art, Snicketology or organised events. Two of this year's winners, ,I. and What Would your Knuckle Tats say, would be good examples of this, as would the winner from 2017, the splendid 667 Starter Packs (now sadly depleted, as many of the images it included have disappeared). Other examples would be long-running threads like Rad Movie Posters and The Raddest Book Covers, and others in that style. I think Bear, Terry and at one time Sophie are our leading thread-starters in this tradition.

However, many other kinds of thing have won over the years, and the award can be seen as a sort of barometer of the state of the site at any time. The first winner, in 2008, was Announcement from Gigi, which was a notable moment in 667's history, as it led to the displacement of the then admin, All Due Respect, and restoration of Hermedy. In other years Snicket-related threads which don't quite fit into other categories have won: in 2011 Rejected ASOUE Lines (which is not quite what it seems; it was largely an exercise in creating fictional worlds) and in 2012 the perennial favourite Odd ASOUE/Real Life Coincidence Thread. INCOMING FILE FROM MR SNICKET STOP, in which LS both answered our questions and gave us a preview of WDYSHL, won in 2013, and in both 2016 and 2018 the winners were Netflix discussion threads.

And in 2014 the winner was Make a Bird, a thread in which 667ers, er, made a bird. Pandora, announcing the result, claimed that the bird was our new administrator, but sadly this did not come about.

For most awards, whether they are officially for a person or an achievement, it's obvious who the award belongs to, but in this case, though the award is presented to the thread-starter, in fact many people share the credit.

[Geru Tosz]

I'm loving this Hermes, thanks for doing it!

[Geru Tosz]

Also the bird would have been way better admin than trip

[Foxy]

I have looked up some of these threads you have referenced, Hermes, and that bird one was hillarious!

Hey, since you are the master historian around here, do you know why there are so many BSAMs? And why the one with 20,000 posts is banned?

[Hermes]

Zortegus: Um.

Foxy: Really there is only one BSam; he just has a number of accounts. I think when he reached 20,000 posts he decided to freeze that account as a record of his achievement, and start again. Why the other accounts I can't say. Obviously he isn't actually banned - if he were his name would appear as a guest, without an avatar and stuff - so I take it he just thought it would be fun to have that as a custom title. Or perhaps it's a Hermedy thing. If there's something you don't understand, 'it's a Hermedy thing' is always a good bet.

[Hermes]

Best Writing , originally Best Story, is a popular award, and although there isn't quite as much creative writing here as there used to be, it has never failed to find worthy candidates. It has gone seven times to 667fic and six times to Snicketfic: this of course includes ties (a perennial feature of these awards), and there was one rather anomalous year when it went to the 667er. Perhaps the kind of story which wins is another barometer of the state of the site. Right now Snicketfic is catching up, and on present form seems likely to equal 667fic next year.

When you come to think of it, 667fic is an odd thing. Does any other site have a tradition of fanfic about its own members?

There used to be a separate award for Best Writer, but the point of this was never entirely clear; it went to the same sort of people as Best Story (Willis, Sixteen and Tiago all won both at various times), perhaps allowing people to hedge their bets. The one year it actually proved useful was 2011, when it went to Nominatissima for her poetry, which is why Best Writing now incorporates all creative writing.

About Best Artist there is not much to say, except that we have had a lot of outstanding artists, including some professionals. It goes largely to Snicket-inspired art, but not always. Art, like fiction, is a less important part of the site than it was in the olden days, but has gone through a bit of a revival recently. (Though it's annoying when our artists, who I know exist, don't post their work at 667. Tryina, I'm looking at you. And there was the occasion when Terry was nominated for something only Bear had seen, and still got two votes.)

[Reba]

damn those drawings terry sent me were hilarious