Ranzha
Friendly, Neighbourhoodly
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2009
- Messages
- 2,551
- Location
- Reno, Nevada, United States
- WCA ID
- 2009HARN01
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It's that time of year again!
With 2014 coming to an close oh so soon, it seems fitting to take time to reflect on the wonders (and anti-wonders) of the faithful Speedsolving Forum this past year.
Following the tradition started in 2009 by the great Pokémon Master David Woner, and continued annually in 2010 by Stachu "Actually A Statue" Korick, 2011 by fresh nugget extraordinaire Sarah Strong, 2012 by the ever-welcoming Austin Reed, and most recently in 2013 by the best host ever Noah Arthurs, I would like to present to you all...
The 2014 Speedsolving Forum Awards!
Best Post: Eric Vogler (evogler), for his alternative solution to Feliks’ 5.66 former WR single. Link
For those of you who don’t know Eric Vogler’s legacy, allow me to recount:
His solves are like CFOP, but he always skips the last layer. No one’s exactly sure how he does it—some suspect zeroing, but I suspect dark magic. Some skeptics say that his solutions were merely constructed before the scrambles.
In this encounter, Mr. Vogler appeared, this time solving the scramble where Feliks Zemdegs achieved his legendary 5.66 former WR single. But before the masses could marvel at his magnificence, he vanished, just as fast as he came, and hasn’t been seen to this day.
Best Thread: Justin Adsuara (edd5190), for the Accomplishment Thread. (No link necessary
)
This award goes to what could be called the strongest thread on Speedsolving. Active across all the previous Forum Awards, withstanding an outrageous number of posts per day, and outliving the moderators’ new-fangled Accomplishment Forum, the Accomplishment Thread is thriving and prospering to this day.
Most Helpful Member: Louis de Mendonça (TDM)
Honorable mention: Dan White, Rob Stuart, James Molloy, Rob Yau
This was one of the most difficult categories to judge because of the amount of helpfulness each of these cubers displayed in the past year.
This year, TDM showed the Speedsolving community what it really means to be a Speedsolving member—frequenting member intro threads to welcome members (I can’t remember the last time I did that…), always willing to give tips without displaying annoyance at nooby questions, always leaving detailed explanations, but at the same time doesn’t put up with people being awful people. He helps foster the community, spreading what knowledge he has wherever he goes. Thanks, TDM.
Funniest Member: Thom Barlow (Kirjava)
Despite being one of the most knowledgeable cubers we have, Kir always knows how to liven up the forums, sometimes with arguments, and other times (some of the best times) with fantastic jokes and hilarious (yet inappropriate) posts that get deleted with haste. Hats off to you!
Most Deserving of a Hug: Dene Beardsley (Dene)
Honorable mention: Andrea Panyavong
You did it! Other people did it for you, but you did it!
Mike Hughey Award for Nicest/Friendliest Member: Chris Hardwick (cmhardw)
You all know why.
Vincent Sheu Award for Worst Finals Performance: James Molloy (Mollerz)
This is presented to Mollerz for his epic finish in the UK Championship finals with not one, not two, not three, but FOUR solves with +2 penalties. Congrats!
Mitchell G. Lane Award for Excellence in Dosing BJ: pjkcuber
Honorable mention: Randomno
Give that man a bj.
Calvin Le Award for Biggest Postwhore: Randomno
Not only was Randomno a giant postwhore this year, but he did so with such a blatant disregard for brevity that only a moderator could know. Most users only see what posts remain from him, but there are probably well over a hundred posts of his that have been deleted. When it was too much to handle, and infractions seemed to mean nothing, we banned him. When he tried to come back on an alternate account, we banned him again!
You dosed vbj, Randomno.
Bruce Norskog Award for Smartest Member: Herbert Kociemba
Honorable mention: anyone involved in finding God’s Number for QTM, Chris Hardwick
This goes to good ol’ Kociemba for the QTM CubeExplorer, as well as being a constant marvel in puzzle theory. Thanks for all you’ve done to make things easier for all us speedsolvers!
Rob "Brest" Stuart Award for Best Member: Brandon Harnish (Ranzha)
As the forum’s best moderator ever, the dominant force in skewb solving, with the world’s best algorithms, I can’t think of anyone better to give this award to than Ranzha. Congrats!
(jk, this year’s was too tough to decide. Thank you to all the awesome people who make Speedsolving a great place to hang out. Thank you to all the people who make us really think. And especially thanks to you, the reader, for even being a part of it.)
Dr. David J. Wing Award for Best Cow: Dr. David J. Wing, Ph.D. (DaveyCow)
Moo!
Other awards:
Best New Member: Dan White (DeeDubb)
At the front of the Roux surge is DeeDubb, whose tutorials, helpfulness, and community service have shown us how great of an asset he is to the speedsolving community as a whole. Props to you, and hope to have you here for a long time!
Best Arguer: Stefan Pochmann (Stefan)
Honorable mention: Thom Barlow, Dene Beardsley, Michael Gottlieb
I’m moderately scared that he (or the honorable mentions) will argue me into a corner for this one, but I suppose that would only be fitting.
If you’ve been on the forums for a while, you would know how clear Stefan’s mind is when it comes to denouncing poor arguments. 2014 was no different, and Stefan continues to be one of the greatest minds cubing has. Congrats!
Most Deserving of a Ban: Randomno
…well that happened.
The Batman Award: Ben Whitmore (ben1996123, 10461394944000, and countless others)
The hero Speedsolving needs, but the one we don’t deserve.
Best New Moderator: Robert Yau (Robert-Y)
When Rob, Odder, and I became mods, none of us were quite sure what to do. I personally remember feeling like I had power I didn’t know how to properly use. There was no instruction manual. There was simply judgment.
But Rob over these past few months has exhibited great discernment in post deletions, infractions, and the like, and for that (and deleting Thom’s drunken posts), this one’s to you.
Most Improved Noob: Kennan LeJeune (kclejeune)
Kennan’s got too fast too fast, and is a chill bro in the process. Gj buddy
Best Beard: Ryan DeLine (TeddyKGB)
Have you seen it?!
Best Reaction to World Record (tie): Vladislav Shavelskiy, and the audience of Przemysław Kaleta
The amount of pride and the hype was far too real. Thank you all for showing us the most human aspects of speedsolving—accomplishment and celebration.
Thank you all for another amazing year!
Be on the lookout for great posts and posters in 2015, and be sure to nominate for the 2015 Forum Awards!
If you're a prize winner, shoot me a PM with your address and I'll ship one off to you.
With 2014 coming to an close oh so soon, it seems fitting to take time to reflect on the wonders (and anti-wonders) of the faithful Speedsolving Forum this past year.
Following the tradition started in 2009 by the great Pokémon Master David Woner, and continued annually in 2010 by Stachu "Actually A Statue" Korick, 2011 by fresh nugget extraordinaire Sarah Strong, 2012 by the ever-welcoming Austin Reed, and most recently in 2013 by the best host ever Noah Arthurs, I would like to present to you all...
The 2014 Speedsolving Forum Awards!
Best Post: Eric Vogler (evogler), for his alternative solution to Feliks’ 5.66 former WR single. Link
For those of you who don’t know Eric Vogler’s legacy, allow me to recount:
His solves are like CFOP, but he always skips the last layer. No one’s exactly sure how he does it—some suspect zeroing, but I suspect dark magic. Some skeptics say that his solutions were merely constructed before the scrambles.
In this encounter, Mr. Vogler appeared, this time solving the scramble where Feliks Zemdegs achieved his legendary 5.66 former WR single. But before the masses could marvel at his magnificence, he vanished, just as fast as he came, and hasn’t been seen to this day.
Best Thread: Justin Adsuara (edd5190), for the Accomplishment Thread. (No link necessary
)This award goes to what could be called the strongest thread on Speedsolving. Active across all the previous Forum Awards, withstanding an outrageous number of posts per day, and outliving the moderators’ new-fangled Accomplishment Forum, the Accomplishment Thread is thriving and prospering to this day.
Most Helpful Member: Louis de Mendonça (TDM)
Honorable mention: Dan White, Rob Stuart, James Molloy, Rob Yau
This was one of the most difficult categories to judge because of the amount of helpfulness each of these cubers displayed in the past year.
This year, TDM showed the Speedsolving community what it really means to be a Speedsolving member—frequenting member intro threads to welcome members (I can’t remember the last time I did that…), always willing to give tips without displaying annoyance at nooby questions, always leaving detailed explanations, but at the same time doesn’t put up with people being awful people. He helps foster the community, spreading what knowledge he has wherever he goes. Thanks, TDM.
Funniest Member: Thom Barlow (Kirjava)
Despite being one of the most knowledgeable cubers we have, Kir always knows how to liven up the forums, sometimes with arguments, and other times (some of the best times) with fantastic jokes and hilarious (yet inappropriate) posts that get deleted with haste. Hats off to you!
Most Deserving of a Hug: Dene Beardsley (Dene)
Honorable mention: Andrea Panyavong
You did it! Other people did it for you, but you did it!
Mike Hughey Award for Nicest/Friendliest Member: Chris Hardwick (cmhardw)
You all know why.
Vincent Sheu Award for Worst Finals Performance: James Molloy (Mollerz)
This is presented to Mollerz for his epic finish in the UK Championship finals with not one, not two, not three, but FOUR solves with +2 penalties. Congrats!
Mitchell G. Lane Award for Excellence in Dosing BJ: pjkcuber
Honorable mention: Randomno
Give that man a bj.
Calvin Le Award for Biggest Postwhore: Randomno
Not only was Randomno a giant postwhore this year, but he did so with such a blatant disregard for brevity that only a moderator could know. Most users only see what posts remain from him, but there are probably well over a hundred posts of his that have been deleted. When it was too much to handle, and infractions seemed to mean nothing, we banned him. When he tried to come back on an alternate account, we banned him again!
You dosed vbj, Randomno.
Bruce Norskog Award for Smartest Member: Herbert Kociemba
Honorable mention: anyone involved in finding God’s Number for QTM, Chris Hardwick
This goes to good ol’ Kociemba for the QTM CubeExplorer, as well as being a constant marvel in puzzle theory. Thanks for all you’ve done to make things easier for all us speedsolvers!
Rob "Brest" Stuart Award for Best Member: Brandon Harnish (Ranzha)
As the forum’s best moderator ever, the dominant force in skewb solving, with the world’s best algorithms, I can’t think of anyone better to give this award to than Ranzha. Congrats!
(jk, this year’s was too tough to decide. Thank you to all the awesome people who make Speedsolving a great place to hang out. Thank you to all the people who make us really think. And especially thanks to you, the reader, for even being a part of it.)
Dr. David J. Wing Award for Best Cow: Dr. David J. Wing, Ph.D. (DaveyCow)
Moo!
Other awards:
Best New Member: Dan White (DeeDubb)
At the front of the Roux surge is DeeDubb, whose tutorials, helpfulness, and community service have shown us how great of an asset he is to the speedsolving community as a whole. Props to you, and hope to have you here for a long time!
Best Arguer: Stefan Pochmann (Stefan)
Honorable mention: Thom Barlow, Dene Beardsley, Michael Gottlieb
I’m moderately scared that he (or the honorable mentions) will argue me into a corner for this one, but I suppose that would only be fitting.
If you’ve been on the forums for a while, you would know how clear Stefan’s mind is when it comes to denouncing poor arguments. 2014 was no different, and Stefan continues to be one of the greatest minds cubing has. Congrats!
Most Deserving of a Ban: Randomno
…well that happened.
The Batman Award: Ben Whitmore (ben1996123, 10461394944000, and countless others)
The hero Speedsolving needs, but the one we don’t deserve.
Best New Moderator: Robert Yau (Robert-Y)
When Rob, Odder, and I became mods, none of us were quite sure what to do. I personally remember feeling like I had power I didn’t know how to properly use. There was no instruction manual. There was simply judgment.
But Rob over these past few months has exhibited great discernment in post deletions, infractions, and the like, and for that (and deleting Thom’s drunken posts), this one’s to you.
Most Improved Noob: Kennan LeJeune (kclejeune)
Kennan’s got too fast too fast, and is a chill bro in the process. Gj buddy
Best Beard: Ryan DeLine (TeddyKGB)
Have you seen it?!
Best Reaction to World Record (tie): Vladislav Shavelskiy, and the audience of Przemysław Kaleta
The amount of pride and the hype was far too real. Thank you all for showing us the most human aspects of speedsolving—accomplishment and celebration.
Thank you all for another amazing year!
Be on the lookout for great posts and posters in 2015, and be sure to nominate for the 2015 Forum Awards!
If you're a prize winner, shoot me a PM with your address and I'll ship one off to you.
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