A decade is a long time.
Ten years ago, I got the semi-bright idea to crowd source the best Twitter accounts in the Cardinals-verse. You know it was a little skewed because I wound up with the most points, though I didn’t count myself. Derrick Goold took the first year and, appropriately enough, is the focus of the 10th.
Last year, Katie Woo joined cardinalsgifs in the Twitter Hall of Fame. For those that don’t know, you have to win this ranking three times before you get inducted. After that, you stay on the ballot but you don’t count in the rankings, allowing for a little bit of variety. (Otherwise, gifs would be on like an eight year run with no end in sight.) Derrick was sitting on the threshold of being inducted when Katie burst on to the scene, but with her already with a plaque, it seems likely that Mr. Goold will get win #3 and join this very august company soon.
Likely, but not guaranteed. You never really know just how the voting is going to go.
The voting pool has grown every year we’ve done this. Last year, even though we fell just short of my goal of 250 people participating, it still was an increase of almost 20 people. The more people that vote, the better the results are. Unless Brenden Schaeffer winds up in the Top 5, then you have to really be concerned.
Before we get into the details and I give you a link, there’s one overwhelming thing you need to keep in mind while you vote.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO RANK EVERYONE ON THIS BALLOT! IF YOU HAVE NO OPINION ON THE ACCOUNT PLEASE LEAVE IT BLANK!
This is extremely important. Let me say it again.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO RANK EVERYONE ON THIS BALLOT! IF YOU HAVE NO OPINION ON THE ACCOUNT PLEASE LEAVE IT BLANK!
There are 180 names on this ballot. There are people that I don’t know and I spend way too much time on Twitter. If you don’t know them, skip them. If you put a one, it brings down the averages and skews things lower than they should be. If I see a vote with every person noted with a lot of ones, I’ll probably delete all the low votes. So vote for the folks you know. If there are people that need a 1, give it to them, just don’t give it to everyone.
How should you vote? Well, ideally, the bulk of your opinion should be based on what they bring to the table in relation to the Cardinals. That being said, this is Twitter and there’s a lot of things that get shared on there that aren’t really directly related to the Cards. So if you want to downgrade people because they make terrible puns or they talk about Star Wars too much or they keep plugging their podcasts and projects, that’s completely understandable, if slightly hurtful. Grade folks in whatever manner you like and know that the ballots will not be shared with anyone. I’ll be the only person that sees individual votes and you don’t have to worry about how you grade me, I promise.
While I spent much of September asking people to tell me if they thought they should be included or that they had another account that should be on the list, there’s inevitably people that aren’t on here that you want to vote for. There are five write in slots in the back, complete with ranking options. Write them in and they’ll show up on the list next year. If for some reason you want more than five, DM me (@C70) and let me know.
My plan is to let this run for three weeks, closing up around October 21st. It could go long, could go short, but that seems about right. I’ll be pushing it probably way too much on Twitter, so if you need to mute me for October I completely understand. (I understand if you already have me muted, honestly.) I don’t know that you have to do them all at one time–I think Google Forms will keep your answers if you haven’t completed it, especially if you return on the same machine–so you might think of that if you don’t want to sit down and look at all 180 at once. Whatever the case, I hope you vote and share with all your friends. Let’s get past that 250 mark this year!
