Didn't do a competition for December because Ruby's earthworm was the only entry: he wins by default. His unit will appear (with appropriate explanation) in the Yearly Competition which I've been coincidentally readying to be posted tonight.
I hope we get more participation this year than we did last year. To give you an idea of what I'm up against, there were 42 units
besides Ruby's Earthworm posted to the database last month: 19 by Balam-Agab, 8 by Delta Strife & Co., 11 by Anthony Boscia, and 4 by Gwendoline, and yet, even though I've loosened the rules to allow multiple entries by the same author, only Ruby posted his unit. (Good for you, Ruby!) (And Tony: next time that happens, contact me. I can't make an exception if I don't get a request for one....)
I've tried contacting some authors directly and appealing to their sense of community; that worked in November (or October, I forget..). I honestly do think that, because the contests are one of the rare things that the whole C&C forum community does together, that it has value beyond the silly horse-race; it's a way that we share our works between ourselves, and a chance to display our wares to the larger community. This is OUR thing, not my thing (as K has just reminded me in his inimitable way).
Speaking of which, since Takhisis took over the
Front Page Announcements thread, I know he's been feeling much of the same frustration: the community is actually very active, and lot of artwork is being made, but it seems like some of our creators are determined to keep it a well-kept secret for all except their own followers or dedicated database/forum browsers. In my perfect world, this thread and the Announcements Thread would be the very next place that all of our creators go after posting their work to the database; I hope that this year we can start making that a reality, or at least a more frequent occurrence.
Anyway, look for our End of the Year contests to begin tonight! Thanks for your interest.
P.S. Not planning to step down just yet, Kyriakos.