Contest of the decade?

[Pounder]

People do refer back to the 20's or 30's, which would include (example) 1920-1929 or 1930-1939. A decade of course is any 10 years, a century any 100 years (could be 1812-1911).

But technically if you are counting years starting with the first decade, it would end at the end of year 10 and the next would be at the end of year 20, ad infintitum.

 

[mythusmage]

Takhisis, there was no year 0. It goes straight from 1 BC to AD 1. This is because AD 1 means not "one year since Christ's birth" but "the first year since Christ's birth", which is why centuries start with the ....01 date (e.g. on 1 Jan 2001 it was 2000 years since Christ's birth, at least in theory, and the 2001st year was just starting). But as explained above, I don't see any reason to suppose that that must be the case with decades too.

But, complicating matters is the thinking that Jesus was 4 the year he was supposed to be born. The reasoning being the original calculations forgot to take into account clues presented in the nativity. There is even a school of thought which says the Christian Era began when Jesus went with his parents to the Temple in Jerusalem for the first time, when he was 12.

Still you are correct there was no year zero between 1BC and 1AD.

 

[Plotinus]

But, complicating matters is the thinking that Jesus was 4 the year he was supposed to be born. The reasoning being the original calculations forgot to take into account clues presented in the nativity. There is even a school of thought which says the Christian Era began when Jesus went with his parents to the Temple in Jerusalem for the first time, when he was 12.

Well, that's a whole other complicating issue, of course. It's not so much that Dionysius Exiguus (who calculated the whole thing) missed clues in the nativity stories - which are almost certainly unhistorical anyway - more that he just made some minor mistakes working out precisely when the historical characters mentioned in them lived. The main reason for thinking that Jesus was actually born in 4 BC is that that is (very certainly) when Herod the Great died, and if Matthew is right to date Jesus' birth to shortly before Herod's death, then it must have been about then. Personally I'm not sure why it must be so definitely true that Jesus was born shortly before Herod's death, although no doubt the approximate time must be right. At any rate, Dionysius did a pretty good job, given that he was working five centuries later pretty much from scratch - a couple of years out here or there is not bad by ancient or early medieval standards.

Another complication is that the calendar isn't dated from Jesus' birth anyway, but from his circumcision. When Dionysius was working it was accepted that Jesus was born on 25 December. That would have meant that he was circumcised on 1 January. So since that was convenient, Dionysius took it as the beginning moment of the incarnation, meaning that on his calendar, Jesus was born on 25 December 1 BC and circumcised on 1 January AD 1.

All of this is highly relevant to the question whether to have a unit-maker of the decade contest, of course.

 

[Blue Monkey]

All of this is highly relevant to the question whether to have a unit-maker of the decade contest, of course.

Moderator Action: Which is Plotinus' polite way of saying enough OT discussion (which I am guilty of starting). Back to posting about possible contests, polls, awards, etc., everyone.

 

[Kyriakos]

I think that since there is barely a majority wanting this change, it should not happen. If there was overwhelming need of it i would have changed my view

 

[georgestow]

You could have a series of polls and contests voting (or stating) the best creator/person for several categories. Things like 'best unit creator', 'most active C&C poster', 'best newbie' and 'fastest scenario maker'.
Then again, that might be a bad idea.

 

[Plotinus]

I think that anything that ranks people is just asking for trouble. Quite apart from the sheer difficulty of comparison between the start of the decade, when people were experimenting with how to create things for Civ III at all, and the end of it, when procedures were long established, utilities had been available for a long time, and people mostly followed what the earlier pioneers had worked out.

 

[georgestow]

That was why I started thinking it could be a bad idea. It would only be having one person above others, not ranking people entirely. Alternatively, there could be awards for statistical things. Such as most units produced in the year, etc.

 

[Takhisis]

I won't go on about the year 0 and/or the real date of Christ's birth because that, as stated above, is OT. Sooo...

I think that anything that ranks people is just asking for trouble. Quite apart from the sheer difficulty of comparison between the start of the decade, when people were experimenting with how to create things for Civ III at all, and the end of it, when procedures were long established, utilities had been available for a long time, and people mostly followed what the earlier pioneers had worked out.

It depends... I don't think ranking people's creations is that troublesome, but then, I don't know who all the competitors would be. As long as you kept a secret vote... no one could get mad at it, amirite?

 

[RedAlert]

I think the concern is more that people might get upset that they didn't win a particular award (or that someone else didn't win a particular award) than that people will get mad at individual posters for the way a given poster voted - I wouldn't really expect that to happen even if the votes were public.

 

[Takhisis]

But you can't get mad at anyone's vote if it's kept private.

 

[RedAlert]

As far as I know, no. But I've never disagreed on that point.

 

[Blue Monkey]

But you can't get mad at anyone's vote if it's kept private.

The point is that people will be upset by the outcome, not the individual votes.

 

[Plotinus]

And believe me, they do, too.

 

[Balthasar]

Our focus has been on unit making, and on Graphics making, which are worthy pursuits indeed, and lend themselves to monthly - even yearly - competition, but if we're going to talk about longer periods of time, perhaps we should consider a larger category that doesn't get the attention it deserves around here:


Best overall Mod:
Best overall Scenario:
Best Fantasy Mod:
Best Ancient Era Mod:
Best Medieval Mod:
Best Industrial Age Mod:
Best Modern Age Mod:
Best Futuristic (Sci Fi) Mod:

Most Original Mod or Scenario:

I move the floor be open to discussion and nomination on this point.

Edit: 1,000th post!

 

[Huayna Capac357]

I nominate MEM for Best Medieval and Best Overall.

 

[Takhisis]

The point is that people will be upset by the outcome, not the individual votes.

And believe me, they do, too.

Then let them! Come on, if I can stand forumwarz, I can stand idiots complaining about someone not voting for them.

 

[Plotinus]

I like the mod/scenario competition idea.