Patrick

Happy Hanukkah!

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. After a month and a half of nominating and voting, the 24th edition of the KarateForums.com Awards have come to an end. It is now time for us to announce the winners! Before I do so, I wanted to once again congratulate everyone who was nominated. Regardless of whether or not you won the award, the fact that you were nominated means that, when asked to identify a member who really stood out in the past year, your fellow community members thought of you. In the history of this community, only 169 members have ever been nominated for an award. To be nominated is pretty cool, and you should be proud. If you did not win or were not nominated, please don't take it badly. These awards do have meaning, but they are also for fun and not everyone can win or be nominated. Please join me in congratulating our winners. I would like to specifically thank everyone who participated in the process by nominating and voting. It is the community that selected the nominees and decided the winners. There are no KarateForums.com Awards without you. In fact, a majority of our nominees took the time to vote in categories where they were nominated. Since you can't vote for yourself, your choice is to vote for someone else or not vote at all. Though I can't reveal who voted for whom, please know that I appreciate everyone who thoughtfully voted in the categories where they were nominated. It says a lot about you, and I love to see it. Without further ado, here are our winners: 1. Member of the Year: @KarateKen 2. Community Spirit Award: (tie) @bushido_man96 (for the 9th year and 2nd consecutive!) and @DarthPenguin 3. Staff Member of the Year: (tie) @bushido_man96 (for the 9th year and 2nd consecutive!) and @Wastelander (for the 3rd year and 2nd consecutive!) 4. Funniest Member of the Year: @KarateKen 5. Karate Contributor of the Year: @Spartacus Maximus 6. Health and Fitness Contributor of the Year: @bushido_man96 (for the 5th year!) 7. Instructors and School Owners Contributor of the Year: @Wastelander (for the 4th year!) Congratulations to bushido_man96 (3 wins!), KarateKen (2 wins!), Wastelander (2 wins!), DarthPenguin, and Spartacus Maximus! bushido_man96 has now hit the milestone of 25 wins over the history of the KarateForums.com Awards, currently with 27, which is 2nd all-time. Wastelander reached and surpassed the 10 win mark, now with 11, good for 5th all-time. Finally, DarthPenguin now has 5 wins, T8th all-time. Congrats all around. For past winners and all of the awards historical data, please check out: http://www.karateforums.com/awards.php Thank you for reading and for supporting the KarateForums.com Awards. Sincerely, Patrick

Hey all, I wanted to take a moment to wish you a happy holiday season. Thank you for being a part of KarateForums.com. I hope 2026 finds you in a happy, healthy, and safe place. Patrick

Thank you to everyone who voted in this year's awards. Stay tuned for an announcement where we will reveal our winners.

If you haven't voted yet, please do! Thanks.

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. Our honoree this time is... @wagnerk (for the 4th time)! Thank you for being a part of this community for so long, Ken! 2026 will mark your 20th year here, which is just incredible. Patrick

Thank you to everyone who has voted thus far! There is still plenty of time. Please take a few minutes to review the ballots and place your vote. Every vote makes a difference. It's also a great way to recognize some of your favorite contributors here at KarateForums.com.

Every half-anniversary, I invite a member of staff (in order of seniority) to address the community. Thank you for writing this, Brian. I appreciate you and all of the members who have made this sentiment a reality.

Hello, Welcome to the voting period for the 24th annual KarateForums.com Awards! Through these awards, we recognize just a few of the individuals who have made outstanding contributions to KarateForums.com in the past year. You submitted your nominations and, from those, we have our KarateForums.com Awards 2025 nominees. In all, 11 different members have been nominated in the various categories that make up this year's awards. They are @KarateKen, @Nidan Melbourne, @Zaine, @Spartacus Maximus, @aurik, @DarthPenguin, @bushido_man96, @sensei8, @Wastelander, @crash, and @Himokiri Karate! KarateKen was nominated in 4 categories, the most of any member, followed by Spartacus Maximus, bushido_man96, sensei8, and Wastelander with 3. Our historical award numbers have been updated and new milestones have been reached! Congratulations to Spartacus Maximus on reaching 20 nominations (now with 22, 6th all-time) and KarateKen on hitting 5 (now with 7, T17th all-time)! I also wanted to highlight Wastelander for reaching the top 5 all-time. Previously, Wastelander was T5th (technically in the top 6), and now is T4th. With the ballots crafted, it is now time to vote. What You Should Know Before Voting These awards take into consideration all community activity between October 19, 2024 and October 18, 2025. You should vote based upon activity during this period - not activity before or after. To vote, you must have a KarateForums.com account with at least 10 posts made on or before October 18, 2025. You cannot vote for yourself. If you do, it will be removed. Your votes will be kept private. We do not publicly reveal who voted for whom. Please do not attempt to artificially inflate our vote totals in any way. This includes, but is not limited to: Trading votes, encouraging people to vote indiscriminately (publicly or privately), sending spam and any other behavior that could lead to results being artificially skewed. Members found to be participating in these activities will be disqualified from nomination in any category. Please note that you do not have to vote in every category. You can vote in as many or as few as you would like - please go for as many as you feel comfortable with. The more valid votes we receive, the better! Categories The categories are listed below. For each category, you will find a link to the ballot where you can vote. Member of the Year https://karateforums.com/topic/52457-awards-25-member-of-the-year/ Community Spirit Award https://karateforums.com/topic/52456-awards-25-community-spirit-award/ Staff Member of the Year https://karateforums.com/topic/52455-awards-25-staff-member-of-the-year/ Funniest Member of the Year https://karateforums.com/topic/52454-awards-25-funniest-member-of-the-year/ Karate Contributor of the Year https://karateforums.com/topic/52453-awards-25-karate-contributor-of-the-year/ Health and Fitness Contributor of the Year https://karateforums.com/topic/52452-awards-25-health-and-fitness-contributor-of-the-year/ Instructors and School Owners Contributor of the Year https://karateforums.com/topic/52451-awards-25-instructors-and-school-owners-contributor-of-the-year/ Vote Now Please vote. Voting will be closed on December 6, 2025 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not post your votes in any thread. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to private message me or reply here. Thank you for reading and for visiting KarateForums.com. Your participation in these awards is what makes them meaningful. I can't wait to see who you vote for this year. Sincerely, Patrick

Please vote for the Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2025. Award Description: This award is intended to acknowledge the member who you feel best exemplifies the qualities that KarateForums.com puts a premium on. Knowledge is valuable, but most valuable is a kind and helpful nature. You don't need to be a martial arts expert to be nominated for this award - you need to be someone who is kind and who shares what they know in a productive fashion that helps others. Here are the nominees: @KarateKen @Nidan Melbourne @Zaine @Spartacus Maximus Voting will be closed on December 6, 2025 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5). If you have any questions, please contact me via our contact us page or private message. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Community Spirit Award in the KarateForums.com Awards 2025. Award Description: This award should go to a person whom you feel has a strong passion for this community. A person who is all about the home team - in this case, KarateForums.com. Here are the nominees: @Zaine @aurik @DarthPenguin @bushido_man96 @Nidan Melbourne Voting will be closed on December 6, 2025 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5). If you have any questions, please contact me via our contact us page or private message. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Staff Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2025. Award Description: This award is the same as the Member of the Year award, except that this award is for current staff members only (except Patrick). Here are the nominees: @bushido_man96 @sensei8 @Wastelander Voting will be closed on December 6, 2025 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5). If you have any questions, please contact me via our contact us page or private message. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Funniest Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2025. Award Description: Humor is an important aspect of the forums, and this award recognizes the member who has brought a smile to your face many times. Here are the nominees: @KarateKen @crash @Himokiri Karate Voting will be closed on December 6, 2025 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5). If you have any questions, please contact me via our contact us page or private message. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Karate Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2025. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Karate forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: @Spartacus Maximus @Wastelander @sensei8 @aurik Voting will be closed on December 6, 2025 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5). If you have any questions, please contact me via our contact us page or private message. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Health and Fitness Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2025. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Health and Fitness forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: @KarateKen @DarthPenguin @bushido_man96 Voting will be closed on December 6, 2025 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5). If you have any questions, please contact me via our contact us page or private message. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Instructors and School Owners Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2025. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Instructors and School Owners forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: @Spartacus Maximus @Wastelander @KarateKen @sensei8 Voting will be closed on December 6, 2025 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5). If you have any questions, please contact me via our contact us page or private message. Thank you for voting.

Thanks! I think he will be, just barely.

If you are getting the odd one that comes to light occasionally, it's probably not all that different. But it's only going to get worse globally. I also don't know if you have gambling the same way we have... like you can gamble on literally every single action. You can place hundreds (thousands?) of bets on a single game if you so desire. Sad to say, I agree here. They really rush in and created this massive economy to where so much of the money coming into sports leagues, broadcasters, podcasts, etc. is in some way tied to gambling. It is going to be very challenging to reduce it. But I hope it happens.

Nominations are now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations. You made a difference! Stay tuned for another announcement when nominees are revealed and voting opens. You can expect that later this week.

Yes, I have definitely noticed. I can see the value in summaries, though I do share your concern for accuracy because most people won't vet it. We also can't escape the fact that it is pulling from sources that are likely authoritative, but will see no benefit in the form of web traffic, ad views, or even the opportunity to have someone know the name of the website it came from. This will disincentive the further creation of that authoritative content. I tried to block ChatGPT from this community, just out of respect for members and their contributions, but that protection was accidentally removed when I upgraded the software. Come to find, it might not even matter: https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2025/07/23/chatgpt-ignores-robots-txt-rehashes-my-column/

We're planning to try to get tickets to the 2028 Olympics here in Los Angeles. It is, of course, kind of silly to buy tickets in January 2026 for something happening in July 2028, but it feels like a once in a lifetime opportunity. Kind of scared to see what those prices look like, though.

The deluge of gambling ads across sporting events is a plague. I really dislike it, and while there are always going to be avenues to gamble, the accessibility of it is only begging for scandals. Having a toddler who watches sports, I am already getting ready for the eventual conversations about what it is, why he shouldn't do it, etc.

It is hard to reconcile participating in a scheme like this for such little gain, but addiction is certainly a disease and gambling is one of many forms of addiction.

Hey all, Did anyone else dress up? What did you go with? I was Bobby, manager of HUNTR/X from K-Pop Demon Hunters. Of course, I also brought Axel Foley back.

Thank you to those who have nominated thus far. If you haven't, please take a few minutes to submit a ballot. Every single ballot makes a difference, and it's a great way to recognize some of the outstanding contributions in this community that have made a difference for you.