Patrick

That stinks.

Thanks for the updates, Bob.

By the way, I picked up Arkham Knights during Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales. (I also picked up Doom Eternal to play on PS5 but obviously that's a PS4 game).

I appreciate all of the replies to this thread. Yes, aurik (Ken) recently joined our team. We normally don't announce new staff members or, at least, haven't previously, so that is why there wasn't a post. I also didn't want to impact the awards in any way, as he was eligible for Member of the Year, and not Staff Member of the Year, based on when he joined our team, so I didn't want to confuse anyone in voting. Thanks, Patrick

Thanks for the info, DarthPenguin and Zaine!

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. After more than a month of nominations and votes, the 21st 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. Out of the 18,542 registered members in the history of this community, only 168 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. Several 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. If you are reading this now and realizing that you accidentally voted for yourself: Don't worry, those votes were deleted. Without further ado, here are our winners: 1. Member of the Year: (tie) aurik and Zaine (for the 2nd consecutive year!) 2. New Member of the Year: DarthPenguin 3. Community Spirit Award: bushido_man96 (for the 7th time!) 4. Staff Member of the Year: bushido_man96 (for the 6th time and 3rd consecutive year!) 5. Funniest Member of the Year: ashworth 6. Karate Contributor of the Year: aurik 7. Health and Fitness Contributor of the Year: bushido_man96 (for the 5th time!) 8. Instructors and School Owners Contributor of the Year: Wastelander (for the 2nd consecutive year!) Congratulations to bushido_man96 (3 wins!), aurik (2 wins!), Zaine, DarthPenguin, ashworth, and Wastelander! We had 3 first time winners this year, including aurik, DarthPenguin, and ashworth! In addition, bushido_man96 had reached an incredible milestone of 20 KarateForums.com Awards wins, now at 21, which puts him 2nd all-time. Another fun detail, which gives perspective to how long-running these awards are, is that bushido_man96 won the Community Spirit Award for the 7th time, but it was his first time winning that category in a decade, as sensei8 has won it for the 9 consecutive years prior. Amazing marks for both. 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

No need to apologize, Keith. Glad to see you whenever you find time.

Thank you for the recommendations! I was eyeing Elden Ring during the Black Friday sales. Does anyone play it multiplayer or co-op? Just curious how that stands up because it sounded like people could only sort of drop-in and drop-out of your world.

Voting is now closed! Thank you to everyone who voted. Results will be revealed soon.

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 for October is... Wado Heretic, who becomes the first member ever selected 4 times! That's a really cool mark. Congrats Keith! Thank you for all of the contributions that you have made over the last 8+ years! Thanks, Patrick

Voting closes today! There's still time to get those last minute votes in. Thank you to everyone who has participated thus far, as every vote makes a difference. Patrick

My wife tracked down a PS5 for my birthday. If you have one, what are your favorite games? I skew toward multiplayer and things I can play with my brother and/or friends, but don't let that stop you from recommending other stuff so that this thread is worthwhile for more than just me. Thanks.

Thank you for your kind words. We had a nice weekend. Kara took me to a mini golf course that we've seen when going from Los Angeles to Anaheim, but it was in sort of a weird place, so we never stopped. Had good food and coffee at places we hadn't been before and one we had. She also got me a PS5! Plus some other nice things from her and my parents and brother. Patrick

Thank you for sharing this, Danielle. In the last 21 and a half years, I've seen many staff members come and go. Many great ones, who made tremendous contributions to the community. And yet, this one hits me differently. Danielle, you have been such a rock here. In public, an exemplary member, who has helped so many and also been vulnerable and shared your story. To watch you grow, to see you start a school and lead it, it's truly been a pleasure. As a person, you are a joy to be around. As a moderator, you have been truly unique, among the best I have ever seen. The attention-to-detail through which you approached the role, the fair-minded process you went through with each decision, it was impressive, and made things work better here. Having staff members like you is what makes me feel comfortable enough not to always be here, to be able to step away, and have a child (as an extreme example from this year!), and not worry about what might happen. Along with other staff members and our overall great community members, too. I will miss you. I'll miss your presence here, I'll miss your influence in forum-related matters. Thank you for being here, thank you for everything that you have done. I look forward to staying in touch both here and elsewhere. Patrick

Thank you to everyone who has voted so far! If you haven't, please do! This is a quick, easy way to recognize some of your favorite members here at KarateForums.com. Every vote matters! Please take a few minutes and vote in the polls above. I appreciate it.

Thanks for asking the community, P.A.L. It's great to see you. Would love to see some recommendations from members in Houston. Patrick

Wow, that's amazing.

Thanks for the replies! I saw that you were in the Cobra Kai uniform. Were you both pretty much in agreement on who would be who or did you flip a coin or...?

Wow, talk about a time to get COVID! That must have been scary. But glad you all made it through. Congrats!

Hello, Welcome to the voting period for the 21st 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 2022 nominees. In all, 12 different members have been nominated in the various categories that make up this year's awards. They are aurik, scohen0300, Zaine, DarthPenguin*, Tyler*, sensei8, bushido_man96, Nidan Melbourne, crash*, ashworth, GS718Trek*, and Wastelander. Congratulations to all of you! An asterisk (*) denotes a first-time nominee! bushido_man96 was nominated in 4 categories, the most of any member, followed by ashworth and sensei8 with 3. Our historical award numbers have been updated and new milestones have been reached! Congratulations to bushido_man96 on being the first member to reach 55 nominations (now with 58, 1st all-time)! sensei8 has hit 45 (now with 47, 2nd all-time). Congrats Bob! Congratulations as well to Nidan Melbourne on reaching 10 (tied 9th all-time) and ashworth and aurik on reaching 5 (both tied 23rd all-time). With the ballots crafted, it is now time to vote. What You Should Know Before Voting 1. These awards take into consideration all community activity between October 19, 2021 and October 18, 2022. You should vote based upon activity during this period - not activity before or after. 2. To vote, you must have a KarateForums.com account with at least 10 posts made on or before October 18, 2022. 3. You cannot vote for yourself. 4. Your votes will be kept private. We do not publicly reveal who voted for whom. 5. 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. 6. 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://www.karateforums.com/member-of-the-year-vt55491.html New Member of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/new-member-of-the-year-vt55490.html Community Spirit Award https://www.karateforums.com/community-spirit-award-vt55489.html Staff Member of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/staff-member-of-the-year-vt55488.html Funniest Member of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/funniest-member-of-the-year-vt55487.html Karate Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/karate-contributor-of-the-year-vt55486.html Health and Fitness Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/health-and-fitness-contributor-of-the-year-vt55485.html Instructors and School Owners Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/instructors-and-school-owners-contributor-oty-vt55484.html Vote Now Please vote. Voting will be closed on November 26, 2022 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not post your votes in this or 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 Instructors and Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2022. 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: aurik scohen0300 Zaine Voting will be closed on November 26, 2022 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. If you have any questions, please contact me here or via private message. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Instructors and New Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2022. Award Description: This award is the same as Member of the Year, except that this one is strictly for members that registered on or between the dates of October 19, 2021 and October 18, 2022. Eligible members must have made at least 25 posts by October 18, 2022. Here are the nominees: DarthPenguin Tyler Voting will be closed on November 26, 2022 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. If you have any questions, please contact me here or via private message. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Community Spirit Award in the KarateForums.com Awards 2022. 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: sensei8 bushido_man96 Voting will be closed on November 26, 2022 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5).. Please do not reply to this thread. If you have any questions, please contact me here or via private message. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Staff Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2022. 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 Nidan Melbourne sensei8 Voting will be closed on November 26, 2022 at 8pm Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. If you have any questions, please contact me here or via private message. Thank you for voting.