Patrick

Welcome to KF, Mitlov! Congrats on the 4th gup! Patrick

Congrats Ken. Patrick

Thank you for taking the time to reply and add your thoughts, Bob, JR, Ken, Noah, Fat Cobra, Brian, MatsuShinshii, Bulltahr, Ken and Alan!

Welcome aboard, John. Glad to have you. Patrick

Hey all, December 2 marks 10 years that Alex (tallgeese) has been a member of our staff at KarateForums.com. There are many cool things about Alex, and I'd like to talk about a few of them today. First, let's start with his contributions to KarateForums.com. He's up to exactly 6,800 posts now and there's a lot of wisdom there. I read a lot of posts, obviously, and we have so many posts that contain insightful martial arts wisdom. But there is something about Alex's posts that, even as a non-martial artist, I enjoy reading them. I think his posts feature a mix of elements that, as a whole, represent what makes KarateForums.com great. These are: 1. Solid knowledge. 2. An ability to communicate that knowledge in a way that isn't self-serving. 3. A friendliness that encourages a response. 4. The opening for others to respond and, as such, the opening for growth, where his posts don't read as someone trying to be end the conversation or be definitive. 5. Comprehension of the posts he's responding to. His posts are just really outstanding. Next, I'd like to discuss Alex's contributions as a staff member. He's a really outstanding moderator. To become one of those, you really have to want to be one. It's easy to be a bad one, to try to moderate as an individual and apply guidelines in your own way, to miss details, to be sloppy. But Alex is a really strong moderator. His law enforcement background helps, but what also helps is that he cares. And it shows. A lack of caring leads to inconsistent decisions and cutting corners. Alex doesn't do that. Finally, I'd like to highlight his journey since registering here in May of 2008. He touched on this recently, and I'd love for Alex to expand on that a bit here to refresh our memories, but he's really come a long way as a martial artist, especially in BJJ. Specifically, it's been amazing to watch him grow to the point where he felt comfortable to start his own school, Alpha BJJ, which has become a focal point in his life. That school didn't exist when he joined, and now it does. Alex, thank you for your consistent, meaningful contributions to our community, as a member through your posts and on staff. Thank you for all of your support over the years, and for really believing in this community. I feel fortunate to have you. As a small token of our appreciation for Alex, we have sent him a physical award, which he hopefully has received by the time he reads this post, pictured here: http://www.karateforums.com/img/photos/tallgeese-award.jpg Please join me in recognizing Alex, in honor of this milestone, with a reply to this thread! Thanks, Patrick

Belated thanks Brian, Alex, JR, Bob, Fat Cobra, MatsuShinshii, Danielle and singularity6! Much appreciated. Patrick

Thank you so much, Alex, for taking the time to think about the community, and what it means to you, and for sharing those thoughts with us. I've been fortunate to have many wonderful moderators and staff members here over the years, like you. Their efforts behind the scenes, to help create a community that we can all be proud of, is something that many members probably don't think much about, but without it, this wouldn't be the same community. Thank you for your kind words, and for all of your incredible contributions over the years. Patrick

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

Thank you to everyone who has voted so far! If you haven't, please take a few moments to do so! We'd love to have your perspective included in this process. Thanks, Patrick

Have found this thread really interesting. Thanks for starting it, Himokiri Karate! Patrick

Hello, Welcome to the voting period for the 17th 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 2018 nominees. In all, 19 different members have been nominated in the various categories that make up this year's awards. They are MatsuShinshii, singularity6, P.A.L (first time nominee!), OneKickWonder (first time nominee!), Wayofaswede (first time nominee!), Fat Cobra (first time nominee!), sensei8, bushido_man96, DWx, JR 137, Lupin1, TJ-Jitsu, Wastelander, shortyafter (first time nominee!), neoravencroft, cheesefrysamurai, Bulltahr, Alan Armstrong and Spartacus Maximus. Congratulations to all of you! JR 137, sensei8 and singularity6 lead in nominations with 4, followed by bushido_man96 and OneKickWonder with 3. Our historical award numbers have been updated and several members have hit new milestones! Congratulations to DWx on reaching 25 nominations (now with 26, third all-time), JR 137 on reaching 15 (now with 16, fifth all-time) and Alan Armstrong, cheesefrysamurai, Lupin1 and singularity6 (now with 7) on each of them reaching 5! 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, 2017 and October 18, 2018. You should vote based upon activity during this period - not activity prior to or after it. 2. To vote, you must have a KarateForums.com account with at least 10 posts made on or before October 18, 2018. 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-vt52006.html New Member of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/new-member-of-the-year-vt52005.html Community Spirit Award https://www.karateforums.com/community-spirit-award-vt52004.html Staff Member of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/staff-member-of-the-year-vt52003.html Funniest Member of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/funniest-member-of-the-year-vt52002.html Karate Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/karate-contributor-of-the-year-vt52001.html Equipment Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/equipment-contributor-of-the-year-vt52000.html Health, Training and Fitness Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/health-training-and-fitness-contributor-oty-vt51999.html Instructor Central Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/instructor-central-contributor-of-the-year-vt51998.html Vote Now Please vote. Voting will be closed on November 25, 2018 at 8 PM 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 Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2018. 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: MatsuShinshii singularity6 P.A.L OneKickWonder Wayofaswede Voting will be closed on November 25, 2018 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the New Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2018. 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, 2017 and October 18, 2018. Eligible members must have made at least 50 posts by October 18, 2018. Here are the nominees: Fat Cobra OneKickWonder Voting will be closed on November 25, 2018 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Community Spirit Award in the KarateForums.com Awards 2018. 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 25, 2018 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Staff Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2018. 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: DWx JR 137 sensei8 bushido_man96 Lupin1 Voting will be closed on November 25, 2018 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Funniest Member of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2018. 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: JR 137 TJ-Jitsu Voting will be closed on November 25, 2018 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Karate Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2018. 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: MatsuShinshii JR 137 sensei8 Wastelander shortyafter Voting will be closed on November 25, 2018 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Equipment Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2018. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Equipment forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: neoravencroft singularity6 JR 137 cheesefrysamurai Bulltahr Voting will be closed on November 25, 2018 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Health, Training and Fitness Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2018. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Health, Training and Fitness forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: OneKickWonder singularity6 bushido_man96 Alan Armstrong Voting will be closed on November 25, 2018 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Instructor Central Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2018. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Instructor Central forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: sensei8 DWx Spartacus Maximus singularity6 Voting will be closed on November 25, 2018 at 8 PM Eastern (UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

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 November is... conrad665. Congratulations! Thank you for being a member for 9+ years, and for all of the great contributions that you have made during that time. Sincerely, Patrick

Thank you for mentioning the SSL error, aurik, shortafter, Ken and Brian. Sorry about that. It has been corrected. In this case, this error isn't really related to the migration, just the expiration of our SSL certificate. Given that more than 3 months has passed since the migration, I am going to go ahead and close this thread. But if you should see any errors, please don't hesitate to send me a note. Thanks again, Patrick

Well... congrats!

Nominations are now closed! Thank you to everyone who nominated. The ballots will be revealed next week! Patrick

Hey all, Did you dress up for Halloween? If so, what were you? My consume was LeBron Jams, Ghostbuster. http://www.karateforums.com/img/photos/patrick-costume.jpg http://www.karateforums.com/img/photos/patrick-costume2.jpg Hope you had a fun day! Patrick