Patrick

Time is flying by. Patrick

Congrats MatsuShinshii! Happy for you. Patrick

Congrats singularity6. Patrick

I haven't gone too deep yet. I have had an Amazon Echo for 3 years, and I like it a lot. But that's all. I have an Echo Dot and a Google Home (came free with my new phone) that I haven't opened yet, but will probably use at some point. I'm interested in doing more, but haven't yet identified anything I need to have or that I felt would meaningfully enhance my life. I'm sure that will change over time. Patrick

Hope everyone who celebrated had a nice day. Patrick

Voting is now closed. Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's awards. You give these awards meaning. Stay tuned for the results! Thanks again, Patrick

Thank you, Bob. I appreciate your kindness. Our community is special place, full of wonderful people. Patrick

Voting closes tomorrow! Please get those last minute votes in. Thanks, Patrick

Happy to hear about your progress! Glad that brace issue didn't set you back. Patrick

This is such a wonderful post. Thank you, Danielle. This community is always something I am tremendously proud to be a part of, and you have well-articulated the reasons why. This is a special place, and you are one of the reasons that is true. Patrick

Hello, Welcome to the voting period of the 16th 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 2017 nominees. In all, 17 different members have been nominated in the various categories that make up this year's awards. They are Spartacus Maximus, singularity6, Alan Armstrong, sensei8, bushido_man96, DWx, Zaine, Wastelander, Lupin1, TJ-Jitsu, Nidan Melbourne, MatsuShinshii, JR 137, Wado Heretic, tallgeese, Tempest and Bulltahr. Congratulations to all of you! sensei8 leads the nominations with 4, followed by Spartacus Maximus, bushido_man96, Nidan Melbourne and JR 137, who have 3. Our historical award numbers have been updated and several members have hit amazing milestones. Congratulations to bushido_man96 on reaching 40 nominations (now with 41, an all-time KarateForums.com Awards record!), sensei8 on reaching 30 and JR 137 on reaching 10 (now with 12). 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, 2016 and October 18, 2017. 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, 2016. 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-vt51203.html New Member of the Year The community only nominated one member in this category. As such, that member is the winner. The honoree will be announced with the other winners, once voting has closed. Please note that the nomination in this category was not counted in our historic totals above, for the sake of suspense, but we will update those numbers once the honoree is announced. Community Spirit Award https://www.karateforums.com/community-spirit-award-vt51202.html Staff Member of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/staff-member-of-the-year-vt51201.html Funniest Member of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/funniest-member-of-the-year-vt51200.html Karate Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/karate-contributor-of-the-year-vt51199.html Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling Martial Arts Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/jiu-jitsu-and-grappling-ma-contributor-oty-vt51198.html Equipment Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/equipment-contributor-of-the-year-vt51197.html Health, Training and Fitness Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/health-training-and-fitness-contributor-oty-vt51196.html Instructor Central Contributor of the Year https://www.karateforums.com/instructor-central-contributor-of-the-year-vt51195.html Vote Now Please vote. Voting will be closed on November 22, 2017 at 8 PM ET (GMT/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 2017. 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: Spartacus Maximus singularity6 Alan Armstrong Voting will be closed on November 22, 2017 at 8 PM ET (GMT/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 2017. 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 22, 2017 at 8 PM ET (GMT/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 2017. Award Description: This award is the same as the Member of the Year award, except that this award is for current staff members only. Here are the nominees: DWx bushido_man96 Zaine Wastelander Voting will be closed on November 22, 2017 at 8 PM ET (GMT/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 2017. 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: Lupin1 TJ-Jitsu Spartacus Maximus Nidan Melbourne Voting will be closed on November 22, 2017 at 8 PM ET (GMT/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 2017. 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 Wado Heretic Voting will be closed on November 22, 2017 at 8 PM ET (GMT/UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Please vote for the Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling Martial Arts Contributor of the Year in the KarateForums.com Awards 2017. Award Description: This award is for your favorite contributor within the Jiu-Jitsu and Grappling Martial Arts forum - a member who has added substantial value to that section in the past year. Here are the nominees: tallgeese TJ-Jitsu Tempest Voting will be closed on November 22, 2017 at 8 PM ET (GMT/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 2017. 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: JR 137 singularity6 Bulltahr Voting will be closed on November 22, 2017 at 8 PM ET (GMT/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 2017. 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: DWx bushido_man96 sensei8 JR 137 Nidan Melbourne Voting will be closed on November 22, 2017 at 8 PM ET (GMT/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 2017. 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 Alan Armstrong Nidan Melbourne Spartacus Maximus Voting will be closed on November 22, 2017 at 8 PM ET (GMT/UTC -5). Please do not reply to this thread. Thank you for voting.

Hahaha. That's a perfect costume and combination, Danielle. Patrick

That's very kind of you to say. Thank you. Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. For the last 10 years, as of October 30, I have been exceptionally fortunate to have Danielle, DWx, as a moderator on our staff. Really, we've all been fortunate to have her as a member for well over 10 years now, but me, especially. Danielle took to moderation really quickly. She just got it, and what we were trying to accomplish. She has been an absolutely amazing moderator, with incredible attention to detail and unbelievable consistency. Danielle is a total team player, and has left a mark here that is rare not just for us, but for any online community. She is currently going through a bit of a tough time, thanks to needing UCL reconstruction surgery and a break from training, but she's still here, contributing and being a part of our community, just as she has been for the last 10+ years. That's Danielle. Thank you, Danielle, for everything that you have done over the last (almost) 11 years. I am grateful for your support and loyalty, and the excellence with which you have approached the role of moderator. I've managed many online communities and to have someone like you is incredibly rare. Thank you. As has become our custom (amazingly, Danielle is the third moderator I have had that has been with me for 10 years or more), we're going to send Danielle out for a great dinner. I spoke with Danielle's sister, Natalie, for some recommendations, but will confirm with Danielle, and take care of the rest. Please join me in congratulating Danielle and, if her contributions have made KarateForums.com a better place for you, let us know. I appreciate it. Thanks, Patrick

Congrats! That should be fun. Patrick

Thanks Bob! Yeah, we had a good time. That's too bad, Ken! Patrick