The 7th Annual FMCU Awards - Voting

[deltablue]

It's that time of year again!!!!!

As most of you already know, every year we have an awards ceremony to celebrate all the brilliant threads from the past year, and crowning some worthy winners. For those of you who aren't familiar with what happens, here is a link to last year's awards night...

https://community.sigames.com/topic/354387-the-6th-annual-fmcu-awards/

This promises to be one of the best years we've had in a while, especially with the Youth careers making a welcome revival, and hopefully that will be reflected in an open and competitive field. This year we have 10 categories...

Best FMCU Newcomer
The award for the best newcomer, which means someone who didn't have an FMCU thread before this year. You can actually check on someone's profile what threads they have started if you're unsure.

Best FMCU Team
For the best team someone has had over the past year.

Best FMCU Player
Same as Best Team but for an individual in-game player. This was requested after last year so we'll see how it goes.

Best FMCU Journeyman Career
For the best career thread where someone travels around managing a number of different teams.

Best FMCU Poster
For quality of posting activity on the forum.

Best FMCU Fountain of Youth
For the best career using only players from a club's youth system. After a couple of mostly barren years the field looks to be a lot more fruitful this time.

Best FMCU Retro Career
The award for a career being played on an older version of the game, since that's become a lot more popular in the past couple of years, and there's still enough of a field to warrant its return after last year's debut.

Best FMCU Thread Name
For your favourite thread name.

FMCU Manager of the Year
A new individual award based on achievement, which I can't believe we haven't had before. This can be based on a few different criteria, rather than simply being on how much people have won, for example relative achievement or a specific triumph.

Best FMCU Thread
Traditionally the big one, for the best thread of any type from the past year.
 

There are a few simple rules...

1. You are not allowed to vote for yourself, your thread/s, or anything from or relating to your thread/s.

2. All votes must be PMed to me.

3. All votes must be related to threads which have been started in the past year.

4. You don't have to submit a vote in every category but try your best.

5. Having won the 'Best Poster' award for the last three years I'm ineligible to do so again this year.

The voting deadline will be 9pm on Friday October 7th and the awards will be held from 7pm on Saturday 8th October.

Good luck everyone.

[noikeee]

I think there's two very obvious big favourites for grabbing a lot of awards, I'm talking of a certain youth career and a certain journeyman career...

Only category I can't figure out a vote is the "best pun", people haven't been very creative this year and the ones they attempted I don't get it. 

As always, active threads will have a big advantage, I'm going to vote for at least one worthy of a couple of awards that died a couple months ago and I'm not sure people remember...

[deltablue]

Cheers Noikeee, that's the first set of votes in.

[Nottingham Forest]

Might vote whilst I'm on the plane to Australia :D. If not, when I land I'll do it.

[Deisler26]

1 hour ago, noikeee said:

I think there's two very obvious big favourites for grabbing a lot of awards, I'm talking of a certain youth career and a certain journeyman career...

Only category I can't figure out a vote is the "best pun", people haven't been very creative this year and the ones they attempted I don't get it. 

As always, active threads will have a big advantage, I'm going to vote for at least one worthy of a couple of awards that died a couple months ago and I'm not sure people remember...

*cough cough*

[Ceching You Out]

1 hour ago, Deisler26 said:

*cough cough*

That doesn't sound very good at all! You probably should get that cough checked out.

[Deisler26]

1 hour ago, Ceching You Out said:

That doesn't sound very good at all! You probably should get that cough checked out.

Ironically, I am actually suffering from a bad chesty cough IRL

[Jimbokav1971]

Brilliant that this is back. 

Are there stand-out threads in certain categories? I have seen a few really good Youth threads. I don't think it will be an easy choice at all. 

[Bedese]

Sent my votes in. Some really tough choices. Thanks for running this every year, Delta  

[deltablue]

There may be a couple but probably not to the extent we've had before. We'll have to see how the votes shape up.

[deltablue]

14 minutes ago, Jupjamie said:

Sent my votes in. Some really tough choices. Thanks for running this every year, Delta  

Well this is only the second time I'm doing it, Deisler26 was our traditional MC even though he passed the baton on a few years ago to SRL88 (the mod at the time) and then to me, and from the start it's always been brilliant so they've certainly been hard shoes to fill. I can't believe this is going to be the 7th year of the awards! There are a few people who have been around ever since the first event but that was actually before my time.

Anyway thanks for taking the time to vote. That makes three so far including myself, and it's certainly been a varied selection already.

[Deisler26]

23 minutes ago, deltablue said:

Well this is only the second time I'm doing it, Deisler26 was our traditional MC even though he passed the baton on a few years ago to SRL88 (the mod at the time) and then to me, and from the start it's always been brilliant so they've certainly been hard shoes to fill. I can't believe this is going to be the 7th year of the awards! There are a few people who have been around ever since the first event but that was actually before my time.

Anyway thanks for taking the time to vote. That makes three so far including myself, and it's certainly been a varied selection already.

Give @Jupjamie the links to previous years

[Wavelberry]

Been a good year on here. Need to take some time to really consider the nominees though.

[Bedese]

5 minutes ago, Deisler26 said:

Give @Jupjamie the links to previous years

I've just dug through to find it and flicked through them all quickly. If anyone wants to read them (and you should, because they're presented absolutely fantastically) then you can find links to every year here: 

 

Sorry I forgot about you, @Deisler26 . I'm really impressed by the production quality of the awards. I was just expecting blocks of text, but you guys turn it into a proper event  

[Raware]

48 minutes ago, deltablue said:

I can't believe this is going to be the 7th year of the awards! There are a few people who have been around ever since the first event but that was actually before my time...

Me either!  7 years!?!?  I can still remember when I was pushing for this forum to be created, knowing that there was fm'ers out there like me, desperate to share their stories.  Thanks to everyone over the years for creating what I always hoped this forum would be...a fantastic place to share, read and be inspired by others FM experiences 

Here's to another 7 years! 

[Deisler26]

12 hours ago, Raware said:

Me either!  7 years!?!?  I can still remember when I was pushing for this forum to be created, knowing that there was fm'ers out there like me, desperate to share their stories.  Thanks to everyone over the years for creating what I always hoped this forum would be...a fantastic place to share, read and be inspired by others FM experiences 

Here's to another 7 years! 

And another 7 years of your silver shoes 

[forameuss]

I can confirm that both Hamish and Archie Glengarrie will be in attendance.  They're also bringing Roy Keane.  On a lead.  Just saying.

[Jimbokav1971]

I've got to admit that I think about the first 5 years of this forum completely passed me by. I was a regular in the Challenge forum and just only really made my way in here to stick my nose in the dafuge thread once a month or so and that was it. Then it was Tom that enticed me in by linking me direct from Twitter. Then, when my San Marino save ended, I just thought I would do something different and do it in here. I think what I liked was the idea of my own thread that I could update when I wanted, (or not as the case may be), rather than sometimes feeling pressured to keep the San Marino thread active and welcoming, (which is sometimes how it felt). A collective challenge thread is great, but it's not as great as your own career thread. 

[Bedese]

I was a 'lurker' for a couple of years, reading threads firstly without an account, and later by being signed into my account but without ever posting anything. I loved the threads on here (I'd binge read some of the longer ones for hours on end), but never really thought about posting here - in fact, I actually did the exact same save as I'm doing this year on FM15 and got about 70 seasons in, but it just never occurred to me that it might be something people would be interested in.

Before I started the save this year, though, I thought - 'hold on, why don't I post it this time round?' I figured it would be cool to share, and might give me some extra motivation to keep on powering on through the save. About 200~ years later on the two versions of the save combined, here we are   

[deltablue]

I tried an FM11 career thread that didn't last very long, before I learned that not having too many comments didn't matter. I did return to follow and comment on threads some months later (so I was present at the 2nd awards even if not as a potential contender) though only started a new save and career thread with the release of FM12, and I've been on here ever since, even though I did go through a period of a few false starts after FM14 was released. This has generally been a more mature and well-behaved part of forums than usual, as was shown with the debate over FM12 and onwards needing steam where unlike on GD a separate poll on here showed almost everyone was willing to accept it without too much fuss, and there's hardly been anything I've had to deal with as a mod. There's definitely a sense of pride in having your own career thread and seeing people engage with it.

[noikeee]

I used to post in a Portuguese board very similar to this, but started off here in the CSE forum with the Gundo Challenge in FM11. That was very cool but the problem with challenges is you're limited to the original rules and can't really do your own tweaks, what if you want to add more leagues, or switch teams around and do a journeyman, etc. Also you can't really as deep in detail in there as in your own threads in here. So I switched back here, had an epic FM11 career that's still one of my favourites, and never looked back, although my interest in the game has come and gone over the years.

[Ceching You Out]

I actually had to just check my profile page to see how long I've been on these forums. Nine and a half years although I lurked for a year or so prior; I've dipped in and out of the forums depending on life and my interest in FM at the time. I had a slow job back then so I killed my time on GD, CSE, and TTS rarely posting until I was drawn in by what I'd call the halcyon days of FM experimentation on youth, training, and such.

I'd never ventured this way until last year when I tried a bit of a story doing a youth challenge in Ireland. Few responses so I shuttered it after a bit, slower to learn @deltablue's lesson. A year and a few spare minutes brought me back to the present slew of intriguing youth challenges, reminding me of the exploration that drew me into the forums (and the game) in the first place. At this point my fiance may wish I had stumbled onto a seedier part of the internet instead, but having a thread helps scratch the reoccurring itch to write and share observations.

[Jimbokav1971]

I can onky reiterate what Delta said about comments in your thread, (or even views for that matter). 

The way I see it, my thread is for me, and it's a record of what and importantly how I did within a particular save. I find it good to go back and revisit my thinking, (whether right or wrong at the time), and it helps to make future related decisions.

When and if there is a comment in the thread, mine often tend to be questions that make me think about and explain my thinking in more detail, so this adds as more info to come back to.

When I was posting in the San Marino challenge thread, I often felt as if I was posting for the benefit of others rather than myself, and as a result, the updates often felt long and laborious. Now though, I just update when I want, about what I want, in as much or as little detail as I want. Surprisingly, this results in more regular and more detailed updates. 

Update for you, not your folowers/readers.

[forameuss]

29 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Update for you, not your folowers/readers.

This is a very concise way of saying what I've always said about threads and careers in general.  If you spend your time trying to appeal to everyone, you're not going to enjoy what you're doing, and you'll probably just let the thread die.  Always, always, always just write in a way that you enjoy.  That'll give you the best chance of people reading and commenting.  

[Torminator]

I send the PM! Thanks for organizing this.

Personally i have a clear winner, but I enjoyed a lot of threads this year! 

[noikeee]

Tbh whilst I agree that writing more as a future record for yourself than for others is a good thing, I find it annoying when I try to read threads where it's not immediately clear what the results are, or when it refers to players that we can't know who they are as readers because there's no screenshots or even any previous mentions to them, etc. So it's also worth keeping the readers' point of view in mind. Just don't let it become too much work to the point it detracts from the enjoyment of the game.

[deltablue]

6 votes in so far. The way things are going we'll need a lot more to get winners in everything.

[Ceching You Out]

 

5 hours ago, noikeee said:

Tbh whilst I agree that writing more as a future record for yourself than for others is a good thing, I find it annoying when I try to read threads where it's not immediately clear what the results are, or when it refers to players that we can't know who they are as readers because there's no screenshots or even any previous mentions to them, etc. So it's also worth keeping the readers' point of view in mind. Just don't let it become too much work to the point it detracts from the enjoyment of the game.

I tend to agree with you. Nothing against those who scattershot their ideas on here for posterity -- it is their thread after all -- but I tend not to return to those where I find it hard to understand what's going on. I think the best threads here all offer unique perspectives and make it easy to follow that poster's perspective, whatever it may be. For example, a post by @forameuss looks very, very different than a post by @Jimbokav1971, but both offer clear looks at how they play/imagine/analyze their game worlds. That in turn makes it easier for people who appreciate their respective styles to engage.

[forameuss]

10 minutes ago, Ceching You Out said:

 

I tend to agree with you. Nothing against those who scattershot their ideas on here for posterity -- it is their thread after all -- but I tend not to return to those where I find it hard to understand what's going on. I think the best threads here all offer unique perspectives and make it easy to follow that poster's perspective, whatever it may be. For example, a post by @forameuss looks very, very different than a post by @Jimbokav1971, but both offer clear looks at how they play/imagine/analyze their game worlds. That in turn makes it easier for people who appreciate their respective styles to engage.

I know what you mean.  Jimbo puts an insane amount of detail into his posts, and it's clearly popular with readers.  I well and truly don't.  Sometimes I wish I did, and there's times where I tell myself I'm going to give a lot more detail about certain aspects...then I just don't.  I enjoy writing, so for me the story is more important than the detail, and I think if I was going into the same detail Jimbo does, I'd stop enjoying the writing part as much.

[withnail316]

I agree with the idea that threads are for the writer more than the readership, although the good threads bring in readers and commenters because it is obvious that the writer is enjoying their save. I suspect we all like to read different types of threads and careers, but I'd wager that as a community, we're all far more likely to comment on a thread that somebody is enjoying, rather than when they're just plodding along.

There was a time when I'd put more detail in my threads, but now I tend to have a fairly limited window of FM time available to me, and I'd really prefer to be playing the game rather than writing. That said, having an active thread encourages me to keep going, so I've tried to find the right balance between playing and writing, although that is still a bit of a challenge sometimes. 

[noikeee]

50 minutes ago, Ceching You Out said:

 

I tend to agree with you. Nothing against those who scattershot their ideas on here for posterity -- it is their thread after all -- but I tend not to return to those where I find it hard to understand what's going on. I think the best threads here all offer unique perspectives and make it easy to follow that poster's perspective, whatever it may be. For example, a post by @forameuss looks very, very different than a post by @Jimbokav1971, but both offer clear looks at how they play/imagine/analyze their game worlds. That in turn makes it easier for people who appreciate their respective styles to engage.

I don't mean level of detail, you can have an excellent thread where you only do short season reviews and name a player of the year and don't go into any further detail; or a great thread where you cover every match and every aspect of your squad with extensive screenshots. Both things work. Hell, too much detail can become a problem too, I know I've certainly been guilty of writing far too much about uninteresting tangents many times. 

What I personally find hard to follow is when it's only scattered thoughts and tangents and I can't find a league table; or when people write about players and issues as if we're well familiarised with their entire squad without providing some context.

Example: "I think we lost because John was suspended and I played Peter instead". If we have some backstory of who John and Peter are, this sentence is fine and easily understandable, but if neither John or Peter were ever previously mentioned (or only fleetingly somewhere within some massive block of text), this can be confusing. But it's very easily fixable without any work doing screenshots or having to write massive paragraphs on all your players: "I think we lost because our main striker John was suspended and I played youth product Peter instead". Now we have some context as to what are you talking about and it makes sense.

These little details for me make a huge difference as a reader. See Dafuge's careers for an example of being extremely summarized with very little work, and yet still being absolutely crystal clear as to what's going on. Conversely Abulezz's Kafra thread for extremely in-depth season reviews, and also crystal clear. Massively contrasting styles of updating, and both entertaining because they consider the readers' perspective.

[noikeee]

28 minutes ago, withnail316 said:

I agree with the idea that threads are for the writer more than the readership, although the good threads bring in readers and commenters because it is obvious that the writer is enjoying their save. I suspect we all like to read different types of threads and careers, but I'd wager that as a community, we're all far more likely to comment on a thread that somebody is enjoying, rather than when they're just plodding along.

Yeah definitely agree with that. I've had careers that I just wasn't enjoying, and it shows.

[Ceching You Out]

41 minutes ago, forameuss said:

I know what you mean.  Jimbo puts an insane amount of detail into his posts, and it's clearly popular with readers.  I well and truly don't.  Sometimes I wish I did, and there's times where I tell myself I'm going to give a lot more detail about certain aspects...then I just don't.  I enjoy writing, so for me the story is more important than the detail, and I think if I was going into the same detail Jimbo does, I'd stop enjoying the writing part as much.

It was convenient that you both had posted just above as it's hard to think of more drastically contrasting styles . The point you make (as well as @withnail, et al.) is important too -- post about what you enjoy about your save. It's your chance to share your perspective, whatever that might be. Just adding the corollary that whether it's spinning a story or analyzing the game, very detailed or light, keeping the reader in mind helps focus a poster's efforts on "communicating their truth" so to speak. Which is something both you and jimbokav do well in your own way, and the community is better for it.

I follow you, @noikeee. Fully agreed. It's the only reason I haven't started my avant garde career thread where each post is solely a concatenation of the game year, last name of my best youth from the intake, and final league position. 38Birsens1. 39Joubert1.

[Raware]

On 9/27/2016 at 09:00, Deisler26 said:

And another 7 years of your silver shoes 

Ha ha...I've not had the silver shoes out for a few years now!

[deltablue]

Haven't had any votes in today. We're actually already over halfway to reaching the number I got last year but with everything looking a lot closer I feel we could use quite a few more to get a stronger set of results.

[Nobby_McDonald]

You missed the Nobby McDonald Award for Slowest Career Update.

[PaulHartman71]

Will send votes in soon sometime soon. 

[Northernpilgrim]

3 hours ago, deltablue said:

Haven't had any votes in today. We're actually already over halfway to reaching the number I got last year but with everything looking a lot closer I feel we could use quite a few more to get a stronger set of results.

You have now

[deltablue]

Nice work guys, just woken up to 4 new messages

[Maw74]

I will get my votes in soon, only sure on one vote at the moment though.

[Raware]

Will get my votes in over the weekend 

[PaulHartman71]

My votes have been sent

[Wavelberry]

Gonna do mine either the day or the marra.

[Raware]

Votes sent in 

[deltablue]

I knew somebody would take 'Best Player' the wrong way. I've also had a few cases of people being nominated for 'Best Team'.  Just so you guys are aware, I've had PH71's career a few times but it's too old to qualify this year I'm afraid. Since I'm no longer replying to people to inform them of invalid votes (after one submission where I really didn't know where to start) I thought I'd at least mention a couple of the more common ones.

 

[withnail316]

Not even had time to think about FM this week, but will get my votes in before the deadline. 

[deltablue]

Excellent. I think we've already had more votes in than last year, and clear leaders are emerging but we've still got a few categories to be decided (including 2 3-way ties) so hopefully there are still more to come.

[noikeee]

What happens if there's a tie no matter what? Coin flip? Random.org? The trophy is split in half? 

[Deisler26]

I'll put mine in by the end of the day

 

[deltablue]

Nothing new in the past few days. The Friday evening deadline is starting to approach.