The 2005 DeeperBlue.net Community Awards

[Stephan Whelan]

What are the DeeperBlue.net Community Awards?

The DeeperBlue.net forums are a very busy place everyday with people posting questions looking for answers, feedback or help. All of this is offered for no reason other that we like to learn and equally teach. No reward is expected and a simple thank you is often all it takes to make it feel worth it.

That's great - however we feel we want to be able to offer more and people deserve recognition and thanks for the tireless help they provide to the community.

Plus we get to give away some killer prizes worth over $3500 USD in total in what has to be the largest give away from an online forum in quite a while!


So - we have come up with the DeeperBlue.net Community Awards!

How does it work?

Like any other awards, the first step is the nominations.

You can nominate anyone for any award, but you can only nominate 1 person for each category. Also, you can not nominate yourself for a category but you can nominate someone for more than one award. As a side note, lets keep this fair and don't ask your friends to nominate you or try and buy peoples nominations.

Nominations will commence right now (September 17th 2005), and will end at the end of the year (31st December 2005). The Forum Team Leaders and Mentors then lock themselves away for to decide upon the top four nominees for each award as the finalist for each category. At this point we will supply a poll which you get to vote on (Remember what we said about keeping it fair people!). You will only be able to vote once for each category, and the poll results will not be visible.

Voting, like the nominations, will last until January 31st 2006, after which the polls will disappear and we will review the results, and the give out the awards to the lucky winners!

Only one award per person will be allowed. This rule is in place so that more people can win, and so the same people do not win all of the awards (you overachievers know who you are ).

How do I nominate?

Nominations are to be COMPLETELY secret! If you nominate somebody then please do not tell them. Likewise if somebody asks you to nominate them then please ignore all such requests. We want these awards to be based on your decision and not on who your friends are.

NOMINATIONS CAN ONLY BE MADE BY EMAIL TO nominations@deeperblue.net


When sending the email, please have the "DeeperBlue.net Community Awards" as the subject, then the relevant details within the email. You can nominate as many people in one email.

Who you can't nominate/Rules

1. Stephan Whelan (i.e. me) cannot be nominated for anything.
2. Alison, Amphibious, icarus pacific, Adrian, Erik, fuzz, island_sands, Jon, miles and Oldsarge cannot be nominated for any awards apart from the Team Member award.
3. Nominations for threads/posts must contain a link to the aforementioned thread/post. Any nomination without a link will be discarded.
4. Please think about your nominations carefully and only nominate those who are upstanding members of the community.
5. You cannot nominate yourself for an award, no matter how good you think you are. If you're really that good then you should get loads of nominations from others .

If I am awarded what do I get?

Now apart from the massive status recognition and cool "badge" you will be able to display under your username on the forums, we decided having some actual "stuff" would be pretty decent. The prizes are being allocated to different categories and when the finalists are announced we will tell you which categories get which prizes.


So, a huge thank you to our Sponsors, here are some of the prizes:

• Eliossub
  providing a 5mm Smoothskin / Open cell Neoprene Heiwa Wetsuit
• Spearo
  providing a Venom Carbon 90cm Speargun
• Leaderfins
• providing a Flyer Monofin and Classic Stereo Fins
• Seven Tenths
• providing 2 x £25 GBP Gift Certificates
• Liquivision
  $150 USD Certificate against a F1 Dive Assistant

In addition we will be providing the following prizes:

• Weekend at the S.E.T.T. 30m Dive Tank with Accomodation (no flights though!)
• Gift Certificates for the DeeperBlue.net Shop (in 50 Euro, 100 Euro and 250 Euro increments)
• Copies of Umberto Pelizzari's "Manual of FreeDiving"
• DeeperBlue.net T-Shirt and goodies

All pretty awesome prizes I would say.


The Categories

Now it’s what you've all been waiting for: a list of the categories! Read them carefully, think of whom you want to vote for, and then vote!

• Team Leader of the Year: This award will be given to the one Team Leader from within the community that you as members find to be the most valuable to the community as a whole.
• Mentor of the Year: This award will be given to the one Mentor from within the community that you as members find to be the most valuable to the community as a whole.
• Member of the Year: This award will be given to the one member of the DeeperBlue.net community that you as members find to be the most valuable to the community as a whole. This member can not be an Administrator/Team Leader or Mentor.
• Funniest Member of the Year: Humor and release is an important part of any community, The class Clown Award should be based on who you see as being the funniest member at DeeperBlue.net
• Funniest Thread of the Year: Your Mission is to go in search of the funniest, most ridiculous or just plain bizarre thread. Please provide a link to the thread when you nominate for this category.
• Best Thread: Some questions spark heated debates, Some are highly educational and enjoyable, These threads are what makes DeeperBlue.net so special. Please provide a link to the thread when you nominate for this category.
• Most Improved Award: Some of us have stumbled upon DeeperBlue.net at the early stages of learning and have become knowledgeable and talented. This award is for the person who has improved both their knowledge and their manner in which they conduct themselves.
• Community Spirit Award: This award goes to the member who consistently posts interesting, thought-provoking, and insightful threads and/or comments. This member should exemplify the spirit of the DeeperBlue.net Forums. This award is open to anybody regardless of technical ability levels.
• DeeperBlue.net King: We decided that it would be nice to have an overall King to lord over the rest of the winners
• DeeperBlue.net Queen: And of course you can't have a King without a Queen
• Personality of the year: You are thinking of a member that just stands out, or has just made a great impression on you? This award will go to the member that you feel has shone with their great personality!

That’s it folks! Get those thinking caps on. Keep it fair, clean and fun! Once you've made your mind up, email nominations@deeperblue.net with your thoughts!

[Alison]

Originally Posted by Stephan Whelan

• DeeperBlue.net Queen: And of course you can't have a King without a Queen

OH NO!!!! Freedivers in drag!!!

Some awsome prizes there! Nothing short of the best of everything, now how can I nobble Sven and CW??

[island_sands]

Originally Posted by Alison

OH NO!!!! Freedivers in drag!!!

Some awsome prizes there! Nothing short of the best of everything, now how can I nobble Sven and CW??

nobble?? had to read that twice

[Alison]

Sara Lise!! Wash your mouth out!! Erm well just behave then!!

Now, what I ment was: Dont vote for the other two team leaders, vote for me, now look closely at the following animation for at least 5 minutes

Now you are getting sleepy, verrrry sleeepyy, yoouur eeyees arree verrrry heavvyy; now vote for Alison, not the other two nasty men, vote for Alison
Well you gotta try

[island_sands]

well my list is just about ready!!! anyone done theirs?

[Alison]

Wow! It worked
No not yet I'm leaving for a while just incase somethig good happens between now and then but I have a list of suspects

[Naim]

Is this for real? Do we need to be supporters or anything or is open to everybody?

[island_sands]

Originally Posted by Naim

Is this for real? Do we need to be supporters or anything or is open to everybody?

hi Naim haven't seen you in a while! this is for real, for everybody, so go on jump in and place your bets mate!

[Naim]

I'm impressed! Thats a mega give away, cant vote for myself I see well thats me stuffed, I needed a new wetsuit too. Hey vote for me everybody The wetsuit, I need it

[Ocean Girl]

Naim you should become a supporter and get the cool blue name
in Brasil we dont wear wetsuits

[miles]

Hiya

Naim you should become a supporter and get the cool blue name

Have to agree with that one!!

Regards
miles

[Murat]

I should check this section more frequent. I just saw this thread. I want to support deeperblue, what should i do? Himm, thats why someof you guys have that blue nickname I thought its in the options or so Anyway i don't mind if you don't give me bluename but i will support this forum. I should start to read those "unnecessary" sections better

[octopus]

Anyway i don't mind if you don't give me bluename but i will support this forum.

That is what most of us said...but if you do not change your nick into blue, you'll be in big trouble with the ladies of the forum.

[Alison]

you guys are to much
Murat, the details of the supporter programm are here, octopus is right mate! Big trouble