The Gauntlet: 2011

2010 turned out to be our most successful year yet, with 161 posts. I think the gauntlet I threw down was the turning point. So I'm throwing it down AGAIN, slightly with slightly different rules to encourage participation on different fronts:

THE REWARDS:
$60: To Matt if he makes SIX posts a month. It turns out he can pull off 5 a month so I'm boosting the requirements, but also the reward.
$1 per post (up to $15): To Tom, Steve, or Umi - Whoever has the MOST posts out of the three.
$1 per post (up to $10): To Tom, Steve, or Umi - Whoever has the SECOND MOST posts out of the three.
$0: Third place
$10: Whoever posts the most comments.
$5: Rule Czar

Total amount Evan MAY be out: $100 dollars.

THE RULES FOR POSTS:
1) Blog posts must have content. As a bizarre humor blog which at times has a large emphasis on pictures or linking to other sites, the bar for "content" is very low. If a good faith effort is put forth to make a post, I'll almost certainly pass it. Posts with the "adsjfhpiouczvn;alerth" meme will probably count, but similar gibberish will probably fail. However, as I said, I'm incredibly lax, so as long as you're not trying to post gibberish to take my money, you should be fine.
1a) For Matt to receive the maximum of 60 dollars, he must create 6 posts that adhere to these rules. If he posts less than 6, his initial 60 dollars will be docked 2 dollars for every missed post. For example, if he only posts 2 times this month, he is short 4 posts. 4 posts short times 2 dollars = 8 dollar penalty, and the maximum Matt can earn is now 52 dollars.

2) Blog posts should be (somewhat) spread out throughout the month. I don't want the last day of the month to have a bunch of "oh crap" posts. Likewise, I don't want a bunch of posts on day 1 and the rest of the month nothing. Ideally there would be a somewhat steady stream of content coming out of here. But seeing as nobody is perfect, here's the rule: No more than 2 posts a day will count toward the required number for the month. You can post more than 2 per day if you want, go right ahead, but only two of them will count towards getting paid.

3) Be funny. I know a lot of the stuff we put here would not be considered funny by a great many people. That's not the point of this rule. Basically, YNTE is not your journal. People come here to be entertained, so keep it entertaining. It doesn't have to universally be the funniest thing in the world, but "I am eatin' a sandwich" or "I'm sad because nobody loves me" don't qualify. "I'm sad because my sandwich doesn't love me" MIGHT. Should you desire, you can totally have a livejournal elsewhere with said content, and I have no problem with that. Just keep it off here. Again, I'm pretty lax on this, so as long as the effort to produce comedy is set forward, it'll probably pass.

THE RULES FOR COMMENTS:
1) The comments money is up for grabs by ANYBODY (almost). Whoever posts the most comments this year gets it. This means writers and readers alike can snag this money. Don't have an account to post content here? Post comments instead! You could still earn some green.
1a) If a writer has the most comments, I will pay them. I know how to get in touch with them all.
1b) If a reader has the most comments, A post will be made glorifying them in January of next year. They will have one month from that post going up to get me their paypal information.
1c) If I (Evan) have the most comments, I have won. Nobody gets paid. I win the opportunity to not have to give you mooks my money.
1d) To maintain impartiality, the Rule Czar is ineligible to win this money. But this year, Rule Czaring is a paid position! The Rule Czar is encouraged to post comments anyway, though.

2) The rules for comments are pretty much the same as the rules for blogs.
2a) Comments must have content. No gibberish here either!
2b) Comments must be spaced out. You can't have two consecutive comments on the same post. If someone replies to your comment, you can comment again. Authors may not have the first comment on their own post, however replies to other comments on that post WILL count. If this is unclear, let me know and I will elaborate further
2c) Comments should be funny/relevant. Comments should relate to the original post.

3) Only comments on posts made in 2011 will count. No sneaking comments onto really old posts.

GENERAL RULES:
1) These rules can be expanded or clarified at any point. This is mainly to prevent unanticipated shenanigans. I won't use this just to be a dick.

2) Any disputes will be resolved by the Rule Czar. The Rule Czar has the final say on any rule infractions. It is the Rule Czar's job to be an impartial 3rd party in these procedings.

3) Don't be a dick. Sure, there's probably loopholes in these rules. Don't exploit them.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our 2010 Rule Czar, Rena McNeal, for the excellent job she did being prepared to mediate our nonexistent disputes. Thanks for your service, now clean out your office, because it's 2011 now and we need a new rule czar.

Now I'd like to introduce the 2011 Rule Czar: Rena McNeal! She comes to this postition with 1 years experience Rule Czaring for a VERY successful blog, 26 years experience being a rational person, and 23 years experience calling me on my bullshit. Welcome!

All that out of the way, here's to 2011: the best year the blog will have ever had!

Evan paid me

Not pictured: Most of those bills.

It was really helpful at the LAN party we had, as I paid for a lot of the pizza. Like, 5 pizzas. Good stuff. In any case I've gotta get the rest of my posts in. It's been a busy month, so not a whole lot of buzzing going on around here.

Also we had our first ever chip-bag fight. That was interesting.

Also we didn't help Umi clean up. Sorry Umi! Maybe we'll help clean up next time. If you haven't banned us from your apartment already.

September Roundup!

Matt and I have both pulled through another month. At this point I owe Matt a minimum of 20 dollars by the end of the year, but if he keeps up this consistency, it will be the full 50.

At this point I am declaring the gauntlet A SUCCESS. The blog has been doing better than ever, officially having the most posts of any year, and there are still many months to go.

So the question that crops up is this: How will we top it next year?

I've got some ideas, nothing final yet. Here's a few of the things bouncing around my head.
-Upping the number of posts needed per month before a payout. 7? 10? 5.3?
-Adding a per-post payment for mooks like Steve and Tom who don't hit the threshold (not as much as if they had)
-Bringing in more writers (unpaid at first?) Umi? Jason? Rena? Who knows?
-Alternate Revenue Streams (Maybe KFC will sponsor us, or at least send us some sweat pants)
-A podcast?
-More regular (monthly/weekly, etc) posts, like YNTE Movie Night
-Sharing incentives?

That's what I've come up with so far, By the end of the year I should have it all fleshed out into a more solid plan. But I would love your input and ideas! Anything to add? Any ideas seem unreasonable? What do y'all think?

July Wrapup

Matt made it. BARELY.

April Roundup: I'm too lazy for graphs edition

The only thing you need to know about last month:

TOM MADE A POST.

Matt can earn up to 50 bucks still; Tom can earn up to 12.

March Roundup: It's already April 5th Edition

Am I slow on posting the March Roundup? Yes. Moving on. Graphs!



The determinations from this data:
1) We're still kicking ass this year. Even with a dip in total post count this month, we managed to surpass 2008's total in just 3 months.
2) Evan had kind of a busy month
3) Tom is still failing
4) Delayed explanation poop jokes count as content

Matt's still on track to earn the full 50 bucks. Tom, if he bats a perfect game between here and the end of the year, can hope to earn 20.

February Roundup

I made graphs again!

So, as you can see, this year is going awesome!

This month, most of my posts were frontloaded on the early half the month, which is fine, because Matt forgot to post until the end. Our collective laziness cancelled out!

Here're the official standings:
Matt: 5 posts, 0 penalty, max take: 50 dollars
Tom: 0 posts, 10 dollars penalty, max take: 30 dollars
Evan: 14 posts, I don't earn money, but the resolution is alive!
Steve!: 1 post, bragging rights over Tom

Tom is losing. Not only is he losing money, but he's losing to Steve, who isn't even a participant. If this were a race, what happened is Tom broke his ankle off the blocks and is laying on the track writhing in pain. Then a crazy fan jumped out of the stands and started running down the tracks. Who will win the race? The injured athlete or the non athlete?

I was excited about the YNTE Movie Night, going into this month. Then there were (hold on, let me count them) zero other participants. Maybe it was a slow month, maybe it was a bad idea. We'll see. I still have hopes for this month. Announcement coming soon!

Here's to March!

Ouch, so close!

Check this out! Tom ALMOST posted last month!

He managed to type a title: "Please excuse me, but is that your elbow in my soup?"

He only forgot to type the rest of the post. And then he forgot to click "Publish". He almost had it!

Was there an elbow in his soup? The world may never know.

January Roundup

I made graphs:


The first graph tells us a few things:

1) Matt made his 5 post quota; Tom failed to in the most remarkable way possible. Therefore, Matt's maximum take remains at 50 bucks. Tom's is down to 40. Evan, with his 10 posts now has a maximum take of -90.

2) Matt has 6 posts. This means that I passed his

Last chance for Tom to Post with no penalty!

Tom has until the end of the day to post at least once. Will he make it?

(3 days left in the month, maximum of 2 posts per day, minimum of 5 posts for no penalty)

However, due to my lessening of the penalty from "Miss a post: no money" to "Miss a post: less money", even if he posts nothing this month, he can still earn some greenbacks.

ALSO: One rule clarification:
No matter how few posts you make, you cannot dip below 0 dollars into owing me money. Miss 25 posts? you get nothing. Miss 45 posts, you still get nothing, and owe me nothing. There are no negatives. This isn't a sinister money grab.

I just want more content on the blog. For seriousies!

The Gauntlet: The rules

I said I would post these much earlier in the month, but didn't. So I'm posting them now. Apologies to anybody reading this that isn't Matt or Tom, as this may come off as a bit boring.

In accordance with the stated goal of making 2010 the year of our blog, Tom and Matt will each be offered 50 US Dollars if they can make a minimum of 5 blog posts a month that conform to the following standards:

1) Blog posts must have content. As a bizarre humor blog which at times has a large emphasis on pictures or linking to other sites, the bar for "content" is very low. If a good faith effort is put forth to make a post, I'll almost certainly pass it. However, posts where the content is "adsjfhpiouczvn;alerth" will not count. However, as I said, I'm incredibly lax, so as long as you're not trying to post gibberish to take my money, you should be fine.

2) Blog posts should be (somewhat) spread out throughout the month. I don't want the last day of the month to have 5 "oh crap" posts. Likewise, I don't want 5 posts on day 1 and the rest of the month nothing. Idealy there would be a somewhat steady stream of content coming out of here. But seeing as nobody is perfect, here's the rule: No more than 2 posts a day will count toward the required 5 for the month. You can post more than 2 per day if you want, go right ahead, but only two of them will count as part of the 5 for the month.

3) Be funny. I know a lot of the stuff we put here would not be considered funny by a great many people. That's not the point of this rule. Basically, YNTE is not your emo journal. People come here to be entertained, so keep it entertaining. It doesn't have to universally be the funniest thing in the world, but nobody wants to hear about you cutting yourself because Edward Cullen won't be your vampire lover. Should you desire, you can totally have a livejournal elsewhere with said content, and I have no problem with that. Just keep it off here.

4) Be cool. I'm sure there are other ways you could game the system to take my money without contributing anything useful to the blog. Don't.

Keep in mind that those are more guidelines than rules. I will give you the benefit of the doubt the vast majority of the time. Every single post already on the site, no matter how nonsensical or short lives up to these incredibly loose standards.

However, in the event that there is a dispute over whether any of these rules have been broken, they will be run past the impartial YNTE Rule Czar, which is a position I just made up. The rule Czar's ruling will be final. For 2010, the YNTE Rule Czar will be Rena McNeal. Congrats! You will probably never have to use your vast power, but now you have a cool title.

(and to anybody who says, "she's your sister, she's not truly impartial", a) she's fair, and b) screw you, it's my money on the table)

To recieve the maximum of 50 dollars, you must create 5 posts that adhere to the above rules. If you post less than 5, your initial 50 dollars will be docked 2 dollars for every missed post. For example, if Tom only posts 1 time this month, he is short 4 posts. 4 posts short times 2 dollars = 8 dollar penalty, and the maximum Tom can earn is now 42 dollars. (42!)

Even if you miss a month entirely, you can still earn some money, so keep posting.

As the instigator of the gauntlet, I reserve the right to update/modify these rules at any time, presuming I don't do this for the purpose of being a dick and screwing you out of your hard earned money. Which I won't do, because I really want the blog to succeed.

Phew! that was a lot. Resume your day!

It's on! (And resolutions and so forth)

Alright, so Evan has his goals, for him and us. Sounds good.

But I think Tom and I should come up with our own resolutions as well. Here's what I've got so far:

1) I promise to publicly remember Evan's Birthday. (I'm also tempted to add older posts to make it look like I did)

2) I'll try to post at least one classic YNTE a month. Hell, maybe every Friday, I dunno. At least one a month though.

...yep, that's what I've got so far. I'll try to think of something involving getting admin privileges back or something.


Oh, by the way, what about Stevo?

Mission Accomplished / The Gauntlet

This blog is more often than not, pretty stupid. But for some wierd reason I love it. The times it almost died made me sad.

That's why, January 1st 2009, I swore that this year would not be the year the blog kicked the bucket for good. I resolved that every month would have at least 4 blog posts, even if I had to supply all 4 of them myself. And guess what? We did it. (mainly me).

But now 2010 is quickly approaching, and I don't want 2010 to be the year YNTE dies either! In fact, if possible, I would like 2010 to be EVEN RADDER than 2009. So here is the plan:

1) I personally resolve that every month of 2010 I will personally provide 5 content posts. Last year I only cared that there were 4 by the end, this year my resolution rests firmly on my own shoulders.

2) I challenge Matt and Tom to also post 5 content posts every month. And to up the ante, should they succeed in this task I will pay each of them fifty american dollars.

The gauntlet has been thrown down, Matt and Tom. Will you rise to the challenge?

And to the rest of you, loyal YNTE readers, thanks a bunch for a great 2009.

-Evan