The alt-TOB Idea

[jess]

I missed all of this planning due to shitty goodreads notifications but I'm delighted with the idea and I look forward to rearranging my queue for these sweet 16!

[Juniper]

jess wrote: "I missed all of this planning due to shitty goodreads notifications but I'm delighted with the idea and I look forward to rearranging my queue for these sweet 16!"

i was concerned about the notifications snafus, so that's why we thought the broadcast message would be helpful. so glad you are going to join in, jess - that's terrific!! :)


@ vanessa -- i hope you can manage to join in!! as poingu mentioned, our actual reading time should be done, or very close to done, when the official TOB reveals their 16 contenders in the first week of january. we know people will be keen to do reading for the official tournament too - so it was a fairly quick process to get this alt-TOB up and going, to avoid too much overlap. :)

[Patty]

Due to family commitments, I have been off Good Reads for a couple of weeks. I came back to find this wonderful new tournament. You all are awesome. Not sure how many of the sixteen books I can fit in, but I will give it the old college try. TOB should be flattered by this alternative. I have only skimmed all the comments so sorry if I am repeating what others have said.

Once again, I am so impressed. Thank you.

[Juniper]

patty -- so happy to hear you will try to fit in some alt-TOB reading. can't wait to hear your thoughts!!! and so pleased your return to GR coincided with our bookish fun!! we definitely feel like our alt- event is a tribute to the real thing. we all love it so much, and wanted to fill the time we have waiting for the official 16! haha!! :)

[Kaion]

Echoing the thanks to Jennifer and Poingu for organizing this diversion. I'm a litle late, but I'm looking forward to following along the fun.

[Juniper]

hi guys!

i just wanted to drop you a quick note:

i won't be helping poingu any longer on the alt-TOB. i am sorry about the poor timing, but things are well in hand at this point.

i will still be around the group, and participating in the discussions (though maybe not much until after the new year). i am very much looking forward to the decisions and all the conversations they trigger. it is going to be awesome!!

all of the excitement and enthusiasm you have brought into this idea has been amazing!!! i am happy to have had a very small part in it all. thank you!!

:)

[Jason]

Thanks for all the work Jennifer. Happy holidays.

[Juniper]

thanks, jason!! i hope you have a wonderful holiday season too! :)

[Lark]

Jennifer wrote: "hi guys!

i just wanted to drop you a quick note:

i won't be helping poingu any longer on the alt-TOB. i am sorry about the poor timing, but things are well in hand at this point. "

Thanks Jennifer! I'm not sure about "well in hand" and I'll miss working with you but it is more time consuming than we imagined. Thanks for all the work you have done to make this a very special and extremely well organized event to this point.

If anyone else would enjoy helping out behind the scenes please drop me an email.

[Amy]

Thanks Jennifer, for all the work and insight!

[Juniper]

you're welcome, amy! :)

[Rebecca]

Thank you, Jennifer, for what you have done, and Poingu, I'm here to help as needed!

[Jane from B.C.]

Jennifer,

Your hard work on this little reading adventure has been fantastic and so greatly appreciated.
I wish you a relaxing holiday filled with lots of time to read. :o)

[Juniper]

thank you , rebecca!

thanks so much, jane! i wish the same for you!! :)

[Jen]

Jennifer, thank you for your awesome organizational and chat-inducing skills. Take good care and see you in the threads!

Poingu, you've got this!!

[Juniper]

thanks so much, jen! :)

[Lark]

Rebecca wrote: "Poingu, I'm here to help as needed!"

Oh thanks Rebecca. Thanks also Amy via email. To tell you the truth this upcoming part of posting the tournament results, at least the way Jennifer and I were planning it, is a huge job, and I could use some help.

I'm also hoping that people will think it sounds FUN to do this next part together.

To that end: I could use some co-hosts. This doesn't need to be judges--anyone who has followed along is welcome to volunteer although you'd want to host a match discussion, no doubt, where you've read both books.

The tournament will span 15 new discussion threads if we still do separate threads for each match. I don't want to do this by myself if I can help it--it's more fun to have more voices hosting the threads, and also, less work for each of us.

As co-host the job you would be volunteering for would include:

1) create the discussion threads for some number of matches (between 1 and 8 of them, depending on the number of volunteers)

2) post results on the required day, and then

3) follow the posting of the decision on your thread with some TOB-like commentary about the decision, if you like, and then

4) host the discussion on your thread(s). It would be your chance to try on that TOB Host persona.

Note: Even with 2 people this was going to be challenging work in January. I think it would be fun to have about 4-8 people doing this--good fun for anyone who would like a taste of what it's like to be a TOB host! If we have 4 volunteers then I'm happy to go back to the peanut gallery for this part.

I'll also send out an email to judges with this request. It will be ok no matter what happens--it's no big crisis if we need to scale back or miss days posting results, because it's just us and there are no marauding hordes at the gates. Without help I might simplify and not make separate conversations, though, because January for me is looking a little wild.

ALSO: A smaller but vital volunteer position: updating our brackets daily to reflect news of that day's match. Sound fun? volunteer!

[Lark]

I also might need volunteers to help me re-format decisions and create Google Docs of these to link to from GR, in the event judges don't have time or google accounts to do this themselves. This is a December job.

[Michele]

Poingu, can you send out an email about this to all the members? Some people might miss this request buried in this thread.

I've noticed that emails to everyone have alerted me to things I didn't know were going on in the past in other GR groups.

[Lark]

Michele wrote: "Poingu, can you send out an email about this to all the members? Some people might miss this request buried in this thread. ."

ok, thx Michele. I only have emails for judges, though, but I will email them for sure. Maybe should I start a new thread? where do you think the message would work best?

[[deleted user]]

poingu wrote: "...I only have emails for judges..."

Poingu,
I get monthly newsletters from two of my GR groups, so I know there is a way for moderators to send mass emails to all group members. I'm guessing that it is similar to sending a private message, but you probably have a "group message" option that regular members do not have.

I'm sorry that I cannot offer to help you with hosting duties. I haven't read both entries in any of the brackets, and my work responsibilities will not leave any time in the next month for leisure reading.

(Tina heads back to her seat in the peanut gallery.)

[Lark]

Tina wrote: "
(Tina heads back to her seat in the peanut gallery.) "

Thanks Tina. It's going to be ok, a few people have volunteered, and maybe a few more will, and we'll have a really collaborative event.

I love the energy in this group and I'll never get over how enthusiastically people have signed up, to judge, to participate in discussions here, and to read a whole lot of books together in a short time frame, esp since we're about to do it all over again for TOB beginning next month.

[Beverly]

Poingu -

I have so enjoyed this group and the wonderful discussions and information. I feel so bad I cannot volunteer as I will be out of the country without internet access starting Jan. 9th - Feb. 8th. And am slammed with finishing up projects before I leave.

So, yes I will be missing the "fun" part of the alt-ToB - reading the Judges comments and watching the books move through the brackets.

Appreciate all of your hard work and those who will be volunteering/

[Beverly]

Jennifer wrote: "hi guys!

i just wanted to drop you a quick note:

i won't be helping poingu any longer on the alt-TOB. i am sorry about the poor timing, but things are well in hand at this point.

i will still b..."

Jennifer -

Thanks for your hard work.
It has provided me with many hours of pleasurable reading and discussions.

[AmberBug]

Poingu,

Are you still in need of help? I am available and I could definitely update the daily brackets.

[Lark]

AmberBug wrote: "Poingu,

Are you still in need of help? I am available and I could definitely update the daily brackets."

Thanks AmberBug...I think I have a great job left for you...I'll email to ask if you're interested.

Thanks everyone--seven people have volunteered to help with running our alt-TOB tournament (which is about enough to take the place of one Jennifer D!) and we're going to have quite a collaborative tournament in January!

I'll be in touch with everyone who has volunteered soon.

[Julie]

Best wishes Jennifer, I hope all is well. Your surprise posting made me realise how close I feel to the TOB Roosters.

[Juniper]

Julie wrote: "Best wishes Jennifer, I hope all is well. Your surprise posting made me realise how close I feel to the TOB Roosters."

thanks, julie -- appreciate that a lot. i'm in a wee bit of a situation with pneumonia, so haven't been around too much this week as i try and rally myself a bit before christmas lands upon us. shoddy timing... but trying to keep the smile on my face!! thank you for your good wishes. :)

[Jan]

Jennifer wrote: " i'm in a wee bit of a situation with pneumonia, so haven't been around too much this week as i try and rally myself a bit before christmas lands upon us...."

Oh, Jennifer, I am so sorry to hear this! Pneumonia is never good, and the holidays must make it even harder to get the rest you need. I hope you can prevail upon friends and family to wait on you hand and foot so you can recover quickly! Sending good thoughts!!!

[Susan]

Ugh Jennifer. Please take care of you and be well. I prescribe a tower of just because books to read and lots of tea and honey (with some holiday spirit perhaps)

[Darryl]

All the best to you, Jennifer. Get well soon!

[Beverly]

Jennifer -

Do take care of yourself and do not push yourself.
I am hoping you have a speedy recovery.