A recap of August's OMAAT community winners, including the most-read reader story, the most-loved comment, and the hottest take of the month.
So will Tim Dunn be getting a $100 Delta Air Lines giftcard?
And Tim (we know you're still reading) will you be on the bankrolled Riyadh inaugural flight?
Maybe Tim Dunn left when he realized his weird, incorrect, unhinged, deranged and insane takes on Delta would no longer only be controversial, but also awarded, and then he wouldn't be able to fuel off people's rage.
A monthly $100 Delta Gift Card should get him back in no-time! He can't stop 'Keep Climbing'...
Congrats to Sean M., Tim Dunn, and AVEnthu88! (Ahh, C-Tripper, you shoulda registered...) For August, I suspected Tim for hottest takes (naturally), but I coulda swore it'd be TravelinWilly for most 'Likes.' Now we know; it's the most # of 'Helpful' on an individual comment (not the monthly leaderboard). Fellas, might wanna update your terms (says: "Winners are chosen from the leaderboards...")
In the "you can't make this stuff up" category, someone named Ben LaMar Gay released a music album last year entitled Yowzers.
From KLOF magazine: Talking about the single, Gay says: “Yowzers” was a word and a sound that came to mind while observing the intersection of humor and horror in our present reality. On one side of a coin flip, “yowzers” is a deep sigh that quietly exits the body after facing the absurd. On the other side, it is a cry of amazement at how many secrets were left behind to help us endure and transcend the absurdity.”
I mean... yowzers!
Congrats to all of the winners! I especially enjoyed the Reader Stories - great job here everyone and keep it coming folks! Although he's staff and probably can't win anyway, a shout out to Jeremy on the funniest story.
Bah! What 'soul'? I said before I wasn't here for gift cards. And, the other sites that I frequent don't have such promotions, nor do they need to for me (or you... *wink*)
RetiredATLATC, "Welcome to (OMAAT), the (site) where (how often you post) and the points don't matter. That's right, the points are just like..."
Note to self: make two dozen sock puppet accounts to upvote all my posts on future OMAAT articles
Note to Diamond members.
If you need to scam your way on the internet in someone else's blog for a $100 gift card.
You should get a job.
Your ability to detect self-mockery is equal to that of my golden retriever.
I was a registered user (made up to “Diamond” somehow) well before this gamification clownery was introduced.
Get a life.
Ben, you have the opportunity to do the funniest thing, give Tim a United gift card. You could hold a webinar giving them out, and if you charged for watching it, it would be worth it to pay for the reaction.
TD leaving because he got bullied is proof that public shaming works! We should do the same for our politicians too
It took over 10 years for a nobody fanatic with mental issues to (temporary) leave.
How long do you think I will take for shameless politicians fully sane whose only job is to make bullsh*t convincing to actually leave?
Even AOC who only has one charaeristic described still doesn't quit.
I think there should be more explanation for what "Yowzers!" means (maybe a definition when you hover over it) for those of us who are in different generations or less social media connected. While I never made use of it, I thought that "Yowzers!" tag would be something negative, sort of a way of discouraging/shaming people, so I'm kind of shocked it results in a monetary reward. And I read OMAAT religiously every single day. I guess I didn't read closely enough the post that explained the new setup. In fact, in looking at the winning examples, I'm still not sure that I fully understand its intended use.
This one guy, he was a gameshow host and did some failed real estate.
On his show he "sort of a way of discouraging/shaming people" and FIRED them.
I'm sure you'll be shocked it results in a very powerful office.
Yeah, the 'yowzers' button is very confusing. I thought it was more like an actual 'downvote/dislike' but it can get you a reward anyways (which I disagree with).
These awards do not include the most snarky . As I am a schnorrer , I deserve that one .
@Ben, one suggestion for the reader submitted stories - make each the most views in a set period after posting, such as 14 days. You said that the order of posting very likely made a difference in the winner last month. Keeping it to most views in a calendar month will lead to a flood of posts in the first couple of days (or week) with no reason to post in the last couple of weeks. Perhaps something like total views in the first two weeks after posting, with all stories posted during a given calendar month competing against each other, and the winner is announced on the 15th of each month.
(I did bring this up with them already, but, unlike the other submissions in August, mine on the new MLE airport were never even posted to the 'main page,' so... yeah... anyhoo... for those interested, there's a cool little ole 'Community' tab on the site with all sorts of goodies... including the 'reader stories'... if you're willing dig for it.)
Shoutout Ben and Jeremy and the OMAAT team for making all these changes!
Was fun to make a guest post + cool to see this little community continue to evolve 🙂
Well, your article's responses regarding Bombardier and Trump wasn't so warm and fuzzy, was it, Ben?
Lucky--this may not be the most popular comment, but are you sure you want to go this way? I've been reading you daily or several times a day for far longer than a decade--through your various boyfriends, your marriage, your parents, your kids--and of course I will continue to read your blog because nobody does trip reports as well as you do. Actually, nobody comes even close. Also, in the past, your comment section has had people from all over the world with actual knowledge commenting on stuff that is directly applicable to your stories. You provide outstanding content. I have no issue with you paying a small price for stories--heck, TPG once paid me $200 to publish my reader mistake story. However, I think you are the first to gamify your blog and give kudos and "rewards" for the sheer volume of comments or volume of "likes". To my knowledge, no one else does that in this space. I wonder if it just rewards and incentivizes a long series of basically information-lite or information-less comments by the same people time and time again which have nothing to do with your content. As to the people who only comment occasionally when they have some actual knowledge pertaining to your articles, under the new system, I guess they are getting blasted with ads.
Yay! I win the interwebs.
(Never hurts to double-check the ole https://onemileatatime.com/omaat-community-rewards/ September winners just earn 'OMAAT points'... so, set expectations accordingly...)