Awards Project

[CheffoJeffo]

Paige's recent ressurgence put another thought into my head -- how do you choose the folks to judge ?

Zakk was an obvious choice due to the sheer number of quality cabinets he put out. Same with Lew.

But what about when you have people with experience who see things differently ... compare, say, Paige (with his sometimes overly-practical approach) to Xouchie, or to Pixel, or to Knievel. I'm pretty sure that none of those folks would consider judging others.

It takes us back to the problems with the original HoF.

[shmokes]

Why not make Chad the judge? He actually judged arcade cabinets professionally for a few years when he was younger.

[Le Chuck]

Paige's recent ressurgence put another thought into my head -- how do you choose the folks to judge ?

Zakk was an obvious choice due to the sheer number of quality cabinets he put out. Same with Lew.

But what about when you have people with experience who see things differently ... compare, say, Paige (with his sometimes overly-practical approach) to Xouchie, or to Pixel, or to Knievel. I'm pretty sure that none of those folks would consider judging others.

It takes us back to the problems with the original HoF.

I would think it's up to the community to nominate judges.  Frankly the most serious aspect of this should probably be judge selection.  

We can take a fairly populist approach, open a forum where everybody can nominate who they think judges should be.  Once time is up on that everyone nominated has to confirm acceptance of nomination.  From there open a voting thread with all the confirmed nominees names.  Put a time limit on it and at the end the 5 or X with the most votes are the panel.  Every year a new panel gets voted.  The nominee with the most votes is the Chair for that year.

Works a lot better than me just pointing at people but is slower.  

  

[Ond]

What's the point when we all know that there is one particular cab, a long time in the making but recently finished, that will sweep every single category.   

I like OND's cab too, it's cool and orange and curvy and immaculately built, but there is a lot out there that is just as ground breaking as far as builds are concerned.  I think that he has relied heavily on DaOld Man's plugins and previous work for his rotation, I think that while his button mod is pretty fantastic it was been improved upon since by Secret Squirrel and FrancoB's are completly off the chain.  So yeah him done good but there is plenty of great stuff worth recognizing. 

Unless you were talking about the Urkelcade too, in which case I have no argument. 

Heh heh, a few things,  Pixelhuggers cabinet would have been the cabinet in question,  my cab is red,  I have never used DaOLD Mans plugins or any other previous work for my rotation design, it's quite differrent stepper motor technology.  That said I probably will be looking at some of the stuff he's done in the future.  Just keeping it accurate bro, other wise all good.  

[Le Chuck]

What's the point when we all know that there is one particular cab, a long time in the making but recently finished, that will sweep every single category.   

I like OND's cab too, it's cool and orange and curvy and immaculately built, but there is a lot out there that is just as ground breaking as far as builds are concerned.  I think that he has relied heavily on DaOld Man's plugins and previous work for his rotation, I think that while his button mod is pretty fantastic it was been improved upon since by Secret Squirrel and FrancoB's are completly off the chain.  So yeah him done good but there is plenty of great stuff worth recognizing. 

Unless you were talking about the Urkelcade too, in which case I have no argument. 

Heh heh, a few things,  Pixelhuggers cabinet would have been the cabinet in question,  my cab is red,  I have never used DaOLD Mans plugins or any other previous work for my rotation design, it's quite differrent stepper motor technology.  That said I probably will be looking at some of the stuff he's done in the future.  Just keeping it accurate bro, other wise all good.   

The fact I thought of yours just shows how much I like it... and that I'm color blind.  I'll ask my automations question over on your thread after I reread it so I don't embarrass myself further 

[Le Chuck]

So we are going to have a competition to determine the judges for a competition?   

No, I've changed my mind.  You pick.

[Generic Eric]

Can this be accomplished similarly to the SMF trader system?  For example, if I wanted my project attached with my profile, I could submit my project, and if someone wanted to comment on my project, they could.  Or perhaps, they could just give a thumbs up or down.  

I'd offer one of my projects up, but neither are complete.  Would anyone in this thread offer their cabinet up for the demo round of how this is gonna go?  Limit the judging to the participants in this thread?

[Vigo]

First person that comes to mind for me as a good judge would be bobA. He has always taken a genuine interest in other people's work. Artwork, design, electronics, he really takes interest in and appreciates all the aspects that go into making a cabinet. 

[Le Chuck]

Can this be accomplished similarly to the SMF trader system?  For example, if I wanted my project attached with my profile, I could submit my project, and if someone wanted to comment on my project, they could.  Or perhaps, they could just give a thumbs up or down.  

I'd offer one of my projects up, but neither are complete.  Would anyone in this thread offer their cabinet up for the demo round of how this is gonna go?  Limit the judging to the participants in this thread?

I started the thread so it wouldn't be good form if I wasn't willing to put my money where my mouth was so to speak.  Darkade is on the chopping block for whoever would like to take a swing.   

[Le Chuck]

First person that comes to mind for me as a good judge would be bobA. He has always taken a genuine interest in other people's work. Artwork, design, electronics, he really takes interest in and appreciates all the aspects that go into making a cabinet. 

I second that. 

[Generic Eric]

Can this be accomplished similarly to the SMF trader system?  For example, if I wanted my project attached with my profile, I could submit my project, and if someone wanted to comment on my project, they could.  Or perhaps, they could just give a thumbs up or down.  

I'd offer one of my projects up, but neither are complete.  Would anyone in this thread offer their cabinet up for the demo round of how this is gonna go?  Limit the judging to the participants in this thread?

I started the thread so it wouldn't be good form if I wasn't willing to put my money where my mouth was so to speak.  Darkade is on the chopping block for whoever would like to take a swing.   

There sure is a lot of sausage making in this thread.   

Presuming that the DARKADE will be reviewed first, do you feel your project announcement thread is sufficient, or would you resubmit it with all the details presented with out other member's comments in between your posts?  As I imagine this, a project that was being judged wouldn't have any commentary until the end. 

[DaveMMR]

Can this be accomplished similarly to the SMF trader system?  For example, if I wanted my project attached with my profile, I could submit my project, and if someone wanted to comment on my project, they could.  Or perhaps, they could just give a thumbs up or down.  

I'd offer one of my projects up, but neither are complete.  Would anyone in this thread offer their cabinet up for the demo round of how this is gonna go?  Limit the judging to the participants in this thread?

I started the thread so it wouldn't be good form if I wasn't willing to put my money where my mouth was so to speak.  Darkade is on the chopping block for whoever would like to take a swing.   

There sure is a lot of sausage making in this thread.   

Presuming that the DARKADE will be reviewed first, do you feel your project announcement thread is sufficient, or would you resubmit it with all the details presented with out other member's comments in between your posts?  As I imagine this, a project that was being judged wouldn't have any commentary until the end. 

Would it be easier to start a new thread with a brief outline and pictures of the Darkade (started by Le Chuck of course) and do a round of reviews there?  Or squeeze it in this thread? And who's submitting their judging commentary?

[Le Chuck]

Well that's kind of a toss up and depends on if it's voluntary or community recommended.  Idealy I wouldn't want to make everybody recreate a post just for the review but I think that a certain level of standardization would be useful.  Maybe have it optional.  "If recommended please open a thread with the following format.  If you decide not to do this we will still review your project just the same but appreciate the help as we have a lot of these to go through"

If somebody wants to recommend a format I'll gladly post.  Here or elsewhere. Format should either be category specific or generic enough to get the pertinent information no matter the category.

Eventually if we decide to go live I'd like to see this have it's own area in the forums as a board or a child board and then a private child board for the currrent panel to make their sausage in private.    

[Generic Eric]

Can this be accomplished similarly to the SMF trader system?  For example, if I wanted my project attached with my profile, I could submit my project, and if someone wanted to comment on my project, they could.  Or perhaps, they could just give a thumbs up or down.  

I'd offer one of my projects up, but neither are complete.  Would anyone in this thread offer their cabinet up for the demo round of how this is gonna go?  Limit the judging to the participants in this thread?

I started the thread so it wouldn't be good form if I wasn't willing to put my money where my mouth was so to speak.  Darkade is on the chopping block for whoever would like to take a swing.   

There sure is a lot of sausage making in this thread.   

Presuming that the DARKADE will be reviewed first, do you feel your project announcement thread is sufficient, or would you resubmit it with all the details presented with out other member's comments in between your posts?  As I imagine this, a project that was being judged wouldn't have any commentary until the end. 

Would it be easier to start a new thread with a brief outline and pictures of the Darkade (started by Le Chuck of course) and do a round of reviews there?  Or squeeze it in this thread? And who's submitting their judging commentary?

I should have just suggested a new thread instead of all those extra words above.

[CheffoJeffo]

FWIW, I think that BobA is one of the most positive contributors here and chimes in to help everybody. He reminds what I *should* be doing here.

Even I don't have the balls to ask him to come in and judge other people's work. He's a good guy -- don't put him on the spot like that.

Has ANYBODY actually asked saint what he thinks ?

[Generic Eric]

Has ANYBODY actually asked saint what he thinks ?

I think he indicated in the crapmame thread that he had an opinion, but was sitting on it for awhile.

* saint has an opinion but is in lurk mode while people comment.

[Generic Eric]

I would like to hold this post for an example of the submission form I referred to earlier.

In a million words or less, explain your inspiration and your project.  Tell us how long you have worked on this.  If it was a Father and Son project, let us know.  If you are restoring your favorite game from the local roller skating rink, let us know.  

1) Declare your style
•   Upright
•   Mini
•   Bartop
•   Cocktail
•   Fightstick
•   Driving
•   Custom

2) You will be reviewed in the following categories.  Be sure to provide details highlighting each of the following aspects of your project:
•   Art
•   Audio
•   Build Quality
•   Lighting
•   Paint job
•   Theme composition (how control panel, front-end, marquee, side-art tie together)
•   Wiring

*The following special categories are available for submissions.
•   Automation
•   Contribution to the Forum (kinda like a lifetime achievement type deal)
•   Hack or Mod
•   Planning documents
•   Restoration
•   Utility (code)

If you have access to a camera or video camera during your build, take as many pictures or videos as possible.  If you are using plans, link to the source.  If you are using original plans, please share them.  

I would also like to hold this post for an explanation of why I thinks this is a good idea, and how I have come to realize that I may have a different idea then Le Chuck and the others.  

In short, my idea is more of a standardization to how the project announcements are made in order to facilitate something like an awards review later on.

[DaveMMR]

Even I don't have the balls to ask him to come in and judge other people's work. He's a good guy -- don't put him on the spot like that.

I agree he's a good guy and I would hope no one thinks if they are nominated for something like this that there's any requirement to accept it. He was nominated, I assume, for the reasons you stated. But if he would not want to do it, I'm sure everyone would respect that 100%.

And Generic Eric, Saint's note was for CrapMAME II, which came off as negative. I hope everyone understands that this is more of a positive critiquing of member's works - not another excuse to rip people's work apart.

[Generic Eric]

Even I don't have the balls to ask him to come in and judge other people's work. He's a good guy -- don't put him on the spot like that.

I agree he's a good guy and I would hope no one thinks if they are nominated for something like this that there's any requirement to accept it. He was nominated, I assume, for the reasons you stated. But if he would not want to do it, I'm sure everyone would respect that 100%.

And Generic Eric, Saint's note was for CrapMAME II, which came off as negative. I hope everyone understands that this is more of a positive critiquing of member's works - not another excuse to rip people's work apart.

I concur.  I have been reading the last few days and saw a string of events that I tied together.  The reddit thread, then the resurrection of the Crapmame II thread, and then this thread.  I see this thread as an opportunity for us, as active members to raise the bar, and lift others up, instead of tearing them down.

[Le Chuck]

  I'm writing discertations here.  My apologies.

I will in the next 48 hours produce a review announce using the aforementioned recommendations and some of my own secret sauce.  I will post to a separate thread with a disclaimer and then link to here natch.  From there we can determine if that format works, how critics could/should look to be helpful, whether this will be an awards type thing or an open submition please help me type thing, and whether or not we should even be pursuing this.  

As for Saint, I'll ask openly:  Saint, whatchya think?  We're not trying to go off the deepend, just work on something that could be of benefit later down the road to the hobby.  Is this in the spirit of the BYOAC and do you mind this kind of thing going in the BYOAC?  

How do you feel about a child board for this so we can explore further without cluttering stuff up?  Thanks - Steve.    

<edit: punctuation>

[Howard_Casto]

Well I think what everybody is going to have to understand (and it should be clear from the strange response that the original thread generated) is that even if you try to be a non-offensive as possible, and treat every entry and likewise every individual with the upmost respect there are always going to be a few that are offended just by the idea of a judging panel and/or are going to be outraged that their personal favorite cab wasn't featured or that a cab that they just don't like was featured.

My personal response to that is that everybody is judged constantly by everyone at everything they create or do, you just aren't handed the results.    So if everyone involved feels strongly that the project would do more good than harm I say go full speed ahead.  If on the other hand there are doubts amoungst the ranks, then I doubt we are ready to handle the kind of complications it could generate.


Nobody wants to intentionally make a flame war, but it's very very hard to give people a list of things they should do to make a fun, playable cab and have them take the advice without examples showing "see if you do things like we described it could turn out amazing.... like this"  Now personally I think it could be just as valuable to highlight a few stinkers, but since the forums are so dead set against it, I'm full steam ahead with analyzing the outstanding ones.

[SammyWI]

I'm kind of torn on this one.  It's really a fairly positive idea.  But it could have lot's of pitfalls.

It's not really my kind of thing, but I hope it works out well.  Good luck.

[Vigo]

FWIW, I think that BobA is one of the most positive contributors here and chimes in to help everybody. He reminds what I *should* be doing here.

Even I don't have the balls to ask him to come in and judge other people's work. He's a good guy -- don't put him on the spot like that.

I agree, but I guess my impression what the "judging" on something like this should be along the lines of showcasing what makes a good project good, not really critiquing or scoring projects at all.

My point of view is that any award thing we do would be a simple pat on the back for a job well done for a few people each year. Follow the KISS rule as much as possible. Take a look back at our awesome work for the year and point out some of the things we did well. Set the bar for another year.

[Howard_Casto]

FWIW, I think that BobA is one of the most positive contributors here and chimes in to help everybody. He reminds what I *should* be doing here.

Even I don't have the balls to ask him to come in and judge other people's work. He's a good guy -- don't put him on the spot like that.

I agree, but I guess my impression what the "judging" on something like this should be along the lines of showcasing what makes a good project good, not really critiquing or scoring projects at all.

My point of view is that any award thing we do would be a simple pat on the back for a job well done for a few people each year. Follow the KISS rule as much as possible. Take a look back at our awesome work for the year and point out some of the things we did well. Set the bar for another year.

Well you are contradicting yourself there.  The only way to showcase what makes a good project good is to critique it in some way so that the good points can be expressed in less subjective terms.  Unless you are one of those people who aprove of awards like "I gave XXX an award because I liked it and thought it looked good."   

[Vigo]

Not really, we all have a good notion about the standards of a home arcade cabinet. Saying "this cabinet is the best example of XXX for the year because of reasons a, b, c, d and e" won't be subjective because we all know that A-E are things above and beyond what you would find on the normal project.

[shmokes]

Plus, who cares? It's not a science. There are always movies that get robbed at the Oscars. If it's done that way, and there are nominees, lots of people will pick one or another but only one will win and everyone who picked another will think it was a bad decision. It's the way the world works. And then everyone moves on and does it again next year.

[Howard_Casto]

Not really, we all have a good notion about the standards of a home arcade cabinet. Saying "this cabinet is the best example of XXX for the year because of reasons a, b, c, d and e" won't be subjective because we all know that A-E are things above and beyond what you would find on the normal project.

You are making two very bad assumptions there.  Firstly that everybody knows the standards of a good home cabinet.  This just isn't true.  If they did, then we wouldn't have so many unplayable monstrosities floating around out there.  It's our job to teach them.  Secondly that what you just described isn't judging.  When you use the "a, b, c, d, e "  example, guess what?  You've just added an itemized checklist of good points to the cab... this is more or less the 20 point system I originally suggested. 

[shmokes]

I haven't read any of this thread, so maybe this is all covered. But why not have it work just like the academy awards. Not everyone who watches or even makes movies is a member of the academy. Why not have Saint grant membership, and members vote. They don't have to vote on some specific criteria unless of course it's for a specific award (like judging Best Control Panel shouldn't take sideart into consideration).

Votes are tallied. Tim Schafer and a couple musical acts are hired for the awards ceremony. And that's that.

[Howard_Casto]

Plus, who cares? It's not a science. There are always movies that get robbed at the Oscars. If it's done that way, and there are nominees, lots of people will pick one or another but only one will win and everyone who picked another will think it was a bad decision. It's the way the world works. And then everyone moves on and does it again next year.

Actually..... the reason that the Oscars almost always get it wrong (and rest assured, history has shown that they almost always get things wrong) is because their voting system is horribly flawed.  They do things like only voting on a select group of films (remember when I said we should reivew as many as possible?) by having an proportional nomination system and using a simple "yes no" vote aka a popularity contest instead of reviewing the films as a panel (remember when I said we should avoid it being a popularity contest?)


So yeah, I actually have put a lot of thought in the correct way to handle something like this.  The Academy Awards was my goto example of how NOT to proceed.  

[shmokes]

Remember when I said:

I haven't read any of this thread

So no, LOL, I don't remember you saying any of those things.

But then . . . I guess what I'm getting from your most recent post, which I did read, is that this whole thing is just not gonna be any fun. Maybe that's not fair since I didn't read the whole thread.

By the way, reviewing as many as possible is still a select group. Anything less than "all" is, by definition a select group. That's sort of the point of the nominating process. It narrows down the "all" to something manageable. And then, how does it not become a popularity contest? Can you imagine how many people would refuse to vote for a masterpiece I built on principle?     I have full-on enemies here. One guy said once that he was giving up the whole hobby because of me. Which doesn't even make sense because I wasn't even mean to him, but whatever. I know you can relate because of how many people have publicly expressed similar feelings for you.

So, it's gonna be flawed no matter what. Trying to create some system that will actually scientifically identify the best cab, with objectivity pure as the driven snow, is laughable. If you're gonna do it, make it manageable and make it fun. Those are by far the two most important factors (since the other factors are totally illusory anyway).

And if manageable and fun are what you're going for, the Academy Awards actually offer a fairly good template to go by.

[jimmy2x2x]

Why are you all so fixed on an elite panel who will make a lot of the decisions, what is the issue with public voting?

Is this about giving awards or creating a gentlemans club?

[Le Chuck]

Remember when I said:

But then . . . I guess what I'm getting from your most recent post, which I did read, is that this whole thing is just not gonna be any fun. Maybe that's not fair since I didn't read the whole thread.

By the way, reviewing as many as possible is still a select group. Anything less than "all" is, by definition a select group. That's sort of the point of the nominating process. It narrows down the "all" to something manageable. And then, how does it not become a popularity contest? Can you imagine how many people would refuse to vote for a masterpiece I built on principle?     I have full-on enemies here. One guy said once that he was giving up the whole hobby because of me. Which doesn't even make sense because I wasn't even mean to him, but whatever. I know you can relate because of how many people have publicly expressed similar feelings for you.

So, it's gonna be flawed no matter what. Trying to create some system that will actually scientifically identify the best cab, with objectivity pure as the driven snow, is laughable. If you're gonna do it, make it manageable and make it fun. Those are by far the two most important factors (since the other factors are totally illusory anyway).

And if manageable and fun are what you're going for, the Academy Awards actually offer a fairly good template to go by.

Shmokes, there are some really great questions in there.  I have my own opinion on how to keep it fun, keep it manageable, and rein in the user popularity test but the best way to flesh out a community solution is to execute this on a trial basis and then see where we are.  Anything less than that and I fear we'll dissolve into bickering and end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater. 

To address your concerns user to user I am for a popular vote for yearly judges:  This may keep some of our users with "full-on enemies" out of the judges circle but the benefit to the project outweighs the consequence of lost experience just because so-n-so is a prickly character that gets in peoples' jell-o too much... or may not.  Again, it's a popular vote, this thread has hundreds of views and like 30 votes so it's not going to be perfect. 

Category winner selection - Users recommend projects for each category.  Panel ensures nothing was left out that they think should be included and does a write-up on the X (3?) that they choose (2/3 of which need to be nominated).  Those write-ups go up for a popular vote and the community decides the winner. 

Maybe a clear front runner goes in but after the write-ups the underdog gets a more favorable look and comes out ahead?  Maybe the write-up doesn't change the vote at all but at least provides some good analysis. 

Or even simpler, the nominations is the voting, once it's closed the one with the most nom wins, but the panel still analyses their three pics for a "closer look" a this year's nominees. 

When I say good analysis I don't know what that looks like yet.  I'm hoping it's fun, I'm hoping it is pointed but a bit tongue in cheek, I'm hoping that people would enjoy reading it.  That's why I'm putting mine up for a go so we can iron that out.   

I am extremely concerned with the "gentleman's club" but want to have a standard form and consistent analysis of the projects as well.  It's a tough line to walk but I'm on that line so hopefully I can get something that Jimmy likes and will read and something that Howard likes and will read even though they have almost didactic points of view.     

[Howard_Casto]

Why are you all so fixed on an elite panel who will make a lot of the decisions, what is the issue with public voting?

Is this about giving awards or creating a gentlemans club?

Nah, man there's no elite panel to it.  We just need a group of guys that actually know what they are doing to go over the nominees.  I don't think it's possible to make a really good awards system with just a popular vote.

[Well Fed Games]

I am still confused by all this bureaucracy talk. Is there any doubt what projects have raised the bar and which ones have not? I'm quite proud of the work I did on my cab but have no interest in a critique of it beyond the advice and suggestions I received in the project thread. Based on my successes and failures, I will give advice and suggestions in other people's project threads. It is the great MAME circle of life.

By all means, maybe we should start a trend of people posting their favorite builds, or encourage builders to do better postmortems on their cabinets (video please) talking about what they would and wouldn't do again. But it seems like negativity keeps creeping into this award idea, and it has become too messy. If you think something is cool, just say so. Start a thread. But talk of judges and stuff... no thanks.

[Le Chuck]

We could always split it up.  Run a popular vote by category.  Put out simple instructions, let folks nominate, after a week or two close the nominations and open a voting pole for each category.  Awards and accolades presented as necessary.

Not a lot of bureaucracy, low impact, fun, a year end review child board on the project announce thread.  Easy peasy.   

An unaffiliated panel made up by whoever decides they want to be on that panel can get together and discuss the merits of cabs and projects as they see fit.  Really get academic and post their findings as necessary.  The panel doesn't do any awards - only analysis for the good of those who suffer through reading it. The only stipulation is that the builder has to consent to the scrutiny, otherwise the project continue to exist in a sublime state of nature within the great MAME circle of life.   

Sometimes the best solution is two solutions.  Comments and criticism are welcome and I'll still put my cab up for the scrutiny experiment. 

[Vigo]

Here is my 2 cents on method, just throwing it out there:

1) Start a nomination thread. Have 5 award categories. Ask people to just post [project nominated, category, link]

2) Start a voting poll for every project with 2 or more nominations. Do not allow results to be viewed until the voting period is over. Give people up to five votes, enough for one vote per category. In the original post have a link to every project announcement and a photo.

3) Bring a few honorary "judges". The don't really do any judging, but rather talk about the voted winner and highlight what they feel makes the project so awesome. Maybe the judges can also do an honorable mention. Pick out something cool that might not have been a winner.

4) Maybe allow the winners to be honorary judges the for the next year.

[Well Fed Games]

panel made up by whoever decides they want to be on that panel

the builder has to consent to the scrutiny

That seems like the most reasonable approach.

And a "look at some of the community's favorite builds completed in the last year" thread certainly makes sense, especially as a point of inspiration for newcomers.

As long as all of it keeps with the (general) spirit of the forum, and isn't making fun of people's hard work or giving unsolicited criticism, then yeah, I would probably read and enjoy those threads. And it is going to take restraint. Sure, someone might hate all weecades, or laminated cabs, or leaf switch joysticks, or whatever, but they don't need to share that in every thread discussing a cabinet with those elements.

And definitely not this:

I think it could be just as valuable to highlight a few stinkers

Even the phrasing of that statement... that some cabs are "stinkers," is a reminder of how this process could go wrong if it isn't ultimately based around praising the praiseworthy.

[CheffoJeffo]

Sure, someone might hate all weecades, or laminated cabs, or leaf switch joysticks, or whatever, but they don't need to share that in every thread discussing a cabinet with those elements.

Anybody who hates leaf switch joysticks is, by definition, not qualified to judge anything.

 

[Zakk]

My thoughts.

As a 'user voted system'. I think it would garner limited interest.  I really should have kept with it, but time and incentive was lacking. The only guy that really kept at it was lew.  That crazy irishman and his hot wife toiled long hours finding the best of the best, submitting them to me so that I could...wander off and play with a penny (a shiny penny). In fact, if lew wanted the rights to the mameys I'd likely give it to him.  Who knows, maybe the 'judges' need to be picked by the users here, and then they can 'vote' on the submissions.

Oh and apologies to anyone I didn't respond to.  There was that bit where mameworld lost its domain, and I was just too damn lazy to update all the links and whatnot.  saint gave me free hosting space for the mameys too (that guy is a....saint), but even that didn't get my juices flowing.  Around that time the main submission e-mail addy got shut down too.  

So I agree that people should be recognized for the awesome stuff they do.  It's just really hard to keep with it.  As one pointed out, the mamey's have been sort of inactive for what, 4-6 years?  So just remember, this is an unpaid proposition, where your biggest accolades will be things like this :
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Talk:Mamey
Plus the guys that pull the "who is you to judge me!?!" guys, they are tiring as well.  ANARCHY FOREVER!!!

Plus, and shmokes said, there's one cabinet that should win all the awards...it just took so long to build that the awards were gone by the time it finished

[Pixelhugger]

it just took so long to build that the awards were gone by the time it finished

So wait a second. That "Mamey for most aggravatingly slow progress ever made" wasn't a real Mamey? Crap. Now what...

I give up.