Can I vote for the article by KJ?

My vote goes to :

“I have never even seen a ship in Singapore!” – Ravi Philemon

Ya, the one about not havin seen a ship is best.

I’m sorry to pour cold water over this exercise.

I’m very disappointed that TOC has resorted to having an “Article/Report of the Month” contest to drum up interest. Ostensibly, the cash prize of $50 is in recognition of the effort and time put in by the writers.

I believe this monthly contest will have the opposite effect. It will make the writers feel like wannabes in a contest a la The American Idol. This is highly inappropriate as I believe most of the writers contribute to TOC out of passion and firm belief in what they write. Making a contest out of their efforts only cheapens them.

Furthermore, there is no such a thing as “best” article. Neither the editors nor netizens like me are qualified to judge or vote on the merits of such articles as they are clearly the result of a labour of love. None deserve to be labelled as “losing” articles.

Please reconsider.

If you think I’m a spoil-sport, I hereby apologize unreservedly and you can ignore this plea. I thank you.

smallvoice,

Yes, the thought did cross my mind. But I feel it is precisely that our writers put in much time and effort to write their pieces and do the reports that we feel TOC should give them some recognition and show our appreciation.

The prize money of $50 is really just token and the writers understand that it is that – a gesture of appreciation.

Regards,
Andrew Loh

I have the same feelings as “smallvoice585″.

If one is chosen as the best, then what about the rest?
How will the other writers think?
They must either be second best or lousy, isn’t it?
Why raise one writer or one article up in the pedestal while at the same time degrade all other writers/articles?

Will such action be an encouragement or discouragement?
What do you achieve?

What will the readers/audience think of all the other writers/articles?

One suggestion: Why don’t use the number of hits/views per article as the yardstick of measure – the most viewed or visited article – as the basis for token of appreciation?

Pandora,

I have confidence that our writers would continue to do what they do with passion, as always. :)

Using the hits would also be the same thing – “elevating” one article from the rest.

Lets see how it goes….

Andrew

By the way, I select none of those you have chosen.
Personally, I prefer the article titled “Memo to the Prime Minister”.

Reasons:

1. It is light-hearted reading – a bit of joke, a bit of realism, a bit of hope, and could be representative of most of the readers’ feelings and aspirations.

2. It really concerns the future of Singapore, which if handled wrongly, would definitely affect a lot of peoples’ live and pockets.

3. Many readers have given their praises for the article and the writers concerned.

4. It received the highest number of hits or views, 4822 within a short period of a few days only.

Please reconsider.

Pandora,

Memo to the Pm was written in February. The current poll is for articles written in January.. ;)

In that case, I am sorry, TOC; I will reserve it for next month then.

Based upon the 8 you have selected, I prefer the article titled:

“Can I work till 65, please!” by Richard Ee

Not much of choice. nevertheless it is:

TOC Expose: Repatriation companies – Jolovan Wham

for me.

” Can I work till 65 please ! ” – Richard Ee

TOC Expose: Repatriation companies – Jolovan Wham has my vote

My vote goes to Repatriation Companies too. Great insight by Jolovan Wham!

Dear Andrew Loh,

I do appreciate your good intentions behind this contest.

The problem with it is not the dollar value (of $50) of the prize money.

The inappropriateness is in:
(a) What started out as free citizen-directed reporting has now degenerated into another crass contest decided by uncontrolled and unvalidated voting.
(b) The writers of the articles were not consulted before this contest thing came into being. I do not believe that when they submit the reports they feel that they are willingly entering a contest. Now that it’s declared to be a contest, they are bound to feel short-changed. As a reader, I appreciate each and every article and in my humble opinion – they stand on their own merits and do not need any endorsement from anyone.

I opt out of voting for any report or article now or in the future, out of respect for all writers here.

Hey, what happened to The Life and Times of Chua Lee Hoong??

I agree completely with #4. People write not for monetary benefit but for the passion they feel for their subjects and ideas. The $50 ‘reward’ cheapens it further: it is neither here nor there. If you wish to give a cash award, make it substantial but then, that will change the game altogether.

I think the suggestion in #6 is very practical. The results speak for themselves. Drop the ‘best article’ (writers of all articles put in effort) but possibly list a) most read b) most commented and/or a new category c) most recommended.

My vote goes to none of the above.

#16 Peter Sellers is right. There are other great articles written. Especially by KJ and others.
Is there a reason for being selective? Oh, its limited to January ones only?

Frankly, I don’t think is reward through voting is meaningful. Let the readership count of the articles determine the popularity.
Just providing a chart showing the graph of articles are good enough to pique interest and provide the type of article to that looking interesting. Of course, it can be gamed but then in practice, gaming don’t seem to be the main issue, what count is if the theme of article actually reflect what concern to the reader.

This is not different from lucky draw.

The best writer that personifies what’s best about TOC is missing. Where is Gilbert Goh?

I hope TOC can be more transparent about this voting for best article.

1. why these few articles? To me, although good articles they are, there are many others not listed for selection.

I think Andrew is just trying out something new as always.

He is very creative and has little fear in trying out new things here.

Lets give this contest a try and see how it goes. In all matters, we should always try instead of backing away even though it may be abit uncomfortable for some of us.

For those who supported my writings, thank you very mcuh.

That alone is enough satisfaction for me. I will try to improve my writings here.

Gilbert

Yep, I agree writers contribute because of passion and belief. This is just a small token of appreciation, relax, smallvoice, not as serious as you think.

Anyway, I do see a future when contributors can receive a small reward for their work, if TOC is able to work out a deal with advertisers.

OHP,

The vote is for articles published in the month of January only – as explained in the post. The 8 articles are picked by the editors independently, out of the many published in the month of January.

Gilbert. You are the best writer here without a doubt. As some one said. You personify TOC in every sense of the word. I am sure, if you happen to be in the running. You could easily garner 90% of the votes here.