it is called Fan of the Week and not fans of the week, so I'd think not. Has either candidate won the award before? If one has and one hasn't, choose the one who hasn't won it.
Come on, I almost failed highschool maths (twice, by the way) but even I can count from 1 to 2!
And yeah, I looked at the list of previous winners. Heh, in fact, I've looked at quite a lot of posting histories. I took it very seriously and, for something related to entertainment and generally a part of life where levity would be much more in order, it was very painful to have to choose.
Congrats Newbie and Happy New year to you and everyone reading!
Thank you, the same to you!
***
This said, I would like to apologise for the slight delay. I'm sure everybody will be understanding on account of New Year and New Year's Eve and all but in truth it had more to do with my trouble making the decision. I will be nominating my successor now.
So, the successor is:
Dovahkiing 'the UnfinishAAR' (Paradox please put him as a Poet courtier with the Stressed trait in the Isles or Orkney or somewhere in Ireland. Thanks.)
If you look at the guy's posting history, it's replete with comments in people's AARs all over the place, across many games. I counted his production in the last month, for example. He scored over sixty posts in thirty different AARs in addition to nominating an AAR spotlight. Knowing from experience the no comments plague (in the summer or the months before it, as I recall), I imagine that a single comment, especially from someone with somewhat of a name in the forums, can keep you going. Multiply it by 30 and, according to the law of great numbers, there is a good chunk of probability that a couple of AARs were saved from discontinuation by a solitary author. I suppose he must have a certain sense of mission, taking the responsibility on his shoulders for keeping th e community going, or at least this is the impression I'm getting (perhaps in a synergy with how he knows comments to be so important from the writer's side). Incidentally (as this had no bearing on the awarding decision), he will be an interesting moment to see his own choice of the award next week, with all the knowledge of the AAR scene he must have from following so many AARs. He probably knows other deserving people as he must have come across many.
This said, it breaks my heart that I couldn't give it to A_Dane at the same time, who is a blast of a reader to have and always makes interested, vibrant and involved comments, sometimes outside the AAR thread when we bump into each other in the General Forum. I hope there is a time he gets the award because he truly deserves it. He seems to have devoted part of his holidays to it, and that is much welcome.
Basically giving the award to either of these two guys, barring folks who have already received theirs (like DensleyBlair, an equally committed reader of mine but by no means not only mine, who along with Mike the Knight, my own awarder, have kept my two last AARs going, both of these guys being my two immediate predecessors in the award), makes it feel like robbing the other of it. If somebody were to give it to A_Dane in the future, it would make me happier than if I got the award myself.