Tons of catch up to do...Tons...

Mark Jones vs Simon Laflamme
-My vote: Mark Jones
The results were very close here, and it also was a close one in my mind. Mark's idicoy level has lowered these days though, and with not a whole lot of positive stuff going on betwen me and Simon lately, the choice got easier to make. I think I am somewhat close to both of them, but the difference is that I know what Mark thinks of me (or I think so anyway), and that I'm kind of unsure what Simon thinks about me. I like when people are straight forward about that stuff, positive or negative. Simon has this habbit of writing some of the biggest posts or emails around here, but often times, when I'm done reading them, I feel like he didn't say a whole lot after all. Maybe I just have a hard time viewing his points (which could be the case really), but sometime I feel a bit the same way in our discussions. So for not being enough straight forward with me Simon, you do not get my vote.

Michael Jongerius vs Louis-Philippe Sabbagh
-My vote: ------------
Even though I had predicted my loss, I did expect to win this one in the few days prior to my match. I was obviously way dissapointed with the results. I do not want to take anything away from Jongerius, since he is all over the place: SMK, MK64, MKDD, you name it, and he plays them all at a high level. And from the rare chats I've had with him, I can't say anything bad about him. That being said, I have the impression that alot of the people vote based on who is the best gamer. I can see this playing a part on the decision, but damn, this is NOT a "rank those players from best gamer to worst gamer" contest. Beside his gaming skills, Jongerius has very little going his way for most of us. I do not think he is that close with many of you, so this makes me think that a WR video will gain the vote of the mass. And that, pisses me off. I've showed my interest for the contest since it started, vote shared for every match, trying to entertain you guys with my posts, to make you laugh or to give you an honest portrait of a certain person. On his side, Jongerius has made no post in the "Karter Contest 2K4" section of the board, and has shown next to no interest about it. I know I am not the most well-knowed guy around, but my posts in this very thread should have been enough to give you a good idea of who I am. You did not like what I wrote? Maybe, but from the 0 negative replies I got in this thread, I have to believe otherwise. Bottom line, I lost where I think I would, but to the wrong guy. I am seriously questioning the legitimacy of some of the votes. If I sound like a sore loser to you, it's probably because I think your vote reasoning sucks.

Ben Miller vs Finn Berger
-My vote: Finn Berger
Another tough one. In the past, I have been closer to Miller than to Finn in the present. Miller was a great guy, no question about it. I've had several chats with him, and it's all been good from what I recall. We don't hear a whole lot about him these days though, and I felt that Finn was just too present nowadays. Concidering I never have had a discussion/chat with him, I'm having second thoughts about my vote now. On a side note, I think that Santa Clause pic of Finn should be removed. I know this was meant to be a joke (and it was a good one), but concidering how some people base their decisions on the weirdest stuff, I think this gives an unfair advantage to Finn.

Sami Cetin vs Jason Whalls
-My vote: Jason Whalls
Predicted Whalls to win this one, but Sami ran away with it. I see this match alot like the me/Jongerius match. Sami is a top of the line karter, but yet not close to many of us. Whalls ranks a bit lower, but tries to reach to the majority with his joke projects and everything since years. Yet again, the best karter wins somehow. Extremely dissapointed to see him lose, since his next match would most likely be vs Booth, and that was probably the best possible matchup ever for me in the tourney.

The results from the past few days have made me extremely dissapointed about the Mario Kart community( SMK, MK64 and MKDD). I think most of you voted based on ridiculous stuff. Granted, I also did make a few weird votes in the round 1-2 matches(since that was my only way to make a decision), but when it comes down to the important matches, you don't get my vote because you're a good gamer, make WR videos, have a pic of Santa Clause, live in Quebec, live in France, eat pizza, make golf balls bounce or dress as a girl. I will keep voting to the end, but I fear the most educated votes will get lost under the pile of weirdnesses.

LpS (that's Louis-Philippe Sabbagh, for you ignorants)

Right, I was in London for a few days, and I come back and see these results and I have to say I was a little deflated to see the two biggest vote sharers getting the boot. (even though they were up against quite strong opposition)

I did manage to get my vote for Louis off before going to the Airport, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference to the result. The one thing I will say about MJ here is that he's always been friendly when I've talked to him and one time made up a crazily fast vid for me to watch. So I'll add my name to the list of people who have nothing against him (except that he's made it basically impossible for me to ever get #1..but that's another story)

Louis, I've gotten to know over IRC for the past few months, and I do feel like I have a better connection with him, but that's not the only reason I voted for him. Michael is a very absent from the community...it's rare that you see him post anything to the message board, so for me it feels like, although he talks to people individually, he doesn't really talk to the community as a whole, and so I can't see him as a major part of it. On the flip side of this, not only has Louis posted, but he's posted both positive and negative stuff about various people in this thread, and that...well it risks getting negative stuff back at you, so it takes some guts. Even, though a lot of people have been vote sharing, Louis and Jason are really the only two that I can say have been pretty fearless about it, and for that reason, they both go up in my books.

The Finn/Miller matchup I was looking forward to having to vote in, because I've had at different times very strong ties with these guys. Miller in the past, and Finn now. In the end I would have decided to vote for Finn, because I feel that he'll be someone I will continue to talk to over the next few years, whereas I may never say a single word to Ben again. Also, I've talked about a lot of things in detail and depth with Finn, whereas the way I used talk to Ben, was more joke/kart oriented and quite surface level.

It's interesting, that in all these matchups, I have liked both people, and have very little against any of the 6.

The Sami/Whalls matchup is interesting, and I agree completely with those who say that the stronger karter is getting a lot of votes in this tourney, but it really can't be helped. There isn't a rule that says "Only vote, if you know either/both of these two people". In fact, the recent drive to get as many people to vote as possible is skewing results, I feel. I don't think that the people collecting votes should _ask_ people for votes on the day, because they can target specific crowds of people to get a result they want, but this is a minor point.
Also, (I haven't seen the Finn pic), but I agree that something like that effects the votes, even though in this particular matchup, Finn would have always won regardless of the pic. I also have a slight issue with the tournament organisers actually being in the tourney themselves. I know the votes of the rounds they're in are secret, and they can't see them, but I know quite a number of people who voted for one of the tourney organisers or abstained completely from a vote, 'just in case they'll find out'. So I think the perfect solution would be for someone external to the core of the community to run it, but that's an idea for another time/tourney.

I got a little sidetracked there. I would have voted for Whalls in that last matchup. Sami is just over a small bit of water from me, and I talked to him quite a bit back in the day, but he's another one of those who is absent from the community as a whole (even though he has ties with individuals). Jason, on the other hand is...I can't quite describe what I mean here. He's more the heart of the site..whereas everyone working on the site (myself included) has certain practical "duties", he has attempted to make it 'fun', and so I think he should have gotten further. Unfortunately, maybe some backlash with his vote sharing, or just "Samis a God karter" worked against him. It's by no means an outrageous result because Samis name was the biggest there was when I joined the site (master of Smk and Mk64) - a role which now belongs to MJ, but I still would have liked Whalls to edge this one.

Anyway, while I'm writing this, I better write some quick words on Sami's and Michael's matches. I did vote for both of them, though I'll explain why.

First, the Michael vs. Louis-Philippe match up:
Basically, there's only 1 person in kart that I truly consider to be a friend and it is Jamie White. Michael however, is probably among the couple of players (5-10) with whom I get along best and chat with semi-regularly. I've never really had deep conversations with him, usually because he was about to go to bed when I got online, (damn time zones  ) but lately, we've been sharing some music, and although our taste differ a little bit, this was a very pleasant experience. He's also been very helpful with the Non-NBT site. Really, I can't say I voted for him because of video contribution or because of outstanding kart skills. We're about equivalent in SMK, I'm a little better overall in MKDD and I haven't really been into MK64 lately, the game he's the most dominant at.

Sami vs. Jason: Sami
That one, I must say, was a little hesitating at first. Jason is possibly my biggest inspiration as far as kart-related projects go. Obviously, the fake chat quickly comes to mind here, but his profile was also of inspiration when I got to creating mine in SMK. Another thing I like about Jason is that he can talk or have monologues on touchy kart-related topics in depth, where most people would say "dude, it's just a fucking game".

Anyway, why did I vote for Sami, then? Maybe you could say it is because I consider Jason's creations/ contributions and his personality as 2. I've always found Jason to be a pessimistic guy. Sometimes, I really wonder why he sees things so negatively and uses black irony all the time. This annoys me a bit less than before, but still a good amount. If you are new to the game, have a bad grammar or are really young, then the last thing you may want to do is get in contact with Jason. In the earlier conversations I had with him, he made me feel a little uncomfortable, and I felt like I had to watch out for what exacts words I used, because I also felt like he thought up his replicas word by word. Being a timid guy (no, not the red flying thingy), it didn't make the conversation very natural, though I should stress here that the last one we had was very nice!

As far as Sami goes, I've had a few arguments with him in the past, and disagreed (and occasionally still do) at times with the way he proceeded when conflicts or problems arose, but quite briefly, he's a trustworthy person, and I know he has always wanted to make things best for players on the SMK players' site. Furthermore, he gave me tips very early on during my SMK carreer, and he still likes to keep in touch with new comers to the competition, which is something unfortunately I do not have the patience and devotion to do.  

Anyway, I'd like to write some more or make some of the things I said clearer if possible, but my dinner has been ready for 20 minutes or so, so I'm off.

wow, nice posts going on here

anyway I agree with Liem on the fact that I don't think those guys would actually bother to try to skew the votes one way or another.  It's kinda pointless anyway.  

As for criticism; I do think negative criticism can actually help because you get to view a perspective that isn't your own about yourself.

As for vote sharing.... *runs away*

Cetin vs Whalls
My vote: Whalls

I went with Whalls just for the fact that I never really spoke with any of the 2 but I read his fake chat and he's in MIRC most of the few time I go there and he seems like a nice guy. While Sami does look like a great guy too I never chatted with him once and I don't check SMK board pretty often. Anyway that was an easy vote for me.

Nathan vs Tanney
My vote: Stinson

I chatted with Nathan on AIM a few months back and he looked like a nice guy. We were discussing new things about games or all stuff and it was always nice so I don't have much to say against him. While for Tanney I rarelly chatted with him or only for really short time so I don't know him much. I don't know the result of this match yet but I know it's finished  

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Yep, during the community building years, I really strived to make sure that my relationship with the kart members was strong.  I did this because I knew that by doing this, we would be stronger as a community, and furthermore, I'd be stronger for knowing a wide range of people and connections.  I've caught a lot of breaks, and met a lot of people, because I was so aggressive at establishing good  (can't think of the word for it.... sounds like repour) with individual community members.  I really enjoyed getting to know everyone when I was involved.  Once I stopped being involved in the daily happenings, and life changed for me, I stopped really chatting online a lot, so on occasion, I'd chat with people here and there and offer them and the future leaders my support.

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Good Save Whalls  However, a very good point, and I do agree, and I've defintely limited a lot of that.  Reasoning behind all of that is clearly a character flaw on my part, and I'll defintely fess up to it.  I need to be concentrating on more important and pressing matters, and once I do, my life will improve drasically.


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LOL!  Ya, but usually the only people I tell the BIG stuff are people that can handle it.  My like really isn't that bad actually.  Really, I think I have a pretty good life, but I just forget that sometimes when I'm forced to go outside of my comfort zone.  I do know that there will be  a time when I'll have to anyhow, so the smart thing for me to do now is to get it over with, so at least I don't have the pressure of beign on a last chance before I do something about it.

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I'll save that for next paragraph

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Ya, I kinda overdid it there.  The MB stunt was provoked actually by Jones, and well he actually took it to the next level, and actually hacked a site to continue the joke.  Also, I'm defintely not the only one firing off inuendos.  Duff comes to mind, but I think his timing is better than mine, so hats off.

Lastly, good point on not saying much else.  As far as that goes, if anyone has a subject they want me to comment/address, I'll do so.

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You'd be suprised how many people have these, with yourself included. It's just that I don't shield it from people on here, because  I'm comfortable with them knowing the real me, much like Lacey crossdressing or Louis... well... we won't go there.

In my years of being the top Kart guy, I'd say at least every member I've talked to for any decent amount of time has confided in me about many issues, and not just kart issues.

I've realized that's a part of being a leader, and that' s just what leaders do, so I did it.

Mark vs Simon
I talked to Mark afew times. I talk to Simon often and have for quite awhile. Simon's a very good friend and has contriubuted alot to the community and continues to do so. Mark has too it seems but I couldn't vote against Simon.


Jongerius vs Louis
I voted Jongerius here. hey, louis, I've talked to Jongerius alot more than I've talked to you, and I've heard more from him, and know him alot better. This is probably because I'm mostly in the SMK community but to me it does seem like you're being a sore loser. Jongerius also helps with the updating of the non-nbt site for SMK, so he is involved in the community. My vote reasoning does not suck..

Ben vs Finn
I voted Finn here because he is the oldest karter and seems like a nice guy. I don't know Ben Miller at all. I do agree however that things like that picture do influence the vote. Damn William "Susan" Lacey, imagine what the outcome of that match would've been if it was just William Lacey. And what if I used my nickname, Jamie "Pimp Master Disaster" White? You just know there was a crucial swing voter that decided to vote "Susan." I could've lost by 12 or 13 instead of 15 dammit. *shakes pencil violently* I warn you, it's sharpened.

Cetin vs Whalls
I voted Sami. I thought this was a really nice matchup, and thought Whalls would win because Sami hasn't been around these boards much. But, Sami has been keeping up the smk site for years. This shows alot of dedication. I don't know Sami very well at all personally but "Sami Cetin" will just always have the thought in my mind as the best person involved in kart, because I've only played smk so far.  Whalls is involved in the community too and I did enjoy reading some of his chats and my opinion of him has improved lately (not to say it was bad in the first place, but reading his posts give me a better idea of him).

Nathan vs Paul
I voted Paul here. I don't know Paul very well, but I feel I know him abit from seeing his posts. I don't really talk to anyone in the smk community regularly besides Simon, so it doesn't discredit someone when I say I don't really know them. Nathan on the other hand has lied about times in the past. Do people not remember this or do people on mk64 and mkdd not know of what he did on smk? Nathan is a nice guy (who looks NOTHING like I expected, by the way) but I am glad Paul moved on.

I'm on foodstamps and welfare and sleep in the same clothes I go to school in, so there's my 1 cent.

Bummer, lately I've been voting for all the folks that end up losing.. Louis, Jason, Ben, Paul. Maybe I should vote for Mark today  

Okay, on to vote sharing. (Yes, I can hear you all cheering.)

David Wonn vs. Kevin Booth
Voted for Booth. Really, after all that typing, I barely have anything new to add to this match. Everything I wanted to say about each guy can be found in their previous round's vote share. The only thing I can really add to this is that this match would've been far more interesting a while back. Wonn, while still generally popular, has faded a bit from the communities, and now some newer shortcuts are being discovered, which detracts a bit from the uniqueness of Wonn's accomplishments. I suppose Booth has faded from the community a tad as well, or at least dropped from the center of attention, so it's not entirely one-sided, but I think this would've been a much better match if it would've been staged in Wonn's prime. Then again, that was Booth's prime as well, so maybe it would've worked out at about this ratio of votes at any time.

Paul Tanney vs. Nathan Stinson
Voted for Stinson. I think I speak for everyone when I say thank god this match ended. This match was, as the votes showed, pretty even, but I have to be honest...I didn't like the match. As I mentioned before, I think these guys got two of the easiest paths to this round, which bothers me, though that's compounded by some of my closest friends (and myself imo, for that matter) getting some quite difficult draws in multiple rounds. I don't really want to complain about that, as I think hard draws are way more interesting than easy ones, and I value the fun factor of the matches much more than the final results, so that makes easy draws kind of...

Anyway, the reasoning for my Stinson vote was pretty simple. I still don't know Tanney, and I know Stinson (somewhat). As Jamie pointed out though, Stinson had some troubles with lying on times earlier in his career, and no, everyone didn't just forget/ignore that. He simply got such easy draws that I couldn't not vote for him. I suppose that was the case with others as well. Honestly, I wouldn't have put him past round 2 or 3, if things worked out according to the rankings in my head, as I would've rated his lying much more heavily in a match against someone I knew well. Still, this isn't to say that I don't like Stinson. I believe his apology for his actions in the past was sincere, and even though I'm generally a supporter of lynching liars, I do forgive him. He's a nice guy, and I really see no point in holding a grudge against him for that mistake.

As for Tanney, like I said, I know little about him. I've seen him talking to Dave Taylor quite a bit in IRC, but it's rarely a conversation that I feel inclined to jump into, or I'm doing other things at the time (generally gaming or getting ready to take a nap...occasionally writing a novel here).

Still, a couple of things have bugged me about Paul, though maybe I'm not the person that should be bringing them up, or maybe even upset about them (especially if those that it relates to more aren't). Either way, I'm going to talk about them.  

First of all, I think he may have gotten in a bit over his head with the contest. From what I gather, Liem was expecting to play a supporting role with this, and it sounds like he has had more pushed onto his plate than he expected. It definitely seems to me that this has bothered Liem, and I find that a bit bothersome as well, as I would hope that even the people behind the tournament are enjoying themselves.

Paul slaughtering the 3rd round suggestion list didn't help a whole lot for me either, as the rules were sent to him and clearly defined. Granted, everyone makes mistakes, but with such a limited time limit, it was disappointing to me to have one of the lists thrown away, as it could've (and probably would've considering the low number of lists) affected the seeding of the 3rd round, and in turn, the results.

Sure, my issues with Paul are pretty small, but when I don't know someone, any stuff that is negative is...um...not positive. I suppose I would be much more interested in Liem's take on this match, though I don't think I'll get that.

William Lacey vs. Paul Tanney
Voted for Lacey. I can't say that I know Lacey drastically more than I know Tanney, but I have spoken to him a bit more, and I've found many of Lacey's posts around here to be pretty humorous, and his vote sharing has been welcome when he does it. That was enough to give him the edge for me in this match, and it's nice to see a low seeded karter make it deep in this. It seems that Lacey really is the Cinderella story of this tournament, though maybe I shouldn't say that...he might release another picture.    

Go for it, William! Cinderella juggling for the Queen. You’ll probably make the news. Hell, I’d put you in the finals for that.

2/3 right on these, and if you're still reading, I guess I’m interested in knowing how many times you fell asleep.

Yeah Lacey deserves to beat me , he been here much longer and done more in karting , and me well...give me a chance im hoping to as well  

Unbelievable! First Bush, now Penev! This has officially been the worst week of my life. *weeps inconsolably*

Hehe, nice win Alex. I knew it was gonna be a close match and was surprised to see that I actually held a lead for a little while. Now I'm gonna have to make a choice between you and Lacey and I'm not looking forward to having to make that choice.

Alot of lengthy posts since my last one, and it's been enjoyable reading what you guys had to say to me, or about others matches. I obviously have many things things to respond to, so lets get started...

I'm glad I got a responce from you Simon. You covered many things that no one did to this point(then again, not a whole lot of people post negative things in here). I obviously have a few things to comment on...

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Yes, in most cases I am strongly convinced of what I support. Many say that there are no right or wrong opinions, I think that's a load of crap. There are right opinions, and there are opinions that are better than others. If I enter a debate, or defend something I believe in, in my mind, I am right and the other isn't. If this makes me a close minded person, so be it. I'd rather say this makes me someone with strong convictions. That beeing said, I believe I can change opinion when I see others point out things I never thought of, so I don't just blindly believe something, I have stuff to back me up.

As for playing the role of the timesheet updaters in chat rooms, I'm not too sure what you are talking about. I'm sure that I've mentionned it before(then again most people already know), and I doubt it was ever said in a way to promote myself as a staff member.

As for sinking down new comers, yes it has happened. You even told me at those times that you thought I was a bit too rough with them. I think you were a bit too kind with them. Most of the time, they would claim impossible times, or out of the blue shortcuts. So far none of those times have been confirmed, so I have to think those people got what they deserved. I have a hard time taking uncalled crap from people online.

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Yeah, I guess I am lazy sometimes. Then again, who isn't? I'll take the blame on not trying to improve situations I'm not satisfied with. I don't think there were many of them though, and I doubt I could have changed anything. Yes, I have voted based on nationnalities in the earlier rounds. I'll admit it is not the best criteria, I'll even admit it is a very weak one, but there are countries that I like better than others(and I'm sure it's the same for everyone). so I had to go with that, concidering I had no other possble criterias available. Kart tourneys for 1999? I have a hard time seeing what you find wrong in that. Those were some of my best kart memories, and if someone contributed in making this memory good, there's no doubt I had a good connection with that person.

Overall, I think you were a bit harsh on me for this match. You went with the guy you had next to no connection with (or maybe you do, and I have no idea about it), instead of the person you've known for a few years. Granted, you had many many negative arguments about me, but I think the positive stuff should have come thru. That being said, I respect your vote. Same for the Jongerius one. I pretty much knew I wasn't getting this one anyway, since I know you guys are close.

If I had to guess, it might be that the long posts are intimidating the rest of us into feeling lame for short posts??

Pretty simple, no reasoning I could (or would care to) explain/share

Lacey vs. Tanney
Penev vs. Jones
Jongerius vs. Berger: voted for Tobonuokalosanshiyukio.  No seriously, this is the current match, no sharing yet.  Plus I made up that name