Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives
https://forum.metal-archives.com/

The 14th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th Dec 2014
https://forum.metal-archives.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=107782
Page 1 of 6

Author:  Derigin [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 1:15 am ]
Post subject:  The 14th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th Dec 2014

Greetings, all. It's been about two years since we last held our classic MA Virgin Reviews Challenge. First hosted by Byrgan, and then later on by Sean16, droneriot, caspian, and Gunther, the Virgin Reviews Challenge was once a time-honored tradition among our reviewers here. Every winter (usually in November or December) and every spring (usually in May or June), reviewers were encouraged to spend a week writing and submitting as many quality reviews as they could muster... with the primary aim to focus on albums with no reviews so far (ie. virgin albums). The challenge is meant to encourage people to make reviews for albums that don't have any! Every day, the reviews submitted and accepted would be tallied, and participants could see how they compare with one another and whether or not, altogether, we've been able to surpass previous challenges' totals.

Here’s the week for the challenge: from Monday December 1st to Sunday December 7th, i.e. two weeks from now.

The magic number to beat is 609. That was set in May 2009. It's high but we can beat it.

The Rules

1. The focus is on virgin albums. The primary aim of the Virgin Reviews Challenge is to improve the site's quality by encouraging people to write reviews for albums with no reviews so far. During one week, MA reviewers submit as many reviews as they want/can for this kind of release. Of course everyone can still write reviews for already reviewed releases, but they won’t be taken into account in the final numbers.

2. Every release listed on the main site is valid including singles, videos, boxed sets and so on. However please note that 1) SPLIT ALBUMS will always count ONCE regardless of how many bands are playing and 2) there's a cap of FIVE REVIEWS PER REVIEWER for SINGLES. There are no other restrictions for other releases.

3. Eligible releases have to be virgins at the beginning of the Challenge. However several reviewers may review the same initial virgin. There’s no bonus for getting to it first, so no need to hurry – focus on quality instead.

4. Value quality over quantity! It’s a collective challenge, not an individual one. Mods won't be more lenient anyway. Everyone is welcomed even if it's only to write one review.

5. The Challenge abides by the default time of the site (Eastern Standard time or GMT-5). The Challenge always begins on a Monday at 00:00:01 and ends on the following Sunday 23:59:59. Time in your timezone is likely to be different from MA time, even if you’re living in the United States. So again, ensure that you are posting your review(s) within the right time frame.

6. The total number of reviews written will be tallied once a day (under normal circumstances). After the Challenge has ended, a big list of all the reviews written for virgin albums will be compiled, as a monument to MA reviewers. Another list will sum up how many reviews have been written by every reviewer. Again, being on the top of this latter list won’t make your dick bigger, so value quality over quantity (didn't I hear an echo here?)

7. Stay cordial and respectful with one another. In the recent past, review challenges ended up being hijacked by petty arguments. Regardless as to your personal goals, you should be having fun while doing this challenge. Friendly competition is good, but remember that the end goal is a collective goal.

8. The only reward is our eternal appreciation. This was never about winning prizes. The only prize is knowing that there is an album that previously didn't get any love... that now has a review to call its own.

The MA Reviews Challenge Hall of Fame

General Challenge

May 2006: 75 reviews
November 2006: 110 reviews
February 2007: 231 reviews
July 2007: 239 reviews
December 2007: 274 reviews
May 2008: 322 reviews
November 2008: 360 reviews
May 2009: 609 reviews
November 2009: 489 reviews
June 2010: 605 reviews
December 2010: ? reviews
October 2012: 117 reviews
June 2013 (low-key): 338 reviews
December 2014: 384 reviews

Individual Challenge

May 2006: n/a
November 2006: Corimngul (9 reviews), 2nd Cianan (8), 3rd Peregrin (7)
February 2007: hells_unicorn (65 reviews), 2nd erickg13 (17), 3rd Sokaris (15)
July 2007: hells_unicorn (38 reviews), 2nd oneyoudontknow (17), 3rd CannibalCorpse (16)
December 2007: hells_unicorn (56 reviews), 2nd Mors_Gloria (15), 3rd Mungo (9)
May 2008: Noktorn (55 reviews), 2nd hells_unicorn (52), 3rd lord_ghengis (12)
November 2008: hells_unicorn (57 reviews), 2nd Perplexed_Sjel (42), 3rd caspian (41)
May 2009: hells_unicorn (93 reviews), 2nd DeathRiderDoom (89), 3rd OzzyApu (84)
November 2009: Perplexed_Sjel (95 reviews), 2nd iamntbatman (46), 3rd sushiman (36)
June 2010: OzzyApu (97 reviews), 2nd Perplexed_Sjel (91)
December 2010: n/a
October 2012: n/a
June 2013 (low-key): dystopia4 (51 reviews), iamntbatman (50), MutantClannfear (47)
December 2014: Diamhea (57 reviews), iamntbatman (53), hells_unicorn (23)

Author:  GuntherTheUndying [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 1:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

Lock up your daughters! We're back!

Author:  Empyreal [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 8:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

Glad it's so soon, I didn't want to hold some of mine until next February or something!

Author:  tomcat_ha [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 10:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

ill try to beat my previous best which was i think 6 in one week.

Author:  MutantClannfear [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 10:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

For the record, it hasn't been two years since the last review challenge. There was one with a rather large amount of participation in June 2013.

Author:  oneyoudontknow [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 10:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

And ... quality over quantity. Hopefully...

Author:  Thumbman [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 3:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

Can we stop doing these during exam season? This is the second time I won't really be able to participate because of this. Oh well, will still probably be able to do a few (definitely not besting my record of 51, haha).

Author:  Jophelerx [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 6:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

Yeah I'll be studying for exams but there's only really one exam I need to study for, but I will write as many (quality) reviews as humanly possible. Got my eye on several releases already. And I guess I'm the official tallier as well? Can't wait!

Author:  Erosion of Humanity [ Sat Nov 15, 2014 8:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

There's a ton of stuff in my collection lacking any reviews so hopefully this will give me the kick in the ass I need to actually write something for them. And I'll at least be able to keep my trend of one review a year :oh shit:

Author:  iamntbatman [ Sun Nov 16, 2014 7:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

I hope to be extremely busy with other projects around that time, but I'll probably knock a few out.

Author:  TheStormIRide [ Mon Nov 17, 2014 9:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

And DrummingEdge133 just hit one of the virgins that I was planning for the challenge with the Crushing Axes review! I need to bulk up my list in case any others get knocked off!

Author:  Acrobat [ Mon Nov 17, 2014 10:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

So, what happens if two people hit the same virgin album? Does it still count?

Author:  MutantClannfear [ Mon Nov 17, 2014 10:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

As domestic battery? Sure, why not?

Author:  TheStormIRide [ Mon Nov 17, 2014 11:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

Acrobat wrote:
So, what happens if two people hit the same virgin album? Does it still count?


As long as the review is still virgin at the start of the challenge, it doesn't matter how many people review it. But it has to be a virgin at the start of the challenge.

Author:  PhilosophicalFrog [ Mon Nov 17, 2014 12:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

Storm is very review-positive.

Yeah, this sounds dope.

Author:  TheStormIRide [ Mon Nov 17, 2014 2:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

PhilosophicalFrog wrote:
Storm is very review-positive.


Not sure if you mean I really like reviews or if you mean my reviews are mostly positive. Regardless, my goal for the challenge week will be 15-20, which is 3-4 times my usual output.

Author:  MutantClannfear [ Mon Nov 17, 2014 3:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

He meant "review-positive" as a play on words, instead of saying "sex-positive" (because we're talking about virgin albums).

Author:  TheStormIRide [ Mon Nov 17, 2014 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

MutantClannfear wrote:
He meant "review-positive" as a play on words, instead of saying "sex-positive" (because we're talking about virgin albums).


That works too.

Author:  Acrobat [ Mon Nov 17, 2014 5:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

TheStormIRide wrote:
Acrobat wrote:
So, what happens if two people hit the same virgin album? Does it still count?


As long as the review is still virgin at the start of the challenge, it doesn't matter how many people review it. But it has to be a virgin at the start of the challenge.


Cool beans. Cool beans.

I'll probably manage 2 or 3. Let's see. I'm hardly prolific when it comes to writing, so let's see.

Author:  Metantoine [ Mon Nov 17, 2014 5:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

I'll be quite busy with the end of my semester but I'll try to write 1 or 2 reviews. Anyway, doing virgins is all I do!

Author:  kybernetic [ Mon Nov 17, 2014 10:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

TheStormIRide wrote:
And DrummingEdge133 just hit one of the virgins that I was planning for the challenge with the Crushing Axes review! I need to bulk up my list in case any others get knocked off!


Haha, sorry dude. I hit that virgin a bit too early apparently, it was still jailbait. :P Well Crushing Axes sure has plenty of other virgins.

I'll plan to write at least a couple reviews. Think I might try to hit some unreviewed Ministry material. Although, Obituary is playing that week around here, so that *might* be a bit of a distraction for me. :lol: :headbang:

I assume live albums and such are fair virgin game?

Author:  Derigin [ Mon Nov 17, 2014 10:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

dystopia4 wrote:
Can we stop doing these during exam season?

I was aware of that when I picked the week, but I also knew that no matter what week I pick it will be an inconvenience to someone. The first week of December seemed like a fair compromise. Exam season often either starts or gets worse further into the month. People don't tend to have much spare time around Christmas or New Years' either. Then folks head back to school or work in January, and so feel they don't have time to commit to anything. And so on. By the time we get around to actually doing a review challenge, it's late January or early February, and then I'm certain people would complain about it being midterms' season by that point or how they're too busy. So, first week of December seems like a good time. I'm going to try to get this challenge back to what it used to be under Sean16, so that will mean the next one is likely to occur sometime late next spring or early next summer.

Jophelerx wrote:
Yeah I'll be studying for exams but there's only really one exam I need to study for, but I will write as many (quality) reviews as humanly possible. Got my eye on several releases already. And I guess I'm the official tallier as well? Can't wait!

If you'd like to help out on tallying, that'd be great. I am going to try to make sure it gets done daily.

DrummingEdge133 wrote:
I assume live albums and such are fair virgin game?

Everything is fair game. Only thing to keep in mind is that splits only count as one release (no matter how many bands are involved) and that we will stop counting singles after 5.

Author:  Sick6Six [ Tue Nov 18, 2014 12:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

I have a huge list of good virgin albums and demos to review, but don't think I will have much time, maybe someone who is a better writer would want to check some of them out? Most stuff is streaming online from the bands.

Author:  Diamhea [ Tue Nov 18, 2014 3:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

I'll be too busy with the queue to do much! Oh well..

Spoiler: show
Image

Author:  GuntherTheUndying [ Tue Nov 18, 2014 5:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

Horse pucky! We'll all chip in.

Author:  Derigin [ Tue Nov 18, 2014 9:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

Don't worry about the queue. :) You do as many reviews as you can muster. Let's break this 5 year old record, already!

Author:  Spiner202 [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 10:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

Not sure how I missed this thread, but I'll be participating. It's also exam time for me, but I should be able to knock out a few reviews! Time to start finding out which albums I have are unreviewed.

Author:  Napero [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 11:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

I'll be there. I always am. Anyone who writes fewer reviews than me will be administered a vicious wedgie by an unnamed brute in Canadian lumberjack costume within two weeks of the challenge end date.

Author:  Erosion of Humanity [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

So if I throw the competition I'll get to meet Derigin? That's not much insensitive to do well.

Author:  HeySharpshooter [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

So do I have to post here to participate?

Cause I would like to and I plan to participate, but my life is so fucked I have not had any time to review anything.

Basically count me in, unless I don't end up participating because work/school/wife

Author:  Napero [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

Resign/graduate/divorce. It's pretty simple, actually.

Author:  Spiner202 [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

Well, I'm in too deep already. Just went through and found 25 albums I want to review, but there's no way I could do that in a week. Some of these I'm really surprised that they don't have a review already.

December 1st can't come fast enough :D

Author:  MutantClannfear [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

Erosion of Humanity wrote:
That's not much insensitive to do well.

You mean "incentive".

I'm excited about this too, actually. Almost none of what I've been listening to for the past year or so has any reviews on this website, so I won't even have to dig around the bowels of the Internet to find releases like I did last year. I won't even try to top the personal record I accumulated last year, since it was torture by the end, but I'll try to finish at least a few for bands that don't have many/any reviews, like Furdidurke and Cirrhus. :)

Author:  HeySharpshooter [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

One other question...

For the sake of keeping with the spirit of the challenge, are we supposed to wait until the actual start of the challenge before we start writing, or can I work on them now and just mass submit them on the 1st?

Napero wrote:
Resign/graduate/divorce. It's pretty simple, actually.


You mean ruin my life to write metal reviews only 3 people might read other than myself and a mod?

It all makes sense now...

Author:  oneyoudontknow [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

HeySharpshooter wrote:
You mean ruin my life to write metal reviews only 3 people might read other than myself and a mod?

Life is tough ... and is it not the effort counts?

And who told you that your reviews will get accepted. Those three people are a daring estimate of a prospect that is yet to be fulfilled.

Author:  HeySharpshooter [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

oneyoudontknow wrote:
HeySharpshooter wrote:
You mean ruin my life to write metal reviews only 3 people might read other than myself and a mod?

Life is tough ... and is it not the effort counts?

And who told you that your reviews will get accepted. Those three people are a daring estimate of a prospect that is yet to be fulfilled.


Well I havent had any problems with that yet... ever actually.

Lets just say I am pretty confident about that. And I just texted my wife and told her the internet says we are are over... Ive been called :P

Author:  tomcat_ha [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

I generally start writing with the start of the challenge.

Author:  Erosion of Humanity [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 6:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

MutantClannfear wrote:
Erosion of Humanity wrote:
That's not much insensitive to do well.

You mean "incentive".



Mobile auto correct is a bitch.

Author:  BastardHead [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 9:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

HeySharpshooter wrote:
For the sake of keeping with the spirit of the challenge, are we supposed to wait until the actual start of the challenge before we start writing, or can I work on them now and just mass submit them on the 1st?


General etiquette is to write them DURING the challenge. Mass submitting them at the start is lame. That used to be outright forbidden back in the golden era but it's generally unenforceable so we just gotta go on the honor system.

Author:  iamntbatman [ Thu Nov 20, 2014 9:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The 13th M-A Reviews Challenge: 1st - 7th December 2014

tomcat_ha wrote:
I generally start writing with the start of the challenge.


Yeah, pretty unsportsmanlike to save up a bunch then mass-submit.

Page 1 of 6 All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/