# Suggestion for "SDMB 'Best Joke of the Year'": an informal, homegrown title and honor **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 14, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436 "2008-07-14T14:43:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/1 "2008-07-14T14:43:07Z")
**don’t ask** ’s post in the [magically appearing piano thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9996992&postcount=3) got me pondering the idea of an annual, SDMB homegrown “Best Joke of the Year” thread by a poster. We could take nominations througout the year, closing them out at the end of the first two week in January, and vote on them the last two weeks. The award? Hell, I don’t know. . . maybe just the knowledge of having the funniest one or two-liner noted for the year. Why do I mention this? Because it’s these one-liners that give people their reason to sign up for the Dope in the first place. If enough people think it’s a good idea, I’ll start this years’ thread. Whaddya all think? Tripler Besides, who wouldn’t want a thread of good jokes? ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/2 "2008-07-14T15:21:58Z")
I’ll second your proposal. Is this something we can have stickied with a clear set of reg’s (like, no nominating your own post, if the nom is not in the thread then it doesn’t count, etc.)? As recognition, I know we knocked around and had knocked down custom status tags but this could be a simple exception. The winner could be recognised with the status of “BJ of the Year” ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/3 "2008-07-14T16:00:47Z")
[QUOTE=nd\_n8] The winner could be recognised with the status of “BJ of the Year” [/QUOTE] Well, I’m sure the dubiousness of _that_ particular title may be worthy of debate . . . 😉 However, I think it’s a good idea to flesh out some of the guidelines in this thread. I like the idea that one cannot submit their own post. Further, I don’t know if the mods/admins will allow the custom status tag. I don’t think they do anything for the annual Dead Pool winner, but they did to the “Best of the Worst” for awhile. It’s worth inquiring about. I mean, what’s the worst they do, tell me “NO!” and send me to Minot, ND? Tripler Mods: If this idea takes off, would there be a willingness for _one_ member tag change per year? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/4 "2008-07-14T18:39:04Z")
Well who’s going to be the keeper of the submitted posts? Who’s going to run the thing? Also, can \*\*Cervaise \*\* or **Bryan Ekers** be prohibited from playing, because then the rest of us will have a fighing chance. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/5 "2008-07-14T19:22:22Z")
I dunno…let’s just give it to **don’t ask**. That was absolutely sublime! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/6 "2008-07-14T19:44:13Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] Well who’s going to be the keeper of the submitted posts? Who’s going to run the thing? [/QUOTE] Heck, I’ll start it–and probably do it. Can’t be that hard: all the submissions are posted in the thread, and it’ll be like maintaining the Dead Pool or such. I can handle that. Tripler I farted in that bed, so I will sleep in it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/7 "2008-07-14T20:03:12Z")
I honestly like the idea, but I can see where others might not as a contest to be funny might jam the board full of lots of posts that, let’s face it, aren’t actually funny. That’s the thing about humor, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but mostly it doesn’t. My posting carreer is my cite. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/8 "2008-07-18T20:43:46Z")
Just change **lieu’s** status now and save yourselves the trouble - he’s held that title unofficially year after year as long as I’ve been here. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/9 "2008-07-18T23:38:42Z")
Love the idea. I also volunteer to keep track of the jokes nominated and submitted for consideration. A sticky in the Game Room with some guidelines for submissions (for instance, a joke should submitted with either links or an explanation of the context) would do the trick, then I - or **Tripler** would only have to keep track and save the nominées in the year and then run the elimination process in January. (While getting fed a shitload of absolutely brilliant jokes in the process. One calls this work? Pah!) Hell, it could even be a joint effort among those who want to work with it. A shared Gmail account - or a Dope account; I wouldn’t mind shelling out $15 so members could just PM it, though perhaps a Gmail account would be better since Guests could contribute - with an open Google Document we’d just edit and occasionally back up. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/10 "2008-07-18T23:58:06Z")
[QUOTE=Gukumatz] Hell, it could even be a joint effort among those who want to work with it. A shared Gmail account - or a Dope account; I wouldn’t mind shelling out $15 so members could just PM it, though perhaps a Gmail account would be better since Guests could contribute - with an open Google Document we’d just edit and occasionally back up. [/QUOTE] Hang on. . . I had only planned on submissions being posted in the thread. Have other ‘award’ threads been done via email? Tripler 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/11 "2008-07-19T16:35:00Z")
[QUOTE=Tripler] Hang on. . . I had only planned on submissions being posted in the thread. Have other ‘award’ threads been done via email? Tripler 😕 [/QUOTE] Oh, I’ve no idea - a thread would be just as good. I was just throwing something out there. I don’t pay particular attention to award threads like this - can’t think of any, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/12 "2008-07-20T10:10:14Z")
Cool idea, but maybe it should be subdivided – there’s bound to be a shitload of funny posts over the course of a year (or at least, a shitload of posts someone thinks are funny), and having everyone vote on all of them seems like a logistical nightmare, both to count and to vote on, so maybe we should tally votes once a month, and then pick the year’s winner among those? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/13 "2008-07-20T21:44:22Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] Also, can \*\*Cervaise \*\* or **Bryan Ekers** be prohibited from playing, because then the rest of us will have a fighing chance. 😃 [/QUOTE] For people like them, whose joking is consistently and clearly exceptional, set up a “Hall” of Fame for Best Jokers Of All Time and induct them. Once this is done, clearly lesser awards would be beneath them 🙂 so they wouldn’t be considered for a regular award. And only induct posters when merited, so you wouldn’t be required to induct one every year. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/14 "2008-07-20T23:53:07Z")
[QUOTE=nd\_n8] I’ll second your proposal. Is this something we can have stickied with a clear set of reg’s (like, no nominating your own post, if the nom is not in the thread then it doesn’t count, etc.)? As recognition, I know we knocked around and had knocked down custom status tags but this could be a simple exception. The winner could be recognised with the status of “BJ of the Year” [/QUOTE] Starting already, are we? 😉 But yeah, I like the idea. No mug for this one either, I guess. mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/15 "2008-07-22T16:21:07Z")
\*starts sifting through \*_Vinyl Turnip’s \*\* post history_ ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/16 "2008-07-23T14:24:23Z")
Done! I [started the thread here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=476578). Tripler . . . and so it begins. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/17 "2008-07-23T16:54:21Z")
So do you enter suggestions in that thread or what? Im confused and lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/18 "2008-07-23T19:51:47Z")
[QUOTE=mr. jp] So do you enter suggestions in that thread or what? Im confused and lazy. [/QUOTE] Yes. Now hop to it. You’ll provide the first example. Tripler :👏: Go on, git! ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/19 "2008-07-23T20:33:12Z")
Hmm, nvm, the stuff I thought of wasn’t from 2008. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436/20 "2008-07-24T20:54:49Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] I honestly like the idea, but I can see where others might not as a contest to be funny might jam the board full of lots of posts that, let’s face it, aren’t actually funny. [/QUOTE] It would be truly tragic if these boards took a turn towards the relentless posting of one-liners. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-for-sdmb-best-joke-of-the-year-an-informal-homegrown-title-and-honor/456436.md?page=2)