Over on this thread I asked you all to nominate your favorite threads of 2021. Despite it being a slightly underwhelming year when it comes to notable content on the site, we received record participation! This has easily been the most interesting year when it comes to thread nominations. Usually there are one or two threads that dominate the nomination process and it makes the outcome quite predicable, but this year five different threads were neck and neck and it's anyones game. The process is very simple. Vote in the poll above to select the thread you want to win. Once you cast your vote you will not be able to change your selection. Everything is exactly how it's been in the past, but I have made one change from the previous years. I used to keep the names of voters private, but after some recent issues with the nomination process I have decided that all of the votes will now be public so you can see who voted for what thread. This will prevent spam accounts from being created in order to add fraudulent votes to a thread. With all of that said, here are the five nominees you have chosen for ZooChat Thread of the Year 2021. A Guide to the Rarities of Europe by @amur leopard Australasian Population List Index by @WhistlingKite24 Exploring What’s on my Doorstep: WhistlingKite24 does South-east Queensland by @WhistlingKite24 Master Plan of my Absolute Zoo by @Haliaeetus Slender Lorises, Duct Tape, and Whataburger: A Fish on Dry Land" by @Coelacanth18 Great work to all of our nominees, and a special shout out to @WhistlingKite24 for being the first member to have two of their threads make the cut in the same year. The poll will be open for two weeks and the winner will be crowned as we ring in the new year. As a special treat, I also have a little something planned for right after the winner has been chosen. Happy voting everyone!
I appear to have voted for the wrong Whistling Kite thread, with my vote actually intended for the wildlife on my doorstep thread. Apologies for the confusion - hope it doesn’t mess things up too much.
I have briefly edited the poll to allow you to change your vote - "like" this post once you've done so and I will revert the edit and prevent changes again.
This is a very tough one for me... I've really enjoyed both the "A Guide to the Rarities of Europe" by @amur leopard and the "Australasian Population List Index" by @WhistlingKite24. The only thing that has swayed my vote is the fact that AL has been completing the hugely in-depth thread by themselves, whereas WK24's is more of a collaborative effort (not to take away from how impressive and enjoyable your thread has been WK24). A massive congratulations to both of my "considerations" and to the other nominations for their "Top 5" placement this year (I won't lie, I either haven't read or wasn't aware of the other threads)
I think the top two threads are locked in at this point, but which of them will get the top spot is still up the air! Very different from last year when the winner was obvious from the start.
I've just gone through and read "Slender Lorises, Duct Tape, and Whataburger: A Fish on Dry Land" by @Coelacanth18 - an awesome thread, well done to you too!
About a week in and about a week left. It's going to be a tight one, so please vote if you haven't already.
All entries are worthy contenders for the title (even though I'm the sceptical fly in @Haliaeetus ' soup), but only one of them mentioned my zoo (and that positively), which earned it my vote. Yeah, I can be biased.
A big congratulations to @amur leopard with his thread A Guide to the Rarities of Europe for taking the win! They just barely beat out @Coelacanth18 by 2 votes making this the closest vote in thread of the year history. Great work to all of our nominees and happy new year everyone! I look forward to seeing what 2022 brings. With that said, I have one more surprise in store that will have to wait until the morning because I am really tired. Anyone who can guess it before I wake up gets brownie points.
Thanks a lot to all those who voted for me - very kind of you indeed. I'd just like to say that the other threads in the vote were all absolutely brilliant and deserved it easily as much as mine if not in some cases, more. Haliaaetus's thread was brilliantly constructed and well thought out, with some of the most interesting design ideas I've seen in that part of the forums in a while. Of WhistlingKite's two (!) threads that made it, I really enjoyed reading the extensive write-ups and seeing their lovely photos of Australian wildlife - maybe someday wildlife in the UK will get that colourful and interesting . And lastly Coelacanth18's thread, which I was convinced was going to be the winner from more or less the start, a lovely trip across the US which I haven't really ever seen before on Zoochat which passed a fair few zoos that I, and I'm sure others, had never heard of, all the while interspersing a good deal of humour in amongst all that. So thanks to all and have a great new year!
A rush of about 4 or 5 votes for AL in the final 12 hours from a handful of lurkers, non-posters and new members (plus another 3 after Pachyderm announced the winner ) swung it at the last minute.
While I was largely ambivalent about the outcome of this vote, it was heartening to see how many people have been enjoying my thread enough to vote for it over other great choices. Thank you all for your support and engagement, and keep your eye on my travel/review thread as it comes off hiatus in the next couple/few days! I voted for @amur leopard and I'm glad to see them take the title. A Guide to the Rarities of Europe is a fantastic resource that took what I can only imagine was an incredibly grueling amount of work, and I can see it paying dividends in the years to come as people - maybe even myself? - use it to plan amazing trips and experiences. Congrats to @WhistlingKite24 and @Haliaeetus on their threads as well. This was a quality competition year!
Sorry for the delay, but we're not quite done yet. I recommend everyone who voted this year should check out the thread below. Thanks again for a great competition this year everyone! Thread of the Year Champions: 5 Year Face Off [New]
