Saturday, December 28, 2013

The topic for Blog-a-Ton 45 is...

There was a tie between two topics: "The Night after the storm", "Back to Square One". I, as a Marshal of Blog-a-Ton, voted for my favorite topic. The topic for Blog-a-Ton 45 is "The Night after the storm", suggested by Amit (Gold BATOM of BAT 44)

DATE for BLOG-a-TON 45: JANUARY 05, 2014
TOPIC for BLOG-a-TON 45: The Night after the storm

Our dream is to have a hundred participants come in one day and take part in an edition of Blog-a-ton. Let's hope that at least we can achieve half of it in this edition! Thanks for the support as always.

The rules for Blog-a-ton 45 are:

  • You can SUBMIT ONLY ONE POST irrespective of the number of blogs that you have.
  • You can give your post any title that you wish to.
  • You must justify this theme with your post. You can do it with any type of post (i.e. Poetry, Fiction, 55 fiction, dialogue, Essay... etc). You can also choose to make it serious, humorous, tragic, romantic... whatever setting you'd love to give.
  • You can write in any language as well, but since most Blog-a-tonics would prefer English as their language of communication, we'd suggest that too, so your post reaches a wider audience, and help you when it comes to Blog-a-ton 45 voting time.
  • The other rules (viz. header & footer to put in your post, the way to submit it on January 5, 2014 etc.) will be conveyed to you on January 4, 2014. So kindly wait for that notification then rather than putting up queries right now. If the queries are regarding general pattern of the event, please go through the posts about previous events.

The winners of Blog-a-ton 45 will be featured on the Blog-a-ton Facebook Page cover photograph.

You have plenty of time to write your post but please publish the post only on January 5, 2014 and not before. The aim of Blog-a-ton is to have many people posting on the same theme on the same day, and that day is January 5, 2014 for Blog-a-ton 45!!

Encourage your fellow bloggers to participate in this edition. You can share this post on your various social networking profiles through the ShareThis widget present at the bottom of this post.


Looking forward to a good Blog-a-Ton again.
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Blog-a-ton 45 - Topic Suggestion

DATE OF BLOG-A-TON 45 : SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014 (HAPPY NEW YEAR!!)
TOPIC DECLARATION:
SATURDAY DECEMBER 28, 2013 22:00 IST
.


Welcome to first edition of 2014. We are doing great. We hope the same from you. I’m Sarav a.k.a Someone is Special - The Marshal of Blog-a-Ton. Well, time is ticking along, and we move to our 45th Blog-a-ton edition, which will be on January 5, 2014. Looking forward to seeing the old hands back to writing, and new ones joining in.

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!



The way we usually go about on Blog-a-ton is that we have a call for topics (THREE TO EIGHT WORDS) and then by voting, we decide on one of the topics as the topic for the month. After that, we give you a week’s time to write your post justifying the theme (TOPIC SELECTED) with a complementary post. Then, on the first Sunday of the succeeding month, you will publish the post on your blog, with our preset header and footer and come to Blog-a-ton and link your post in a comment. The week after the Blog-a-ton day will be for voting for 5 of your favorite blog-a-tonics from the edition.

It’s a one-day event each month, our dream is to get 100 participants in one edition, and our motto is to help writers to write better.



We will be having the secret ballot in this edition.

What you have to do is suggest the topics. Moderation is enabled, and I'll select the first eight topics that come. And we begin voting on that. If I find any topic to be inappropriate, or similar to that of a previous edition, that'll not come into the voting list.

This time we present you the topics from BAT 44 winners, and two others. Vote now!

New suggestions are now closed. Please vote for any one of the SIX topics below!


Topic
Life is as you make it
The power of VISION
Back to square one
The night after the storm
White as snow
A New Leaf

  • You can vote for any one topic.
  • If you wish to change your vote later and support another topic, you can do so during the voting time-frame. But you are allowed only one change-of-vote. I’ll consider only the second vote in that instance.
  • The voting period is from December 21, 2013 Saturday to December 28, 2013 Saturday 21:00 IST.
  • The topic that gets the majority votes will be announced on 28th December 2013, Friday as the Blog-a-ton 45 topic. In case two or more topics are tied at the end of voting, my vote as Marshal vote will decide. This time, we are giving you 8 days to write your post.
  • The Date for Blog-a-ton 45 is January 5, 2014 SUNDAY from 00:00 IST to 23:59 IST.

Looking forward to a wonderful Blog-a-ton once again…

Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,

Monday, December 16, 2013

My B A T experience

Here, I, welcome our new BAT Veteran, Thewhitescape to share her BAT experience. (Since Thewhitescape is facing problems in posting on Blog-a-Ton, I am posting on her behalf.)

I started blogging in July 2012. During very beginning of my blogging I didn’t have any idea of what I could post in my blog. It was one of my friends, who forced me into blogging.

Later, I visited some blogs and planned to shape my blog in similar way. I started to Google for blogging activities and this is how I came across Blog-a-ton in November 2012.

My first BAT participation was in December 2012 and the very first challenge bought 5 followers to my blog. This was amazing. This helped me to shape my blog. I have really benefitted a lot by participating in Blog-a-ton. I have made many followers through it, who now visit my blog regularly to be updated about my new posts and other content which I post in my blog almost daily. I hosted creative writing contest and many of them participated who say came to know about my blog after reading my monthly entry in Blog-a-ton.

Monthly BAT challenges encourages to me write with more interest. Ever since I started linking those posts with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google plus, it helped me to flow information to those friends who are regular visitor of these social sites. . A few of my other friends who were not aware of Blog-a-ton, said that they participated in some of the months after getting information from my blog via these above medium.

BAT challenge every month has improved my writing skill and creative ideas have become more.

I initiated blogging from zero i.e. without any idea about such writing platforms and etc, but now, blogging is being my passion and participating in such content based challenges has been the best thing happened to me after I started my blog and I can’t stop blogging for my whole life.

It’s truly wonderful to be now a part of BAT’s Veteran blogger category and I really wish to be part of 25 or more editions to be included in list of Super Veteran Blog-a-Tonics and next to be a part of 50 or more editions to be crowned as Queen of Blog-a-Tonics.

Wholehearted appreciation and thank you to Founder Marshal Vipul Grover, Leo and Sarav .

Thank you,
Thewhitescape

Sunday, December 8, 2013

BAT 44 Winners are

Eighteen entrants and from them, nine returned to vote for their favorites. 13 out of 18 entrants garnered at least one vote, which is good to see. Hopefully, in the new year edition, both the no. of entrants as well as no. of voters will increase. I thank all who participated in this edition from the bottom of my heart.

The results of Blog-a-Ton 44, here is the list of participants and the cheers they garnered:


As evident, here are the three Blog-a-Tonics of the Month. Click on their names to read their respective entries.

GOLD BATOM

SILVER BATOM

SILVER BATOM

Amit

Nandini Garg

Panchali


Congratulations to the well deserved winners (Amit, Nandini Garg, and Panchali). Megha and TheFactFiction who were close till the last minute, and had Panchali voted before the deadline, you guys would have made it to the list :) Congratulations to Megha and TheFactFiction for giving a tough competition.

Winners can drop an email to any or all of the marshal id's to claim their badges.. Winners will also be featured on Blog-a-Ton Cover Photo. The photographs will be taken from their respective blogger profiles. Keep writing..!!!

You all can also read the voting comments now. Just click here to find who all voted for you or liked your entry and what they had to say about it!

The Top Three contributors are

aativas37
Someone is Special27
Leo26

Stay tuned for BAT 45 which is set to begin soon! I wish the number of participants increase.

A Reminder - Have your number of participation reached 10 or 25??? Then you are eligible to be included into the List of Veteran or Super Veteran Blog-a-Tonics.  Just drop a mail to "marshal@blogaton.in", "pendownmythought@gmail.com" and "leonnyes@gmail.com" with the links to all your posts (or simply label all your BAT entries and send Marshal that single link).

Hope you all enjoyed this edition!
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
~ Someone is Special ~

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Vote for your BAT44 Favorites

Voting ends at 22:00 hrs (IST) on Dec 08, 2013. Remember, that means time stamp of your comment can be at most 21:59 and not 22:00.

The curtain closes on a wonderful edition of Blog-a-ton, the 44th one. We had 18 entries this time. I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for participating! Do comeback and vote for the entries worth winning!

We had 18 blog-a-tonics enter in this edition within the stipulated time. Only those 18 Blog-a-Tonics are eligible for voting. So feel free to vote for your B-A-T 44 Favorites.

Click here to check the fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this edition of Blog-a-Ton along with the direct links to their posts.

Three Cheers to all the Blog-a-Tonics.
Please follow the following rules while voting.

1. ONLY THOSE BLOG-A-TONICS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR VOTING (i.e., Contesting for votes and voting for others) WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THIS EVENT WITHIN THE STIPULATED TIME.

2. AS INTIMATED IN THE BLOGATON 2.0 ANNOUNCEMENT, THE NUMBER OF VOTES IS NOW DETERMINED BY THE NUMBER OF ENTRIES. WITH LESS THAN 25 ENTRIES THIS TIME, THE VOTES ALSO REDUCE. In this edition, you can cast upto 3 votes or cheers as we call them, and of course you can not vote for yourself. In short, you are allowed to vote for one, two, OR three. All your votes will carry the same weightage.

3.  Your Voting Comment should be as follows:





I, BLOGGER NAME, participated.
My Blog-a-ton 44 Entry Is Here: BLOGATON38 ENTRY LINK

I vote for:

1. BLOGATONIC 1 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 1 ENTRY LINK
2. BLOGATONIC 2 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 2 ENTRY LINK
3. BLOGATONIC 3 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 3 ENTRY LINK


The voting format has been simplified for assisting you. Replace "BLOGGER NAME" by your name, and "BLOGATON44 ENTRY LINK" by the direct link to your BAT44 Entry. Likewise, for the votes, replace "BLOGATONIC 1 NAME" by the name of the entrant (as used in his/her participation entry) and "BLOGATONIC 1 ENTRY LINK" by the direct link to that blogatonic's BAT44 Entry. Votes NOT IN THIS FORMAT will not be accepted.

For eg: A valid vote can look like this:

I, Aativas, participated.

My Blogaton entry is here: http://thistimethattime.blogspot.in/2013/01/188-fear.html

I vote for the following:
1. Panchali: http://panchalibolchi.blogspot.in/2013/01/land-on-fire.html
2. Dilip Patel: http://indiaicaremovement.blogspot.in/2013/01/deaf-world.html
3. Leo : http://artofleo.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/when-a-rose-was-born/






4. While voting for a Blog-a-Tonic, use his/her name as provided by him/her in his/her participation entry and not his/her profile name.

5.  Post your vote in the comments section of this post.

6. All your votes should be posted in a single comment. So, take your time - go through all posts - only then decide your one or two or three winning entries. In case you vote separately, only the first comment will be taken into consideration.

Now coming to the other rules:
  • Voting ends at  22:00 (IST) on  SUNDAY, DECEMBER 08, 2013.
  • I have started moderating the comments and won’t display the voting comments till the end of this process to keep the result secret till its conclusion.
  • After the voting code mentioned above, you may also add the reason, why you voted for a particular post to help others know what you expect as a reader. Moreover, you may also mention the other posts that you liked though you can vote for just for three of them. 
  • A THOUGHT: Be it Elections or Blog-a-Ton, it is your duty to vote, because you have the power to select the winner, so please DO NOT WASTE YOUR VOTE.

The Votes will be discarded without any prior warning in case they are not sufficiently compatible with the rules.

A Reminder - Have your number of participations reached 10??? Then you are eligible to be included into the List of Veteran Blog-a-Tonics.  Just drop a mail to "marshal@blogaton.in" and "leonnyes@gmail.com" with the links to all your posts (or simply label all your BAT entries and send Marshal that single link).



Remember, the time stamp of your comment can be at most 21:59 on Dec 08, 2013 and not 22:00 on Dec 08, 2013.  


May the best entries in this edition win..!
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
~ Leo ~

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Rules and Reminder for Blog-a-ton 44


The dream is having 100 entrants in a single edition! Can we read 100 entrants this time? Spread the word, invite your friends...


Publish the post on December 1, 2013 anytime between 0000 hrs and 23:59 hrs (IST)!


Date for Blog-a-Ton 44 :  December 1, 2013

As you already know, the image for Blog-a-Ton 44 has been finalised as:

Please follow these rules while publishing your post and thereafter:
  • You can choose the title for your post as you wish.
  • Your post must justify the image
  • The post should start with this code. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode:

    <div style="text-align: justify;">
    <blockquote>
    This post has been published by me as a part of the <b>Blog-a-Ton 44</b>; the forty-fourth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <a href="http://blogaton.in/"><b>Blog-a-Ton</b></a>.
    </blockquote>
    </div>
  • The post should end with the following code. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode and replace XX with your Blog-a-Ton participation count:

    <div style="text-align: justify;">
    <blockquote>
    The <b>fellow Blog-a-Tonics</b> who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective <b>posts</b> can be checked <a href="http://www.blogaton.in/2013/11/blogaton44.html"><b>here</b></a>. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <b><a href="http://blogaton.in/">Blog-a-Ton</a></b>. Participation Count: XX

    <b>Credits </b>

    Image - <i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrXNoaYS6fRYWMtBnJUf_RDrvQqwEhry1cg9N4RaeDiIWaLKY3K9hrPu_eBeCisG5vTIAKlZSW3bi_UqKsCBNOIjrLnHXItQUhMdlrhHknNORLYE0UaOBXwcw01F3fPYU0JMf5c_GSZw/s1600/Inspiring+Couple.jpg">Love in the air</a></i> by <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AppleBlossomsPhotoGraphy">Anand</a></i>
    Courtesy - <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AppleBlossomsPhotoGraphy">Apple Blossom's Photography</a></i> via <i><a href="http://www.blogaton.in/">www.blogaton.in</a></i></blockquote>
    </div>

  • Publish the post on December 1, 2013 anytime between 0000 hrs and 23:59 hrs (Indian Standard Time)
  • Use the following code to provide direct link to your post.
<a href="DIRECT LINK TO YOUR POST">YOUR NAME - YOUR TITLE</a> 

It will look like this: Someone is Special - Welcome to Blog-a-ton! and will link to your post.

What’s more?
  • The winners will be featured on Blog-a-Ton Cover Photo!

Please follow this rule to ensure easy navigability to your post.
  •  Use your complete name to prevent any confusion and mix up with other bloggers.
  • Remember, you can not post more than ONE entry.  
  • In case you post your link after the stipulated time, then your submission will not be considered for voting. 
  • Return between December 2nd 20:00 IST and December 8th 20:00 IST to vote for your favourite post. A separate notification for the same will be posted upon the conclusion of the event. So do not vote till then. Just enjoy reading the various entries, keeping in mind your favourite but worth-winning ones.

DO NOT USE THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS POST FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. If there are any queries, ask them in the comments section of previous post.
...HAPPY WRITING ...

Looking forward to a read wonderful passionate Blog-a-Ton writers post again!
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
~ Someone is Special ~

Saturday, November 23, 2013

The image for Blog-a-Ton 44 is...

The image for Blog-a-Ton 44 is "Image (Love in the air)", suggested by Someone is Special



DATE for BLOG-a-TON 44: DECEMBER 01, 2013
IMAGE for BLOG-a-TON 44: Image (Love in the air)

Our dream is to have a hundred participants come in one day and take part in an edition of Blog-a-ton. Let's hope we can do it in this edition! Thanks for the support as always.

The rules for Blog-a-ton 44 are:

  • You can SUBMIT ONLY ONE POST irrespective of the number of blogs that you have.
  • You can give your post any title that you wish to.
  • You must justify this image with your post. You can do it with any type of post (i.e. Poetry, Fiction, 55 fiction, dialogue, Essay... etc). You can also choose to make it serious, humorous, tragic, romantic... whatever setting you'd love to give.
  • You can write in any language as well, but since most Blog-a-tonics would prefer English as their language of communication, we'd suggest that too, so your post reaches a wider audience, and help you when it comes to Blog-a-ton 44 voting time.
  • The other rules (viz. header & footer to put in your post, the way to submit it on December 1, 2013 etc.) will be conveyed to you on November 30, 2013. So kindly wait for that notification then rather than putting up queries right now. If the queries are regarding general pattern of the event, please go through the posts about previous events.

The winners of Blog-a-ton 44 will be featured on the Blog-a-ton Facebook Page cover photograph.

You have plenty of time to write your post but please publish the post only on December 1, 2013 and not before. The aim of Blog-a-ton is to have many people posting on the same theme on the same day, and that day is December 1, 2013 for Blog-a-ton 44!!

Encourage your fellow bloggers to participate in this edition. You can share this post on your various social networking profiles through the ShareThis widget present at the bottom of this post.


Looking forward to a good Blog-a-Ton again.
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Blog-a-ton 44 - Let's sketch with words

DATE OF BLOG-A-TON 44 : SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013
TOPIC DECLARATION:
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2013 20:00 IST
.


Guten Tag!! Welcome to the last edition of Blog-a-Ton, this year. We are doing great. We hope the same from you.

Welcome to all new people coming by and welcome back to the old hands returning to Blog-a-ton. I’m Sarav a.k.a Someone is Special - The Marshal of Blog-a-Ton. Well, time is ticking along, and we move to our 44th Blog-a-ton edition, which will be on December 1, 2013. Looking forward to seeing the old hands back to writing, and new ones joining in.



The way we usually go about on Blog-a-ton is that we have a call for topics (Image with proper credits to the source ) and then by voting, we decide on one of the images as the image for the month. After that, we give you a week’s time to write your post justifying the image (IMAGE SELECTED) with a complementary post. Then, on the first Sunday of the succeeding month, you will publish the post on your blog, with our preset header and footer and come to Blog-a-ton and link your post in a comment. The week after the Blog-a-ton day will be for voting for 5 of your favorite blog-a-tonics from the edition.

It’s a one-day event each month, our dream is to get 100 participants in one edition, and our motto is to help writers to write better.



It's going to be Secret Ballot. So, all your comments will be moderated.

What you have to do is suggest the topics, ONLY ONE IMAGE WITH NO COPYRIGHT ISSUES. Moderation is enabled, and I'll select the first six images that come. And we begin voting on that. If I find any image to be inappropriate, or similar to that of a previous edition, that'll not come into the voting list.

Images received so far.. Please start voting for any, or suggest a new one..


IMAGE1IMAGE2IMAGE3
Click on the image to zoom!

  • We have changed the format ONLY for this BAT.
  • You can vote for any one image.
  • If you wish to change your vote later and support another topic, you can do so during the voting time-frame. But you are allowed only one change-of-vote. I’ll consider only the second vote in that instance.
  • The voting period is from November 16, 2013 Friday to November 23, 2013 Friday 19:00 IST.
  • The image that gets the majority votes will be announced on 23rd November 2013, Saturday as the Blog-a-ton 44 image. In case two or more images are tied at the end of voting, my vote as Marshal vote will decide. This time, we are giving you 8 days to write your post.
  • The Date for Blog-a-ton 44 is DECEMBER 1, 2013 SUNDAY from 00:00 IST to 23:59 IST.

Looking forward to a wonderful Blog-a-ton once again…

Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Blog-a-Ton 2.0

What is Blog-a-Ton?
As our Founder Marshal Vipul Grover says, “Blog-a-Ton is a misnomer for the word Blogathon.

The Journey:
On 5th July 2009, Blog-a-Ton was born, a misnomer of the word Blogathon and on 1st August 2009, our first edition was hosted by our Founder Marshal Vipul Grover and after 17 editions, he willingly took a break. Our Ravan and a few others hosted a couple of editions, after that Leo and I (Sarav aka SiS) took the responsibility on our shoulders to march forward to achieve our dream.

Dream & Motto:
As the name suggests, our dream is to get 100 participants in one edition, and our motto is to help writers to write better.

General Pattern:
  1. Initiating a new Blog-a-Ton edition by inviting suggestions for the topic: Third Friday of a month at 18:00 HRS IST
  2. Declaring the Topic of the month: Last Friday of a month between 22:00 and 23:59 HRS IST
  3. RULES AND REMINDER: a day before Blog-a-Ton
  4. Blog-a-Ton: we reserve the First Sunday of a month for Blog-a-Ton
  5. Opening the Voting: Next day of Blog-a-Ton
  6. Declaration of the winners: Second Sunday of a month between 22:00 and 23:59 HRS IST
* We take a break during the month of February. We will have eleven editions per year.

Rule book:
General:

Anybody who is passionate about writing and owns a blog or a team blog can participate in Blog-a-Ton.

Topic Suggestion:
  1. The post will be published on the Third Friday of a month at 18:00 HRS IST.
  2. Choosing the type of topic (one of the below kind or something new) or theme is decided by the hosting Marshal.
  3. Participants are allowed to suggest only one topic. Usually, it will be a one-word topic, an image, or a phrase of three to eight words.
  4. Participants can either suggest or vote for a topic.
  5. Participants are allowed to change the vote later and support another topic, you can do so during the voting period. But you are allowed only one change-of-vote. I’ll consider only the second vote in that instance.
  6. The voting period will be a minimum of seven days. The maximum limit is decided by the hosting Marshal.
  7. Due to the increase in number of spams, marshals will be moderating the comments and will disclose only at the end of the voting period. We call this as ‘Secret Ballot’.
  8. The topic that gets the majority votes will be announced as the topic of the month. In case two or more topics are tied at the end of voting, Marshal Vote will decide.
  9. Marshal decision is final and is not allowed to be questioned by any.

Topic Declaration:
  1. The topic will be declared on the Last Friday of a month between 22:00 and 23:59 HRS IST.
  2. Participants will get a minimum of ten days to write on the topic.
  3. Participants can SUBMIT ONLY ONE POST irrespective of the number of blogs they own.
  4. Participants can give the post any title that they wish to. (This rule can be changed by the hosting Marshal.)
  5. Participants must justify the theme with their post or must follow the rules as conveyed in the post.
  6. Participants can do it with any type of post (i.e. Poetry (*Haiku or set of Haiku is not accepted), Fiction or any form fiction other than 160 characters, dialogue, Essay… etc.). They can also choose to make it serious, humorous, tragic, romantic… whatever setting they’d love to give.
  7. Participants can write in any language as well, but since most Blog-a-tonics would prefer English as their language of communication, we’d suggest that too, so the post reaches a wider audience, and help you when it comes to voting time.
  8. Marshal decision is final and is not allowed to be questioned by any.

Blog-a-Ton Day:
  1. We reserve the first Sunday of a month for Blog-a-Ton.
  2. The RULES AND REMINDER post will be published at least 6 hours before the Blog-a-Ton day.
  3. The post should start with the code given in the post. Just copy the HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode in case of Blogger blogs, and in TEXT mode in case of Wordpress blogs.
  4. The post should end with the code given in the post. Just copy the HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode in case of Blogger blogs, and in TEXT mode in case of Wordpress blogs. Make sure you replace XX with your Blog-a-Ton participation count.
  5. Participants must publish the post on Blog-a-Ton day anytime between 00:00 and 23:59 HRS (Indian Standard Time)
  6. Participants must leave the link in the comments section of RULES AND REMINDER post using the following code: <a href="DIRECT LINK TO YOUR POST">YOUR NAME - YOUR TITLE</a>
  7. Participants must use their complete name to prevent any confusion and mix up with other bloggers.
  8. In case participants post link after the stipulated time, then the submission will not be considered for voting. (This rule can be changed by the hosting Marshal.)
  9. The hosting Marshal is allowed to participate in Blog-a-Ton.
  10. Marshal decision is final and is not allowed to be questioned by any.

Votes:
  1. The post will be published on the next day of Blog-a-Ton at 20:00 HRS IST.
  2. Only those Blog-a-Tonics who are eligible for voting (all accepted participants by the Marshal) can vote.
  3. The number of votes or cheers as we call them may change with respect to the number of participants.
  4. Participant CountEligible Vote Count
    <= 25Maximum of three votes will be allowed
    26 – 30Maximum of four votes will be allowed
    31 – 50Maximum of five votes will be allowed
    51 - *Maximum of seven votes will be allowed
  5. Of course, participants cannot vote for their own post. In short, participants are allowed to vote for one, two, and three or as mentioned in the post.
  6. All the votes will carry the same weightage.
  7. The Voting Comment should be as follows:
    I, BLOGGERNAME, participated. My entry is here: BLOGATON POST LINK
    1. BLOGATONIC 1 NAME: BLOGATONIC 1 ENTRY LINK
    2. BLOGATONIC 2 NAME: BLOGATONIC 2 ENTRY LINK
    3. BLOGATONIC 3 NAME: BLOGATONIC 3 ENTRY LINK
  8. While voting for a Blog-a-Tonic, use his/her name as provided by him/her in his/her participation entry and not his/her profile name.
  9. Post vote in the comments section of the voting post within the voting period.
  10. All the votes should be posted in a single comment. So, take your time - go through all posts - only then decide the winning entries. If a participant votes more than once, only the first comment will be taken into consideration.
  11. Marshal will moderate the comments and will not display the voting comments until the end of this process to keep the result secret.
  12. After the voting code mentioned above, one may also add the reason, why you voted for a particular post to help others know what you expect as a reader. Moreover, you may also mention the other posts that you liked though you can vote for just for three of them or as mentioned in the post.
  13. The Votes will be discarded without any warning in case they are not sufficiently compatible with the rules.
  14. Marshal decision is final and is not allowed to be questioned by any.

Winners:
  1. The winners will be declared on the Second Sunday of a month between 22:00 and 23:59 HRS IST.
  2. The winners will be chosen based on the number of votes they received for their entry.
  3. A minimum of three winners will be chosen (GOLD, SILVER AND BRONZE) and a maximum of four winners will be chosen in case of a tie.
  4. In case of a tie, the following rules will be applied.
    1. Irrespective of the badge, if there is only one extra person vying for a marshal vote, then that extra person is also a winner, provided if he/she has voted in that edition.
    2. The possible combinations that can be chosen as winners are GSB, GSS, GGS, GGG, and in case of tie, the possible combinations that can be chosen as winners are GGSS, GSSS and GSBB
  5. Winners can drop an email to any or all of the marshal email id's to claim their badges.
  6. If you fail to get a response in a week then feel free to post on our Facebook Page for faster actions.
  7. Winners will also be featured on Blog-a-Ton Cover Photo. The photographs will be taken from their respective Blogger or Google+ profiles.
  8. If a participant wins three times GOLD BATOM in a row, then he/she is eligible to host Blog-a-Ton once.
  9. Marshal decision is final and is not allowed to be questioned by any.
Specials:
  1. If a participant has entered in ten or more editions, then he/she is eligible to be included in list of Veteran Blog-a-Tonics. Drop an email to any or all of the marshal email id’s to get listed.
  2. Veterans are eligible to share their Blog-a-Ton experience on our blog.
  3. If a participant has entered in twenty-five or more editions, then he/she is eligible to be included in list of Super Veteran Blog-a-Tonics. Drop an email to any or all of the marshal email id’s to get listed.
  4. If a participant has entered in fifty or more editions, then he/she is eligible to be included in list of King/Queen of Blog-a-Tonics. Drop an email to any or all of the marshal email id’s to get listed. If the participant agrees, then all the fifty entries will be compiled into an eBook by Blog-a-Ton Marshal. The book will be available for free download :)
  5. The above feature (King/Queen of Blog-a-Ton) allows the respective participant to pick a special winner in any edition and to award a special badge for the winner.

Monday, November 11, 2013

The light that shone the best

Twenty Two entrants and from them, ten returned to vote for their favorites. 16 out of 22 entrants garnered at least one vote, which is good to see. Hopefully, in the next edition, both the no. of entrants as well as no. of voters will increase. I thank all who participated in this edition to make it successful.

The results of Blog-a-Ton 43, here is the list of participants and the cheers they garnered:


As evident, here are the three Blog-a-Tonics of the Month. Click on their names to read their respective entries.

GOLD BATOM

SILVER BATOM

SILVER BATOM

Sreeja Praveen

Jini Fernandez

The Little Princess


Congratulations to the well deserved winners (Sreeja Praveen, Jini Fernandez, and The Little Princess). The Little Princess, Jini Fernandez and Leo who were close till the last minute and were tied for SILVER BATOM till the end of voting. Finally as the marshal of Blog-a-Ton, I chose The Little Princess and Jini Fernandez :) Congratulations to Leo, Binzy, and Shashi for giving a tough competition.

Winners can drop an email to any or all of the marshal id's to claim their badges.. Winners will also be featured on Blog-a-Ton Cover Photo. The photographs will be taken from their respective blogger profiles. Keep writing..!!!

You all can also read the voting comments now. Just click here to find who all voted for you or liked your entry and what they had to say about it!

The Top Three contributors are

aativas37
Someone is Special26
Leo26

Stay tuned for BAT 44 which is set to begin soon! I wish at least in this edition the number of participants increase.

A Reminder - Have your number of participation reached 10 or 20??? Then you are eligible to be included into the List of Veteran or Super Veteran Blog-a-Tonics.  Just drop a mail to "marshal@blogaton.in", "pendownmythought@gmail.com" and "leonnyes@gmail.com" with the links to all your posts (or simply label all your BAT entries and send Marshal that single link).

Hope you all enjoyed this edition!
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
~ Someone is Special ~

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Which Light shone the best? Vote for your Blog-a-ton 43 Favorites!

Voting ends at 22:00 hrs (IST) on November 10, 2013. Remember, that means time stamp of your comment can be at most 21:59 and not 22:00.

The curtain closes on another edition of Blog-a-ton, the 43rd one. I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for participating! Do comeback and vote for the entries worth winning!

We had 22 blog-a-tonics enter in this edition. All the 22 Blog-a-Tonics are eligible for voting. So feel free to vote for your B-A-T 43 Favorites.

Click here to check the fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this edition of Blog-a-Ton along with the direct links to their posts.

Three Cheers to all the Blog-a-Tonics.
Please follow the following rules while voting.

1. ONLY THOSE BLOG-A-TONICS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR VOTING (i.e., Contesting for votes and voting for others) WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THIS EVENT WITHIN THE EXTRA TIME GRANTED.

2. In this edition, you can cast upto 4 votes or cheers as we call them, and of course you can not vote for yourself. In short, you are allowed to vote for one, two, three or four entries. All your votes will carry the same weightage.

3.  Your Voting Comment should be as follows:



I, BLOGGER NAME, participated.
My Blog-a-ton 43 Entry Is Here: BLOGATON43 ENTRY LINK

I vote for:

1. BLOGATONIC 1 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 1 ENTRY LINK
2. BLOGATONIC 2 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 2 ENTRY LINK
3. BLOGATONIC 3 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 3 ENTRY LINK
4. BLOGATONIC 4 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 4 ENTRY LINK

The voting format has been simplified for assisting you. Replace "BLOGGER NAME" by your name, and "BLOGATON43 ENTRY LINK" by the direct link to your BAT43 Entry. Likewise, for the votes, replace "BLOGATONIC 1 NAME" by the name of the entrant (as used in his/her participation entry) and "BLOGATONIC 1 ENTRY LINK" by the direct link to that blogatonic's BAT43 Entry. Votes NOT IN THIS FORMAT will not be accepted.

For eg: A valid vote can look like this:

I, Leo, participated.

My Blogaton entry is here: http://artofleo.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/when-a-rose-was-born/

I vote for the following:
1. Vipul: http://www.vipulgrover.com/2010/05/escape.html
2. Vibhuti: http://klishmaklaver.blogspot.de/2010/06/this-post-has-been-published-by-me-as.html
3. Tavish : http://sensible-bakwas.com/?p=49
4. Karthik: http://unalloyedwritingpleasure.blogspot.de/2010/01/my-colourful-world-blog-ton-6.html


4. While voting for a Blog-a-Tonic, use his/her name as provided by him/her in his/her participation entry and not his/her profile name.

5.  Post your vote in the comments section of this post.

6. All your votes should be posted in a single comment. So, take your time - go through all posts - only then decide your one or two or three or four winning entries. In case you vote separately, only the first comment will be taken into consideration.

Now coming to the other rules:
  • Voting ends at  22:00 (IST) on  SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2013.
  • I have started moderating the comments and won’t display the voting comments till the end of this process to keep the result secret till its conclusion.
  • After the voting code mentioned above, you may also add the reason, why you voted for a particular post to help others know what you expect as a reader. Moreover, you may also mention the other posts that you liked though you can vote for just for three of them. 
  • A THOUGHT: Be it Elections or Blog-a-Ton, it is your duty to vote, because you have the power to be a reason for someone's smile, so please DO NOT WASTE YOUR VOTE.

The Votes will be discarded without any prior warning in case they are not sufficiently compatible with the rules.

A Reminder - Have your number of participation reached 10 or 20??? Then you are eligible to be included into the List of Veteran or Super Veteran Blog-a-Tonics.  Just drop a mail to "marshal@blogaton.in", "pendownmythought@gmail.com" and "leonnyes@gmail.com" with the links to all your posts (or simply label all your BAT entries and send Marshal that single link).



Remember, the time stamp of your comment can be at most 21:59 on November 10, 2013 and not 22:00 on November 10, 2013.  


Let the best entries rock this edition..!
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
~ Someone is Special ~

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Rules and Reminder for Blog-a-ton 43


The dream is having 100 entrants in a single edition! Can we read 100 entrants this time? Spread the word, invite your friends...


Publish the post on November 3, 2013 anytime between 0000 hrs and 23:59 hrs (IST)!


Date for Blog-a-Ton 43 :  November 3, 2013

As you already know, the topic for Blog-a-Ton 43 has been finalised as:

"LIGHT"
Please follow these rules while publishing your post and thereafter:
  • You can choose the title for your post as you wish.
  • Your post must justify the theme, "LIGHT"
  • The post should start with this code. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode:

    <div style="text-align: justify;">
    <blockquote>
    This post has been published by me as a part of the <b>Blog-a-Ton 43</b>; the forty-third edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <a href="http://blogaton.in/"><b>Blog-a-Ton</b></a>. The theme for the month is "LIGHT"
    </blockquote>
    </div>
  • The post should end with the following code. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode and replace XX with your Blog-a-Ton participation count:

    <div style="text-align: justify;">
    <blockquote>
    The <b>fellow Blog-a-Tonics</b> who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective <b>posts</b> can be checked <a href="http://www.blogaton.in/2013/11/blogaton43.html"><b>here</b></a>. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <b><a href="http://blogaton.in/">Blog-a-Ton</a></b>. Participation Count: XX </blockquote>
    </div>

  • Publish the post on November 3, 2013 anytime between 0000 hrs and 23:59 hrs (Indian Standard Time)
  • Use the following code to provide direct link to your post.
<a href="DIRECT LINK TO YOUR POST">YOUR NAME - YOUR TITLE</a> 

It will look like this: Someone is Special - Welcome to Blog-a-ton! and will link to your post.

What’s more?
  • The winners will be featured on Blog-a-Ton Cover Photo!

Please follow this rule to ensure easy navigability to your post.
  •  Use your complete name to prevent any confusion and mix up with other bloggers.
  • Remember, you can not post more than ONE entry.  
  • In case you post your link after the stipulated time, then your submission will not be considered for voting. 
  • Return between November 4th 20:00 IST and November 10th 20:00 IST to vote for your favourite post. A separate notification for the same will be posted upon the conclusion of the event. So do not vote till then. Just enjoy reading the various entries, keeping in mind your favourite but worth-winning ones.

DO NOT USE THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS POST FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. If there are any queries, ask them in the comments section of previous post.
...HAPPY WRITING ...

...HAPPY GREEN DIWALI FOLK S...

Looking forward to a read wonderful passionate Blog-a-Ton writers post again!
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
~ Someone is Special ~