Topic for Blog-a-Ton 4 and an important discussion!

Date for Blog-a-Ton 4 : November 7, 2009

Lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics first of all as our blog gets its first Google Page Rank of 2/10.
There is a long list this time and also a long way to go :)

• Ankit Mishra
  
• Debosmita Nandy (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Pushpee (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Push Vs Pull
• Magiceye 
• Solilo 
• Kamal Singh (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Ariyathe (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Sylvian Patrick  
• Yojitha (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Kanagu (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Nikhil Patokar 
• Intrepid Dreamer (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Heyy India  
• N J
• Mustaf 
• Chitz
  
• Niharika
  

You all will be blogrolled soon.

Blog-a-Tonics have overwhelmingly voted for If I were a baby again as the topic for Blog-a-Ton 4. I must congratulate Daisy Blue for suggesting this - as she puts it , a - fun topic. Lets see how everyone perceives it.

While dealing with the topic, you have the freedom to treat it the way you want. Its upto you; which genre of writing you choose, i.e. simple essay-type, article, dialogue, short story (even 55 Fiction for that matter), poem or whatever you feel like.

Moreover, its upto you; which mood or tone you choose to set it in, i.e. serious, witty, humour, optimistic or whatever that comes to you naturally.

Again, you have the freedom to choose the language of communication. However, we'll suggest you to write in English to put across your views to the maximum members which will also help you when its the time to vote for the BATOM.

I hope this clarification helps the new Blog-a-Tonics.

So, you all have ample time to write it but you'll have to wait till Nov 7 to post it finally along with everyone else.

Other rules regarding posting will be conveyed to you later.

---

P.S. There is an important discussion that is taking place in the comments section of the previous post. It pertains to the voting procedure to elect the Blog-a-Tonic of the Month. The question is whether non-participanting Blog-a-Tonics be allowed to vote.

We have three options - 

a) No voting rights for non-participants
b) 1/2 vote for them
c) Full vote for them just like the participants

Do take your stand on this issue. Those who have already voted, again vote in the comments section of this post to make your stand more visible.

Wishing you all, a free flow of thoughts
Blog-a-Tonically yours
Vipul Grover

A Quickie and a shameless self promotion!

Hello friends, here is a quick post from my side to share some really 'intelligently hilarious' stuff with you.

Even before, we flag off the fourth edition of BAT in a couple of days with the declaration of the final topic, our fellow Blog-a-Tonic, Madhu has come out with a brilliant post on the topic suggestion discussions taking place here. It is a must read post for all Blog-a-Tonics. Here is an excerpt -

‘Getting Married’ is pretty famous these days, especially if you get that ‘crème de la crème’ of a girl you seek (or your mom seeks!).Dream on, ‘Hallucinations’ you say ? Maybe. But ‘The Indian’ in me doesn’t give up.

Click here to read the complete post and do leave your comments at Madhu's IndiMag site to let him know how you feel about it.

And before, I take a leave to return on Saturday; I must not miss a great opportunity to get a bit shameless and request all Blog-a-Tonics cum Indibloggers to visit Indiblogger of the Month (Original Poetry) contest and vote for me, Vipul Grover (Reflections of an Empathic Libertarian), if you like my submissions. In addition to me, other Blog-a-Tonics - Pramathesh (Bamboo Lounge), Narendra (Frozen Well), Amit Kumar Singh (My Voice through my words) - are also participating. So do take out some time to encourage us all there as voting ends in a couple of days (Remember, there are 5 votes this time). In case, I have missed anyone's name inadvertently, do leave a comment and I'll add it asap.

Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

Time for Blog-a-Ton 4!

Date for Blog-a-Ton 4 : November 7, 2009
Topic declaration : October 31, 2009

It is Diwali eve and we are joined by our 100^th member. What a great time to kick start the fourth edition of Blog-a-Ton after conducting three successful ones in the last three months.

Membership has been increasing all this time. So lets welcome the latest members first of all.

•  Aniket Kulkarni
  
• Templates Block (Please provide us your name to be blogrolled)
•  Giyappan
•  Nupur
  
•  AJai
• Mrigank (Please provide us your bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Nishita
• Ishan
• Prashant (CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING OUR 100^TH MEMBER)

In case you have joined our Fan page on Facebook but are still not following us through the Google Friend Connect widget on this blog, do it right away. It is a mandatory step to become a Blog-a-Tonic, get blogrolled and participate in our events .

So with this, I invite your suggestions for the topic for Blog-a-Ton 4. Please keep the following things in mind while suggesting.

• Each member can suggest only one topic.
  
• The topic should be general in scope, so that more and more Blog-a-Tonics can participate.
• Before suggesting, go through the previous ones for sure.
• If you like any of those, VOTE for them rather than giving a new suggestion.
• If you like a suggested topic but don't like the wordings, still VOTE for it and alongside suggest a new title for it.
• In case you have already suggested a topic but find some subsequent suggestion better than yours, you are allowed to vote for it. But this can be done only once.
  
• Give your suggestions and votes in the comments section of this post.
• Do not embolden your comment using HTML bold tag. Only the Marshal is allowed to use it.
  
• Please keep these points in mind to make my job easier.
• In case a comment is not posted according to these rules, it will be deleted.
  

Kindly volunteer to compile all the suggestions every third day and post them together in the comments section to help others.

Wishing you all a prosperous and safe Diwali
 Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

Blog-a-Tonic of the Month - October 2009!

Blog-a-Ton 3 was definitely Bigger and Better.

Do not miss to visit the two late entries from Amit and Prabhjot, which though were not considered for voting but take the total number of participants to 40.

With 42 entries coming from 40 blog-a-tonics, it makes our mission of participation by 100 blog-a-tonics, look achievable in future.

The icing on the cake this time was the variety of presentation - poems, cinquains, short stories, 55 Fiction, dialogues, cartoons and video presentations added to the usual articles.

Definitely, everyone had a difficult time choosing their favourite post.

Before we move further, lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics:

• Pushkala
• Rashmi
• Meghana 
• Vicki
  
• Indian Home Maker
• Meow
  
• Nishi (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)

For those who missed to visit Madhu's IndiMag post, here is the video presentation. It might take time to load and viewing, but definitely you won't repent seeing it. I hope it inspires you to become a part of this Indian Dream-1 through 10 for India.



Now coming back to the award, first of all, lets see the badge award, the BATOM wins this time:

It has been designed by our fellow Blog-a-Tonic, Siddhesh Kabe aka Sid aka Ravan aka Sid 'Ravan' Kabe.
Thanks a lot buddy for this gesture.This is the community feeling at its best.

Coming to voting trends, there was 77.5 % polling, i.e. out of 40 eligible voters 31 casted their votes.
I hope in future, every eligible voter exercise this right to make Blog-a-Ton, a bigger success.
Afterall, it should not happen that a Blog-a-Tonic takes home the award without casting his/her vote.

So finally bringing these announcements to a halt, I present to you the BATOM for Oct 2009 -

Click upon the image, to see a better resolution image.

All the votes which were not consistent with the rules have not been considered.

Congratulations to Guria for winning the Blog-a-Tonic of the Month award for October, 2009 with 8 votes (25.8 % of the total votes polled).

Please pass me your e-mail id so that the (higher resolution) badge award can be mailed to you. You may also copy it from here if you want. Do link it to this post of Blog-a-Ton.

Let us congratulate Rahul and ARJuna too for securing the second highest votes, i.e. 4 each.

All the voting comments are now visible. Click here to read them.

P.S. Join the Facebook Blog-a-Ton group and the Blog-a-Ton Fan page.
Now, you can initiate discussions, upload images and videos, leave interesting links and just scribble anything on the wall. It will also help you to know the fellow blog-a-tonics better and get instant updates about the events and activities.
On the Discussion board, I have already initiated two topics pertaining to future voting procedure and the linguistic medium on Blog-a-Ton. Kindly give your inputs there. (The discussion board has been shifted from the Group Page to the Fan Page)

Hoping to see you all on Facebook too
Blog-a-Tonically Yours
Vipul Grover

Voting Begins - Only the participants can Vote!

Voting is over. BATOM for October, 2009 is Guria.

Its great to see the overwhelming response to the Blog-a-Ton 3. We are going from strength to strength with each passing event.

Anyway lets first welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics who just joined us:

• Hitanshu Gupta
  
• Srivatsan
• Karthik (Please provide us your Bloglink to be blogrolled)

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

In short, 40 entries from 38 Blog-a-Tonics.

If someone was unable to post in time due to any genuine reason, please convey it to me at Contact Us along with the link to your post.

This time we'll be somewhat moving back to the format followed in the Blog-a-Ton 1 for electing the Blog-a-Tonic of the Month (BATOM)

• Only those Blog-a-Tonics can vote who participated in Blog-a-Ton 3.

• You must cast 1 vote and of course you can not vote for yourself.

• However, this time you are allowed to cast a Second Vote which will be considered only in case there is a tie on the basis of the first vote. This is not mandatory.

• Kindly, cast both your votes in the same comment.
  

• In case of multiple entries from any blogger, please mention the specific post you are voting for and not just the name of the blogger.
  

Now coming to the other rules:

• Voting ends at 1900 hrs (IST) on Oct 8, 2009.
  
• Post your vote in the comments section of this post.
• 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.
  
• You might 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 only the most liked one and if you wish to, then for the second in line too.
  
• In case there are multiple entries from any Blogger, while counting the votes received by him/her, the entries will be considered individually for the award.
  

Hoping to see as much enthusiasm for this phase
Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover