And the FOOL of the Month is...

The Blog-a-Ton 9 concludes with this final declaration. Lets see who is the Fool, I mean Blog-a-Tonic of the Month. But first of all, let's welcome the new members of this ever-growing family:

• Scribbling Girl
• A dreamy Gal
• Nothing but Ficus
• Abhishek Neel
• Corve
• Samurai
• Purba 
• Bikram
• Dee
• Tanmay Priydarshi
• Schizophrenic
• mgeek
• Rooplin Sharma (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Shilpi Suresh (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled) 
• Pavin Nair (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Pavil

You all will be blogrolled soon!

So now, it is the RESULTS time.

As evident, each vote from a participant =2 cheers whereas from non-participants =1 cheer

Click on it to enlarge

Yeah, yeah it is Tavish Chadha once again. The BATOM 8 now also becomes BATOM 9. Huh, What a Fool! Don't miss his beautiful poem, a nice satire on politics, election manifestos and the helplessness of the mango men.

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!

P.S. Some votes which were highly incompatible with the rules have been discarded while compiling the results though they are kept visible in the comments section. Moreover, some of the voting comments are missing because they were mailed directly to me.

Will be back soon with Blog-a-Ton 9
Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

Lets Choose the Biggest Fool... errrr... BATOM 9 :p

Voting gets over at 2300 hrs (IST) on Apr 9, 2010. Read the Rules carefully as there are some major changes.

Let us welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics before proceeding further

• Richa Sharma
• Jidhu Jose (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Nishali Chand
• Ritu
• Zeenat
• Prerak Parikh
• Rahul Sharma (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Maliny Mohan (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled)

You all will be blogrolled soon!

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 this edition, 35 entries came in. 

Please follow the following rules while voting. Read the rules carefully as there are some important changes in the format.

1. You can cast upto 3 votes and of course you can not vote for yourself.

This time you are allowed to vote for more than one entry but the maximum votes you can give are three. All your votes will carry the same weightage.

2. Your Voting Comment should start as follows:

---

In case you participated -

I participated - http://vipulgrover.blogspot.com/2009/12/all-in-days-work.html

I vote for - 
1. XYZ; his/her post = http://ABC/xyz.html
2. DEF; his/her post = http://LMN/def.html
3. PQR; his/her post = http://RST/pqr.html

Code:

I participated - <a href="YOUR POST LINK">YOUR POST LINK</a>

I vote for -
1.  NAME OF THE FIRST BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a>
2. NAME OF THE SECOND BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a>
3. NAME OF THE THIRD BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a>

---

In case you did not participate -

I did not participate but I am blogrolled by the name of Vipul Grover.

I vote for - 
1. XYZ; his/her post = http://ABC/xyz.html
2. DEF; his/her post = http://LMN/def.html
3. PQR; his/her post = http://RST/pqr.html

Code:

I did not participate but I am blogrolled by the name of YOUR NAME ON OUR BLOGROLL.
I vote for -

1.  NAME OF THE FIRST BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a>
2. NAME OF THE SECOND BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a>
3. NAME OF THE THIRD BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST LINK</a>

---

Replace the parameters highlighted in red with their actual values.

Remove the extra code in case you are voting for less than three entries.

Remember, in case you participated, your vote will be counted as 1 and in case you didn't, then it will just carry the 1/2 value.All your votes, one or two or three will carry this same weightage.

Hence, do not forget to give your post link or blogrolled name (whichever is applicable as clearly visible in the above code) as it will decide whether your vote is counted as 1 or 1/2 in value.

 3. 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 favourites.
In case you vote separately, only the first comment will be taken into consideration.

4. The 35 valid entries include Rahulamigo who posted after the stipulated time owing to problems Blogger has been facing.

5.  Post your vote in the comments section of this post. Also mail it to me at vipul.grover@gmail.com to ensure that it doesn't go unnoticed owing to blogger problems. While mailing, keep the subject as "BATOM 9 VOTE" and provide your

1. bloglink, 
2. postlink if you participated or your blogrolled name if you didnt. 
3. name and postlink of those whom you are voting for.

Now coming to the other rules:

• Voting ends at  2300 hrs (IST) on  Apr 9, 2010.
• 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 one of them.

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

So, if there is any query about voting or you do not find yourself blogrolled, feel free to drop in a mail at 'Contact The Marshal'. I'll try to get back to you asap.


A Humble Appeal : Please do not indulge in unfair Favouritism. Let us keep Blog-a-Ton clean of such practices.

Hoping to see genuine and fair voting

Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

Rules and Reminder for Blog-a-Ton 9

Publish the post on April 3, 2010 anytime between 0000 hrs and 2359 hrs (IST)!

Blogger is encountering some serious problems due to which same comments got posted again and again. Moreover, in between this post is showing ZERO comments. Please be patient and dont repost your comment.

Date for Blog-a-Ton: April 3, 2010

Before I give you the details about posting, lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics

• Boaz John
• Sweta Tiwari (Please provide your blog link to be blogrolled)
• Sheila Vaz
• ASR
• Pritam
• Ekaanthapadhikan
• Sadhana
• Dibakar Sarkar
• Lucy Fur
• Rachana Agarwal
• Pawan Mundhra (Please provide your blog link to be blogrolled)

You all will be blogrolled soon. I hope to see all of you participating this time.
.

As you already know, the topic for Blog-a-Ton 9 has been finalised as:
Fool

Please follow these rules while publishing your post and thereafter:

• The title of your post should be the topic itself; i.e. Fool.
  Please do not use any alternative title or your post link will be removed.

• The post should start with this text within blockquotes and with link to this blog. 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 9</b>; the ninth 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://blog-a-ton.blogspot.com/"><b>Blog-a-Ton</b></a>.
  </blockquote>
  </div>

• The post should end with this text within blockquotes and with links to the comments section of this post and this blog. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to ur post in Edit HTML mode:
  
  
  <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://blog-a-ton.blogspot.com/2010/04/rules-and-reminder-for-blog-ton-9.html#comments"><b>here</b></a>. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <b><a href="http://blog-a-ton.blogspot.com/">Blog-a-Ton</a></b>.
  </blockquote>
  </div>

• Publish the post on April 3, 2010 anytime between 0000 hrs and 2359 hrs (Indian Standard Time)

• After publishing it, do not forget to leave the link in the comments section of this post.

• Use the following code to provide direct link to your post.

<a href="ADDRESS OF YOUR POST">YOUR NAME - FOOL</a>


It will look like this: Vipul Grover - Fool and will link to your post.
Please follow this rule to ensure easy navigability to your post as this time no separate list of the participants will be provided later on.

• In case you post your link after the stipulated time, then your submission will not be considered for voting.

• 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.

• Return on April 4 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. Till then just enjoy reading the various entries, keeping in mind your favourite one. 

Blogger is encountering some serious problems.

Blogger is encountering some serious problems due to which same comments got posted again and again. Moreover, at times this post is showing ZERO comments whenever I try removing redundant comments. Please be patient and don't repost your comment if you have done it already. Those leaving their links can do so and all comments will appear automatically.
I am clueless. Can anyone HELP??? 

Wishing you free flow of thoughts
Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover

Time To FOOL Around!!!

Date for Blog-a-Ton 9: April 3, 2010

Hey friends, I hope you liked the new looks of Blog-a-Ton. I must thank the Blogger Team for introducing this new feature, Blogger Template Designer which is now available on Blogger in Draft.

Before I declare the topic for this Blog-a-Ton, lets welcome the new Blog-a-Tonics:

• Chatterbox
• Monty (Please provide a valid bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Varnita (Please provide a valid bloglink to be blogrolled)
• Shilpa (Please provide a valid bloglink to be blogrolled)

On the wide consensus and the overwhelming support it got, the topic for Blog-a-Ton 9 is Fool.    I must congratulate the (foolish) proposer of the topic, Siddhesh 'Ravan' Kabe for suggesting this topic. 

While dealing with the topic 'Fool', 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 Apr 3 to post it finally along with everyone else.

Please write your posts on time as the late entries will not be allowed to participate in the voting round (though the links will be added to the participants list).

Other rules regarding posting will be conveyed to you later.

So kindly wait for that notification on next Friday 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.

Wishing you all, a free flow of thoughts

Blog-a-Tonically yours

Vipul Grover

Blog-a-Ton 9 is here!!!

Date for Blog-a-Ton 9 : April 3, 2010
Topic declaration : March 27, 2010

Hey friends, just take a break from IPL as Indian Blog-a-Ton League  is back!!!!

Lets get together to make it even Bigger and Better... For the starters, there is a BIG news - Blog-a-Ton has croosed 300 members :)

Now lets welcome the bloggers who have joined us and will be hopefully participating this time-

• Mansi
• Srikanth
• Sid (Only active bloggers are blogrolled - Intimate us once you start regular blogging)
• Surbhi (3 Cheers for the 300th Blog-a-Tonic)
• Payal
• Krishna 
• Chet Baker (Please provide a bloglink to be blogrolled) 

 You all will be blogrolled soon.

So with this, I invite your suggestions for the topic for Blog-a-Ton 9. 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.

• Rather than criticising the suggestions made by others, kindly give better suggestions.
  
  
• Give your suggestions and votes in the comments section of this post.
  
  
• Do not embolden your comment using HTML bold tag.
  
  
• 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.

And before I leave, a request to Tweeting Blog-a-Tonics - Please use #blogaton tag to make this event more popular!!!

Hoping to receive some interesting suggestions

 Blog-a-Tonically Yours

Vipul Grover