Wormfarmer

All TRUE! May I elaborate on point #5: You may submit your list prior to the end of the month, (maybe dire news breaks providing a name that you want to snatch up for your top spot before it is taken by someone else), but in doing so you void your current month's list and your shot at the double points should one of your current names die on the last day of the month. Your list is locked in for the following month, but you cannot score with it until the new month starts. So if someone goes on life support on May 4th, it may not be a wise decision to drop your May list and post your June list with that name. But if it happens on the 27th . . . it may be a worthwhile strategy. This is supposed to be a dynamic game, with 12 "teams" generated throughout the year, allowing folks to monitor the news and stay involved, as opposed to the games where you do all the work up front and then wait 12 months to see the results.

My hat's off to you, that is a lot more work than I was willing to pony up if I took over hosting. I tend to look for the easier way out sometimes. I would probably still volunteer, but would cut it to the Drop 40, and I think JR would go Van Helsing on me again. I hope someone picks it up, it sounds like a good contest. I have a couple of pools in their infancy that I am nurturing anyway (ABC Deadpool and Five4Three2One DP), so best I not bite off too much at once.

Great to see there are 11 entries on the first day! Thanks for giving it a try. That said, I have a few list violations to report. Quim, Fixed Business and Unknown Man - you all have Leah Bracknell at the top spot. TheOldLady (first entry posted) beat you to it, so you are all in violation of the rule "once a name is posted at the top spot, no one else can use that name at the top spot for that month, same with the 4 spot, and so on. Thus any given name can only be on 5 active lists in any given month." There are still 3 slots left in January for Leah, though, so . . . ready, set . . . GO! Unknown Man you are in violation of the same rule with John McCain in the 4 spot as Bou1 already has him there, and finally Exu is in violation of said rule with Nobby Stiles in the 4 slot (lost out to Fixed Business this month). I will accept name replacements at any time, but your lists will not be active until they meet the guidelines, so try to fix them before Jan 1. I will of course hold all your legal picks so they cannot be taken by another entry whilst you are in limbo. Carry on!

Speaking of idiots, I'd best just get this question over with. I'd like to submit, but my ignorance is starting to really crimp my ability to play (and host) more pools. What the hell is PM (my guess is personal mail), and how do I PM my list? Are we talking postal service, email??? Help! Also, once my question is answered, is there a way I can delete a post or is it a permanent fixture everyone has to skim forever and ever?

Oh, just curious, how do we know what the Top 50 are in the Derby (I am assuming that is the DDP you are referring to)? I know they post their Drop Dead 40 list, but does someone (Dead Cow) have to go through all the entries to figure out #41 - 50? Glad it's not me.

Good enough. I'll submit if it's open to newcomers. By the way, rest up Dead Cow.

An end of the year update, as we have 3 new hits (King Michael, Malcolm Young and Talabani) that I am aware of, putting Fixed Business on the board at last. GC Reptile (Christie, Van Zandvliet, Wraw, Young, Johnson, Meads, Irwin) 27 pts Wormfarmer (Christie, Fawkes, Van Zandvliet, Ahmed, Heenan, Downie) 26 pts Zsa Zsa's Leg (Campbell, Foray, Zadeh, Downie, Heenan) 15 pts The Unknown Man (Kohl, Lewis, Downie, Berkowitz) 11 pts Young Willz (Cant, Hefner, M. Young) 11 pts Shaun of the Dead (Fawkes, Downie, Booth, Michael of Romania) 9 pts Bibliogryphon (Hardy, Aldiss) 5 pts Joey Russ (Forsyth) 2 pts Fixed Business - (Talabani) 2 pts

Well, if it is open to new players, I would like to submit in 2018. Also I could give hosting a shot, but I would like to post the 50 as a list of my own that everyone else draws from. It would be a mix of old and young, famous and less famous, UK and US. But I am US based so I would have that bias. I could promise to update about once a month, assuming changes in the scores. Maybe more if there is a lot of activity. Just offering.

I believe without the Nabeel Qureshi obit, I am still at 3 hits (Eman Ahmed, Daisy B. and Helen Fawkes). With the lists scattered amongst 6 pages of chat, it is tough to get a sense of the standings, although I realize no one is within a decade of winning this thing yet. I would like to swap my Nabeel "not worthy of an obit" Qureshi pick out for Lauren Wasser, please. One other suggestion while I am here: I check in rather haphazardly and have been missing the open periods, which also appear to be a bit haphazard. Am I the only one at this disadvantage? I recommend having the open swap-out periods established, for example, first weeks of Jan, April, July and Oct. Then everyone knows when to check in and update their lists should they want to. Alternatively, starting next year you could get rid of the open periods, and just limit each player to a set number of swaps each year, say 5. Or one swap every two months, etc. Also, I am cooking up a new deadpool that I think will be interesting, and plan on starting a new thread for entries right after xmas, to start competition in the new year. Please tune in and join if you would like. Look for Five4three2one Deadpool. Come one, come all ye faithful . . .

Chucky Manson goes. Finally. A solo shot, not that I expect to tie for the lead.

Other than the frisky discussion about the inaugural rules, the first issue of contention has come up. When I listed all the sources of obits that would qualify a name as dead, my intention was to say that if an obit appears in any of these sources, then there is no dispute that the person is dead. That was not so say that other reasonably reliable sources would not also qualify. However, upon some further research, I see that other pools (like the Derby, which is a huge one), do not allow a score unless the obit appears in the listed sources. For example, an obit for Nabeel Qureshi (who is on my list) appeared in the Washington Post (a presumably very reliable daily) but was not scored on the Windy City DP because that is not a listed source. Well, as someone suggested earlier on this thread, F*%# ME. So, I retract Sarosy from my score, and also withhold scoring of Qureshi, pending obits from the list. Nice use of my protected names, eh? Scores above are now edited and updated for every hit I am aware of - again, notify me if I have missed someone on your list!

This from the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/09/17/why-this-muslim-turned-christian-speaker-resonated-with-so-many-before-his-death-at-34/?utm_term=.868935a0c254

Don't tell me not to live Just sit and putter Life's candy and the sun's A ball of butter Don't bring around a cloud To rain on my pah-raaaaade! (I think Babs said it best)

Could it be September is my month? Three hits (Violet Brown, Nabeel Qureshi and Bobby Heenan) on three consecutive days - Yeah, baby! And today is not over yet . . . .going for #4! How is King Michael feeling this morning??

I had been waiting to see if the Lofti Zadeh issue would work itself out. There were conflicting sites that said he was alive and that he had died. Now I think the consensus is that he is indeed gone, so I won't have to retract the points. In my experience it is rare that there is a controversy about death, except in extreme coma situations, and even then if the heart is still beating I think you have to say the bugger is hanging in there! But we gather here today to crown a new leader with quite a spike in points - GC Reptile. He appears to have put together quite a solid list and has scored an impressive 4 additional hits since my last update. Also adding to his total in less spectacular fashion is The Unknown Man, and putting his first points on the board is Joey Russ. GC Reptile (Christie, Van Zandvliet, Wraw, Young, Johnson, Meads) 22 pts Wormfarmer (Christie, Fawkes, Van Zandvliet, Sarosy) 13 pts Zsa Zsa's Leg (Campbell, Foray, Zadeh) 8 pts Shaun of the Dead (Fawkes) 3 pts The Unknown Man (Kohl, Lewis) 3 pts Young Willz (Cant) 2 pts Bibliogryphon (Hardy) 2 pts Joey Russ (Forsyth) 2 pts Fixed Business - nothing yet

That was quick. Since it is a standings changer, I will do another update: Wormfarmer (Christie, Fawkes, Van Zandvliet, Sarosy) 13 pts Zsa Zsa's Leg (Campbell, Foray, Zadeh) 8 pts GC Reptile (Christie, Van Zandvliet) 7 pts Shaun of the Dead (Fawkes) 3 pts The Unknown Man (Kohl) 2 pts Young Willz (Cant) 2 pts Bibliogryphon (Hardy) 2 pts Fixed Business and Joey Russ nothing yet

Sorry I have been away for awhile. I recently tripped on an escalator and fell down the stairs for an hour and a half. But seriously, current standings, as I know them to be, are as such among our 9 teams: Wormfarmer (Christie, Fawkes, Van Zandvliet, Sarosy) 13 pts GC Reptile (Christie, Van Zandvliet) 7 pts Zsa Zsa's Leg (Campbell, Foray) 4 pts Shaun of the Dead (Fawkes) 3 pts The Unknown Man (Kohl) 2 pts Young Willz (Cant) 2 pts Bibliogryphon (Hardy) 2 pts Fixed Business and Joey Russ nothing yet I apologize to GC Reptile, who somehow I credited with an extra point for Paul Van Zan in an earlier scoring update. He used Paul under his first name which only scores 1 pt. Somehow I gave him 2, plus the correctly added 1937 bonus. Let me know if I have missed any deaths, or if you think I have misscored any hits. A long way to go . . . .

It was me. Takes the sting out of the fact that I had Glen Campbell as my second alternate, and I can really use the 120 pts after an endless drought of death. Moves me up in the standings a little . . . for now. I'll take what I can get.

I am sure he is a tough bastard and will seek appropriate therapy to shake it all off.

Chessmaster Zoltan Sarosy (a solo pick) goes on the 19th of June. 55 pts isn't much but it beats a sharp stick in the eye. I guess.

Thanks for joining, JR. We'll give you Saif, the Queen, and Mr. T. What the heck, it's just for fun, yeah? But if we go for prizes next year I might have to tighten up on the rules as to what constitutes a name. Even with your holding back, there are some names here I don't think I've seen before.

Well, if Ms Fawkes has passed, that would make the scores more like this: Wormfarmer - 13 (Christie, Van Zan, Fawkes) GC Reptile - 8 (Christie, Van Zan) Shaun of the Dead - 3 (Fawkes) The Unknown Man - 2 (Kohl) . . . with Fawkes of course also earning the 1937 bonus. I guess this pool got started just in time. There were a lot of feeble corpses out there waiting to drop!

Well, we have had a few hits already. I am aware of Errol Christie, Paul Van Zandvliet, and Helmut Kohl. Paul VZ is such an obscure name in the states that even Wikipedia doesn't have a page on him. So i don't know if he qualifies yet. I am watching the Derby's page to see if he gets the OK there. If he does, the current scores will be: Wormfarmer - 9 (Christie, Van Zan) GC Reptile - 8 (Christie, Van Zan) The Unknown Man - 2 (Kohl) With both Christie and Van Z earning the 1937 bonus. Help me police your lists, there are a lot of unrecognizable names on them that might not make obits in the US. We have 8 lists so far, and I have compiled an excel file with all the lists together. I tried to attach it here, but the file type was not compatible. If anyone wants a copy emailed to them I will do it. I will try to do updates every couple of weeks if needed, or more often if there is a rush of hits.

Great list. I just wanted to point out that James Earl Jones is a bit of a condundrum. His last name is Jones, not Earl-Jones, so his middle name is Earl. Since you are playing him under the E, and I didn't prohibit middle names specifically, I will score you a first name hit if he dies. He is always referenced with his middle name included, so I'll be lenient. I am going to regret it if anyone wants Michael J. Fox under the "J" though.

I like your list. I meant to include a rule prohibiting prefixes like "Queen" and "Emperor" from counting, but I forgot, so let's be cool and allow it for this year. We will treat Queen as a first name however, should you hit. Joey is correct, your protected picks are fine, but they do not affect those names already on submitted lists, only for those lists that may come later. Also, note that Dick Van Dyke will be treated as a first name only, since his last name is Van Dyke, which begins with a V. Thanks for playing. You can change the Queen if you want to, or you can play her as it stands, but decide before the next list comes in.