gcreptile 10,979 Posted November 15, 2022 If I may add, the task consists -mostly?- of the following: 1. Sending out the annual opening Email incl. the Excel sheet where the players can pick their people 2. Receiving the team emails throughout decembre (through the DDP email account) 3. Checking the teams for plausability (are all the picks alive? Spelling is right?) 4. Correct teams get copy/pasted into the annual game file (excel) 5. Communications with the players if something is wrong with the team (email stuff) 6. The most difficult part might be this: Adding new teams and new names into the main database. They need their own line and code, for example, Jonnie Irwin (if previously unpicked) will become jirwin2023 or something like that. There will be mistakes, for example, this is how two Michael A. Epsteins got into the database. If the spelling of the names isn't identical, we may get two lines for the same person, and then two pictures on the DDP site, two biographies, etc.... This is the critical part, but it happens, and I can still fix things later on. 7. Talking with Death Impends and me, is the person famous enough? (Possible through pm's of the forum), and new biographies for the new people, we share the work load. 8. At the end you hand over an excel file with the roughly 500 teams over to me, and I take over. Most of the job takes place in the final week of Decembre (usually right after Christmas) and the first week of January. There's always the teams who get submitted on the first day. They are already good for practise. I will be trying to simplify the whole checking people process. I did half of the work last year, and will pick up the pace again. Once the game is up and running, you're basically free for the rest of the year. Death Impends and I take over. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spade_Cooley 9,538 Posted November 15, 2022 I will say, now Elizabeth II/Queen Elizabeth II/ The Queen/Queen/Queen Elizabeth is dead, 20% of the work involved in this task no longer exists. 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toast 16,152 Posted November 15, 2022 I can't really get involved with the setting up, but I will happily help out again with adding photographs when the time is right. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gcreptile 10,979 Posted November 15, 2022 38 minutes ago, Spade_Cooley said: I will say, now Elizabeth II/Queen Elizabeth II/ The Queen/Queen/Queen Elizabeth is dead, 20% of the work involved in this task no longer exists. We've still got Pope Benedikt / Pope Benedict / Pope Benedikt XVI / "The Pope" / Joseph Ratzinger though. Thankfully, the terorrists / Al Qaeda / ISIS era is also over. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Book 3,557 Posted November 15, 2022 13 minutes ago, Toast said: I can't really get involved with the setting up, but I will happily help out again with adding photographs when the time is right. Same here! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Summer in Transylvania 2,190 Posted November 17, 2022 Like what some others have said, I cannot really help with the whole setting up, I have enough on my plate about this time of year as it is, but I am incredibly familiar with Excel, and I would happily research any new names to contribute to biographies if necessary. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gooseberry Crumble 5,346 Posted November 17, 2022 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11437755/Hogans-Heroes-alum-Robert-Clary-dies-96-Holocaust-survivor-played-Corporal-LeBeau-series.html Posted elsewhere I realise but just incase not spotted by the DDP team here is a qualifying obituary for Robert Clary. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gooseberry Crumble 5,346 Posted November 18, 2022 244 hits in total do far.43 days left in the year and 31 hits needed to equal last years grand total of 275 and 32 to surpass it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Hemlock 745 Posted November 18, 2022 9 minutes ago, Gooseberry Crumble said: 244 hits in total do far.43 days left in the year and 31 hits needed to equal last years grand total of 275 and 32 to surpass it. In other words…time for another enema. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gooseberry Crumble 5,346 Posted November 18, 2022 5 minutes ago, Captain Hemlock said: In other words…time for another enema. Or a steady flow of one a day would beat last years total...! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
YoungWillz 21,062 Posted November 20, 2022 Those currently on the List of the Lost whose biography has not been updated: Joyce Reynolds (actress) Ernst Walder Leon Lissek Mary "Mollie" Walker Tomas Mac Siomoin Eleonore Schonborn Silas Alexander Rene Clemencic Egidius Braun Glen Glenn Natty Wailer Stanislaw Kowalski Antonio Russo Thue Christiansen Jigme Gyatso Wiltrud Topic-Mersmann Fritz Pleitgen Marie-Louise Wirth Peter Butler (but will probably obit at the end of the year - Ronnie Hellstrom's Biog however is updated) Kay Parker Updated biogs may stop folk from picking them again, I think. Looking at the names, folk really should try and pick people with not overly European names, unless they are hugely famous. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gcreptile 10,979 Posted November 20, 2022 On 16/01/2022 at 15:16, Death Impends said: The DQ verdicts were all made, as hinted by Reptile in the DBN thread. As we're in the home stretch, and in interests of transparency, here's the poor nonentities you all tried to sneak past us this year: Mike Mora - Already explained earlier in thread, not notable for photography career Edith Kwoizalla - First German woman to be vaccinated against COVID. We already excluded the UK equivalents last year. Esther Waitherero - Sister of President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya. No actual coverage that indicates notability. Andrew McAslan - Minor runner who has not had coverage independent of his cancer Phil Rossall - Wheelchair world record not good enough, nor is his fundraising amount Esther Lee - Mentioned her as a no go in the salvage lot thread, reiterating that she is essentially a "family of X" pick even if she's the physical therapist to rather than a relative of Serena Williams Mike Edwards - His football club is too minor a level Robyn Free - I already said she wouldn't count in thread, as "one appearance on a game show" picks have a really high bar, to pass as a pick. She was indeed a pick, so now DQed Dave Marsh - Member of a no-name 60s band who only got coverage as Kym's dying dad. Look if they're a 60s musician and I never heard of them... Martha Sepulveda - Our toughest decision, and there was a lot of backing and forthing. In the end we decided that a case can be notable, but the person at the centre of it not necessarily so. If she fought for the change in that Colombian euthanasia law, it might have been good enough, but in the end she was just the first person to "benefit", for lack of a better word, from a law change that was made irrespective of her Mia Macklin - Social media pick with nowhere near enough followers Brian Morris - Golfer whose PGA "career" was one game, after a terminal illness. Not notable for his actual career, which was very local pre-illness Tiffany Youngs - This came close to sneaking by, as she was in the database pre-FFBI ban. But no, only in the spotlight as Tom's wife Let's have a look at the banned FFBI picks of 2022.... might be good timing. 13 names.... 6 deaths, and two of them without QO. Esther Waitherero died in July. Robyn Free didnt get a QO. Phil Rossall just turned 70, unbelievably. Esther Lee and Andrew McAslan had a health rebound. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drol 11,959 Posted November 20, 2022 Esther Waitherero died at 115. Her last year of life must have been very stressful as she was only 105 in 2021. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WEP 894 Posted November 20, 2022 3 hours ago, YoungWillz said: Jigme Gyatso The deceased one seems not to be this one. There were three or more guys of that name. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/gansu-monk-death-07032022111547.html https://tibet.net/monk-jigme-gyatso-in-custody-for-more-than-a-year-without-verdict/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigme_Gyatso 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gcreptile 10,979 Posted November 20, 2022 Catch-all post for DDP List of the Lost and List of the missed: List of the missed: (These names must have been picked 2017-2020) - Bob Beckel, dead Feb 20th, 2022 - Colin Bell, dead January 5th, 2022 - Karl Bettin, dead, May 27th, 2022 - Archbishop Chrysostomos II, dead Nov 7th, 2022 - Kazuo Inamori, died August 24th, 2022 - Robin Marlar, died September 30th, 2022 - Merrill Newman, died January 17th, 2022 - Wolfgang Schwanitz, February 1st, 2022 - Sara Shane, died July 31st, 2022 - Michel Subor, died January 10th, 2022 - Sven-Bertil Taube, died November 11th, 2022. - Rolf Zehetbauer, died January 23rd, 2022 List of the lost: - Asuquo "Zoom" Ema, died on July 3rd. - Graham Skidmore, died in December 2021, but no QO until mid-2022 - Lon Satton, died Octobre 2020. - Tomasz Wojtowicz, died 24th of Octobre, 2022 - Jerry Ziesmer, died August 1st, 2021 (!) 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spade_Cooley 9,538 Posted November 21, 2022 The image of Butch Miller in the DDP database is for the NASCAR driver, not the former WWF wrestler it's linked with. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Death Impends 7,989 Posted November 21, 2022 13 hours ago, gcreptile said: Catch-all post for DDP List of the Lost and List of the missed: List of the missed: (These names must have been picked 2017-2020) - Bob Beckel, dead Feb 20th, 2022 - Colin Bell, dead January 5th, 2022 - Karl Bettin, dead, May 27th, 2022 List of the lost: Beckel and Bettin I've now added to the 2022 LotM. Bell was 2021, and was already added to those pages. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alt obits guy 3,371 Posted November 22, 2022 (Cross-posting from the 'Dying Off the Radar' thread.) It appears 2020 DDP pick (and 2021 disallowed pick) Nikki Jenkins died at some point just before April 2nd, 2021. (She's the one with the 'up' hairdo in the link below.) She was a UK fitness model and bodybuilder, and the Facebook account is a British gym. In December 2019, Jenkins was given 12 months to live. She seems to have exceeded that by a few months, but passed without any of the media outlets that first reported her circumstances following up. https://www.facebook.com/1520336141523408/posts/very-sad-to-hear-nikki-jenkins-has-sadly-passed-away-for-those-of-you-who-didnt-/3082891151934558/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maryportfuncity 10,657 Posted November 22, 2022 50 minutes ago, alt obits guy said: (Cross-posting from the 'Dying Off the Radar' thread.) It appears 2020 DDP pick (and 2021 disallowed pick) Nikki Jenkins died at some point just before April 2nd, 2021. (She's the one with the 'up' hairdo in the link below.) She was a UK fitness model and bodybuilder, and the Facebook account is a British gym. In December 2019, Jenkins was given 12 months to live. She seems to have exceeded that by a few months, but passed without any of the media outlets that first reported her circumstances following up. https://www.facebook.com/1520336141523408/posts/very-sad-to-hear-nikki-jenkins-has-sadly-passed-away-for-those-of-you-who-didnt-/3082891151934558/ Aye, it's a great British tabloid tradition to big up a tragic terminal case (especially young mums), then ditch them before they die. Maybe we should start some campaign about a dying mum being for life, not just for Christmas! 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheKeysOfMarinus 390 Posted November 25, 2022 On 22/12/2021 at 20:08, msc said: No, I didn't see it. Uhm, mostly because there was no major Welsh or N Irish newspapers in comparison to the Scottish ones known to yours truly. The largest Welsh daily I'm aware of is Western Mail which only has a circulation of around 10, 000, The Belfast Telegraph could have been brought up, but there was no great call (to date) for it to be involved. The Herald and Daily Record (which were reverts to previous QOs allowed before a previous host cut down the number in 2016) were on as the former is one of the "papers of record" and the latter is one of the most read dailys in the UK. The N Irish issue was attempted to be fixed with the return of UTV as a specific qualifying source. Then, sods law, they didn't cover the one N Irish case this was assumed they would! As the game always likes to listen to players and be fair, I'm sure if you brought up some quality Welsh obituary sources previously unknown to the Cmme or forum, they could at a later date be considered for use? That's how several of the current QOs came into use. Apologies for the delay but I’ve just been thinking about this (I asked back in December about whether Welsh obit sources could be included as there are Scottish ones). I don’t know much about circulations so I’m not sure what papers to suggest if the Western Mail wouldn’t qualify. I wondered if S4C’s Newyddion website might be appropriate, seeing as it is similar to the BBC, ITV and C4 sources as the news website of a free-to-view major UK TV channel. S4C is the Welsh-language equivalent of Channel 4 and has major BBC involvement. I believe the content on the Newyddion website and the BBC News Welsh-language site (accessible from the main English-language BBC News page) is usually the same. Both sites are part of BBC News, one more obviously than the other. Then I realised neither would possibly qualify, even though BBC News does, because of the written English rule. That rule makes sense, and I imagine it’s a core rule of the entire DDP, but it does rule out a lot of possible Welsh celebrities who might obit in Welsh - and we are British, after all! I’m sure there’s lots of reasons why it wouldn’t make sense to make an exemption for Welsh but I thought I may as well be cheeky and broach the subject! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Death Impends 7,989 Posted November 26, 2022 Doddie Weir is a record breaking 18th death for this year's Drop 40. Between possibilities of further deaths like Rolf, and names falling off like Maxwell, strong chance at least half of next year's Drop 40 are fresh faces. 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Perhaps 1,423 Posted November 27, 2022 Would this be an Alan Melinek QO? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-63678354 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gcreptile 10,979 Posted November 27, 2022 3 hours ago, Perhaps said: Would this be an Alan Melinek QO? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-63678354 I'd say it counts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gcreptile 10,979 Posted November 27, 2022 So I'm adding three more hits (Doddie Weir, Alan Melinek, Don St. Claire), which brings us to 250. No Louise Tobin QO so far. And by the way, I'm still looking for an al-Qaeda confirmation of Ayman al-Zawahiri's death... But yes, for a new hit record we "only" need 29 more hits in roughly 35 days. It doesn't look out of reach actually. Maybe a few more QOs via "deaths of 2022" year end lists could help. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Death Impends 7,989 Posted November 27, 2022 17 minutes ago, gcreptile said: So I'm adding three more hits (Doddie Weir, Alan Melinek, Don St. Claire), which brings us to 250. No Louise Tobin QO so far. And by the way, I'm still looking for an al-Qaeda confirmation of Ayman al-Zawahiri's death... But yes, for a new hit record we "only" need 29 more hits in roughly 35 days. It doesn't look out of reach actually. Maybe a few more QOs via "deaths of 2022" year end lists could help. Louise Tobin I'd have thought was a pure 50/50 shot, but "helped discover Frank Sinatra" is surely too good a headline for the QOs to pass up on. It already got her a Sun mention, but annoyingly, only the US edition. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites