phpBB Weekly's "President Bertie" Election Contest
Part I: Nominations
First off, if you're reading this and have no idea what this whole President Bertie thing is about anyway, you might want to read the contest introduction. This post details the rules for the first part of this contest. (The remaining parts of the contest don't have anywhere near as many rules as this part, so don't be afraid if this post seems a bit, um, scary.)
For this first part of the contest, which will run up through the end of the day on October 17 (UTC time), candidates who want to run for president will have to submit a nomination petition, and have it signed by ten people by the deadline in order to qualify for the ballot. The way that you do that is you submit a new topic in this forum, which will count as your nomination petition, and the signatories of your petition will do this by replying to your petition.
Here are the guidelines that you have to follow to complete this step:
Completing the Nomination Petition
The first thing that you should do is prepare your Bertie for the contest. Give your Bertie a unique name to represent him in the election (the name you choose is the one that will appear on the ballot), and then, take a picture of Bertie looking "presidential" in some way, whatever that means to you. (This is completely to show how creative you are, you don't have to follow the conventional definition of "presidential" at all!) For the nomination petition, you can only show off one picture of your Bertie; you'll be able to add more pictures in the next part of the contest. You'll need to either upload your picture as an attachment here on StarTrekGuide or get him on the internet somehow via your own server, an online service like ImageShack or Skitch, etc.
Now, you'll create the petition. To do this, create a new topic in this forum with the title: [Nomination Petition] -- Your Bertie's Name Here
The contents of the post should look like this:
- Code: Select all
[b]Candidate's Name:[/b] Your Bertie's Name Here
[b]Candidate's Owner:[/b] Your StarTrekGuide Username Here
[b]Running From:[/b] Indicate where you/your Bertie live here
[Insert your candidate's picture here, or attach it to the post]
This petition is on behalf of the Bertie listed above, a candidate for President of Bertie Mons, for the General Presidential Election to be conducted November 3-5, 2008. The undersigned electors hereby affirm that they are currently registered to vote in Bertie Mons, and do hereby petition to have the name of this candidate placed on the ballot.
[color=red][b]Please note that you may only sign the nominating petition of one candidate for this election. If you sign multiple nominating petitions, those signatures will be considered invalid.[/b][/color]
Signing the Nomination Petitions
Any registered StarTrekGuide member may sign a nomination petition, but no person may sign more than one. If a member does sign more than one, only the first signature they make will be counted; the others will be invalid. Candidates cannot sign any other nomination petition (nor can they sign their own), and if they do, their signatures will be deemed invalid.
Deadline for Nomination
This forum will be temporarily locked at 8:00 PM EDT on Friday, October 17th (0000 UTC on Saturday, October 18th). Only nomination petitions that have been submitted in full with ten valid signatures by this time will qualify for the ballot. The list of candidates who qualify for the ballot will be formally announced on phpBB Weekly #082 on Saturday, October 18th, and posted in this forum shortly thereafter, and this forum will be unlocked once Part II of the contest begins.
General Contest Discussion
At this stage in the contest, this forum is solely for the purpose of posting nomination petitions. Please use this topic for general discussion of this contest. Once Part II of this contest begins, this restriction will be lifted. However, if you have questions about these rules, feel free to ask in this topic.
And Finally, Some Ground Rules
Please remember that this contest is meant to be fun. Please treat all participants with respect. Candidates are entitled (and encouraged) to recruit people to sign their nomination petitions and participate in their campaigns, but please do it in appropriate places. Candidates caught spamming or harassing users for their campaigns will be disqualified from the ballot and their campaign will be suspended, so please follow the rules of StarTrekGuide and any other boards that you are participating in. All of this should go without saying, but it needs to be said anyway.
Okay, get your nomination petition going, and good luck!
