420 Magazine's Plant of the Month: December 2020

[420]

What's with you guys?

Either it's arguing, complaining or making fun of someone, now even making fun of winners.

Do you guys realize that many of our growers here are sick, disabled, mentally challenged and even dying? Making friends here and winning these contests might be the most important thing they've ever achieved, it improves their quality of life and gives them a reason to live. I wonder if it will ever be possible to see our members lifting each other up, instead of constantly breaking them down.

 

[The Phantom]

If it's that important to people maybe letting more people win would be more appropriate that having members with a plethora of titles under their names. Wouldn't sharing the experience of winning with more people make more sense then a small group of people constantly winning? You don't have to be sick, disabled, mentally challenged, or dying to get to enjoy winning a contest, it's something anyone can look forward to getting to experience.

 

[420]

If it's that important to people maybe letting more people win would be more appropriate that having members with a plethora of titles under their names. Wouldn't sharing the experience of winning with more people make more sense then a small group of people constantly winning? You don't have to be sick, disabled, mentally challenged, or dying to get to enjoy winning a contest, it's something anyone can look forward to getting to experience.

I hear what you're saying, and wish we could please everyone, but we all know that is impossible.

Some of those cats running around with fifty pounds of metal on their chest have been here for a decade, winning contests after each time limit expires. After many years, they add up.

We've spent decades dialing in and tweaking the contest guidelines, considering every possible thing that could happen to stop cheating, close loop holes, satisfy complainers and more. It's only once per year on Member of the Month and Grow Journal of the Month. Nug, Plant and Photo of the Month contests are 3 months.

Many of our members find the contests to be fun, exciting and for some a motivator to continue posting and helping others in FAQs and journals. Over the years, we've found that anything past 3 months, members get antsy and give up and disappear. However 3 months they can hang and keep themselves busy, waiting for the time to pass. We've had public and private votes on this in the past, which all led to the same conclusion.

 

[The Phantom]

I get it and doing a one and done type deal wouldn't stop people from creating other accounts to win from if they are greedy enough. I guess maybe my audience shouldn't be you but the people that are constantly wanting to win each time they are able, maybe take a break and let someone else win for a change before we all start laughing at you and your avatar full of titles. Heck if you are that great at winning maybe help someone else win, share your knowledge of growing so everyone is growing winners, ya dig? Pay it forward for once maybe.

 

[420]

I get it and doing a one and done type deal wouldn't stop people from creating other accounts to win from if they are greedy enough. I guess maybe my audience shouldn't be you but the people that are constantly wanting to win each time they are able, maybe take a break and let someone else win for a change before we all start laughing at you and your avatar full of titles. Heck if you are that great at winning maybe help someone else win, share your knowledge of growing so everyone is growing winners, ya dig? Pay it forward for once maybe.

So your answer is to gather members to threaten these other members with public humiliation if they don’t stop entering?

Everything else sounded good, except that part.

 

[The Phantom]

My answer is for them to help out other members win to help lift up other members, as you had mentioned, instead of helping themselves to their 3rd, 4th...12th win.

I'm only saying what a lot of members think and are too afraid to stand up to you to say without consequences. Saying or even seeing something posted against 420 automatically puts you on a watch list around here with 420 staff following you wherever you go like you're a criminal, talk about tearing members down instead of lifting them up. I'm not here trying to gain followers to hang on my every word I say like Charles Manson to go and cause harm to anyone, like you suggest. That is ridiculous for you to think that. I'm trying to point out some flaws in the system that are repressing members of the forum from even wanting to enter the contests and they feelings they have. We find it silly that people think they have to keep coming back to win time after time when there are 159,000 other members who we be equally as honored to have just one title under their name.

Who seriously feels like they have a chance of winning against someone with a dozen titles to their name? Nobody, so why even try? Heck I didn't even want to be nominated because of how I feel about this stuff and only enter out of humor like when I find a dead fly on my plant or something, not because I think I have an actual chance. I figure it also might lighten the mood of the contest to get people to submit their own photos they are afraid to. I like the contests to see all the entries and get to vote for someone with a great entry that maybe hasn't won already.

 

[420]

My answer is for them to help out other members win to help lift up other members, as you had mentioned, instead of helping themselves to their 3rd, 4th...12th win.

I'm only saying what a lot of members think and are too afraid to stand up to you to say without consequences. Saying or even seeing something posted against 420 automatically puts you on a watch list around here with 420 staff following you wherever you go like you're a criminal, talk about tearing members down instead of lifting them up. I'm not here trying to gain followers to hang on my every word I say like Charles Manson to go and cause harm to anyone, like you suggest. That is ridiculous for you to think that. I'm trying to point out some flaws in the system that are repressing members of the forum from even wanting to enter the contests and they feelings they have. We find it silly that people think they have to keep coming back to win time after time when there are 159,000 other members who we be equally as honored to have just one title under their name.

Who seriously feels like they have a chance of winning against someone with a dozen titles to their name? Nobody, so why even try? Heck I didn't even want to be nominated because of how I feel about this stuff and only enter out of humor like when I find a dead fly on my plant or something, not because I think I have an actual chance. I figure it also might lighten the mood of the contest to get people to submit their own photos they are afraid to. I like the contests to see all the entries and get to vote for someone with a great entry that maybe hasn't won already.

Again, I hear what you are saying and I actually agree with some of your logic. But at the end of the day, it’s not about you and me, it’s about the community as a whole. As I said, we’ve had a plethora of votes on the topic over the years and three months seems to be the winner every time.

Don’t violate the guidelines, don’t get watched. Pretty simple recipe, if you ask me. But what do I know?

 

[The Phantom]

I know we are preaching nearly the same thing, I'm just voicing an opinion from members and myself that we are tired of some of the member's needs to collect titles as trinkets.

On a different note, I didn't violate any guidelines, I happened to see someone posting a message violating the guidelines and was instantly followed by the 420 staff and have been followed by them ever since, 5 months ago. I'm sure you don't personally follow every member of the community that has slipped up and violated the guidelines so why am I so special? In the time you have followed me have you seen me do anything to make it worth it? I would have been flattered if you were following me before said event but it has only felt like someone stalking me waiting to attack me. Lift people up, not bring them down.

 

[Virgin Ground]

We all had to start somewhere.
Some of us work very hard to win titles and we do it for many reasons.

Some do it to prove something to themselves. Others do it for the swag. Some want bragging rights.
Whatever reason it is their right to enter if they qualify.
This theory that every member of the month should sell their soul and stay in the FAQ pages 24/7 is ridiculous. That if they don't nominate someone every month they need to give up their titles..

Sounds like nothing more than sour grapes.
We should try and shame past winners now too?
That notion that we should all step aside from doing what we enjoy doing to appease others who want the same thing that we all once did is ludicrous.
They deserve joy ,fun and fortune as well.
It took years for some of these folks to win their first title.
A lot of us do pay it forward and help with new growers but this isn't a prerequisite to a win anything and life and schedules change quickly.
People get nominated for MOTM because that are part of and are supporting a community. They give their time and share their knowledge freely.
Not because they are actively trying to tear it down.
All I hear is a bunch of judging other folks going on and that every contest is unfair somehow...

Hard work and some luck may get you a win. This stuff won't.

I'm just voicing my opinion that some of the past winners are sick of hearing how bad they are, what they should do and that every damn contest is rigged around here.

 

[The Phantom]

So maybe stop giving each other crap and let someone else win for a change? I can comprise to that..I'm not saying anyone doesn't deserve to win, it's just that do you really need to keep winning over and over again? Like we get it, you are good at growing and you have people that love voting for you, we see the titles. It's the notion to respectfully decline a nomination or not submitting an entry for a contest you've already won is what I'm asking; to allow someone who hasn't that has worked equally as hard or harder win. Some of you cast very large shadows that make it difficult for other's to grow in, how about sharing the light?

 

[VetSmoke85]

Oooooo okay. I just want to be clear personally I wasn't trying to put anyone down, mock anyone or look for rule changes. I can see exactly why the contests are setup as they are and it's a good compromise to make things as fair as possible for every one. I was interested in the topic of voting for yourself as I wondered if opinions on the matter were personal, cultural etc. I feel sometimes reading text, and with cultural differences sometimes things can be misinterpreted. So apologies if anything wasn't taken as meant. Still.... I would've liked a giant Afghanistan medal to look like flava flav

 

[NuttyProfessor]

Here is a lovely song to change the subject

In one single moment, your whole life can turn round
I stand there for a minute, staring straight into the ground
Lookin' to the left slightly, then lookin' back down
The world feels like it's caved in, proper sorry frown
Please let me show you where we could only just be for us
I can change, and I can grow, or we could adjust
The wicked thing about us is we always have trust
We can even have an open relationship if you must
I look at her, she stares almost straight back at me
But her eyes glaze over, like she's looking straight through me
Her eyes must have closed for what seems an eternity
When they open up she's looking down at her feet
Dry your eyes mate
I know it's hard to take, but her mind has been made up
There's plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you've got to walk away now, it's over
So then I move my hand up and down by my side
It's shaking; my life is crashing before my eyes
I turn the palm of my hand up to face the skies
Touch the bottom of her chin and let out a sigh
'Cause I can't imagine my life without you and me
There's things I can't imagine doing
Things I can't imagine seeing
It weren't supposed to be easy, surely
Please, please, I'm begging, please
She brings her hands up towards where my hands rested
She wraps her fingers around mine with the softness she's blessed with
She peels away my fingers, looks at me and then gestures
By pushing my hand away to my chest, from hers
Dry your eyes mate
I know it's hard to take, but her mind has been made up
There's plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you've got to walk away now, it's over
And I'm just standing there
I can't say a word
Because everything is just gone
I've got nothing
Absolutely nothing
Trying to pull her close out of bear desperation
Put my arms around her, trying to change what she's saying
Pull my head level with hers so that she might engage in
Look in to her eyes to make her listen again
I'm not gonna fucking just fucking leave it all now
'Cause you said it'd be forever, and that was your vow
And your gonna let our things simply crash and fall down
You're well out of order now, this is well out of town
She pulls away my arms, tightly clamped round her waist
Gently pushes me back as she looks at me straight
Turns around so she's now got her back to my face
Takes one step forward, looks back, then walks away
Dry your eyes mate
I know it's hard to take, but her mind has been made up
There's plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you've got to walk away now, it's over
I know in the past I've found it hard to say
Telling you things, but not telling straight
But the more I pull on your hand and say
The more you pull away
Dry your eyes mate
I know it's hard to take, but her mind has been made up
There's plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you've got to walk away now

 

[VetSmoke85]

Love a bit of The Streets

 

[NuttyProfessor]

classic , takes your mind of titles

 

[VetSmoke85]

My last word on this. Promise. I just didn't want to be misunderstood by anyone. Which can easily happen.
Regarding multiple titles. I have no problem with this. I'm from the UK and served for 12 years in the British military. As I mentioned, we weren't awarded medals for nothing so if someone had a chest full they had everyone's admiration and respect. You knew they'd earned them. I see titles here in a similar light. I know if someone has a string of them that they have put in some real work to earn them and am inspired by them.
I had the privilege of working alongside a few individuals with a chest full of medals and on the few occasions we would be in our best dress and have them on display there would always be jokes flying around. 'Are you part magpie?', 'Save some medals for the rest of us you selfish w#nker', 'did you get those out a cereal box?' and so on and so on. But we had nothing but respect for those individuals. I myself completed 1 operational deployment to Iraq and 4 operational deployments to Afghanistan. I have 3 medals and one of those was for the Queens diamond jubilee. So if you see a Brit with a full row or a 2nd row then they've put in some shifts.
To save the busy admins any headaches I will endeavour to think more about how my words may be construed before posting. But.... If I ever take the piss out of any of you just know it means I like you and like what you're doing.

Peace!

 

[Virgin Ground]

So maybe stop giving each other crap and let someone else win for a change?

I'm giving other growers crap?
If that is what you think, it's clear that you don't know me.
I was referring to little snippets posted around the forum, bashing past winners. It's almost like some kind of bullying. Publicly try to humiliate someone to get a desired result?
Now we are back to 'winners should'?
We all started out under someone else's shadow. I started just like everyone else here. I entered many contests before I won anything.
I saw the steep competition before me. I realized that I would have to put a lot of work into my grow to ever have a chance. So that's what I did. I was inspired to give it my all. I put in the work educating myself and the time working on my garden. I still feel I have a long way to go as I would only consider myself to be an average grower at present. 2 1/2 years isn't very long to be growing imo.

I didn't jump right into competition either, I was here for over a year before I entered anything in any of the contests.
Sometimes you just have to work harder, put in the time and take the spotlight. Nobody is just going to give it to you or let you win.
I don't see the rules changing either.
It's fun to try to cast OTM winners in a bad light I'm sure. Make it look like we are an obstacle to anyone elses success?
I don't enter contests every month btw. Not mad at those who do. If it makes them happy I'm all for it. I try to support my peers and am happy for their success. It seems to be a foreign or unpopular concept these days but I'm still in favor of it.

So how much should I be allowed to enter now?Once a year? Only once period? If I've already won ,I'm out forever?
What is 'acceptable' here?

What if someone's goal is to win plant of the year? How will they attain that title if they can't win POTM at least once a year?

I entered a nug last month and was LUCKY to win. The other growers didn't hold back nor would I expect them to.
I didn't enter that contest for bragging rights or to have another title. The honest truth?
I did it because I'm dirt poor and needed some more Geoflora for my medical garden.

To be clear. I don't feel I'm personally impeding your path to success. That ultimately lies in your own hands.
I understand that new growers have goals they want to attain. I had many of the same ones. Winning an OTM or eventually an OTY may be one of these goals.
Are the past winners' personal goals now null and void because we have won a few OTMs?
Why should anyone limit themselves or stop short of their goal for someone else's very similar goal? I wouldn't expect anybody to do that for my benefit. I encourage everyone to be the best they can be and if they want something to go after it.

If I work very hard on a plant for 6 months and feel it worthy enough, why shouldn't I enter it? Once again , why should your goals be more important than mine? How is that fair?

I somehow got into NOTY last year. Didn't get a single vote. I wasn't mad, disappointed or frustrated. I didn't even vote for myself so how could I be? I was very much in the shadow of other growers. I.... still ....am.
I looked at the situation and realized how tough the competition was and that no quarter would be drawn.
I'm just starting to get to where I want to be. Just starting to really push myself as a grower.
So why should I stop now?

You may find your very own goals evolving in the future. Perhaps ruminate on that for a moment if you would?

 

[ColaCalyx]

I think these contests are a blessing...I am a member of 4 other forums and these are the only contests available to me.
I find the challenge is what makes it exciting. I grow outdoors once a year with 6 plants. I'm competing for aesthetics alongside indoor growers!
All my respect to everyone in here; especially those growing their own plants and nugs to enter.

 

[420]

I know we are preaching nearly the same thing, I'm just voicing an opinion from members and myself that we are tired of some of the member's needs to collect titles as trinkets.

On a different note, I didn't violate any guidelines, I happened to see someone posting a message violating the guidelines and was instantly followed by the 420 staff and have been followed by them ever since, 5 months ago. I'm sure you don't personally follow every member of the community that has slipped up and violated the guidelines so why am I so special? In the time you have followed me have you seen me do anything to make it worth it? I would have been flattered if you were following me before said event but it has only felt like someone stalking me waiting to attack me. Lift people up, not bring them down.

Normally I do this stuff behind the scenes, but after 30 years of this crap, I'm growing tired of people taking advantage of that by using it as a way to hide their behavior and still walk away talking smack and spreading false rumors about us. So I'm going to start confronting bullies in public, to send a message that this behavior is not tolerated here.

You've already been successful in persuading one long time member to send me a pm this morning asking to remove his entries from the contests. We may never see this member again now, after a decade of participation. I hope you are happy with yourself.

I don't know why you insist that you are so special, because truth of the matter is that you are not. I just asked @Renee Roberts when the last time we had a discussion about you and she laughed and said, "um never?" So you can rest assured that nobody is following you around. If we did, I'm sure you'd have a lot more contact from us than you've had, as I randomly see you posting off topic stuff a lot. Now you are trolling and bullying and sending good members away, so you are taking things to a whole new level and from this day forward, will most likely be watched by everyone due to your actions against the community. Just because I "followed" your account back when all that drama went down, doesn't mean I watch your posts man. I could care less about you honestly. I "follow" a couple thousand accounts and don't see any of what they post, because I'm too busy dealing with putting out fires from crybabies, trolls and bullies every day and night. So when you cross that line into trolling and bullying, THEN you become special to me

 

[The Phantom]

She literally messaged me at 6:31 pm yesterday and on December 1st.

 

[420]

So maybe stop giving each other crap and let someone else win for a change? I can comprise to that..I'm not saying anyone doesn't deserve to win, it's just that do you really need to keep winning over and over again? Like we get it, you are good at growing and you have people that love voting for you, we see the titles. It's the notion to respectfully decline a nomination or not submitting an entry for a contest you've already won is what I'm asking; to allow someone who hasn't that has worked equally as hard or harder win. Some of you cast very large shadows that make it difficult for other's to grow in, how about sharing the light?

You're the only one giving anyone crap here man, literally. I've seen the title lists you speak of and if you pay close attention, they are spread out over a decade, only winning a couple contests per year. It's clear that you think someone should win a contest and then never be able to enter again, but that's not going to happen here. We don't celebrate winners by excluding them forever, nor will we ever.

How many times do I have to say that the staff and members voted on this plenty of times in the past and the final vote was always for 3 month time limit. You are just one person with one vote, we have a sea of people who all think differently and we have to do our best to satisfy the majority. So thank you for your comments, but we are not changing anything for you and it's now time to give it up and let it go, what do you say man?