Congratulations, Jingthing. Well deserved. Enjoy the glory.

Congratulations to NancyL as this years runner-up.

and to David48 and Costas for making it through to the final 4.

Well Done JT.

A well deserved accolade, although I accept I did vote for the Ice Queen, and David after that.

I think the threads polling for votes was a good innovation, I actually think that was good fun.

I cannot understand the mud slinging, keep that to the issues we really care about.

I hope Smokie runs it next year, it is his baby.

I hope everybody had a great Christmas, I really hope you all have a prosperous New Year.

Good Luck from Finn

A final word, may the Ice Queen win next year

A final, final word, well done JT

Please stop the voting.

The results are in:

2. Costas (57 votes [12.95%])

3. David48 (66 votes [15.00%])

4. Jingthing (173 votes [39.32%])

5. NancyL (144 votes [32.73%])

I am preparing a statement.

If you didn't believe that I really didn't expect to win, believe it now!

It's official,

Congratulations for the title Poster Of The Year 2014!

Well done, and truly well deserved! I read your posts with great pleasure, even the restaurant reviews, always a good read! Every time! This place would not be same without you here, that's for sure!

I know you will be magnanimous in victory, you put the time in, and are a smart person..

You have earned growing respect over the years, as the world evolves..and troglodytes fall by the wayside..

On an unrelated subject : Technology is pretty good, but socially the world is a mess.. How many war zones are there as we speak?

We are still in the dark ages, albeit with computer programmers..

We ALL have a long way to go is the point..personally and collectively..

And remember your competition JT: the lows of defeat trump the heights of victory

It doesn't seem to bother NancyL, worthy competition for your good self I would wager..

Have a good one..

THIS TOPIC IS NOW CLOSED.

THAI VISA POSTER OF THE YEAR 2014

JINGTHING

OK here goes,

First of all, don't expect the best of my wit here.

I can be very witty at times as many know, but I am not really feeling that at the moment.

Thanks to all the voters who helped me finally win this year.

While it's true only a small percentage of members vote in these contests, that's "democracy" for you in systems without mandatory voting.

Thaivisa Poster of the Year is a contest worth winning even though there isn't really a prize.

Trust me on that.

It's worth winning.

Respect the contest if you don't always respect the nominees or even the winner.

Its a way for members of the forum to show some appreciation to one winner each year and also of course to the other nominees in the process.

This forum is a profit making business, no doubt, and wouldn't exist without that aspect, but the members contribute so much to each other here that goes well beyond commercial interests.There really is LOTS of good stuff that happens here and also outside in the real world because of what is posted here.

All four of the finalists and I'm sure more on the original nominee list and others not nominated contributed a lot of quality content to the forum and thus were ALL worthy of winning this year. But this year, I did win as only one can win each year. After the messy history I've had with contests here, I really didn't expect to ever win (even into the last night) so that's great.

So with winning, I want to say clearly I will never accept any future nomination for any future POTY contest.

In my view, there should not be any repeat winners and I would encourage all other previous winners to consider opening this contest up in future to new blood each year and reject any future nominations. That's up to them of course, but I think it would be positive for the contest.

Anyway, for me one time is enough, more than enough.

Special thanks to the 2nd in position, NancyL.

Her posting record, her wonderful activism helping expects in Chiang Mai, and the way she conducted herself during the OVERLONG contest were really exemplary.

If only there were 10 NancyL's in EVERY expat city in Thailand! But alas, there is only the one NancyL and she posts here ... so good luck next year!

I will always consider Costas (the member with the MOSTAS as I say) my ironic online "friend", and like others have found his posting style distinctive and often very amusing.

David48 -- those twins are indeed super cute!

Anyway, for me, this is really it.

My time in these messy end of year contests is officially over. I hope many of you enjoyed the free entertainment! It's been real. TOO REAL!

In closing I must really say super thank you very much to the mods and management of Thaivisa.com for preserving my posting rights for these so many years! In some ways, that may be even more surprising than winning this contest.

That's all, folks.

(Not what you expected?)