avecigrec
Well-Known Member
I'm a bit late to the mix for Year 6, but here we are...
I am @avecigrec and I'm thrilled and honoured to continue being your host here at AOTM Central. We've recently had a couple of first-timers make some picks, and have been working our way through the keen second-timers as well, but thanks have certainly been slowing down somewhat. At this rate, we may no longer be hosting AOTMs come 2025... Here's hoping we can keep the dream alive! If you've got an idea for an AOTM, or changes we can make to increase engagement please post here, or slide into my DMs. This is a very special corner of our wacky little community, and I'd love to see it keep going.
The game remains unchanged but in case you need a refresher, or any newcomers are interested, here's the rundown:
One last note for this introductory post is a point I wish to stress: we are, for the most part, a very open-minded community when it comes to music on N&G. In just the first two years of doing AOTMs, we had jazz, metal, singer-songwriter, flamenco, Irish music, glitch pop, punk rock, blues, a covers album, classical, a live album, French post-rock, ambient, and much, much more. As you can tell just from that sampling, these AOTMs aren't pinned down by a specific genre or country of origin. I say this to alleviate fears some may have of their record not fitting a certain type of mold or not being accepted by the forum. If you love the album and want to pick it, then pick it!
PREVIOUS YEARS
Year 1 General Thread & Archive
Year 2 General Thread & Archive
Year 3 General Thread & Archive
Year 4 General Thread & Archive
Year 5 General Thread & Archive
I am @avecigrec and I'm thrilled and honoured to continue being your host here at AOTM Central. We've recently had a couple of first-timers make some picks, and have been working our way through the keen second-timers as well, but thanks have certainly been slowing down somewhat. At this rate, we may no longer be hosting AOTMs come 2025... Here's hoping we can keep the dream alive! If you've got an idea for an AOTM, or changes we can make to increase engagement please post here, or slide into my DMs. This is a very special corner of our wacky little community, and I'd love to see it keep going.
The game remains unchanged but in case you need a refresher, or any newcomers are interested, here's the rundown:
- Each month, someone from the forum chooses a record for the rest of the forum to go out and purchase.
- The thread dedicated to their AOTM is typically started the month before whatever month they are picked for (for example, if you are picking the record for August, your thread will be started in July, and so on).
- The choice of record is almost entirely dependent on the person choosing, though there are some stipulations put in place to try to keep things balanced for everyone. The most important thing to make sure of is that anyone can secure a copy of your AOTM (preferably for under $30*), regardless of what country they are in. Keep in mind that multiple people from different countries participate in these threads. As long as you can be reasonably sure everyone will be able to get a copy of the album you choose without issue, the sky's the limit!
- For each thread, the person responsible for picking the AOTM is also responsible for coming up with hints for the rest of the forum to use to guess the record they have chosen. This is the main component of the individual AOTM threads; trying to keep the rest of the forum guessing while still providing enough info for it to be solved! Or, if the forum fails to solve the album, it is revealed via an announcement from the person who picked it.
- The announcement date for the record is largely up to the person picking; typically in the past, the chooser has composed a write-up to go more into detail about why they picked the record, what they like about it, or other assorted info about the record- though one shouldn't feel obligated to do a massive write-up for the record they chose if they're not comfortable doing so!
- After the current month's thread has been wrapped up, whoever has previously been drawn for the following month will then start their thread. Though just because an AOTM's month has ended doesn't mean that discussion of that record should cease - feel free to use it to provide further updates about developments with the record or what the artist is currently up to!
- It has become customary that the person choosing the record runs their own thread, but for the following year while I am in charge of running the general thread, I'm offering to those who wish to pick an AOTM, but perhaps don't feel up to running the entire thread, a helping hand. If you want me to run your thread for you, I will be happy to do so and hopefully make the task of coming up with hints and whatnot easier and less stressful. But, if you want full control over your thread, then that is also welcome!
- And of course, the final rule: be nice.
One last note for this introductory post is a point I wish to stress: we are, for the most part, a very open-minded community when it comes to music on N&G. In just the first two years of doing AOTMs, we had jazz, metal, singer-songwriter, flamenco, Irish music, glitch pop, punk rock, blues, a covers album, classical, a live album, French post-rock, ambient, and much, much more. As you can tell just from that sampling, these AOTMs aren't pinned down by a specific genre or country of origin. I say this to alleviate fears some may have of their record not fitting a certain type of mold or not being accepted by the forum. If you love the album and want to pick it, then pick it!
- *Prices being as they are these days, it is proving increasingly more difficult to hit this $30 mark; ultimately the most important aspect is making things as accessible as possible for the community at large to engage with your thread - if your perfect album crests over that price point by a little bit, don't let that stop you; if it goes over by a lot, though, some folks may not be able to come along for the ride. If you have any questions or doubts at all, feel free to ask in this thread - folks are good about discussing matters and want to see everybody win in the end.
PREVIOUS YEARS
Year 1 General Thread & Archive
Year 2 General Thread & Archive
Year 3 General Thread & Archive
Year 4 General Thread & Archive
Year 5 General Thread & Archive
