Welcome to TwitterFightClub 2012.
Last year’s inaugural tournament saw @jeremyscahill edge @abumuqawama by a slender margin in a tremendously enjoyable final round. In the interest of a competitive tournament, these two TFC Masters will not contend for the 2012 title, although both have graciously agreed to be involved in another capacity later in the tournament, schedules permitting.
First, the serious business.
In 2012, we ask that you think of TFC as awards for national security Twitter excellence rather than a fighting tournament. Contestants will be judged based on the quality of their tweeting on the days in question, not on an actual “fight” with the person against whom they’re competing. Competitors will advance just by doing what they normally do. As entertaining as some of last year’s competition was, we don’t want to encourage something that would be burdensome to the contestants.
We have a committee of 11 individuals choosing the contestants and the judges, and seeking to maintain fairness in the competition. The primary administrator has remained out of the brackets in order to maintain neutrality in all contests.
It was immensely difficult to determine the contestants in this year’s competition. We had to leave out dozens (if not hundreds) of quality natsec tweeters. We strove to confine our search to those who have security as a primary subject in their Twitter portfolio, and who represent a broad spectrum within that range, and we sought to establish a field which shows political, gender, and geographic diversity.
Now a little bit on the procedures for this year’s tournament.
In all rounds of the tournament, head-to-head winners will be determined by a combination of popular poll and our expert judges’ decisions. The first round will be contested one bracket at a time. Each bracket (made up of eight contests) will be judged by a panel of five judges, whose decisions will make up 50% of the total score, with the other 50% being supplied by the results of the popular poll.
At last, to the fun stuff!
The contestants for TwitterFightClub 2012 are as follows:
- @abuaardvark
- @adamserwer
- @adamweinstein
- @afpakchannel
- @allthingsct
- @astridhka
- @attackerman
- @azelin
- @azmatzahra
- @blakehounshell
- @brianfishman
- @CChristineFair
- @charlie_simpson
- @chrisalbon
- @dandrezner
- @DaveedGR
- @dianawueger
- @drfarls
- @drjjoyner
- @DzirhanDefence
- @EliLake
- @evanchill
- @FiveRupees
- @FranTownsend
- @GEsfandiari
- @glcarlstrom
- @Goldberg3000
- @gregorydjohnsen
- @hayesbrown
- @ibishblog
- @InkSptsGulliver
- @intelwire
- @ionacraig
- @jeffemanuel
- @JimmySky
- @jonathanshainin
- @joshmull
- @joshuafoust
- @jstrevino
- @kalsoom82
- @laurenist
- @lrozen
- @markkersten
- @mattduss
- @max_fisher
- @micahzenko
- @mosharrafzaidi
- @naheedmustafa
- @peterjmunson
- @securityscholar
- @shephardm
- @SlaugterAM
- @smsaideman
- @speechboy71
- @stcolumbia
- @stephaniecarvin
- @texasinafrica
- @trdeghett
- @tweetsintheme
- @USEmbPretoria
- @will_mccants
- @zackbeauchamp
- @zoonpolitikon
- @elsnarkistani/@khanserai
That’s right! To get us started, today we have a play-in poll. The full bracket with final seedings will be posted with the results of this poll tomorrow. If you want to be entered in the bracket pool, please submit your completed bracket before 9am EDT on Tuesday, March 20, to [email protected]. Brackets will be scored following the standard NCAA bracket scoring system, and the entrant with the best overall predictions will receive a prize at the end of the competition.
The 64th contestant will be determined purely based on the results of this poll, so vote! Poll is open until midnight! Spread the word! And let the games begin!
It went down to the wire, but in the end @elsnarkistani prevailed 77-63 over @khanserai.
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