And it was your joker, too! New top ten here:

Punctually, 346
ham on rye, 311
Tokyo!!, 305
PyramidScheme, 193
Howard Treesong, 152
True North, 133
Banned4lyfe, 132
Louis Cyphre, 132
econophile, 116
Umcle Diddler, 114

I am not doing well at all.

R.I.P. Fats Domino

The original death list, deathlist.net, actually hit their own personal record with 16 of their 50 selections at the beginning of 2017 dead. Of course, their list will have more hits since there's no scoring system like there is here.

RIP Roy Halladay

yeah...sad he went the same way as Thurman Munson.
(also sad he went anyway at all).

He inspired this song in 2010:

https://www.thegoodphight.com/2012/4...project-30-doc

Pour out a can of Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts for John Hillerman.

RIP, Higgins.

Charles Manson apparently "clinging to life" in jail.

Bobby Doerr RIP.

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Epic get if anyone had Lil Peep.

With 26 points sprinkled on top, just for you, LP. Nobody else had him.

Updated scores are here for the interested. Note that the leaderboard's on the second tab.

As for Charles Manson: we can all stay on watch out of general principle alone, but he appears on exactly nobody's list.

Well at the very least he might be low hanging fruit for next year's pool, assuming there is one. BTW I think we all nominate you to run it if you'd be willing since you've done such a great job picking up the ball w/ this year's.

I'm willing to help if necessary.

That's surprising, he was on a lot of lists in another pool I'm in. He was rumored to be in poor health for a while. I just rarely take the olds so didn't consider him.

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Just when I thought my list might be done for the year...

Malcolm Young

Thanks very much for the good words. I do have some thoughts on next year's pool: it needs to be simpler, rule-wise, and require fewer interpretations from a commissioner. Will put a few thoughts together over the Thanksgiving weekend and post.

But am willing to run it back next year if other folks are good with it.

The place I could use help - from UD or anyone else - is with the money to the extent there's a money pool. I don't want to touch money (although I leave open the possibility that I'd participate in the money pool next year. Just don't want to hold the cash).

I just think the death gods have a sick sense of humor, and as such believe Manson to be immortal, although it seems there's hope yet.

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROT, WE SALUTE YOU!

We have a new crypt leader. Check a few posts up for the link to the spreadsheet; here's your new top 15, recent scorers bolded.

Tokyo!!, 351
Punctually, 346
ham on rye, 311
PyramidScheme, 239
econophile, 162
Howard Treesong, 152
True North, 133
Louis Cyphre, 132
Banned4lyfe, 132
Umcle Diddler, 114
JDiamond364, 106
krunic, 78
toedder, 72
SuperUberBob, 65
Loden Pants, 56

Everybody check your lists in case I've missed someone. Have a nice Thanksgiving holiday.

Yeah, but not you, Charles Manson. May you get what you deserve.

If you want to read an obit of note, skip his and go instead to Pancho Segura, who passed away yesterday at 96.

Or even--yikes--Jana Novotna.

Hard couple of days for tennis.

I can help with holding/collecting money next year if needed. I can take papyal/venmo and bitcoin or ether.
I also need to redeem myself as my list was terrible and I still have 0 points.

Maybe we can start ironing out the rules for next year's competition to avoid some of the arguments we had this year.

I want to play next year but not sure how to get added.

Like I said, I'll work out a few things - there are a couple of changes I'll insist on if I am to continue, and a couple I'll leave open to the group (of folks who participated this year). I'll have something for you once I have free time later this week.

We can also work out questions around money, on which i have fewer opinions. Rubixx, the offer is appreciated in these quarters.

But on to more important items.

Tokyo: I hope you enjoyed your time atop the leaderboard.

But thanks to Della Reese, I'm taking the lead back.

Your top four follows.

I score, by my lonesome. So I'll go boldface myself.

Punctually, 385
Tokyo!!, 351
ham on rye, 311
PyramidScheme, 239

So I wrote a lengthy post on this last night, but it took so long I got logged out, had to log back in, lost the post, and then I ragequit. So here's a (shorter) take 2.

SUBMISSIONS:
Three changes here.

- You may include an alternate in your list if it is clearly marked as such. If someone on your list kicks in 2017, you don't need to frantically log on on New Year's Eve to change things. If someone on your list is disqualified, you have backup. (More on this in a moment.) You must mark an alternate if you choose to include one. If you simply submit 21 names, the 21st gets removed.

- Rules around law enforcement / enemy combatants / etc. are waived. I won't parse how people pass away. What matters is that (1) they're famous, (2) they pass away, and (3) they get a notice in a qualified media outlet in time.

- The Commissioner may, at his/her sole discretion, disqualify names on a list for lack of fame. Just to be clear, this to prevent putting some neighbor's kid who's going on a deployment or a cop with a rough beat on a list and hoping it shows up. Someone this year put on a video-game commentator. I have no idea who he (the commentator) is, but he should be allowed. In most cases, the limitations on media coverage should handle the obscurity question. But if there's no record ANYWHERE of who someone is... nyet.

Also: If you know there's more than one famous or semi-famous person with the same name, please clarify. For instance, my list this year has Quincy Jones the comedian, not Quincy Jones the music producer.

Finally, this isn't a change but a reminder: Nobody under 18.

SCORING:

- No bonuses. Cause-of-death, birthday, new year's eve or day, all the rest need to go. For most of these I gotta stand on my chair, even though they barely came into play. This is a death pool, not bingo, and they're a pain in the ass to administer, especially if cause-of-death comes into play. (Even Otto Warmbier could be open to interpretation. I don't want a dog in those fights. And I'm definitely not checking everyone's DOB to see whether they passed on their birthday.)

If this causes fear and loathing among the bonus-loving crowd... I am persuadable on the 15-point 'loner' bonus and the joker. Yell loud enough now. Inclusion of the others would require a different pool runner, tho.

- Players are ultimately responsible for calling out their own scores, with a link to a story from a qualifying outlet. I'll do my best to keep up. But I have a job and something resembling a life, contrary to the evidence this post may provide.

- Scoring closes 11:59 PM EST, January 7, 2019. Rumors of, let's say, the death of an ISIS combatant, just to pick one, don't count until they are confirmed. You have one week after the end of the year to produce a qualifying obit (which has to confirm a date of death in 2018.)

MONEY:

Here I punt. A couple of folks have volunteered to handle it for next year, and I gratefully acknowledge their stepping up. I'd let the folks in the money pool *this* year decide how to handle it next.

-----

Okay.

I'd like to fire up a new thread for submissions somewhere in between the 15th and 20th, so if you need to yell about this, this is your chance.

Sounds good.

The joker bonus might be fine so players who have fallen behind still can have a sweat.
The loner bonus on the other hand encourages picking obscure people which is antithetical to a celebrity death pool. If you are the only who picked the stiff you already made a nice chunk of points in relation to others.

Punctually,

First, let me say you've done a great job taking over the scoring this year.

Unlike Louis Cyphre, I actually think loner bonuses make the pool more interesting. They encourage a broader pool, and more names means more deaths, which helps keep the thread active. As long as there is a clear standard for what media outlets count as qualifying coverage, I'm not worried about this leading to picks that are too obscure. Sure, maybe some picks won't be qualified in the end, but that is a calculated risk.

I like the loner and the joker rules as well. I do owe the thread a list of escrows I have, which i will do in the next couple of days.

Strong +1 to the loner bonus. It encourages people to take chances and broadens the pool. I don’t care either way about the joker.

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Isn't this redundant? I thought the whole point of the rule about the death being reported in a major media outlet is to eliminate the need for any one person to make judgements (and avoid the resulting arguments) about who is and isn't famous enough.

I still think this is silly, but it's not that big a deal as long as it's fair. It's a ****ing death pool. It's supposed to be dark and amoral.