Congratulations to everyone that got it

Despite Jom's attempts to hide the beer, I'm pretty sure Ponton was drunk like 75% of the time.

And congratulations to all who got promoted, well deserved across the board!

jom sometimes i wish u were my dad

Congrats guys!

This is a bit exciting. Big congrats to everyone who was promoted!

fuckin' jamietwort represent bm/

Congrats guys! [2]

yall niggas keep fuckin my boi fripp right in the ass hummmm he defo deserved the promotion imo tbh

poor Fripp, was so sure he'd get the promotion

Congrats to everyone!

Surprised Green didn't get it really

Congrats guys!

"I'd like to thank my English 091 teacher for showing me how to right good"

-Trebor

In all seriousness, though, congrats to everyone who got promoted, big thanks to everybody involved within the process, and here's to possibly a few more promotions.

"Surprised Green didn't get it really"[2]

congrats johnny

87%*

cheers welcome to hell

damn... jac definitely should have been promoted to staff. congrats to all of you though, some good picks for sure.

Congrats to those who made it

Congrats to the new Staff and Contribs!

Awesome, really excited to be part of the Contrib team! Congrats to everyone else that got promoted, happy to hear that Stranger and Dan got promoted to staff.

Well done to anyone who got promoted, #topLADS

manosg is easily in the top quartile of those who made contributor

i really hope he pulled his application back

Congrats to all who got promoted!

It would be nice if next time we knew beforehand the criteria we need to fulfill to become contrib or staff so as to avoid applying and you guys doing extra work. Also, it would be useful to know the reasons people become contribs/staff and others don't.

I could have sent an email or shoutbox a staff writer but I think it would be best to have a conversation where anyone can participate.

just saw your comment Titan, much appreciated

"It would be nice if next time we knew beforehand the criteria we need to fulfill to become contrib or staff so as to avoid applying and you guys doing extra work. "

I don't think it's really set in stone, but Sowing did say this:
"The contrib check list is basically, in this order, (1) quality (2) consistency/frequency of new releases reviewed (3) interaction with others aka not a shit head (4) desire to improve/be promoted"

your musical taste isn't artsy enough for these high priests manosg

and you're a class act

the list r's are literally my favorite part of this website, if you take them away i will wither and die like the flowers i gave to my bitch ex-wife

Do you know what this is? It's the world's smallest violin playing just for the r's.

Congrats to everyone who made it, all definitely deserving candidates.

finally johnny and mandarins

Johnny for president 2016

Surprised at how few got promoted but they certainly deserved it, congrats guys

Congrats everyone.

"I don't think it's really set in stone, but Sowing did say this:
"The contrib check list is basically, in this order, (1) quality (2) consistency/frequency of new releases reviewed (3) interaction with others aka not a shit head (4) desire to improve/be promoted"

That's great to know. Knowing why some made it and others didn't would also be very interesting.

Excellent! Big thanks to everyone that made that happen. Really pleased to see the contribs you guys picked too. I'm almost
certain there's an unwritten thrice/staff related username rule, glad to continue tradition.

Congratulations to all who were promoted, well deserved.

@Jom
I appreciate the detailed response and totally respect where this site is heading with the new reviews and stuff. The people who made contribs/staff deserve it 100% but I still think others deserved it as well. This is where I think you guys have made a wrong decision like you did in the past with contribs/staffers (Babymetal thread and guys who have obnoxious behavior) and the fact that you demoted a lot of people proves that.

Nevertheless, I can't see others agree with me so maybe I'm wrong in my assessment but I just wanted to share my thoughts in public and not via email or shoutbox.

the dream is dead

Congrats to those who got promoted. Glad to see that a few of the users I was backing made it. Also very pleased to see Stranger joining the staff ranks.

For the first time in 6 or 7 years there is no longer an Adam on staff. This is a call for anyone with that glorious name to take heed and write your ass off, so that peace can be restored once again.

is Aaron close enough?

Why are frippertronics, hepkat and green baron not contibs/staff yet? They are excellent imho. Nonetheless, congrats others!

Jom is god!!!

@Jom
Ok, I stand corrected on that one, I have no problem admitting it.

Nevertheless, I really think if you guys make the promotion process as transparent as possible it would save you and us a lot of trouble. Maybe using quantitative criteria such as approval rating, number of reviews, etc. could help towards that direction.

Congrats fellas

MOMENT OF TRUTH

Disappointed I didn't make staff, but I'll be working even harder from now on

look at that fuckin redsky slide-in gloat

good crop I guess lol I don't read reviews anymore, all I know is that greenbehindthelinkinears is not there yet

much love for jt and johnny whoo !!

Trebor (( ))):

"Why are frippertronics, hepkat and green baron not contibs/staff yet? They are excellent imho. Nonetheless, congrats others! "

hepkat was already once a contrib, and he didn't really apply so its unlikely that he's interested in going back

5 contribs and 2 staffs? that's it? so little compared to the last 3 years.

Congrats to all the new contributing reviewers, all of them deserved the promotion

The four who got it totally deserved it. And yeah, Green [3].

@makrand As for the other 2, it's probably due to past behavior issues! making them "not as strong" candidates as the
ones you see getting promoted

Congrats to those who got promoted, definitely deserving! To some of u other great writers who didn't make the cut, just keep
in mind that ghost promotions aren't just a myth on this site (I'm a good example of this). Just keep plugging away and
anything could happen

great news!

I don't know, but it feels like this cycle is lot more unceremonious than the ones past. I've enjoyed reading the works of guys like BMDrummer, TalonsofFire, etc. and they didn't make it. The number of promotions is just so low that I find it hard to get that excited other than congratulate those who actually did make it. just my two pennies.

congrats to all who got promoted, well deserved. A ton of excellent writers here on the site.

@Atari: Not gonna lie, a bit bummed but thank god because this is a learning lesson for me in terms of getting better as a writer. This tells me I need to get better and that's something I'm certainly gonna work on during the course of the year. Thanks for the encouragement man, this will resonate with me as I continue writing here.

To add to Atari above, I can attest to the importance of following up with Jom or other staff that you feel comfortable with. Getting individualized feedback last year helped me figure out what my weaknesses were and allowed me to work on them throughout last year, so definitely make sure that you utilize that.

@thelastsignal: I'm definitely gonna do that either this weekend or on Monday, I'd like that actually. I certainly gotta know where my weaknesses lie and so I can decrease these mistakes as future reviews drop on my end.

"Nevertheless, I really think if you guys make the promotion process as transparent as possible
it would save you and us a lot of trouble. Maybe using quantitative criteria such as approval
rating, number of reviews, etc. could help towards that direction."

I kind of like the fact that it's left fairly open in that regard, as neither of those things
really reflect the quality of a reviewer's writing (pos and neg votes are given for so many
other reasons these days)



One thing that I've seen become increasingly prominent though (or maybe it's always been the
same - could just be my imagination) is the requirement of a focus on new releases (maybe not
just new albums but also from current and relevant artists) amongst contributors and staff
which, if you consider the fact that this is how many music review publications draw in readers,
is very understandable.

I will look at a few of your reviews tonight and give you some feedback, SPR. Obviously that's just one set of eyes, but improvements can always be made.

@SPRFanOf5H
I'd suggest you try to go for more recent releases if you're hoping for the contributor spot, most of the time when I'm reading your reviews, they are centered around older stuff. If you want to be considered its important you cover recent releases and even go for features relatively often, cause that's usually what is looked for in things like this

Very deserving promotions

who tf is vheissucrisis?

coolrrrr

I understand the disappointment on some people's ends, be it about the low volume of promotions or not getting the bump themselves, but try to remember that being denied a promotion is not always an insult - and definitely not a sputnik death sentence so to speak. It's imperative that we don't over inflate the position with every user we like, because that devalues the position to those who do get it, and also decreases the perception of professionalism on the site. There's always re-evaluating to do, and a lot of the guys who just missed the cut are earmarked for future consideration. Just keep plugging away and improving. There isn't a staff member here who isn't willing to offer advice, either.

Agreed. Drink heavily and you'll make it

Congratulations to everybody who got promoted, we definitely had a lot of great writers applying. I've been reading your comments and can someone please explain to me what's a second wave of promotions?

It is a follow up round occurring this year. We're not perfect so it gives us the opportunity to promote those who were close but showed the necessary improvement. They're also typically unannounced, or "ghost promotions" if I remember right.

Ah, thanks for explaining man, appreciate it.

'grats and good luck

Judio didn't make the first cut but he got ghosted shortly afterwards.

so did atari, as he mentioned earlier

edit: congratz to everybody too!, and don't get discouraged if you didn't make it. just keep in mind what the staff wants in new contributors, and keep improving!

@Shark: Yeah I'm definitely gonna start doing more recent stuff from now on, and try to decrease the amount of old material I put out. I've only done a ton of the older releases because I just put 'em to my iPod and been jammin' them a ton and then I write.

@thelastsignal: I appreciate it man, I'd like your feedback of course. I'm always vying for your guys' feedback and thoughts, even criticism is for me something I like to get.

congrats to y'all who made it! and yeah to reiterate what others have said don't get discouraged if you didn't make it this round. we had a lot of good things to say about a lot of writers during discussions and a non-trivial number were on the cusp of promotion. I know how hollow it sounds but those who weren't promoted should really keep plugging away - I foresee good things for the future with this crop

Amazing. I'm happy with this.


Makes me want to write more tbh

Jom you mentioned that staff/contributors got in trouble or w/e off site. Could you elaborate a little???

Congrats guys, maybe I'll rejoin you.

sweet, same positive comments as everyone else said can be invisibly pasted here.

Congrats everyone! Happy to be a contributor again, definitely gonna apply again next year though.

Congrats to everyone who got promoted. You all deserve it!

Good stuff

"Congrats guys, maybe I'll rejoin you."
Thanks Rob, hope so as well!

Thanks to all for the kind words in this thread.

For the new blood, contact your local existing contributor to gain access to the contrib faceybook

Congratulations to all, especially Jonny, who's one of my favourite writers on this site, and ComeToDaddy,
who was tremendously helpful when we were compiling the User's '14 list.

yay!! congrats to people who were promoted!!!

congrats your net worth just fell

I knew Ted Cruz was running this place.

"honestly glad to see the promotional cycle not as inflated as years past. the ridiculous over-saturation of Contributors certainly
did lead to the tag feeling a little cheap, so it's nice to be in the limited company of great writers"

yeah heaven forbid the prestige of your sputnikmusic account doesn't match the pompous height of your ego. ffs

"honestly glad to see the promotional cycle not as inflated as years past. the ridiculous over-saturation of Contributors certainly
did lead to the tag feeling a little cheap, so it's nice to be in the limited company of great writers"

that was a rude comment actually

gz Stranger, Jots, C2D and jT

@SPRFanOf5H
you're a good writer, and you honestly do have the potential for the contributor spot. So don't be too bummed out over this, considering how productive you are with your reviews(seriously, 44 of them since last may is rather admirable) it shouldn't be a problem for you to get it between now and round 2, just focus more on recent albums and try to score up a couple features to get you some attention as a writer and it'll really pay off.

"honestly glad to see the promotional cycle not as inflated as years past. the ridiculous over-saturation of Contributors certainly did lead to the tag feeling a little cheap, so it's nice to be in the limited company of great writers"

I'd really like you to elaborate on that. A great writer is a great writer regardless of tag, me thinks.

Congratulations to everyone who got promoted! All of them are great writers who definitely deserve their positions.

Thanks for the explanation @sharktooth. Congrats everyone!

I've started seeing how lists work now and it's definitely a huge improvement. Nice work guys!