The Twelve Ornaments Before Christmas Write-Off!
Oct 27 '09 (Updated Nov 19 '09)
The Bottom Line Highly neglected, the Twelve Ornaments Before Christmas Write-Off is intended as a fun way to fill out the Christmas ornament section of Epinions!
Last year, while trolling around the site, I discovered that a number of my Hallmark Christmas ornaments were here available for review and I began a frantic attempt to write twelve ornament reviews before Christmas. Well, this year, I thought I would help bring attention to this neglected area of the site by hosting my very first write-off! Introducing: The Twelve Ornaments Before Christmas!
The Twelve Ornaments Before Christmas is intended to be a fun challenge to writers on the site to, quite simply, write twelve different reviews of holiday ornaments from now until December 25, 2009. This will - we hope - guide buyers in their ornament shopping before the holidays, raise awareness of Epinions and the ornament section of Epinions and challenge our writers here to stretch beyond what they are used to writing about. It's win-win all the way around! And with two months of writing, twelve reviews is both ambitious and practical for most reviewers.
The real challenge - I've discovered - for writing holiday ornament reviews is actually focusing on the ornament and not making blanket statements about the holidays or about the way a Christmas tree makes one feel. I tend to have a few standards for my ornament reviews (you're invited to see one of my ornament reviews at: http://www.epinions.com/content_461467258500 ), but with so many of them having lights, sounds and the like, I tend to look at each ornament's craftsmanship, any features and balance. Balance, for example, can be very important for many ornaments as they may sit drastically different on a branch whether or not they are plugged into a light strand to activate their own lights (this is a problem some new ornaments no longer have as they are frequently battery operated). Regardless of your own standards when reviewing holiday ornaments, there is a surprisingly decent amount to write about holiday ornaments, making this a wonderful challenge for writers!
The Write-Off is simple: to enter The Twelve Ornaments Before Christmas Write-Off, find an ornament in the database (there are thousands!). If you don't find it on the first attempt, don't give up, some are buried, but the database actually has an incredible selection (I recommend, for example, typing the brand name and something general, like "Hallmark" "Barbie" into the search engine, because sometimes the ornaments even end up in different categories, though most are concentrated in Toys). When you write your review, number it for the Write Off - (i.e. "The Best 'Nightmare Before Christmas' Ornament (Twelve Ornaments Before Christmas W/O Ornament #1)!") and post a comment here. Each day, I will update the ornament listing here! To participate in The Twelve Ornaments Before Christmas, we'd like full reviews, not express reviews, so a thorough review of each ornament is warranted.
Not finding the ornament you truly want to review? Kids & Family (the parent category for Toys) has Three (3!) Category Leads who have each agreed to take on the Herculean task of responding to SAPs for ornaments in order to support this write-off! That's awesome of them, though each one requested that you spread the SAPs out among them, so no one CL is being overrun with ornament requests!
To be clear, the Write-Off is intended to challenge EACH writer to write a dozen reviews, so the Twelve Ornaments Before Christmas is hoping to get twelve reviews from each participant. Already we're getting great feedback from people who are looking to do entire lines of ornaments and the CLs are already adding them to the database!
Also, based on requests, I'm allowing each reviewer to review candy candy canes to be entered into the Write-Off, with the following caveats. First, the intent of this Write-Off was to be a Kids & Family Write-Off, which is rather rare on the site, so only ONE candy cane review per reviewer will be accepted into this Write-Off. Second, the review has to explore the candy cane more as an ornament than a food. As a result, presence on the tree, balance, etc. are more important for these reviews than the taste and nutrition. As moderator of the Write-Off, I'll be the final word on whether or not the review is accepted into the Write-Off (and yes, I can be bribed with good tasting candy canes!).
Why participate? Well, it's the holidays, so there's that. And with "firstie" contests going on and the ornaments on Epinions being startlingly unreviewed, this is a great opportunity to submit for that contest. Third, it supports my first Write-Off, which in turn might inspire other reviewers to make more Write-Offs. Fourth, if you're not rated in Kids & Family, this could be a great way to break into that category. And finally, it's fun! Participate, be thorough and join in . . .
The Twelve Ornaments Before Christmas!
Ornament #1 - (carstairs38) Joe Cool (Spotlight On Snoopy #1) Ornament
(wlswarts) Klingon Battlecruiser Ornament
(jurgrace) Our First Christmas Together 2001
(dustinnikki) 5 Piece Care Bear Mini-Ornaments
(chelledun) Noelville Community Church Ornament
(LonghornMan) Texas Rangers Baseball Cap Ornament
Ornament #2 - (wlswarts) "Just The Right Tree" "Peanuts" Ornament
(carstairs38) Famous Flying Ace (Spotlight On Snoopy #2) Ornament
(jurgrace) Looney Tunes Set Of 18 Mini-ornaments
(dustinnikki) Buckeye Football Player ornament
Ornament #3 - (wlswarts) "Luke's Landspeeder" Ornament
(carstairs38) Snoopy Detective (Spotlight On Snoopy #3) Ornament
(dustinnikki) Hannah Montana Star Shaped Ornament
Ornament #4 - (wlswarts) “Harry! Happy Birthday!” "Harry Potter" Ornament
(carstairs38) Beaglescout (Spotlight On Snoopy #4) Ornament
Ornament #5 - (wlswarts) Greedo Limited Edition Ornament
(carstairs38) Literary Ace (Spotlight On Snoopy #5) Ornament
Ornament #6 - (wlswarts) Retreiving The Idol "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" Ornament
(carstairs38) Joe Cool #2 (Spotlight On Snoopy #6) Ornament
Ornament #7 - (wlswarts) Mr. Plow "The Simpsons" Ornament
(carstairs38) The Winning Ticket (Spotlight On Snoopy #7) Ornament
Ornament #8 - (wlswarts) "Frankly, My Dear" "Gone With The Wind" Ornament
(carstairs38) Snoopy The Magnificent (Spotlight On Snoopy #8)Ornament
Ornament #9 - (wlswarts) "The Menagerie" "Star Trek" Ornament
(carstairs38) The Legal Beagle (Spotlight On Snoopy #9) Ornament
Ornament #10 - (wlswarts) Han Solo As A Stormtrooper "Star Wars" Ornament
Ornament #11 - (wlswarts) StarFleet Phaser "Star Trek" Ornament
Ornament #12 - (wlswarts) StarFleet Communicator "Star Trek" Ornament
Bonus Ornaments (Because some of us just have that much Christmas cheer - or that many SAPs in!)
Let's get writing!
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Epinions.com ID:
wlswarts
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 in Music |
 - Top 500 |
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Member: W.L. Swarts
Location: New York State
Reviews written: 3841
Trusted by: 117 members
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