For as long as the internet wrestling community has been around, there have always been those around who spend their free time, for no reason other than the love of buisness, weaving a perfect blend of fact and opinion into an article.
These are the columnists.
Love them or hate them, these are the IWC columnists.
Around seven years later, the IWC has yet to have an in-depth, accurate list depicting the best columnists today. Around seven years later, the IWC has around 500 columnists, 75% of which people knew nothing about. In the early fall of 2005, 3 huge sites came together to put an end to this.
On September 3rd, the Triad Top 48 was born. 3 sites came together to bring an in-depth, accurate list of the top 50 columnists today. TheWrestlingVoice.com, WrestleZone.com, & WrestlingNewsWorld.com pooled their resources and held the voting across all three of their forums. The goal was to get the most in-depth columnist list ever as well as get all writers noticed more, both of which have been achieved.
The contest began with a nomination thread. Each person could nominate 5 different columnists. Out of 500 columnists on the internet today, 75 of the most elite columnists were nominated. After all nominations were in, people voted on the list. Next to each and every columnist, people voted whether or not that columnist belonged on the list. Each "Yes" vote gathered 4 points for that writer; each "Maybe" vote gathered 2 points for that writer; and each "No" vote gathered zero points for that writer. In the end, the list was gathered together, and the top 50 scores were welcomed into the Triad Top 50.
Ten Rounds of in-depth voting followed. For the first round, the whole list was put in alphabetical order. Ten lists of 5 columnists were made and each voter voted on each and every list, otherwise their vote was thrown out. People ranked each columnist in a list of 1 to 5. Each 1st place vote received 10 points, 2nd place received 8, 3rd received 6, 4th received 4, and 5th received 2. After the first round of voting ending, the list was organized by points with the person with the highest votes being first, and the lowest being last.
Starting in the next round and continuing to Round 10, slots began to be frozen by intervals of 5. After the Second Round, slots 46-50 were frozen and were not voted upon anymore. The rest of the list was still voted upon, but the frozen slots were permanent.
Also, at this point, the first of two dropouts in the Triads happened. The number 48 columnist was proven to be a plagerist. After admitting to his charges, the columnist agreed to be removed from the list in order to keep the integrity of the list intact. At this point, we were down to 49, but the Triads still continued with lists of 5 voting.
Voting continued through the end of fall and beginning of winter with no problems. Tie breakers were put in place when slots that were frozen were actually tied in points. For about five days, people voted on the tie breaker (whether it be two or three people) and ranked them like in the regular lists. People with the highest points were ranked higher in the end, and then the rounds began again as normal.
After Round Seven, the final drop out of the contest happened. One of the columnists on the list decided that due to professional and personal reasons, it was in his best interest to withdraw from the contest. Just like before, voting went as regular after this and we were down to the Triad Top 48.
On December 27th, the contest was closed with the announcement to be named on January 1, 2005. With ten rounds and four months of voting behind us, the most accurate, in-depth columnist list was completed.
2004 Triad Top 48 Columnists
1. The Headliner
(|Written|Off|>
2. Mike Steele
The 5 Star Truth
http://thewrestlingvoice.com/columns/mikesteele/
3. William Hernandez
Straight Outta NYC
http://thewrestlingvoice.com/columns/williamhernandez/
4. Johnathan Brown
Mr. Brown's Class
http://thewrestlingvoice.com/columns/jonathanbrown/
5. John Wilson
Not Just Another Fan Presents...
http://thewrestlingvoice.com/columns/johnwilson/
6. The Butcher
The Butchershop
http://thewrestlingvoice.com/columns/thebutcher/
7. Double A
The 'Double A' Report
http://thewrestlingvoice.com/columns/doublea/
8. Shak
The Pepsi Plunge
http://thewrestlingvoice.com/columns/shak/
9. Scott Stover
Scotty's Corner
http://thewrestlingvoice.com/columns/scottstover/
10. Adam Perez
Speaking The Truth!
http://thewrestlingvoice.com/columns/adamperez/
11. Bradley Springer
The Springer Column
http://thewrestlingvoice.com/columns/bradleyspringer/
12. Martin Daniels
On The Ropes
http://www.wrestlezone.com/editorials.php
13. Alex Tansley
The Blind Observer
http://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/columns/
