…and this is a 
We have a monthly award here on Pharyngula, in which commenters can nominate and vote for one of their own as the best and most interesting and most deserving of acknowledgment. It's called the Order of the Molly, after the late Molly Ivins, who was also one of those people most of us know only from her writings, but with whom we also wish we could have a conversation…and you know they'd be great at it, too.
So here's the list of people we look forward to in the comment threads—people we might all think to emulate.
| Date | Winners | Sample comments |
| February 2007 | Kristine Harley | →"Smart, good looking, dancer, what more could you ask for?" →"whose wit, humour and writing skill always makes her an enjoyable and enlightening read" |
| Scott Hatfield | →"the guy consistently shows grace and class" →"a very good writer, has diplomacy and a clear, concise argument style, let alone the best disposition among atheists" | |
| March 2007 | Blake Stacey | →He's a smart feller.
→whenever I'm reading a comment and thinking "Right on, man" I come to the end and there's his name. |
| Hank Fox | →He's funny and always includes a thought provoking statement with clarity and logic. →Very bright guy who comes up with the greatest metaphors to make his points. | |
| April 2007 | Torbjörn Larsson | →I, too, would like to cast a vote for Mr. Diacritical, Torbjorn Larsson, not for any one post but for the overall excellence of his contributions. And his wit. And his cool name. And his hair. I bet he has nice hair. →Having read some of his offerings, I have to say it would not surprise me in the slightest should TL turn out to have access to more than one mind at any given moment. He's, um, really smart. |
| May 2007 | Kseniya | →I'm going to vote for Kseniya based on insightful, relevant posts and reasonably conccluded thoughts. →Kseniya, who is insightful and very, very funny. |
| BronzeDog | →Bronze Dog gets my vote this time, along with Kseniya. They both have insightful things to say (and I REALLY like BD's atavar...) →Bronze Dog has long been deserving of one - I go for him this time. | |
| June 2007 | Ichthyic | →I have no great problems with that fishy fellow, Ichthyic. Just as PZ has fed me nuggets of evo-devo which I kinda sorta understand, Ichthyic has graced me with partially understood fish knowledge. →There's something very fishy about this Ichthyic guy, but he gets my vote. I'll get the tarter sauce. |
| July/August 2007 | Brownian | →Brownian, per moi, for frequent displays of erudition and piquant humor, and for... well, just look! →I have decided to pray that Brownian is recognized with a well-deserved Molly. |
| Zeno | →I'll cast a vote for Zeno as well, and here's part of why I urge you to cast your vote for him. →Zeno. For a persistent part of the Pharyngula phenomenon, pestering the poor paupers of pseudoscientific phantasies, and paradoxically phun physico-math posts. | |
| September 2007 | David Marjanović | →David Marjanović single handedly thwarted an invasion staged by the Moon Commies (they live on the moon, are green, and are actually more like Stalinists than commies), and he laughs at my jokes. →I also vote for David Marjanović. Why? To quote the Simpsons: "no one who speaks German could be an evil man". And in addition he speaks at least two other languages as well! Apart from his language skills he provides some very insightful comments and he also faced John A. Davison and his (Davison's) trusty lackey VMartin in a mammoth thread a few months ago. That's determination, folks. |
| October 2007 | Cuttlefish | →Anyway, my vote this month is for Cuttlefish, because s/he's a lyrical gangsta.
→I was going to nominate Cuttlefish even before I saw everyone else voting for Cuttlefish, too. His/her poems are not only funny, but s/he's got a sense of rhythm Pope would envy (that's Mr. Alexander, not Mr. Ratzenberger). |
| November 2007 | Sastra | →Sastra. Everything s/he writes is interesting and insightfull.
→It seems like every time I see a comment by Sastra, I say to myself, "Who is this person, who knows so much of science?" |
| December 2007 | Dustin | →Dustin++! He often makes me laugh, which would surely be a qualifying trait.
→I vote for Dustin, the current popular boy in the class. For consistent wit, logic and all round grammatical correctness (plus Mr Shrek sometimes makes him sick which means we have something in common). |
| January 2008 | MAJeff | →I think MAJeff has been quite active and fabulous this go-round, and add to the pile of votes in his favor.
→I vote for MAJeff. His commentary has been insightful, witty, useful, illustrative, provocative, informative, and challenging. (And at times he pissed me off, until I thought about what he was saying and after thought found myself agreeing.) |
| February 2008 | Truth Machine | →I'm gonna nominate Truth Machine, in particular for his tenacity. I get bored with a thread or something, and weeks later he'll still be going at it. →There are so many names, of course, but there can be no finer sight in the blogosphere than checking a few day old thread, and scrolling down, only to find about 30 posts by this guy - taking names (of literally everyone) with his barbed rhetoric and kick-you-in-the-nuts grandiloquence. |
| Mrs Tilton | →I will go for Mrs Tilton. I may not always agree with her (although quite often I do) but when she does not she does make me think. →Mrs. Tilton always thrusts, cuts, parries, and dissects with ladylike precision. Many good choices out there, but my vote goes to her this month. |
