alt.obituaries Deadpool: Rules

Rules & Instructions

(For scoring rules, please see the scoring page.)

How to put together an AO Deadpool list in four easyish steps:

1. Pick 40 notable and eligible^[1a] people that you think will die and get an obituary^[1b] from a reputable news source^[1c] written about them in the coming year.

This is the alt.obituaries deadpool, and obituaries are the final scoring criterion. Picks that don't get an obituary from a reputable news source may not be scored. No legit obit, no hit.

[1a] Picks may be considered ineligible and rejected for any or all of the following reasons:

The pick is primarily notable for the manner in which they will die. If they wouldn't have been notable enough to get an obit independent of their terminal illness or other fatal condition, they aren't notable enough now. Relatedly, people on death row are generally not acceptable picks unless (a) their level of fame is such that their death would have been newsworthy even before their crime and/or punishment (e.g., Saddam Hussein, Phil Spector) or (b) their crime is newsworthy enough that they have wide name recognition (e.g., Timothy McVeigh, Ted Bundy).
The pick is related to a famous person and is not independently notable. Picks need to be known for more than just being so-and-so's wife or so-and-so's brother. We recognize that this is an increasingly gray area thanks to all the reality-show idiots (if it were up to us, no one outside of their friends and family would have ever heard of the Kardashians). If you're not sure, submit it and the Rules Committee will decide.
The pick is primarily notable for being an "-est." "Oldest so-and-so," "last such-and-such," etc., picks will likely be rejected unless they're also notable on another basis or have especially wide name recognition. Relatedly, supergeezers (110+) will be rejected unless they were notable prior to, or independent of, their advanced age.
The pick is primarily known for accomplishments at the local or regional level and not well known at the national and/or international level. Picks at the level of state legislators, local radio DJs or TV hosts, college basketball stars, etc., are generally discouraged and will likely be rejected unless they also have some wider notability. Again, we recognize that this is a gray area. If you're not sure, submit it and the Rules Committee will decide.
The pick died in a previous year. Check this before you send in your list. Don't make us do it. Don't be that person who has to be told that their pick died in 1987. (Yes, this has happened.) . . . If you can't find any reliable information about whether someone is alive or dead, you might want to pick someone else, because if it becomes known that your pick died in a previous year, you won't get any points for this year. We call this the Fossett Rule. Relatedly, picks without a confirmed date of death may not be scored.

[1b] Not a paid death notice. Not a sentence saying "So-and-so died" at the end of an article about something else.

[1c] We recognize that this is a giant gray area, but think Washington Post, The Guardian, CNN . . . ESPN for athletes, Bloomberg for businesspeople, Billboard or Rolling Stone for musicians. Le Monde for the French, the Sydney Morning Herald for the Australians, Yomiuri Shimbun for the Japanese. That kind of thing. Not some random blog, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, whatevr. Not some clickbait content-farm site that any idiot can "write" for (the list of these gets longer every year . . . I'm looking at you, Daily Mail Online, International Business Times, Newsweek after they sold out to the Unification Church . . .). Local TV/radio station websites don't cut it. Wikipedia doesn't count as a primary source.

2. Put those 40 names in alphabetical order by last name, followed by a brief description, and number them from 1 to 40.

Check your spelling. (For simplicity's sake, the default spelling source will be Wikipedia. If your pick doesn't have a Wikipedia entry, that's probably a sign that you should consider picking someone else.)

Order them last name first, then first name, followed by a brief (fewer than 10 words) description in parentheses. Then number your list from 1 to 40. If you have more or fewer than 40 names, you're doin' it wrong.

A properly prepared list should look something like this:

1. Bush, George W. (43rd U.S. President)
2. Bush, Jeb (former governor of Florida)
3. Bush, Reggie (NFL running back)
4. Cheney, Dick (former U.S. Vice President)
. . . etc.

3. Put your completed, correctly formatted list in the body of an email as text^[3a], with your real name, player name, and contact email address, and send it to aodeadpool@gmail.com, with the subject line "[Your Player Name]'s [year] Deadpool List."

List submissions must include, ideally at the beginning of the email, your real name, your player name (the name you want to be listed as on the website), and an email address where you can be reached. Your list submission email should look something like this:

Subject: LittleRocketMan's 2025 Deadpool List

Real Name: Kim Jong-un
Player Name: LittleRocketMan
Email: littlerocketman@yahoo.kp

1. Bush, George W. (43rd U.S. President)
2. Obama, Barack (44th U.S. President)
3. Trump, Donald (45th U.S. President)
. . . etc.

Only one list per player, please.

[3a] Not as an attachment or a spreadsheet, or copied and pasted from a spreadsheet.

4. Submit your list by 7 P.M. Eastern time (4 P.M. Pacific time) on December 31.

All submitted lists will receive a response, either acknowledging that the list is good to go or requesting replacement pick(s). If for some reason you don't get a response within a day of list submission, please contact aodeadpool@gmail.com.