2004 Year-End Awards
For the past few years (2002, 2003) I’ve cataloged the top contributors every year. I don’t know if it’s related, but every year since doing that the number of contributions from the top people has escalated — it was absolutely staggering just how much some people helped out. This article recognizes those people who went above and beyond in contributions to BME, as well as giving public thanks to the many “pseudostaff” members that actually keep the site alive and running… and as I finish up this article, I already have thousands of submissions in my queue for the 2005 awards. Let me begin by showing you what the people on this page got for their work (other than warm feelings of course, but that won’t keep you clothed).
Experience Review Team 2004 saw 9,081 new articles and experiences posted to BME. Before being added to the site they are moderated (reviewed) by a panel of IAM members — they read everything that’s submitted, and then decided which should make it to the site. A total of 1,386 individual IAM members took part in the review system, but the following reviewers approved the most number of experiences to the site in 2004 (this doesn’t include the ones they rejected). Note: Links go to IAM pages and/or BME/HARD galleries as relevant.
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 IAM:Cerra Cerra is in the #4 spot, representing Halifax, Nova Scotia with 1,631 approvals. |
 IAM:xPurifiedx Rounding out the top five with 1,525 approvals is Buffalo, New York’s xPurifiedx. |
 IAM:rebekah Rebekah (who’s also the queen of the BME newsfeed) places sixth with 1,497 approvals. |
 IAM:purrtykitty4m Just squeezing past a thousand is New Orleans’ Purrtykitty4m with 1,046 approval reviews. |
 IAM:drip With 1,010 reviewed stories posted this year, Drip ensures that iam:Christian is well represented in spot number eight. |
The folks above are all in the “over a thousand” club in terms of successful positive reviews for the year. Below are the runners up (who also deserve a lot of thanks for their help) — each of them reviewed over five hundred approved experiences this year:
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Top Experience Authors
Those 9,081 experiences had 7,277 distinct authors, many of whom wrote more than one story. The top BME authors of the year 2004 in terms of number of stories written were:
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 IAM:der_narr With seventeen stories written this year, Duisburg, Germany’s der_narr ties for fourth place. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 |
 IAM:mythernal Also with seventeen stories this year and tying for fourth place is Michigan pagan Mythernal. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 |
IAM:purrtykitty4m Placing fifth with a still impressive sixteen stories written this year, Purrtykitty4m ranks as both a top writer and top reviewer on BME. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 |
 IAM:cuthalcoven Placing sixth with fourteen stories in 2004 (plus an interview she did with her mother) is Toledo’s Cuthalcoven. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 |
 IAM:porcelina Ranking lucky number seven is Porcelina from Perth, Australia. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 |
The runners up for top experiences are as follows (many are tied, thus the repeating numbers):
| 8. Flutterfly (11 stories) 8. KoLdFroNt (11) 8. Cerra (11) 9. hunterjackson (10) |
9. The Stolen Child (10) 9. Marsdweller (10) 9. rwethereyet (10) 9. DirtyPrettyThings (10) |
10. JuanKi (9) 11. Orilind (8) 11. Asurfael (8) 11. SadisticSarah (8) 11. Shamus Greenman (8) |
Top Image Submitters
Warning: This part of the article contains some
adult photos!
This is where things really get crazy! Of course the largest section of the site is the image galleries; this year 130,319 pictures were added by a total of 14,668 separate people. The top submitters donated truly staggering quantities of images, and competition was tight and fierce. Skipping over Kokomi’s almost ludicrous quantity, the next three were separated by only fifty images! The top BME image submitters of 2004 are:
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 Kokomi Writing anonymously from Germany, Kokomi has this year submitted 3,170 new images to his popular bonus gallery in BME/HARD — and he’s ranked every year we’ve tracked submissions! |
 IAM:rwethereyet Not only did Walkerton’s rwethereyet submit 1,881 images to both his bonus gallery and other parts of BME, but he also designed a BME shirt based on his interests! |
 IAM:KIVAKA A generous person and talented piercer, as the number three image submitter and the top piercer for 2004, Kivaka represents Lockport, IL’s Tattoo City. 1,844 images have been added by him this year. |
 IAM:MWM416 With 1,828 Marty came so close to the top three, and were it not for being fired for refusing to pierce a minor, he’d be there. He currently pierces at Worcester, MA’s Piercing Emporium. |
 Bea & Lehni With 1,368 new pictures added to their gallery, these kinky German swingers stay quite popular! |
 IAM:nobcatz Perhaps tired from submitting well over two thousand images last year (he was the top contributor of 2003), with 1,366 pictures in 2004, Japan’s Nobcatz again ranks among BME’s most prolific photographers. |
 IAM:HeadlessLego With both a popular bonus gallery and images in nearly all sections of the site, Andie has sent us 1,288 photos this year. |
 IAM:Efix With 1,277 photos this year both in his ritual gallery, his scarification gallery, and across the site as a piercer, D-Markation, Quebec City’s Efix is eighth on our list of contributors and the third piercer on the list. |
 IAM:dispel With 1,227 photos this year, this UK photographer (watch out for him at conventions!) has extensively documented BE and Vampy’s work. |
 Ars Having added 1,124 to his creative bonus gallery in BME/HARD, Ars rounds out tenth place on our contributor’s list. |
 IAM:perk900 Always gonzo, Philadelphia’s Perk900 has added 1,084 pictures to BME this year, the last on our list to crack a thousand. |
 WenchyBev & Neil With 933 new pictures resurrecting their gallery in 2004, WenchyBev and Neil’s bonus gallery in BME/HARD continues to grow. |
 IAM:dsw At the core of Brasil’s +3 suspension team, dsw has contributed 821 pictures over 2004. |
 IAM:x31337x Photographer x31337x has contributed 784 images this year, many of them documenting Rites of Passage. |
IAM:Cerra The only person to be a ranking experience reviewer, top writer, and image contributor for 2004, Cerra added 821 images. |
 UrbanSoul My kinky friend UrbanSoul from Italy has added 671 new pictures to his BME/HARD bonus gallery this year. |
 IAM:Asurfael Scandinavia’s Asurfael has contributed 670 image in 2004, injecting some much needed rock’n’roll into BME/HARD via her bonus gallery. |
 IAM:VEAL The naughtiest housewife I know, VEAL has added 652 images to her bonus gallery and elsewhere in 2004.. |
The runners up for top image submitter were as follow:
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BME/News Team
BME/News is one of my favorite sections of BME. It includes a number of columns and articles from the top body modification writers (and doers) around the world, as well as a newsfeed which tracks articles in the mainstream news that are of particular relevance to BME readers. Below are some of the people who more actively made BME/News possible in 2004.
 The Lizardman The incredible, amazing Lizardman, Erik Sprague, writes both a monthly column for BME and a regular “ask the Lizardman” Q&A. Visit him on IAM or at his website for more on his adventures (and his tour schedule) |
 Jim Ward Jim Ward, founder of both the world’s first piercing studio and piercing magazine, documents that history in his fascinating Running the Gauntlet. Visit him at Gauntlet Enterprises. |
 /> Fakir Musafar I’m deeply honored to have the legendary Fakir Musafar, who should need little introduction, writing for BME. Visit him at BodyPlay.com to learn more about his many other projects. |
 Marisa Kakoulas Marisa’s new column Legal Link addresses legal issues for the modified community, and is a companion to her upcoming book on tattoo law. And yes, she’s a real NYC lawyer, so don’t mess with her. |
 IAM:rebekah While other people help as well, Rebekah’s contribution of 2,256 stories to the BME Newsfeed were absolutely essential in keeping it running (and put her nearly two thousand stories ahead of any other person). |
QOD Staff
BME’s “question of the day” service remains hugely popular, having been asked thousands of questions over the last year. Not including me, the following staff members helped out this year by each answering over two hundred questions a piece from readers:
 IAM:Vampy This years most prolific QOD answering, slightly exceeding “of the day” with 387 answers in 2004, performance and body artist Vampy is currently best known for her work with UK suspension team Body Evolution. |
 IAM:Lori St. Leone One of BME’s many expats, Alaskan Lori St. Leone owns Darwin, Australia’s Vogue Body Piercing. She’s answered 375 questions for BME readers (and her fans) this year. |
 IAM:Derek Lowe Derek Lowe, APP piercer at Saint Sabrina’s in Minneapolis masculinizes our top three by answering 238 QODs in 2004. |
Additional work was done by Gary, Sean Philips, Monte, Shawn Porter, Rachel Larratt, Phish, and Ryan Worden.
Other BME Staff
Finally, the people below are some of the core individuals who kept BME running in 2004.
 IAM:>glider Hey, it’s me! I think you know what I do already, right?
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 IAM:Rachel My beautiful and brilliant wife Rachel writes and photographs for BME, handles all of our finances, and is the publisher of her own magazine LOOSE.
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 IAM:Jen Jen handles all of BME’s online customer support, out of a cold, cold office in the Maritimes.
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 IAM:CT Apparently having forgiven me for endangering his wedding ceremony, Mike takes care of many of the emergency technical issues on BME and IAM and helps keep everything online (either that or he’s planning the greatest revenge of all time).
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 IAM:Dita For years now Dita has worked hard to maintain the BME Japan portal and has brought BME to hundreds of thousands of new readers through it.
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 IAM:1101001 Jon has written (and maintains) many of the software tools on BME like the link engine and iam.crush2. He’s also one of the core forces behind Fishing Fury.
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 IAM:Vanilla Not quite so “vanilla” in real life, Danielle not only provided essential help on IAM management in 2004, but she also maintains the wonderful IAM:INFO help site. |
 IAM:badur Hailing from exotic Madagascar, Toronto designer Badur is responsible for the better looking parts of BME’s look, was half of the BME Road Trip, co-organized BMEFEST 2004, and more. |
There are a lot of people I’ve missed I’m sure (and if you think I missed you and you want
your shirt, don’t be afraid to write me — I’m talking to you, Blake, co-organizer of BMEFEST 2004).
You’ve seen the numbers though — you know that this is only the tip of the iceberg when
it comes to BME’s nebulous staff of hundreds of thousands of contributors around the world. I
wish I could thank every one of those people here, but clearly that’s not possible. However,
BME stands as a legacy to their efforts, and everyone who’s helped make it happen deserves
thanks.
See you in 2005!
Shannon Larratt
BME.com
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