Eminence Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Alright, Jacky. From now on lets just all scream forum-wide 'vote for this' and do it that way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanted Assailant Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Really ironic considering the joy from some guys here with having a lot of entries swooshing in. Simply, we should revert to the plain 'read stories, vote with construction' and let everything flow from there. There were no problems before this, and the little mishaps with the bland, insulting vote-ins shouldn't completely haul the whole competition away. We're missing the message. Not everyone here just votes for a certain piece just because they were asked to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxidizer Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Or, get rid of the voting thing altogether. Let the previous winners decide/vote amongst themselves who wins each month. We can still live feedback in the entries' threads; all we do is repeat our comments and opinions on the pieces anyway, only with an added vote bunged on top of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanted Assailant Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Sounds good enough for the previous winners to decide, or something. It stops the fighting. Although reading other entries wouln't even matter at that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exclusiv3 Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 What a mess! This does beg the question of how it got out of hand so... suddenly. There was little to no problem last month. There's a conundrum here. Should people vote for their favorite stories? Well, of course. But, how do we know that someone is voting for a story because it's their favorite... rather than because that's the story someone else voted for first, or because they felt obligated to vote for the story in the first place? It's hard to make that distinction, unless you give detailed explanations for your vote. But, how about we try this...? Why not have the sole winner of the previous month vote on the winner of the following month? Of course, if this were to happen, that person would have to exclude themselves from entering that particular contest. It makes sense since that person would be the one to assign the theme, anyway. It's also much easier to control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vercetti21 Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 (edited) People aren't going to read every piece, you cannot help that fact. Voters are always going to choose favourites, that's part of the whole nature of competition, you can't stop that. Stop trying to dictate everything and just accept that not everything runs like clockwork. The more rules you add, the more you're going to alienate people. This is suppose to be for fun, not for the sake of bragging rights. Aw, you rebel you. You're right, let's f*ck the rules. In fact, let's have a sub-competition in which whoever can come up with the craziest reason for nominating a piece wins. I call "I was drunk and pissing all over myself at the time, all while being held at gunpoint and forced to choose one!" And then we'll award the winners with freshly-baked cookies and e-love and pot brownies. Mmm. Oh wait, I was under the impression that this competition had a point. WD is a place where anyone can drop in and easily contribute to the community. We share our work, critique each other, hone each other's skills... it's really just a free place where it's okay to pick and choose how involved you want to be with everyone else, and I think most of us like that. Problem is, there's still a lot of isolation. We've all been there: your hard work isn't read, and even if you enjoyed writing what you did, you want to improve. Everyone wants everyone to read what they wrote. That is as basic as it gets, and I think we can all admit it. After all, we're all here for the same reason: to share our work with each other. SSOTMC took it a step further and addressed the problem of isolation. It brought a lot of us together and brought attention to each other's work. Now, we see that it's quite obvious people are abusing the system, and it's a little upsetting to see that some people even support that. If you really want this competition to be just another matter of pick-and-choose, then why even have the competition in the first place? What would separate a SSOTM entry from a regular, ol' WD entry? By this standard, the competition really contributes nothing to the community other than slapping on a fake title someone earned simply because more people happened to read his work. Sure, the competition is fun. There's still a lot of freedom, too. No one is forced to enter or participate in the competition, so having a few basic, necessary rules shouldn't hurt. And if you're really that bothered by the rules, you don't have to enter. But is asking that every submission receive an equal amount of attention really asking too much? Does making the competition fair warrant it any "less fun"? And please, if you're all just going to resort to the "it's just to win an e-crown" argument, then I ask that you share the reason you even participate in this thing the first place. Edited March 27, 2009 by Vercetti21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltinespike Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 (edited) But, how about we try this...? Why not have the sole winner of the previous month vote on the winner of the following month? Of course, if this were to happen, that person would have to exclude themselves from entering that particular contest. It makes sense since that person would be the one to assign the theme, anyway. It's also much easier to control. Yeah, but what's the point in the community reading the pieces if only one person is judging? Just because they've won the competition, who's to say their vote becomes more important, much less the only vote, to determine a winner? Same goes for the previous winner thing. If only previous winners can vote, my obligation to vote is not only shunned upon, but against the rules. So if this happens, will I be reading entries, seeing as I am unable to vote? I doubt it. Will I even bother entering the competition seeing as my chances of winning will have diminished past the point they already were? Probably not. The previous winner theory promotes elitism in its ability to strip "lesser" WD members, like myself, of a vote in the competition. So, pardon the language, fuck that. What I'm beginning to see with our influx of new members entering the competition is that the entire base of writing a compelling, spotless story in the name of just doing so, much less the competition, has turned into a race to win. We've lost sight of the prize, and we don't give a shit anymore; we just want to win, regardless of respect, dignity, or even the story itself. I want writing to be writing. No more, no less. Nobody's going to respect you just because you blew in and won a competition. Edited March 27, 2009 by saltinespike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhoda Posted March 27, 2009 Author Share Posted March 27, 2009 Alright, I'm going to propose a plan of action, and if you agree/don't agree, please say so. This is by no means definite. I open the voting topic, and regardless of anyone swooping in to vote, only the votes that are considered worthy will be totaled. More votes such as "because I was told to" or because it was good" just won't cut the mustard. The winner will be announced, story pinned, as usual. A theme is chosen, and on we go to April 2009. Meanwhile, as the competition soldiers on, new rules will be devised that will ensure that all the fun stays in but also makes sure the entry is fair and the end result is fair. This gives those who devise the rules 25 days to talk about them and test them. This new rules system will not deviate far from the current one at all so not to scare people away. I'm all for new members joining in and I hope the new rules fit them too. I can say right now that the best way I think this is going to work is the "three kisses, one wish" system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronmar The Only Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Sounds fine to me. We don't want the competition to come to a complete halt just because of some questionable votes. Visit Writers' Discussion Compilation of Works: From a Storyteller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhoda Posted March 27, 2009 Author Share Posted March 27, 2009 Sounds fine to me. We don't want the competition to come to a complete halt just because of some questionable votes. Agreed, that's why I want to take action everyone agrees on. I'm going to open the voting topic regardless, we've got a day to catch up on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vercetti21 Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Good plan, Masterkraft. Perhaps we should create a topic based on the discussion of the plan? That way we don't sh*t up the voting topic or the April topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhoda Posted March 27, 2009 Author Share Posted March 27, 2009 We may as well use this as a base of discussion; after all, it was re-opened with discussion in mind, may as well keep it all in one place. The voting topic is open regardless, and it's not imperative to utilize the layout for this month's voting. For next month I imagine it will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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