APRIL WRITING CONTESTWelcome to the first official SEN Writing Competition. This is mostly a free for all. Below you will see a prompt - it is still open ended, just have it do something with the prompt in a general sense, meant to give a basis to judge everyone against and to get your creativity flowing. There are no other restrictions other than what are listed below, but please keep your work safe for work, or else blatantly label it NSFW. The entry with the most votes wins! I thought this was already clear but you know...the contest has started!
Prompt: "Quickly, Quietly."Open to: Anyone!
Decided by: Public Poll!
Length: 500-1500 word prose
Voting Date: May 1, 2013.
Prize: Bragging Rights, plus any generous donations from
Devlin admins viewers like you!
IMPORTANT UPDATE
Due to popular vote it has been decided that entries should be submitted anonymously. The best way to do this is to send the story to me *in line* as a PM. Like I said in the post I am very hesitant to open attachments so please don't attach anything. As such I will not be voting, but I will most likely submitted. Please do not game the system - do not make it intentionally obvious which post is yours. You will be forced to vote before you can view voting results. After voting do not discuss specifically who you voted for until the voting period is completed, as some members feel that this will tip off other members as to who's story is who's. A little overkill I know but we'll just be polite about it.
LINK POSTShttp://www.staredit.net/topic/15894/2/#347612 and
http://www.staredit.net/topic/15894/2/#347613MAFIA ROY VICTORY
Post has been edited 8 time(s), last time on May 9 2013, 4:24 am by Fire_Kame.
I CLICKED A BUTTON I CLICKED A BUTTON.
None.
Find Me On Discord (Brood War UMS Community & Staredit Network)
How many minerals are on the table here.
I have a hard time gathering my thoughts. I think I will stay out of this one, but I will read anything posted.
None.
Hey I don't know what I'm going to write about either
Unless you guys think since I'm technically "hosting" this one I shouldn't write this time.
Since you're not judging, it should be fine. The only issue I could see anyone having is the possibility that you chose the theme based on your personal writing preferences, or because you've already written a story which fits that theme. I guess the ideal solution would be to have a neutral third-party choose the theme; which, in this case, they already did. Having been online during the conversation, I can vouch that lil-Inferno came up with this theme of his own accord.
That being the case, I don't believe anyone could have a legitimate reason to deny your participation.
As lil-Inferno, I can vouch that I came up with this theme on my own accord. Granted it was a joke, but I'll go with it.
It was a joke, but I liked it as a writing prompt.
It has a nice ring to it and is still open ended.
IMPORTANT UPDATEIt has come to my attention that there is some butt hurt over this possibly becoming a popularity contest instead of an actual skill contest (see: SEN Arena). If the majority would rather, you can submit your entries to me, and I'll post them anonymously; each entry will have a number attached to it. If this is so I will not judge but I may enter. If we do it this way the big thing to remember is that you cannot discuss what number you were assigned as that would defeat the system.
Any input on this appreciated, otherwise I'll update the OP and will send a PM to the people who have voted 'yes' in the poll.
If this is so I will not judge but I may enter.
Maybe none of the contestants should be able to judge, lest they mostly vote for themselves and gain an unfair advantage. Plus their votes would help people figure out which entry is theirs
Hopefully enough people will be reading and judging the entries that there'll be a lot of votes anyways, especially since the story length you've set is pretty reasonable.
So then shall the entries be sent to you, Kame?
An artist's depiction of an Extended Unit Death
It has come to my attention that there is some butt hurt over this possibly becoming a popularity contest instead of an actual skill contest (see: SEN Arena). If the majority would rather, you can submit your entries to me, and I'll post them anonymously; each entry will have a number attached to it. If this is so I will not judge but I may enter. If we do it this way the big thing to remember is that you cannot discuss what number you were assigned as that would defeat the system.
Any input on this appreciated, otherwise I'll update the OP and will send a PM to the people who have voted 'yes' in the poll.
I object, primarily for selfish reasons. But also because it gives dishonest participants an advantage, and some of us have recognizable writing styles (due to hosting mafia and whatnot).
Plus their votes would help people figure out which entry is theirs
Forcing a vote before viewing the results would alleviate this, and having votes be anonymous would be a more extreme measure to prevent the issue.
But also because it gives dishonest participants an advantage
How so? Do you mean as in plagiarism? If the authors' names were released after the voting has closed, would that alleviate this potential problem? Thus, an offending author could be identified and a new vote could be cast.
An artist's depiction of an Extended Unit Death
How so? Do you mean as in plagiarism? If the authors' names were released after the voting has closed, would that alleviate this potential problem? Thus, an offending author could be identified and a new vote could be cast.
No, nothing of the sort. Those that would want their friends to vote for their story would just tell them in private which story is theirs, or those that want to vote for someone's story just because they want to vote for that person would ask the person which story is theirs. Only those that would not play by the rules of secrecy could utilize this, and there's no way to verify one way or another if someone had been playing by the rules, so it would be safe for them to cheat like this.
I don't think it would be a major issue by any means, but it introduces the element by attempting to keep works independent of authors.
We could make anonymous entries optional - no one has to say whether or not they're submitting or whether or not they submitted anonymously. I could even change the poll; even though it is non-binding. Would that be a good compromise?
For this, I will definitely not settle for a linear compromise. At this point, it is wholly obvious who will and will not be participating. A compromise would be far too disingenuous. Either make it entirely anonymous or entirely identified - at least in the latter case we would know who is being shafted or boosted by popularity while in the former case everyone would supposedly have an even ground.
I say that "supposedly" since there seems to be far too much information leaking already anyway. Regardless, I will vote for anonymity, since the current compromise sounds poor. I don't care if people say this or that about their works, so long as the actual submissions in the thread and contest are anonymous, so as to blur the trustworthiness of any such authorship claims.
EDIT:
No, nothing of the sort. Those that would want their friends to vote for their story would just tell them in private which story is theirs, or those that want to vote for someone's story just because they want to vote for that person would ask the person which story is theirs. Only those that would not play by the rules of secrecy could utilize this, and there's no way to verify one way or another if someone had been playing by the rules, so it would be safe for them to cheat like this.
Ah, I see. This is why I am also not entirely certain choosing anonymity would be the right way to go, but again, at this point in the thread's progression, I don't think going entirely either one way or another would make a significant difference (but it is still better than doing a choose-your-own-identification).
Find Me On Discord (Brood War UMS Community & Staredit Network)
So is there a mineral prize for this or wat?
So of the current probably contestants that's:
2 for anonymity
1 for public identification.
