Story Contest: POLL

DarkCloud · December 9, 2002, 23:31

Just wondering: should we revert to the old rules which accepted unfinished stoires into the polling as an incentive for the authors to finish their stories?

I suggest this as the voting and nominations for the contest have been lagging as of recent.

And, at least one story, http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=63955 Gandhi Kahn the Wise
cannot be nominated becasue it is as yet unfinished... and I assume that there are many more good works in progress which deserve to be nominated.

Therefore, I propose that you vote YES and return to the old rules, accepting unfinished stories so that the contest will be invigorated with youth!

ChrisiusMaximus · December 10, 2002, 03:36

I still cannot vote for some reason on this forum, keep getting forum message telling me my session is not valid but I can vote on other forums no problem. Please can someone help!!.

Darkcloud most writers feel its unfair to be beaten by someone who cant be bothered to finish their story and a waste of time competing hence if you allow unfinished stories then I shall withdraw Mikes Story and give no further support to the contest itself. Sorry if this sounds extreme but several times now majority opinion has stated quite clearly that this is unfair on those who put the effort in.

One thing that might help is for people who dont want long time committment to write shorter stories!

steamthunk · December 10, 2002, 14:45

Being beaten by the unfinished does kind of suck, but I'm not sure we have enough finished content for a story contest (could be wrong; I've been slow reading forum lateley). Again, I suggest having best finished and best unfinished as a possible solution.

DarkCloud · December 10, 2002, 23:19

...What unfinished stories that you KNOW of have won the contest? Has any unfinished story won yet?

If not, then you have no argument.

Mr. President · December 11, 2002, 01:28

We listen to Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, don't we?

ChrisiusMaximus · December 11, 2002, 02:58

Amy's Story by Bella Hella and thats without researching first!! which you should do before making a point.

Mr President yes I suppose we do but were not writing music. I started this debate before I myself wrote a story so really it has nothing to do with me just wishing to stand a better chance. I honestly think its unfair to someone to lose to an unfinished story.

Darkcloud I saw your last post in the nom thread, why not just go with four like John was going to I think everyone was ok with that.

bassman · December 11, 2002, 18:43

Quote:

Originally posted by DarkCloud
And, at least one story, http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=63955 Gandhi Kahn the Wise
cannot be nominated becasue it is as yet unfinished...

Gandhi Kahn the Wise has only three episodes left to post, two of which are already written. I hope to finish it by Saturday, 12-14.

I don't know that the story contest has inspired any authors to complete their stories, although I have often seen authors withdraw a story until it could be finished.

ChrisiusMaximus · December 11, 2002, 18:56

And also bassman you asked me to refrain from nominating your story until you finished it did you not.

You see Darkcloud some of the writers dont want to even be nominated before they have finished. A further and more dissapointing factor is some people and I will name one because I dont think he will mind ie unscratchedfoot wont even let his stories enter the vote any more because of being beaten by unfinished stories amongst other reasons that he would be best to discuss with you first hand.

I'm not sure if I speak for all but I'd rather not bother with it if its inherently unfair to those who do finish their work. I have made sure that for some time now I have given feedback to every story and to every writer and there are now a few of us constantly supporting each other without the contest actually having been run for months now. But even without the contest this forum is thriving.

DarkCloud · December 11, 2002, 22:33

Amy's story is amazingly long... I think that it deserved nomination as it was- perhaps we could have some length limits- if such and such story goes to say, 3 pages, then it can be nominated.

Quote:

You see Darkcloud some of the writers dont want to even be nominated before they have finished

Yeah, personally I wish that one of my stories hadn't been nominated; but didn't think to tell them not to since I was too flattered (although i didn't second it)

Quote:

unscratchedfoot wont even let his stories enter the vote any more because of being beaten by unfinished stories amongst other reasons that he would be best to discuss with you first hand.

When did his stories ever go into the competition? I apologize, but I never even remember 1 of his stories ever being entered into the runnning?

But as I said, when you allow unfinished stories in, then you get more franticness- people rush to finish their stories so that they will win the contest.

How about another idea at compromise- an unifinished story that is nominated gets -2 votes until it's finished. therefore, it is harder for an unifinished tale to win; but it provides enough incentive for both the tales AND the contest to flourish.

vovan · December 12, 2002, 02:28

Quote:

Originally posted by DarkCloud
How about another idea at compromise- an unifinished story that is nominated gets -2 votes until it's finished. therefore, it is harder for an unifinished tale to win; but it provides enough incentive for both the tales AND the contest to flourish.

I actually kind of like that idea. Though just for simple psychological purposes, I would rephrase that rule as:

Finished stories get +2 votes

rather than the other way around. We don't want to penalize people for writing unfinished stories. We want to reward them for finishing them

ChrisiusMaximus · December 12, 2002, 03:04

Now ok we seem to at last be having a debate and that is good,. I think that for now we can just run as we do have enough stories. Maybe in the New Year we should evaluate all this and collectively decide on some new format.

New Year New Stories Contest !

I have stated previously that I dont want to penalise any one but to as vovan puts it reward those who finish.

unscratchedfoot · December 12, 2002, 04:04

DarkCloud · December 15, 2002, 22:42

Okay, I'll create a new poll with the compromise Idea as an alternative selection later... in the new year. And as for your other idea- I suppose we'll just run with the current stories; but allow the next contest to renominate the ones which weren't seconded (as a courtesy)