general discussion on the contests, rules, etc.

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mredburn

IAP Activities Manager
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This thread is for general discussions of the contests to start with. General rules that apply across the entire contest. Prizes, voting etc.
 
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I would like to have each contest have 2 polls for the winning selections. the first one with the instructions to pick your top 3 favorites with the top 5 choices going into the last poll, and the last one to pick the best pen. I know that the polls cannot be structured to allow only 3 choices, only one or as many as they want to pick. However this is on the honor system and most of our members will honor that requirement.
 
Im also for limiting the Prize packages for contest winners to Minimum Of $25.00 and maximum or $50.00 I dont want to deplete our prize resources for the bash and I want it to be more about bragging rights at this point. It may be a good thing to have lesser prizes that can be awarded in random drawings of contestants and loser pool drawings. Things like IAP merchandise or 2 or 3 blanks etc.
 
Do you think it would be worth trying open voting as an experiment? That could create a lot more banter during the voting period, which may or may not be good. Only one way to find out.

At least it would eliminate the gyrations we went through in the bash to hide to polling from forum runner and one or two member who shall remain nameless.

Ed
 
After all the contests are decided, do you think it would be worth taking the top pen from each contest and having a separate "best of show" poll where one pen is picked as "best of show"? I would be willing to carve a winners plaque on my cnc as the award for this one.

Ed
 
As far polling, There is some thought that being able to see the poll results sways the voting. Im not so sure how much that really is. If we have open polls can they only see it after they vote? or are the results public before they even vote. I think that the majority of our members are honorable and trust worthy and those that are not are a very small majority. Not likely to effect the outcome. I think a best of show would be a great Idea.
 
I think they only see results after voting, but I'm not 100% sure. There won't be big money prizes at risk here, so maybe this is a good test bed for open voting. If it turns out to be a good thing, maybe it's worth trying in the bash.

Ed
 
Thanks Mike at some point we will need a list of the members that are not allowed to participate. Probably around late June early July. We should probably work on a rules page that applies to all contests. Something that can be used by both this contest and the bash.
 
I have also emailed Curtis to see if he can provide us with entry forms for this event. He may or may not be able to. If not we will need to do it by emails. We may want to pm or email entrants confirmation that we received their entry. If they dont hear from us to have them contact us to double check on it.
 
I spoke with Jeff this past weekend about creating a forum to do just that. I had intended to ask you and several others to plow through some things with me. I'm still willing to do that but I have to wade through al the feedback first to identify some issues.

I'm kind of excited to see what you come up with. I'll help any way I can but there is a part of me that just wants to see what kind of fresh spin you might put on things.

Once I get a list of issues put together I'll let you know.
 
We will need to include "One Pen, One Contest" rule, a disclaimer for those that cant participate. The "cant have been posted elsewhere" rule We should probably also add the phrase " all other matter not covered by the rules are at the judgement of the chairperson of that contest" ie "we make it up as we go":biggrin: Photos of the entries will be posted at the same time.?

What else would help?
 
How about allowing people to enter more than one pen in a contest (but still no more than one contest per pen). Why limit the go getters?

If we go with open voting and post the entries as they are received there wouldn't be any reason to prohibit the contest chair from entering their contest. Certain members wouldn't be able to hide behind the contest chair to avoid making a pen for their competition.... :wink:

Identifying the maker when the entries are posted would allow them to talk about / answer questions about their entries after they are officially posted. That could be interesting.

Ed
 
I have also emailed Curtis to see if he can provide us with entry forms for this event. He may or may not be able to. If not we will need to do it by emails. We may want to pm or email entrants confirmation that we received their entry. If they dont hear from us to have them contact us to double check on it.

I would vote for just having the entrants email their entry to me instead of having them take the scenic route through Curtis entry system. Do we need to rethink the photo guidelines? Size, orientation, staging, what must be shown?

Ed
 
It's late and I used up all my constructive comments in other threads...I'll come back tomorrow and hopefully have something intelligent to say...:yawn::sleepy:
 
I put together a first draft for the Roller / Fountain rules see here:

http://www.penturners.org/forum/1664378-post9.html

Trying to simplify my rules (which were getting pretty bloated), I pulled out the stuff that might apply to all contests and posted it separately for consideration in the general rules. Mike asked me to post it here as well so I didn't get overlooked by those not following the super exciting Roller / Fountain thread. Here it is (somewhere below probably) in PDF format.

The "general" stuff was just pulled out of my contest draft so it reads a little funny for general use, but that can easily be changed. The bigger issue is getting us all to the same point on the concepts.

Ed
 

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I would think

General rules


To participate in this or any other IAP activity your public profile must contain your real
first and last name as well as you place of residence (city & state or equivalent). Please be
advised that information contained in the public profile is not viewable by non-members of
the IAP. Members who have failed to successfully complete any previous IAP activities, and
who have been notified by the Activities Manager of such, are not eligible to participate in
any IAP activities.


You may enter more than one contest but you may only enter a pen in one contest.
You must make a different pen for each contest you enter.
You may only enter one pen in one contest unless other wise posted in the Contest rules for that contest.

The pen can't be entered in any other IAP contest
past, or present. It can't have been shown anywhere else prior to entry in this contest. It
may not be shown anywhere during the contest without explicit approval of the contest
chair.

Any pen determined to not comply with the contest rules and / or the spirit of the contest
will not be accepted. This determination will be at the sole discretion of the contest chair.

Contest rules may be amended, clarified, changed, supplemented, deleted or whatever at any
time at the sole discretion of the contest chair.
 
I believe your contest details would be a seperate page that would change according to each different event such as this one or the bash etc. The general rule would be applied accross all events.

The hands on making of the pen would work with the exception of the youth under 14 contest.
 
I believe we also need to address the buying a custom blank to use in the kitless competitions. I have allowed it in the past two years because I wanted maximum participation. With the changes of the contest it may be time to limit the kitless to blanks made by the entrant. Wood blanks would have to be customized in some form to be eligible.
Mostly that would be segmenting of some kind.
 
I believe your contest details would be a seperate page that would change according to each different event such as this one or the bash etc. The general rule would be applied accross all events.

The hands on making of the pen would work with the exception of the youth under 14 contest.

Makes sense to me.

Ed
 
I believe we also need to address the buying a custom blank to use in the kitless competitions. I have allowed it in the past two years because I wanted maximum participation. With the changes of the contest it may be time to limit the kitless to blanks made by the entrant. Wood blanks would have to be customized in some form to be eligible.
Mostly that would be segmenting of some kind.

I think it makes sense to make the competition about who can make the best pen rather than who can buy the best mostly finished art blank.

Synthetic blank materials could be treated the same way as wood. They would have to be modified in some manner by the pen maker (but not by any other person) to be eligible. Whether that's incorporating bands, inlays, segmenting, carving....whatever. It takes kitless pen making to the next level, beyond just drilling and cutting threads on a round rod of material.

I think most of the likely entrants would easily be up for the challenge, but there are a few who may not.

Ed
 
I would think

General rules


To participate in this or any other IAP activity your public profile must contain your real
first and last name as well as you place of residence (city & state or equivalent). Please be
advised that information contained in the public profile is not viewable by non-members of
the IAP. Members who have failed to successfully complete any previous IAP activities, and
who have been notified by the Activities Manager of such, are not eligible to participate in
any IAP activities.


You may enter more than one contest but you may only enter a pen in one contest.
You must make a different pen for each contest you enter.
You may only enter one pen in one contest unless other wise posted in the Contest rules for that contest.

The pen can't be entered in any other IAP contest
past, or present. It can't have been shown anywhere else prior to entry in this contest. It
may not be shown anywhere during the contest without explicit approval of the contest
chair.

Any pen determined to not comply with the contest rules and / or the spirit of the contest
will not be accepted. This determination will be at the sole discretion of the contest chair.

Contest rules may be amended, clarified, changed, supplemented, deleted or whatever at any
time at the sole discretion of the contest chair.

We dropped the city & state of residence requirement. All that is needed is the first and last name.

If the contest chair wants to use some sort of entry form, or have the entrant provide information via PM or email I overlook the first and last name in profile requirement.
 
I would think

General rules


To participate in this or any other IAP activity your public profile must contain your real
first and last name as well as you place of residence (city & state or equivalent). Please be
advised that information contained in the public profile is not viewable by non-members of
the IAP. Members who have failed to successfully complete any previous IAP activities, and
who have been notified by the Activities Manager of such, are not eligible to participate in
any IAP activities.


You may enter more than one contest but you may only enter a pen in one contest.
You must make a different pen for each contest you enter.
You may only enter one pen in one contest unless other wise posted in the Contest rules for that contest.

The pen can't be entered in any other IAP contest
past, or present. It can't have been shown anywhere else prior to entry in this contest. It
may not be shown anywhere during the contest without explicit approval of the contest
chair.

Any pen determined to not comply with the contest rules and / or the spirit of the contest
will not be accepted. This determination will be at the sole discretion of the contest chair.

Contest rules may be amended, clarified, changed, supplemented, deleted or whatever at any
time at the sole discretion of the contest chair.

We dropped the city & state of residence requirement. All that is needed is the first and last name.

If the contest chair wants to use some sort of entry form, or have the entrant provide information via PM or email I overlook the first and last name in profile requirement.

Just to be clear - If I, as a contest chair, ask contestants to send me their entries by email, then I could completely ignore whether they have populated their public profile or not? As long as they are not on the deadbeat list then IAP is good with just having them identified by their IAP name? Did I understand correctly?

To be honest, I would be a bit offended if someone didn't want to share their name in an email they sent me because they are afraid of what I might do with the information. If they think I'm enough of a slime that they have to protect their name, maybe they shouldn't be taking the risk of sending me an email and entering the contest. I suppose they could always provide a fake name. At least that would allow me to continue to believe that IAP is a community of virtual friends with a common interest rather than a virtual jungle full of prey and predators.

I guess I come down on the side of wanting to deal with IAP members as friends on a first name basis. I would like to make names an entry requirement and have the entries sent directly to me by email.

Ed
 
Yes. The intent of that rule in the first place was to add some degree of transparency to the entries, even if it was only psychological. Having them email you their name and address, etc. is even better (in many ways) but is more work for you.
 
To participate in this or any other IAP activity your public profile must contain your real
first and last name as well as you place of residence (city & state or equivalent). Please be
advised that information contained in the public profile is not viewable by non-members of
the IAP.

In that case the above paragraph is totally unneccesary as long as they have to email the information in with their entry. Which they have to do to enter, either to the contest chair or to Curtis during the bash.
 
As I debate with myself over the blank issue I see an example where a submission has a wood body but all the hardware is turned from aluminum. At a basic level it would qualify as a kitless pen. The same can be said of a poured single color blank that was used in the same manner.
I may have to consider such pens as qualified entries even though they would probably not be in the running for winning at the end. I suspect the winning entries will have to show the upper level craftsmanship and artistic endeavor to win.
 
Do you want more help?

Joe S. sent me a PM asking if there was anything he could do to contribute to the IAP. He suggested, and volunteered to run, a "Steampunk PITH". I told him I'd get back with him. If you don't need him I'll find out more about the PITH he has in mind.
 
I'm a tad late getting back in the swing of things, sorry about that!

Since I'm filling in for Ed with the Kit RB/FP contest would it be OK do go ahead and use the rules he spent all that time in writing up? I've been reading through them and I like them. I'd just need to change out a few things like what email to submit entries to. Let me know I have the green light to do that and I'll make the changes and submit them for approval-proof reading
 
Mike and I are waiting until the end for the youth program I will let you decide on your contest. If you decide to hold them until the end take a slice out of the picture and post it as a teaser if you like.
 
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