I think the rules should be published no earlier than Jan 1st
This gives everyone enough time to prepare a pen(6 weeks or more) and debate the rules until Jan 15th. On the 1st of Febuary the offical set in stone rules can be posted in the first thread of the contest that they govern.
I would not expect anyone to start a pen until they know the rules. The final rules, not the first draft of the rules. One of the complaints I hear over and over again is that people want the rules, which to me means the final rules, posted in January.
On the more than 10 entries let them vote for no more than 5, I like 3 and take the top 5 for the runnoff. Iknow that you cant controll the polls other than 1 r as many as they want but if you choose a number to pick most all of them will follow that guideline. In the past 2 times I have tried this there are usually 3-5 heavily favored entries.
The reality of the situation is, as you state, we cannot "let" them vote for 3 or 5. They can vote for 1 or as many as they want. We might as well accept that fact and write the rules accordingly. So many times I see something posted such as, "I can't pick just one". By letting them vote for as many as they want I think that most will only vote for their 2 -4 favorites. Putting them on the honor system to vote only for a specific amount will not work IMHO. They will vote for what they want anyway so we should write the rules accordingly.
I made the polls a sticky in the Summer extravaganza and that worked really well for finding them.
We have a lot of work to do and when its done having to post all the entries and who did it is a lot of work that isnt neccesary. Posting the winners of the contest with the winning pen pictured and the prize should be enough. One year Landon had 51 entries in one contest and having to post every picture and entrant would be a real pain in the ass along with everything else.
I spoke with Ed Street as some length during last years bash and I finally told him that the Bash competitions should be considered entertainment more than cut throat competition. That the spirit of the competitions was to give the members a reason to make a pen and have fun and join in the party under the guise of competition.
Maybe we need to state this in some manor or other to defray some of the hostilities. We had, and have, members that are anally fixated on the technical aspects of the rules rather than the intent. A simple mission statement on the purpose of the games would seem in order.
I think the rules should be published no earlier than Jan 1st
This gives everyone enough time to prepare a pen(6 weeks or more) and debate the rules until Jan 15th. On the 1st of Febuary the offical set in stone rules can be posted in the first thread of the contest that they govern.
I would not expect anyone to start a pen until they know the rules. The final rules, not the first draft of the rules. One of the complaints I hear over and over again is that people want the rules, which to me means the final rules, posted in January.
I like the idea of posting the final rules starting in early January.... But not for all the contests, all at the same time. I would like to see them stretched out over the course of the month. .....So that the contests that start the first week in Feb, get rules posted the first week in Jan. Second week in Feb contests, rules posted second week in Jan and so on.
Four weeks should not only give the contestants adequate notice, but also help with the ability to schedule the contests more evenly in Feb. ......That would mean less stress on the the chairs that run multi contests (inevitably with polls all ending on the same day) and less stress on that prize guru who gets dumped on at the end of the month. (You are welcome Jeff!!:tongue
I think the rules should be published no earlier than Jan 1st
This gives everyone enough time to prepare a pen(6 weeks or more) and debate the rules until Jan 15th. On the 1st of Febuary the offical set in stone rules can be posted in the first thread of the contest that they govern.
I would not expect anyone to start a pen until they know the rules. The final rules, not the first draft of the rules. One of the complaints I hear over and over again is that people want the rules, which to me means the final rules, posted in January.
I like the idea of posting the final rules starting in early January.... But not for all the contests, all at the same time. I would like to see them stretched out over the course of the month. .....So that the contests that start the first week in Feb, get rules posted the first week in Jan. Second week in Feb contests, rules posted second week in Jan and so on.
Four weeks should not only give the contestants adequate notice, but also help with the ability to schedule the contests more evenly in Feb. ......That would mean less stress on the the chairs that run multi contests (inevitably with polls all ending on the same day) and less stress on that prize guru who gets dumped on at the end of the month. (You are welcome Jeff!!:tongue
Good idea.
As long as the decisions are stated clearly, and all bases are covered--I could NOT agree more!!!!
(Good luck accomplishing that, however. And YES, I will help as much as possible, I still find it unlikely we will cover every possibility)
If there is abetter way to accomplish running a simple contest without a bunch of outside noise and distractions, please, please, share.
Comments on Mikes Draft of Universal Bash Guidelines:
PICTURES: The forum limit for JPG files is 1mb (960 x 960 pixels). That may not sound like a lot more than the 800 x 600, but it does make a big difference in the amount of detail you can see. 960 x 960 is what was used in the summer extravaganza rules. It seemed to work ok.
I'm fine with whatever Jeff will allow.
VOTING: If every 10 entries in a contest equals an additional poll , this could get pretty unwieldy. A contest with 36 entries would have 3 qualifier polls and the final poll. That seems a bit much both in terms of the amount of work creating / administering the polls, as well as in retaining the communities interest in lookng at the same group of pens over and over. How about contests with 10 or less entries get one poll. Contests with more than 10 get one preliminary and then a final poll. For the preliminary poll, if the number of entries is 10 to 20 the preliminary poll will cut the field in half. If there are more then 20 entries, the preliminary poll will select the top 10 for final voting.
That would work, need more input from others.
I'm not sure what you mean by "8. Polls will be conducted within the contest threads". Don't polls have to be their own thread?
I worded that incorrectly. It should read within the contest forum. Last year, because of the Forum Runner issue we grouped all the polls into one separate forum. I'd like to avoid that this year. I'd rather have open polls rather than group them like last year. But that is just me and that is an issue for discussion farther down the line.
I agree that a final thread to display all entries and to display the finish order of those who want to be identified is a good idea. I don't think that people who don't want anyone to know where they finished in the contest should have that information displayed without their consent. There was a huge demand for me to publish the rankings in my contest last year, but some people did not want their information included.
I don't think that finishing position of all entries should be shown, I just think the entries should be shown and the makers identified.
CONTEST ENTRY: Last year it was really cumbersome getting the entries through the entry form. Part of this was probably because I didn't take on the contest in time to get direct access to the entry system. As a contest chair I would much rather get emails directly from the entrants. Rather than waiting for the entry system to do its thing.
RULE MODIFICATION: No matter how hard we work we are unlikely to achieve perfection. I would like to see the contest chairs have the authority to make modification / additions to their contest rules as needed. Submitting the rule modification / additions to the Activity Manager (Mike?) and / or Aministrator (Jeff?) would only be in cases where the chairperson was unable/unwilling to make the modification / addition or the members revolt against the modification / addition.
I would also suggest that only contest entrants are allowed to challenge contest specificrules. If someone has no intent to enter the contest then they should find a better use for their time. Failing to enter a contest after indicating an intent while challenging rules or complaining about the contest should be treated like non-performance for participation in community activities.
Just some thoughts....
Ed
Comments on Mikes Draft of Universal Bash Guidelines:
PICTURES: The forum limit for JPG files is 1mb (960 x 960 pixels). That may not sound like a lot more than the 800 x 600, but it does make a big difference in the amount of detail you can see. 960 x 960 is what was used in the summer extravaganza rules. It seemed to work ok.
I'm fine with whatever Jeff will allow.
Posting rules two months early defeats a bit of the building excitement that happens when we start posting in January...it also tends to allow the naysayers the opportunity to begin trashing the rules, contests, and events well in advance...
Best to just create rules, post them, and eschew the entire concept of having members discuss and critique them...if they don't see a contest they like and they want to then create their own contest with different rules, they are welcome to!
Too many regulations and over-complicating the posting of contest rules will just tend to make the Bash too 'formal' and less 'fun'...
Comments on Mikes Draft of Universal Bash Guidelines:
PICTURES: The forum limit for JPG files is 1mb (960 x 960 pixels). That may not sound like a lot more than the 800 x 600, but it does make a big difference in the amount of detail you can see. 960 x 960 is what was used in the summer extravaganza rules. It seemed to work ok.
I'm fine with whatever Jeff will allow.
PICTURES: - What do you guys think about using the magnifier?? Here is a link to a thread I saw recently -
http://www.penturners.org/forum/f45/polymer-clay-figures-125569/
Could be pretty cool?
I'm generally fine with the rules. I'd like to see a full 2 week comment period if possible.
Can someone enter a pen in one contest, then photograph that same pen and enter it in a photo contest?
Is the purpose of the photo contest to have people compete on their photo skills or on a combination of pen making and photo skills?
If the competition is just photo skills, then maybe we take the pen out of the equation by having people submit photos to the photo contest of pen blanks instead of pens.
If we want a competition of both pen making and photo skills, then I think we should stick with the "one contest per pen" and "not previously shown" rules. If someone wants to win the photo contest with their pen making skills, then maybe they should make a pen special for the contest.
Ed
I'm generally fine with the rules. I'd like to see a full 2 week comment period if possible.
Can someone enter a pen in one contest, then photograph that same pen and enter it in a photo contest?