Story Contest Round 20: Runoffs

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Thanks for the beer Vovan Im not mad at Scratch, I just think its a shame he has to ***** at us when he does not win the contest.

I knew he would fail to have the courage of his convictions by editing his post, as he so often does. I guess I did sound angry but I was feeling dissapointed not angry when I posted earlier.

Scratch basically accused us of voting for each other like some clique, regardless of the quality of the stories in the contest. I think its sad that he resorts to saying such things especially when many of us so often give him a great deal of support and encouragement.

[DarkCloud]

Frankly if youre so insecure about this you should not enter again!

actually, he's asked to not be included in the contest before, and I've removed the stories that he does not wish to have included.

[Paddy]

Well I feel it would be a shame to not have Scratch in the comps.

Yet in all competitions there needs to be a winner

And to come 2nd against Vovan is a compliment, not an attack.

As I have said, I have enjoyed both pieces, and so to have others here at work.

It is a shame that the turnout was so low, maybe we really need to group together and get out amongst the threads for the next rounds.

In fact I have a few ideas on this matter.

Would it be best to start a discussion thread on this, or shall I post these ideas here? In some ways I would like to start a new thread that we can thrash this whole publicity business out

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Where are you Paddy ? I see youre online but your messenger is off, are you working ?

[unscratchedfoot]

.

[SKILORD]

Scratch, don't bring me into it. I was (to be honest) considering posting something lighthearted along that line, (If Stains lost, then there's no chance I'm ever gonna win). But, to be perfectly honest, I don't really care if I win or not. I can't imagine why you do. A discount at the 'poly store? Prestige? No offense guys, but I'm not gonna be putting it on my resume.

So cool it Scratch, you beat me and sure, you lost to vovan, but I sincerely doubt that it's a conspiracy and if it was then I would rather simply try in vain to beat the system for the rest of my career here than complain about it incessantly and hope that maybe the Petty Conspiracy Police bust 'em.

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As for voter turnout, I think that that (in contrast to the previous issue) is a valid problem that we should probably start a thread to deal with.

[vovan]

Grrr.... Typed up a long nice post, and then accidentally hit some key combination, and it all disappeared. Now I am pissed, too. Okay, the original post went something like this:

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Wow, lots of bitterness there.

I read through your posts, guys, and it seems to me almost as if your only purpose in posting stories to this forum is to win the contest. If that is the case, I would suggest to terminate it altogether. Seriously, producing bitter loosers and gloating winners is against the spirit of the contest. Back in the "Story of the Week Contest" days, there were so many stories around, and so many occasional visitors to the forum, that basically a lot of people read stories, but never bothered to comment. Look even at my very first story here. It's in the sig. Up untill the big bump period, only *two* people even bothered to comment. And yet the view count shows that it was read a lot, despite being quite weak a story. Hence, the story contest back then was about giving the quick visitors an easy and fast way to express their opinion. They open thread, click one button, and voila, they've just praised the author without ever having to type in a word of comments, the lazy bastards.

The whole 'poly store discount stuff came in much later - when the number of stories hit a low, and was not even enough to fill in a contest every month, not to speak of every week. It was suposedly a way to encourage people to write. IMO, it failed miserably, and only maybe succeeded in turning the previously friendly competition into this. A lot of whining about why one person won and another didn't. If this continues, I would suggest killing the competition altogether, and going back to what this forum is supposed to be all about: posting stories for the fun of, for the enjoyment of writing - instead of the solitary purpose of winning the competition. That would be better for all, and spare us discussions like this.

[vovan]

Oh yeah, I also commented on one more thing originally. The voter turnout. That's another good reason, I think, to terminate the contest. From how many people came, I think that it is only the authors and maybe a couple random people that saw the news item, and never really read the stories that voted. I mean, I can totally see this happen. Someone I know from Other Games, for instance, (or more importantly, who knows me) comes in here, sees the poll of my story against some guy he's never heard of, and votes for me just because. Such a win is nothing to be proud of, and is another good reason to terminate the contest at least for some time. It serves no good reason, I think, at this point, because, again, people who read the stories, but don't bother to comment, it seems, don't bother to vote either nowadays.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

I tend to agree with you Vovan, I see no real importance to winning the contest.

Im sorry Scratch wishes to sink deeper with me over this. I was merely telling him off for suggesting we had some kind of conspiracy thats all. I aint biting Scratch, if you want to kick off one of your controversial flaming threads you will need someone else to get it on with!!!

Scratch you are a liar my friend, you did not just try to guess who voted for who, you blatantly accused several of us by name! of always voting for each other no matter what, my name was there as was Vovans, and a few others.

You then edited that out as you so often do so no one can see what all the fuss is about. Why are you so mad at me ? all I did was point out to you your wrong doing!!

The thing that most surprises me though is that you have chosen to attack me, one of the few people here who has always come to your side when you have stirred up a hornets nest in the past.

IMHO and for what its worth Scratch, its better to be upfront and honest with people, say what you mean and not delete it all sneakily later to try and make someone else look foolish!!! Its not the first time you have played these sort of games with people here on the forums, though I am surprised that you chose to do the same with me. I challenged you to leave your post as it was typed but you failed to do that, is that because you like to make mischief or because you lack the backbone required to stand by your own words ????

Whatever reasons people had to vote for my two stories in the two contests they have been entered into, is out of my control! I certainly did not have to make any posts to encourage anyone to do so. As far as Im aware people did so because they liked them and I thought that was the whole point of the contest ie for people to vote for the story they liked the most.

As far as I know there is no rule any where that states the Author with the most work posted here on poly is the one who you should vote for, but that seems to be what you are trying to suggest, is it ? If it is Scratch then you have completely failed to understand what the concept of the contest is for, and for that matter what the spirit of this forum is also!!!!

Yes you Scratch are to my mind one of the best and most prolific writers here, I always enjoy your work and I might add I always tell you so with the feedback I give to you, in addition to that I have voted for your work in the contests whenever they have been entered.

Scratch you blatantly accused me Vovan and a few others here of always voting for each others stories no matter what, well Ill tell you one more time that is just not TRUE!!! also it is not fair that you should bandy about such false accusations, and it is a dirty trick for you to post a contentious statement then sneakily delete it when someone, me in this case responds to your petty minded drivvle!!!

If you wish to lose a friend in me then so be it, but you owe me a public apology for firstly suggesting that I have any sort of hidden agenda when making contest votes and secondly for your usual tactic here of deleting your own words and then trying to make it seem as though Ive reacted over nothing!!! Its your call Scratch, you can own up to your mischief here like a man and Ill let it go or Ill not bother ever again with you or your stories, and whether you care about that or not I dont know, but I do know Ive always been one of your biggest supporters here!!!

Its your call Scratch, Im not prepared to be messed about by you!!

[Paddy]

so we have a split here on whether we continue with the contests or get some discussion going on how to promote the contests... (which thus promotes the forum)))

[vovan]

Well, you got a point, Paddy. The contest may be promoting the forum, in which case it would be a good thing.

[SKILORD]

Yeah, I have to sie with Paddy here, I think that the Stories contest is, if nothing else and for all of her faults, an excellent way to be noticed by people who would otherwise know and care little about the forum.

I think that that's the one thing that keeps me from siding with vovan's arguments against it being here, I like to have an extra link somewhere to a story of mine so that maybe someone will read it and comment on it. This is why I think that we need the contest, not as an ends, but as a means. I don't need the contest to prove that I'm good -I know that for myself- I would, however support it's continuation as a sort of advertisement for my stories and the stories of others.

Let's go ahead and start a thread about voters, let's go that way.

[vovan]

Originally posted by SKILORD
This is why I think that we need the contest, not as an ends, but as a means.

I don't need the contest to prove that I'm good -I know that for myself-

Let's go ahead and start a thread about voters, let's go that way.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Agreed

[DarkCloud]

I tend to agree with you Vovan, I see no real importance to winning the contest.

Actually you win a 10% discount at the apolyton store if you win the contest. No one has seemed that interested in it however and it certainly didn't do this:

IMO, it failed miserably, and only maybe succeeded in turning the previously friendly competition into this. A lot of whining about why one person won and another didn't

No one has ever cashed in their discount (as far as I know)

So I sincerely doubt that desire for a discounted t-shirt has ever led to any animosity.

As far as I know, I'm probably the only person here who has specifically attempted to win first place so that I can get a discount anyways

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Yeah, I have to sie with Paddy here, I think that the Stories contest is, if nothing else and for all of her faults, an excellent way to be noticed by people who would otherwise know and care little about the forum.

That's the whole point of the contest!