posted
You're right. Sorry, mistress of puppets! Will's aggression is rubbing off on me.
We have 15! I've been keeping up pretty well with transferring them to html, so I should be able to open up for comments/voting pretty quickly on Monday morning.
[This message has been edited by mikemunsil (edited April 17, 2005).]
posted
I was wondering what I had done. I mean, Robyn Hood and I have similar sounds in our names but I didn't even participate in the first two Flash Challenges.
[This message has been edited by MaryRobinette (edited April 17, 2005).]
I just worry that if too many people verbaly abuse whoever has provided the detail for the challenge, those who follow might not provide anything challenging in fear of that abuse. So when there is a flash challenge...and it is a challenge, let's appreciate the person who came up with it.
posted
Update on the flash challenge, please pay careful attention:
I've posted the first few lines of each story into it's own topic. There is a link to the page where you'll find all of the stories. You will need a login and password -- which Mike will provide shortly. Until he does that, you will not be able to read the full stories. Please do not post in the topics asking for the login and password. I will delete them in a most vicious manner. The information will be posted shortly.
There is also a topic that I made that holds ALL of the intros -- which I suspect may eventually be turned into a VOTE! topic.
Please note that I have no idea who wrote which story. Your anonymity is perfectly safe. Also, regarding the "blurbs", please note that I chose roughly three sentences to post -- a few have four and a few have two. I tried to be considerate, but mainly I just arbitrarily chose a cutoff based what "looked" right.
Lastly, at the time of this writing, I'm aware of only 16 stories posted. If more came in overnight, I will update the boards once I learn of those new stories. So, if you don't see your story blurb up there yet, it will be soon. Have patience, please.
-HSO
[This message has been edited by HSO (edited April 18, 2005).]
posted
Voting closes Wednesday morning, however early I happen to get up and get to it. That means that you will have about 2 days to read/comment and vote.
For 5-10 flashes that isn't too bad. 17 flashes might be tough. We'll have to think about that if we continue to get this kind of response. I, personally, think the response will settle down after a bit, but if it doesn't we must find a way to accomodate everyone, without slighting anyone, and not making the reading/commenting/voting thing too big a hurdle. You see, the first thing that will suffer will be the commenting/critiquing, and yet that provides the most value to the flashers.
So, any ideas, anyone? I'm open to suggestion and now is the time to suggest, while LDS is working on the autmated system, and HSO and I are working on the administrative details. Once we have an automated system in place I will find it hard to ask LDS for more free work.
posted
WOW! I go home for the weekend and come back to a lynch mob. Hmmmm, maybe I should run home...
I know that was a little evil of me and I apologize if it was exceedingly so. But it is supposed to be a challenge and now I get to read 17...17!...stories. That is an amazing turnout.
Oh well, this week I'm back in the fray.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...
Ideas: Yes. Let voting and crits carry on until Thursday morning or afternoon, server space permitting, of course. Then, Thursday night, everything is deleted except for the Vote tallies -- a new Reveal Thyself topic is then created. Reveal stays up until Saturday morning, then it's wiped.
We could also ask author to stipulate if they want their story revealed when they submit, which would by my preference. Then I can bang out a fast topic on Thursday.
posted
There's an argument to be made for not posting critiques until after the voting is done. Clever hatrackers could figure out which was whose based on who hasn't critted what.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
They'd have to be a lot cleverer than me! Unless you can guess just off style, there's no way with 17 people you're going to figure out who is who. And on top of that, there are people who vote who don't write, or who haven't written this week and people who write but don't vote. Posts: 2710 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I suppose in that case it would be fine, but several registered members have the same SN there as they do here. Wouldn't it be pretty simple to relate the two?
But you're right. I suppose not everyone critiquing necessarily wrote. That makes sense.
posted
Other places where I've done flash, the author is encouraged to comment on their own stuff, precisely to avoid anyone figuring out who wrote what.
styles will become recognizable over time, sure. but if we keep getting this many people it will take a long time to be able to recognize everyone's style!
posted
The problem is the writing is done over the weekend when I have time and the reading part is done during the week when I really don't. Just something I need to keep in mind for the next time.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Just adding the link down here to make it easier:
Go to Liberty Hall and click Forums to get to the Flash Challenge forums, and click Flash to go to the stories. The username and password are presented in the forums.
quote:The problem is the writing is done over the weekend when I have time and the reading part is done during the week when I really don't. Just something I need to keep in mind for the next time.
We'll supply readers with stories ahead of time providing they pay us to do so.
Kidding.
You don't have to critique all of them, or even read each story fully. Read the ones that appeal to you, thus utilizing your time perhaps more wiser. You might consider using the topic where all of the intros are posted into one post to determine which stories grab your attention the most.
Alternatively, you can print the lot of stories and read them in every spare minute you get.
Lastly, you don't have to anything. Though we'd prefer you did.
posted
I suppose there is always the possibility of having the flash done in the few days leading up to the weekend, potentially allowing for more free-time to read.
But then, this could be an isolated problem with just me and I don't mean to stir up any muck
posted
I think a somewhat longer period to read and crit would be good. 17 stories is a lot to read through in 2 days. I think the crits are an important part of the process and shouldn't be skipped.
Luckily the stories are short! If these were full-on stories of 3k or more this would just be impossible to get through.
There's some good writing in there! Really interesting to see all the different takes on the topic.
Mike and I will discuss, but I can assure that while we are flexible, we won't be making special allowances for anyone in particular. Presently, the time allotted for the challenges is based on a lot of factors. Our original intent was one day, but that was increased to a whole weekend. The weekend was chosen because many people don't work on a weekend. Time other time limitations are more to do with server space... there isn't much. We have a lot of issues to deal with... please participate, but realize that some concessions can't be made -- at least not yet. The auto-system may change everything!
posted
Actually, requiring EVERY participant to register would solve a lot of these issues, as I would feel more free to leave stories up for longer, etc. I haven't wanted to do that because I have NOT wanted to be exclusive in any way. But...
Posts: 2710 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I'm not saying we need more time, nor do I. But why not have the writing (which by definition is done quickly) during the week and then the reading/critiquing during the weekend?
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I just finished reading and voting and that is almost all I can say. There were some utterly fantastic stories this week. Many would require only a bit of work to become viable submission pieces. I can't believe the depth that some of the stories had. And they were written in an hour or so -- WOW!!!
Okay, I guess I need to start going through my thesauraus to find a new exclaimation, but I'm really impressed.
And to think, you guys thought I was being evil...
posted
So, if some of these stories only require a bit of work and are mostly complete, does that mean they can only be published as re-writes? Or does the password protected forum take care of that issue?
posted
Don't worry. The stories are not up long enough, are not viewed enough, and are password protected to limit the number of views so they would not count as re-prints and you can still submit them for top dollar .
Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
Absolutely. To the best of my knowledge, by limiting access and by removing the stories after a short period, we have protected all your rights. Submit away. BTW, please also look at my submittals club post in the rants and raves forum on Liberty Hall.
Posts: 2710 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Good problem to have, though. Let's talk about how to make it easier on the readers. We can do that over at Liberty Hall as I don't want to abuse the privilege that Kathleen has granted us here.
posted
I can't believe I read them ALL! And commented (although I was running out of steam by the end), AND voted.
I also feel a bit as though I had just sat down and read a magazine cover to cover. If I didn't provide this flash challenge for any other reason, I would now provide it just for the reading. Some of you are really twisted! Some of you crack me up! Some of you touch my heart. All of you are brave to throw your efforts out into cyberspace for comments and votes.
I raise a glass to you all. Slainte!
[This message has been edited by mikemunsil (edited April 18, 2005).]
posted
To avoid the possibility of someone figuring out which flash was mine by my lack of a crit on it, I always post a fake crit of my own. Posts: 225 | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
First off, I am trying to figure out how to automate the process. Bear with me since I have to figure out quite a bit about the system being used. Not impossible, and I'm sure I will get it.
What am I hoping to do...in brief: Automate the whole flash process. Possible rating system for each flash story. Winner picked by best overall rating. Allow the authors to post replies to thier flash without a second login and not give away who they are. Instant reveal once voting is over (with an option to not have it happen)
Sadly, none of this can be done for guests, the system will require registration on the site.
I don't know about anyone else...but I can't imagine any of my flash stories going out the door without better endings. I would also go through and clean up the poor word choices and horrible mistakes I make while creating a flash. Although I love what comes out of me when I do them, I do believe they need some good overhauling. So I'm not worried about first publication being killed...after revision it won't be quite the same beast.
posted
those enhancements sound cool! I like the rating idea a lot.
of course flashes are going to get edited. i'd just rather not risk blowing rights unnecessarily. there's no good reason that i can see to display these flashes publicly.
and sometimes, you know, you get it right the first time.
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