A fun contest idea (that would never happen)

[lovecraft68]

Something I thought of today while I was asked for the tenth time to fill out a bracket for the March madness tournament even though I don;t know a damn thing about college basketball(or maybe that's why they keep asking, they just want my $20)

I think this would be a great idea for a contest: March Madness.

Now not the topic itself, but literally a group of 64 (or more as long as it was even) authors getting paired off against each other and high score wins. Then half the authors move on and etc.... down to a final four and of course eventual winner.

It could start off by matching similar authors against each other (as in authors known more for incest facing off so on.., until it gets lower then the site could pick the next category.

Alas I know its only a fantasy because first off the room for cheating would be huge and eventually we would get into the "This category gets a boatload more votes than this one" then the endless issues with the sweeps and how the hell do they really work and whatever.

Also I realize it has the potential for a lot of bad blood, as in bad winners and sore losers, but in theory it could be interesting.

Any thoughts?

[litfan10]

Interesting idea actually, but what about categories for early rounds and the authors remain anonymous. People would be voting on the merit of the work not the "popularity" of certain authors.

[lovecraft68]

Originally Posted by litfan10

Interesting idea actually, but what about categories for early rounds and the authors remain anonymous. People would be voting on the merit of the work not the "popularity" of certain authors.

That's a good idea. Its been suggested before in the form of a completely "blind" contest. I think it would really cut down not only on trolling, but cheerleader votes as well.

[sr71plt]

Originally Posted by litfan10

Interesting idea actually, but what about categories for early rounds and the authors remain anonymous. People would be voting on the merit of the work not the "popularity" of certain authors.

With the PM system here and the authors' propensity to cheat (the whole reason we have sweeps here), there would be no such thing as separating the authors from their work. And we'd still have a large proportion of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours," "I like you," and "I hate" you voting that had little or nothing to do with the quality of the stories themselves.

I just see here a need for being seen as better than others.

Blind submission and judging by judges not associated with Literotica would come up with interesting results, I think.

[lovecraft68]

Originally Posted by sr71plt

With the PM system here and the authors' propensity to cheat (the whole reason we have sweeps here), there would be no such thing as separating the authors from their work. And we'd still have a large proportion of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours," "I like you," and "I hate" you voting that had little or nothing to do with the quality of the stories themselves.

I just see here a need for being seen as better than others.

Blind submission and judging by judges not associated with Literotica would come up with interesting results, I think.

That's pretty interesting. Then the issue becomes, well where did said judges come from, who picked them, maybe so and so knew them, etc....

As has been discussed before a 100% "fair" contest is pretty difficult.

As to the first part of your post. That might go on between a few authors, but author votes allegedly do not count and there are not many authors, and I doubt people here keep that much in touch with their readers.

Another rule could be you are not allowed to advertise your story in the new story thread or on your home page.

But I guess it wouldn't stop people who have compiled e-mail lists, which some authors do.

[sr71plt]

Originally Posted by lovecraft68

That's pretty interesting. Then the issue becomes, well where did said judges come from, who picked them, maybe so and so knew them, etc....

No problem. Laurel from erotica e-publishers who don't come looking on the forums, perhaps in exchange for a bit of free advertising after the contest is over.

[lovecraft68]

Originally Posted by sr71plt

No problem. Laurel from erotica e-publishers who don't come looking on the forums, perhaps in exchange for a bit of free advertising after the contest is over.

Sounds reasonable. Pipe dream, but a reasonable one..