2003 Survivor Discussion Thread

[Chicklet]

Yeah! 2003 is here and so is the Survivor Contest!

Let the discussion begin!

 

[Chicklet]

Audio Stories As Originals & "E's"

I was looking through the first survivor rules, and I found that they had accepted Audio stories that had been previously written and not original.

I don't even know if we had that this year; I just wrote one for the purpose of reading aloud.

Shall we do originals or original reads? And we would cap it the same way we did NonEnglish, no matter how we choose to cap or not cap that.

Secondly, in the first contest author's were given bonus points for "E's" - what do you guys think of that? Want to get a 2 pt bonus if you write a nifty story with a green "E" next to it?

Chicklet

 

[Guest]

Re: First Topic; Non-English points.

Okay, last year we found that most (not all) contestants had other people translate stories. I think that we should consider capping the max points in this category, like we do with poetry (maximum 8 pts)

Here is my argument; The stories aren't original, just translated. The author doesn't HAVE to do their own translation, so isn't doing more work than someone else. It might give an unfair advantage to someone who speaks more than one language fluently.

I'm not saying I *AM* going to change this rule, but I just wanted to put the idea out there.

Chicklet

I agree with you. Sure, we could say that each author has to translate the story themselves, but let's face it, can we really put that much trust here? (I'm not outrightly accusing anyone of being dishonest, but who's to know?)

I don't see reducing the points to 8 for Non Engligh stories as being "bad". As you said, the stories are not new. They are current stories that are being translated. If you have a friend (or even a program online/on your computer) it's not hard to do this.

 

[Guest]

Secondly, in the first contest author's were given bonus points for "E's" - what do you guys think of that? Want to get a 2 pt bonus if you write a nifty story with a green "E" next to it?

If an editor feels a story is that good maybe the author should get a little extra praise for it? What about the "H"ot stories as well? Or should this only work for the "E" ones? (And, on a slightly different note, who are the editors who make these decisions???!? Surely not the "Volunteer Editors" who never respond to their mail?)

 

[Chicklet]

I didn't like having the scoreboard where everyone could see it. I think that newcomers to the contest saw the huge numbers others had piled up and were turned off of entering because they didn't think there was any way to compete with that.

I agree.

Also, it adds more excitement! WM_Sexspear had an advantage, coming in so late in the contest, because when he put that list up with all of those stories already written it scared the bejeezus out of some of us! (me)

I was already thinking that it would be a good strategy not to show your score until late in the contest.

And yes, I think that it *did* intimidate a lot of people.

---

So what shall we do if we aren't going to show our scores? I'll post the scoring sheet and info on a thread, but ask nobody to post until December. (I'd say a specific date but then someone might not be able to get to their computer and be disqualified.)

I think we should keep track of our immunities, though. Shall we all make a post on the scoring thread like we did this year, and only add immunities to it until December?

Chicklet

 

[Chicklet]

If an editor feels a story is that good maybe the author should get a little extra praise for it? What about the "H"ot stories as well? Or should this only work for the "E" ones? (And, on a slightly different note, who are the editors who make these decisions???!? Surely not the "Volunteer Editors" who never respond to their mail?)

I would say "bonus for the H" but the H usually goes away. My boyfriend suggested we get an extra point for stories that are over 4.0 but since scores waver so much it would be difficult to keep things straight.

Doesn't Laurel put the "E" on a story she particularly likes? I'm not 100% sure...not even 75% = )

Chicklet

 

[KillerMuffin]

On the "E" thing. Laurel gives the E's. She wasn't really comfortable with the notion of her opinions carrying more weight with this contest than they ought to. She expressed dislike of this in the first contest.

The "H"s are too transient. How would you award points for something that's here today and gone tomorrow? Not to mention an evil participant can sabatoge H scores easily enough.

 

[Chicklet]

On the "E" thing. Laurel gives the E's. She wasn't really comfortable with the notion of her opinions carrying more weight with this contest than they ought to. She expressed dislike of this in the first contest.

ok so forget that then

 

[BlackSnake]

I'm looking forward to joining the contest this year. I just hope the stories I come up with are worthy.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

I definitely want to join this year, but I'm really confused about how the contest works, how points are awarded and how I get immunities.

As for foreign lang stories, can I translate one of my own stories that I wrote in 2002 for a 2003 non-english submission?

sorry, very very confused

Dn

 

[Chicklet]

Some explainations

DN, don't worry about Non English yet since we haven't decided on those rules.

Immunities:

I liked the way the immunities worked last year, so let's keep them like that. Every week contestants choose a number (KM set it up so that if you wanted to keep the same number every week it was easy to do) and we wait for a Lottery Drawing in the UK on Wed. (there were links to the lotto on the immunity threads, which was very, very useful.) If your number is drawn in the lotto, you win an immunity!

Scoring:

The goal of the contest is to get one story in each category, but if you do that you won't instantly win. There are 33 categories including poetry. For your first submission into a category (for instance, for me it would have been End Game for Anal) you get 3 points. Each additional story submitted to that category gets you an additional point. Just one.

First story posted in a given category: 3 points
Each successive story posted in a given category: 1 point
There is no limit for additional stories eligible to receive points.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

Re: Some explainations

Gotcha!

Thanks chicklet

Quick question...if we don't have internet access, does the website in the uk have an archive or will it also be posted every week?

And how does the immunity work? If I win one...say I want to use it for anal. I get the three points for anal? or only one? And do I have to decide right away or can I wait until december to decide where I want to use them?

 

[Chicklet]

DN,

Last year the rule was that if you didn't claim your immunity right away (I don't remember the exact time frame) then you lost it = (

I know you're losing your computer for a while...Seriously though there are going to be so many drawings that it probably won't be important. If you want to make sure you get the immunity, maybe you could have a friend check and claim for you on your account?

The points for Immunities aren't as good as those for regular stories. Instead of getting 3 pts, you only get 2. If you write another story for that category later then it would be an additional 1 pt, which makes 3...basically when that happened to me I just deleted the immunity and wrote it in as normal.

Chicklet

 

[Guest]

I think we should keep track of our immunities, though. Shall we all make a post on the scoring thread like we did this year, and only add immunities to it until December?

I'd say this is a good idea. Having a blank "format" for the scoring will be a helpful remind to those of us who are new in the contest. And, I think it's a good idea to not post our points until the first of Dec.

 

[Chicklet]

I'd say this is a good idea. Having a blank "format" for the scoring will be a helpful remind to those of us who are new in the contest. And, I think it's a good idea to not post our points until the first of Dec.

glad to have another opinion = )

it sounds good enough to put into action = ) As soon as we decide on the rules for Non-English (and whatever they are I think it should be the same for audio - either original or capped) then we'll get the scoreboard up.

With the hopes that the scoreboard will be up AT LEAST by the weekend, I think I'm going to start immunities asap. The first one will be Wed. I'll post a link to the thread in a moment.

Chicklet

 

[Guest]

Re: Some explainations

Scoring:

...Each additional story submitted to that category gets you an additional point...

One question... Do the stories have to be part of a "series" in the same category or can they be unrelated?

 

[Chicklet]

Immunities

post your number here: 1-08-03 Immunities

 

[Chicklet]

Re: Re: Some explainations

One question... Do the stories have to be part of a "series" in the same category or can they be unrelated?

they can be unrelated or a series, whichever you want, as long as they're in that category = )

 

[deliciously_naughty]

Quick question again...if I submitted a story before 12/31, but it wasn't posted until after 1/1...what year does it count for?

And what are the categories exactly? Do each of the holiday contests count as a category or if you enter them does it still count as a category (ie incest, whatever)

edited to add...and good news, looks like I won't be without internet at all, but I will be without cable modem..sigh--i hate dial up

 

[DarlingNikki]

Hi - I am all new and confused, but I want to be in the contest... can anyone be in it? What do I have to do to enter? Can I choose an immunity number before I am officially entered?

 

[Guest]

Hi - I am all new and confused, but I want to be in the contest... can anyone be in it? What do I have to do to enter? Can I choose an immunity number before I am officially entered?

First of all, welcome to Lit. Second, being new to the Survivor contest this year I know that, yes, anyone can join it. You've basically already "entered" by posting your interest here. Jump on the other thread and choose a number if you'd like so you have it, write, and have fun.

 

[DarlingNikki]

Thank you! This is so exciting, even for someone who knows she isn't going to win! Wooo!

 

[deliciously_naughty]

Thank you! This is so exciting, even for someone who knows she isn't going to win! Wooo!

LOL..you never know Nikki

I'm just excited to have this motivation

 

[RisiaSkye]

Hey, all.
Well, I'm in, for the third year--even though I'm all but assured of not placing. I like having something to give a little sense of urgency. I'm a lazy bastard.

About the non-English thing:
It's always bugged me that one gets points for work they haven't done. For that reason, I think only the person who actually performs the translation should receive points. Ideally, to my mind, one could receive points for translating one's own story or stories so long as they haven't already gotten points for that work in this year's contest.

By way of example--one could translate one's own story posted last year into another language, taking care of the Non-English category but not taking points for it elsewhere. Or Chicklet could write a brand-new story and have Blessed Be translate it, but only BB would get points for it. Chicklet could still get points for it in its original category, but not in Non-E.

But two people in the contest could not both rack up huge points by translating each other's stories that are already posted to other categories and receiving points for them in multiple categories simultaneously.

It's not perfect, but it seems closer to giving equal credit for equal work to me.

About the score-board:
I think the biggest problem is that there's no way to start it early in the year without giving someone the option of joining at Thanksgiving with all the categories already filled. On the other hand, who cares? If people don't like knowing what they're up against, why enter a public contest? That seems silly to me.

On this one, I'm with Svenska--grow some balls already. Come on, lose with pride, like I do every year. It's not as hard as you'd think.

Immunities:
I think everyone ought to have to use it that week, or it goes away. Also, I don't think one should be able to erase it later. That goes against the whole point of lowering what they're worth. If you don't want to take a 2 in a category, then don't use your immunities. But it's chickenshit to put it up and then take it down later. It smacks of manipulation to me...nothing personal, Chicklet.

That's about it from my end. Have a good year, everyone.

RS

 

[DarlingNikki]

I would also like to see the scoreboard up all year. I think it's way more exciting to know where you stand, not to mention that it gives you a reason to really work. If someone is pulling way ahead and you don't know about it, you're not going to win anyway, but if someone pulls way ahead and you DO know about it, you can work that much harder to catch up.

And for those of us who are not going to win anyway - deliciously_naughty's encouragement notwithstanding - it would be exciting to watch the "real" race. (speaking only for myself here, of course)

...argh. For some reason I can't get the quote thing to work. I wanted to quote RisiaSkye's idea regarding the non-English stories... I like it. Maybe if that is the rule, and there was a cap on the number of stories you could have translated by each person? So two people couldn't just go translating stories back and forth... I don't know... that one's hard.