The Official Authors' Hangout April Fool's 2021 Contest Support Thread

[BikiniBody]

Titties...

Wish I could figure out how to edit my profile here...

 

[NotWise]

Wish I could figure out how to edit my profile here...

For the story site, go to your user control panel. I log in at "https://literotica.com/members/login.php" and it takes me to my control panel. Select "Options" on the left side of the screen, and you can edit your profile.

For the forum select "User CP" at the top left of this screen. There's a series of links down the left side of the window that let you edit your forum profile. There are some things you can't change until after you've made a minimum number of posts.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I aint no freakin virgin

Hang around here long enough and I guarantee you’ll lose your virginity.

Good luck with your story.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Mine's up.

Cricket anyone? India’s 2nd innings

 

[lovecraft68]

Backs up what was said by a lot of people. Ideas are scarce for this comp.

Its really not hard, you just need somewhat of a trick ending or some misdirect.

But when other contests are so wide open, summer. winter, nude day, Halloween, even Valentines have endless possibilities

But you ask for something that requires just a little more thought and this is what you get.

Maybe the issue isn't the contest, its the lack of effort or imagination from the authors who can't be bothered trying to do something harder than "It was hot, it was cold..."

Obviously that comment doesn't apply to people here who did make the effort and enter, I'm talking in response to how few did try.

In response to the inevitable 'where's your story smartass'

I passed this year after entering the previous ..3? and placing in the last two. I limit myself to one contest a year these days and I'll do Nude Day this time around or maybe Halloween undecided as of yet.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Its really not hard, you just need somewhat of a trick ending or some misdirect.

But when other contests are so wide open, summer. winter, nude day, Halloween, even Valentines have endless possibilities

But you ask for something that requires just a little more thought and this is what you get.

Maybe the issue isn't the contest, its the lack of effort or imagination from the authors who can't be bothered trying to do something harder than "It was hot, it was cold..."

Obviously that comment doesn't apply to people here who did make the effort and enter, I'm talking in response to how few did try.

In response to the inevitable 'where's your story smartass'

I passed this year after entering the previous ..3? and placing in the last two. I limit myself to one contest a year these days and I'll do Nude Day this time around or maybe Halloween undecided as of yet.

You're right - it takes a bit of thinking but it's also not as clear cut as some of the others.

FYI, there's now about 50 entries.

 

[NotWise]

You're right - it takes a bit of thinking but it's also not as clear cut as some of the others.

FYI, there's now about 50 entries.

So far, the median score is 4.32, which is pretty low. The sweeps will probably change that. I went back and looked at the last few years. In 2018 there were 70 entries and the median score (currently) is 4.52. In 2019 it was 74 stories and the current median rating is 4.36. Last year it was 49 stories with a median of 4.56.

Maybe the number of contest entries will step up before the contest closes, but it's quite a ways behind 2018 and 2019.

 

[Ian_Snow]

I meant to bow out of Literotica submissions for a few months and got a wild hair just days after saying that I'd be taking a break. Hah. Good luck to everyone. Sorry to say I haven't caught up on the other stories yet, but hopefully soon.

 

[lovecraft68]

So far, the median score is 4.32, which is pretty low. The sweeps will probably change that. I went back and looked at the last few years. In 2018 there were 70 entries and the median score (currently) is 4.52. In 2019 it was 74 stories and the current median rating is 4.36. Last year it was 49 stories with a median of 4.56.

Maybe the number of contest entries will step up before the contest closes, but it's quite a ways behind 2018 and 2019.

Less stories, easier for the trolls to bomb all of them maybe.

This was the case with Earth Day, the last one before it swapped to April Fools I came in first, out of around 42 or so stories, and won with a 4.82 which is very low for a contest winner

 

[lovecraft68]

You're right - it takes a bit of thinking but it's also not as clear cut as some of the others.

FYI, there's now about 50 entries.

Glad to see there's more entries. I was thinking about digging up something I'd written a few years ago that could fit the theme and putting it up there just to boost the story total.

The other shame is when you look at it-at least when there was a lower total, most of the entries are from the same people who enter all the contests and with multiple entries, Keith, Ogg etc...if the contest regulars ever stop we'll have some sad totals down the line.

 

[SimonDoom]

So far, the median score is 4.32, which is pretty low. The sweeps will probably change that. I went back and looked at the last few years. In 2018 there were 70 entries and the median score (currently) is 4.52. In 2019 it was 74 stories and the current median rating is 4.36. Last year it was 49 stories with a median of 4.56.

Maybe the number of contest entries will step up before the contest closes, but it's quite a ways behind 2018 and 2019.

You can't compare the pre-closing mean score of the current contest with the mean score of past contests, because no sweeps have occurred, and sweeps will have a dramatic impact on the mean score of all stories.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Less stories, easier for the trolls to bomb all of them maybe.

Shhh... The trolls have been leaving me alone. So far...

 

[NotWise]

You can't compare the pre-closing mean score of the current contest with the mean score of past contests, because no sweeps have occurred, and sweeps will have a dramatic impact on the mean score of all stories.

I don't think the scores are very important right now, but for my purposes I'm comparing this contest scores to the pre-sweep results from all the contests over the last couple years, and I think it's surprisingly low. I'd expect the median to be closer to 4.5 before the final sweeps (minor sweeps are ongoing).

So far, for this contest a score of 4.5 is about the 25th percentile, so you might expect some big changes in the final sweeps.

 

[RejectReality]

The spirit of the theme just does nothing for me. I've had a few ideas here and there, but they either lose the theme by the trick being an instigating incident for something else, or they stick to the theme and I lose any interest in writing it.

Regardless of the qualifiers in the description, it's an April Fools contest. That means fooling someone should be the center of it. Nobody likes to be fooled, even if they're a good sport about it.

I feel the same way about this one as I do about Valentine's, Nude Day, and Earth Day before this one. The day itself and what it's about should be relevant when it's specified as the theme. There's no angle in the spirit of the traditions of the day that I find appealing — never mind erotic.

 

[Payne_Hall]

Weirdly, I found this one easier to write in some ways, maybe because it wasn’t as clear cut. Although, I also write longer stories, so this holiday was playful enough to add in other themes that might have been more difficult to pull off without the trickster balance, since this is a happy medium.

For instance, a certain character probably wouldn’t have bought his blind friend Viewmaster toys if I hadn’t been trying to write for this contest haha. I might not count, though. Longer stories often have a few themes in them, so that wasn’t purely the focus.

 

[KeithD]

The day itself and what it's about should be relevant when it's specified as the theme.

I think it's easier to come up with a creative idea for the "day" themed contests if you don't require this limitation on what you write. I don't.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't think the scores are very important right now, but for my purposes I'm comparing this contest scores to the pre-sweep results from all the contests over the last couple years, and I think it's surprisingly low. I'd expect the median to be closer to 4.5 before the final sweeps (minor sweeps are ongoing).

So far, for this contest a score of 4.5 is about the 25th percentile, so you might expect some big changes in the final sweeps.

I'm sorry, I didn't catch that from your previous comment. That IS interesting. I wonder if there's more gaming of scores now than before, or if there's more downvoting than before. Hard to know.

 

[RejectReality]

I think it's easier to come up with a creative idea for the "day" themed contests if you don't require this limitation on what you write. I don't.

Just the way I feel about it. *shrug* The seeds, if they congeal enough, end up outside the contests.

 

[RejectReality]

I'm sorry, I didn't catch that from your previous comment. That IS interesting. I wonder if there's more gaming of scores now than before, or if there's more downvoting than before. Hard to know.

Twists and surprises irk readers as often as they delight them. I wouldn't be surprised if that's dragging down the scores for this theme.

 

[KeithD]

Just the way I feel about it. *shrug* The seeds, if they congeal enough, end up outside the contests.

Fine, but you're self-imposing that. I've played in the contests for fifteen years without having trouble with the broader treatment. (Have no idea what your second sentence means.)

 

[RejectReality]

Fine, but you're self-imposing that. I've played in the contests for fifteen years without having trouble with the broader treatment. (Have no idea what your second sentence means.)

Just saying that any musing I do about contests that don't fit my personal criteria for being on theme aren't necessarily wasted. My Fey Folk series started from a couple of aborted Earth Day ideas exactly like that. The seeds of something I thought about for this contest turned into a micro elsewhere. If they don't fit the contest, and I like the story enough, it gets posted as a regular story outside the contest.

 

[NotWise]

I'm sorry, I didn't catch that from your previous comment. That IS interesting. I wonder if there's more gaming of scores now than before, or if there's more downvoting than before. Hard to know.

You couldn't have caught that from my earlier comment because I didn't say it. My bad. We'll see how things work out after the sweeps.

I don't know why the scores are low. I think contest scores are sometimes high because of contest readers (including other authors) who tend to vote high. Maybe this contest doesn't have many readers. So far it doesn't have many authors.

 

[lovecraft68]

Just the way I feel about it. *shrug* The seeds, if they congeal enough, end up outside the contests.

Well. who says you have to even be on theme? remember when someone entered a Halloween contest with an X-mas story that even had Santa in the title and Laurel let it through and it seemed to do fine, I don't recall one comment saying "Um...this isn't Halloween

That's part of the people tossing up any story to take advantage of extra contest attention.

But as far as you're not liking to stay in themes, if that's you, that's you and I don't see why anyone should care, except the perpetually argumentative.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Laurel’s been out with a feather duster...

 

[oggbashan]

My three entries?

One well below 4.xx; one just below 4.5; and one just above 4.5 but losing its Red H often.