Winter Holiday Support Thread

[davidwatts]

I just can't imagine not voting for someone at all if their story's not 5-bomb material.

That's where actually being in the contest affects me. Is there something in the back of my mind that isn't as noble as I claim to be that would cloud my voting judgement? Anything less than a 5 would drag another writer down which would help me.

By voting 5 or not voting at all my conscience is clean even if my mind is in the gutter

 

[sophia jane]

That's where actually being in the contest affects me. Is there something in the back of my mind that isn't as noble as I claim to be that would cloud my voting judgement? Anything less than a 5 would drag another writer down which would help me.

By voting 5 or not voting at all my conscience is clean even if my mind is in the gutter

Exactly! There's this little part of my mind that questions whether I'm being fair and impartial if I give less than a 5 to a story I'm up against. And I agree with David, too, in that if I vote a 5 on a story it means I don't mind losing to it because it's a good story.

It's hard, too, because in the case of the other entrants leaving feedback and low votes on my story, I would love to return the "favor" but I won't because it's not a fair way of voting. I can't give a low score just because someone did the same to me.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

If someone typically gives only five's when they vote on contest entries, how do they recognize the exceptionally well-done story?

As for what to say in a PC, well, why did you vote it a four or five? I never give one's or two's. For the VERY infrequent three's, I thank them for the read and wish them luck in the contest.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[neonlyte]

Bugger this contest, I'm still in a fight over Halloween. Since that competion closed my entry gained 4 and lost 8 votes. Yesterday it was top of the Non-Erotic catagory, today it is not even in the top 250. Laurel keeps 'correcting' the votes but if this continues I'll have more PC's than votes recorded for the story.

As regard this comp, I'm seriously considering switching off voting, I've not been trolled in any serious way, the story stands at 4.71 with 79 votes but I'm seriously concerned over a request I've received by e-mail to vote 5 for a story or not vote at all. That request calls into questions my impartiality. I'm not sure I like it.

 

[Aurora Black]

If someone typically gives only five's when they vote on contest entries, how do they recognize the exceptionally well-done story?

As for what to say in a PC, well, why did you vote it a four or five? I never give one's or two's. For the VERY infrequent three's, I thank them for the read and wish them luck in the contest.

Rumple Foreskin

I've never gone below a three, and that instance was extremely rare and was never for another AHer. When I write PCs, I'm honest about my reaction to what I've read. I don't sugarcoat, that's not my style. If I have a problem with something I've read (like a plot flaw), I mention it as tactfully as possible. And if I come across a story that I definitely have a problem with and offends me, I skip it altogether. Thankfully, that hasn't happened very often.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Bugger this contest, I'm still in a fight over Halloween. Since that competion closed my entry gained 4 and lost 8 votes. Yesterday it was top of the Non-Erotic catagory, today it is not even in the top 250. Laurel keeps 'correcting' the votes but if this continues I'll have more PC's than votes recorded for the story.

As regard this comp, I'm seriously considering switching off voting, I've not been trolled in any serious way, the story stands at 4.71 with 79 votes but I'm seriously concerned over a request I've received by e-mail to vote 5 for a story or not vote at all. That request calls into questions my impartiality. I'm not sure I like it.

Neon,

If you turn off the voting on your story, I believe it automatically makes you ineligible for any prizes.

With the amount of money involved in this contest, I'd have been VERY surprised if there wasn't a certain amount of campaigning and vote-swapping. IMHO, that's human nature, and the general poverty of most writers.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[sophia jane]

Neon,

If you turn off the voting on your story, I believe it automatically makes you ineligible for any prizes.

With the amount of money involved in this contest, I'd have been VERY surprised if there wasn't a certain amount of campaigning and vote-swapping. IMHO, that's human nature, and the general poverty of most writers.

Rumple Foreskin

That's true Rumple (about vote swapping). I'm very very proud of myself that I haven't campaigned beyond my sigline. I have alot of friends off lit who could easily vote for my story, and I resisted the urge to tell any of them about the contest. I don't want to win and know that I've cheated. Besides, there are stories that deserve to win alot more than mine- only hoping it's those who win and not someone who cheats.

 

[impressive]

Besides, there are stories that deserve to win alot more than mine- only hoping it's those who win and not someone who cheats.

When it comes to a pot this big, I really hope someone wins who NEEDS the money.

Yeah, yeah -- I know the quality of the writing should be the determining factor -- but I can't help my nature.

 

[sophia jane]

When it comes to a pot this big, I really hope someone wins who NEEDS the money.

Yeah, yeah -- I know the quality of the writing should be the determining factor -- but I can't help my nature.

I can't think that way. Cuz I need the money. I toyed with writing a second story about a woman who had lost her home in a hurricane and was going to be alone for Christmas, etc etc, but then I thought that it wasn't right to manipulate people like that for votes.
I agree, tho, that it would be nice if it were a good story and a good person who wins. Cuz that's alot of cash.

 

[neonlyte]

Neon,

If you turn off the voting on your story, I believe it automatically makes you ineligible for any prizes.

With the amount of money involved in this contest, I'd have been VERY surprised if there wasn't a certain amount of campaigning and vote-swapping. IMHO, that's human nature, and the general poverty of most writers.

Rumple Foreskin

I know - to be honest I've had my prize through mat's PC. I'd rather receive comments than votes, and, like Imp's, hope someone who needs the money wins the prize, on merit.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

When it comes to a pot this big, I really hope someone wins who NEEDS the money.

Yeah, yeah -- I know the quality of the writing should be the determining factor -- but I can't help my nature.

Reality check: Who couldn't use an extra $700? But . . . this is hardly a life-changing amount of money. If any AHer is so desperate that this really IS a seriously life changing amount of money, PM me and maybe I will make a donation (NOT $700!). I'm certainly not rich, just smack dab in the middle of the middle class, but I believe that charity begins at home, and - 'tis the season.
R.A.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

hope someone who needs the money wins the prize, on merit.

I wonder how many more people entered this time because of the increased prize money? It's only my second contest, the first I entered on a whim, this one I entered because I got hooked on the challenge of writing for theme... lol But I don't know enough about these contests to know if this is a lot of entries... it seems on par with Halloween, but I heard others saying that Halloween was record numbers of entries...

as for the winner being "deserving"... I don' t know if need makes a difference... I mean, should we campaign for votes because we need the money? Hell, I could tell ya the horror story of my last 2 years, and just in the past 6 months, my husband getting some bizarre flesh-eating bacteria from an abscessed tooth (stranger than fiction, eh?) and our $45,000 in uncovered medical bills... but that shouldn't make me a more likely candidate to win, kwim? This isn't a charity... it's a contest... the winning story should be a standout... IMHO... and I get really annoyed when the standouts end up trolled... GRRR (and for the record, I'm not talking about any of my stories! lol)

but I understand the inclination... I think we'd all like to see it tie up in a neat little christmas package, like most of these stories end Life imitating art...

 

[Aurora Black]

I can't think that way. Cuz I need the money. I toyed with writing a second story about a woman who had lost her home in a hurricane and was going to be alone for Christmas, etc etc, but then I thought that it wasn't right to manipulate people like that for votes.
I agree, tho, that it would be nice if it were a good story and a good person who wins. Cuz that's alot of cash.

Somebody already has that plot for the contest. I read it yesterday.

I need the money as well, to help pay my bills that are piling up for my music studies. Recently I was pushed up a year (from 3rd to 4th at a four-year school) and the tuition gets higher with each level. I'm drowning in debt, there's no food in the house, my singing gigs pay only chump change, and I'm too ashamed to beg my parents to send me more money again.

Anyway, I'm not saying all this to post a sob story. I'm just saying that $700 is always welcome in someone's wallet. It's very rare to find someone other than a celebrity that would turn down that kind of money. Whoever wins, I hope that they honestly deserve it.

 

[sophia jane]

Reality check: Who couldn't use an extra $700? But . . . this is hardly a life-changing amount of money. If any AHer is so desperate that this really IS a seriously life changing amount of money, PM me and maybe I will make a donation (NOT $700!). I'm certainly not rich, just smack dab in the middle of the middle class, but I believe that charity begins at home, and - 'tis the season.
R.A.

I'm very conflicted on how to respond to this. On one hand, it's very generous of you to want to help others.
Otoh, for some of us $700 is more than just a little extra money. But that doesn't make us desperate and it doesn't make us charity cases. It just makes us poor. (or to be pc- financially challenged )

 

[sophia jane]

Somebody already has that plot for the contest. I read it yesterday.

I need the money as well, to help pay my bills that are piling up for my music studies. Recently I was pushed up a year (from 3rd to 4th at a four-year school) and the tuition gets higher with each level. I'm drowning in debt, there's no food in the house, my singing gigs pay only chump change, and I'm too ashamed to beg my parents to send me more money again.

Anyway, I'm not saying all this to post a sob story. I'm just saying that $700 is always welcome in someone's wallet. It's very rare to find someone other than a celebrity that would turn down that kind of money. Whoever wins, I hope that they honestly deserve it.

I'm right with you, Aurora. And now I'm curious about that story. I would have written it because it was almost true for me- wondering how it was done. Do you remember the name of it? (so my lazy self doesn't have to wade through 100 stories to find it)

 

[Aurora Black]

I'm right with you, Aurora. And now I'm curious about that story. I would have written it because it was almost true for me- wondering how it was done. Do you remember the name of it? (so my lazy self doesn't have to wade through 100 stories to find it)

Here it is. http://english.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=231487

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

BUSTED
written by: Harlan Howard
sung by: RAY CHARELS

My bills are all due and the baby needs shoes and I'm busted
Cotton is down to a quarter a pound, but I'm busted
I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay
A big stack of bills that gets bigger each day
The county's gonna haul my belongings away cause I'm busted.

I went to my brother to ask for a loan cause I was busted
I hate to beg like a dog without his bone, but I'm busted
My brother said there ain't a thing I can do,
My wife and my kids are all down with the flu,
And I was just thinking about calling on you 'cause I'm busted.

Well, I am no thief, but a man can go wrong when he's busted
The food that we canned last summer is gone and I'm busted
The fields are all bare and the cotton won't grow,
Me and my family got to pack up and go,
But I'll make a living, just where I don't know cause I'm busted.

I'm broke, no bread, I mean like nothing,

--

Sounds like the perfect contest winner to me.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Guest]

BUSTED
written by: Harlan Howard
sung by: RAY CHARELS

My bills are all due and the baby needs shoes and I'm busted
Cotton is down to a quarter a pound, but I'm busted
I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay
A big stack of bills that gets bigger each day
The county's gonna haul my belongings away cause I'm busted.

I went to my brother to ask for a loan cause I was busted
I hate to beg like a dog without his bone, but I'm busted
My brother said there ain't a thing I can do,
My wife and my kids are all down with the flu,
And I was just thinking about calling on you 'cause I'm busted.

Well, I am no thief, but a man can go wrong when he's busted
The food that we canned last summer is gone and I'm busted
The fields are all bare and the cotton won't grow,
Me and my family got to pack up and go,
But I'll make a living, just where I don't know cause I'm busted.

I'm broke, no bread, I mean like nothing,

--

Sounds like the perfect contest winner to me.

Rumple Foreskin

You got my vote...

 

[sophia jane]

Here it is. http://english.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=231487

Thanks.

 

[Aurora Black]

BUSTED
written by: Harlan Howard
sung by: RAY CHARELS

My bills are all due and the baby needs shoes and I'm busted
Cotton is down to a quarter a pound, but I'm busted
I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay
A big stack of bills that gets bigger each day
The county's gonna haul my belongings away cause I'm busted.

I went to my brother to ask for a loan cause I was busted
I hate to beg like a dog without his bone, but I'm busted
My brother said there ain't a thing I can do,
My wife and my kids are all down with the flu,
And I was just thinking about calling on you 'cause I'm busted.

Well, I am no thief, but a man can go wrong when he's busted
The food that we canned last summer is gone and I'm busted
The fields are all bare and the cotton won't grow,
Me and my family got to pack up and go,
But I'll make a living, just where I don't know cause I'm busted.

I'm broke, no bread, I mean like nothing,

--

Sounds like the perfect contest winner to me.

Rumple Foreskin

Are you mocking us, Rump?

 

[cloudy]

Public Service Announcement: There's a sweep in progress at the moment. In the past hour I've lost 9 votes, and the score has gone up by .09.

Carry on.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

If I could sing like Ray Charles, I wouldn't need $700... of course, if I could sing like Ray Charles, I'd need a sex change... <grin>

 

[Aurora Black]

*strokes the kitty* The sweep hasn't reached me yet, but I'll definitely be on the lookout for it.

 

[Guest]

Public Service Announcement: There's a sweep in progress at the moment. In the past hour I've lost 9 votes, and the score has gone up by .09.

Carry on.

I had a ton of votes on my new one, the sweep knocked that down to 18, not even enough to qualify for the contest. Just amazing what it does.

 

[Unsung Muse]

Another 5 day slump without a sweep or R or V or C... for me : (

If anyone who hasn't has time for my depressing little
holiday saga today, I'd be very very grateful!

"The Seventh Snowfall" (Winter Holiday Submission)