Does anybody else think that a shortlist of stories and/or poems could be submitted to the forum for voting on by the members of the site would be a fun way to boost submissions and generate interest?
It would be an interesting experiment at least: if the mods were the arbiters of which items to submit to the voters, it could easily be accommodated utilising the existing 'poll' feature.
A nice shiny new badge to the monthly winner would be a pleasant addition to the collection - as well as the kudos, of course...
Interesting thought, but all honesty, 90% clueless as to what your saying, please clarify.
I also would like you to explain Andy
I'm surprised you don't understand:
The mods suggest maybe five stories as story of the month and the same for poems. The vote is set up like a poll. At the end of a set period (a couple of weeks maybe?) the story and poem with the most votes are declared the winners for that month. A new set of stories and poems is then suggested for the next vote and so on...
Thanks... I have been on SS long enough to have looked at it thoroughly, as have I spoken to various mods.
Yes, there is a certain amount of negativity from those whose stories do not get selected for 'special mention', but that's perfectly normal. I have yet to see any great fuss being made over the issue...
My idea is to provide a little bit of fun and encouragement. Let's face it, it has been very quiet submissions-wise these past few weeks. Okay, I accept that peaks and troughs occur, but I can see nothing wrong in trying anything 'novel' that might bring new visitors to the site -- and hopefully turn them into members and regulars.
The suggestion does put the onus on the mods: as the 'neutrals' here it makes sense for them to make the decisions as to which stories and poems to offer up for voting. It is, of course, dependent on one or more of the guys being willing to take the job on. It doesn't have to be a monthly competition: every couple of months or quarterly would be just as interesting.
A response from a mod or two would be helpful here. It is not my place or anybody else's to speak for them...
The mods are stretched thin as it is.
Not only are we volunteers, but we all have other full-time responsibilities requiring our attention. Owing to this fact, it's rare for more than three moderators to be active on any given day, and often only one or two are available.
Even so, we're handling well over 50 submissions a week. Most days it's a struggle to keep the number of pieces awaiting verification in the single digits.
Speaking for myself, I can't support adding another task to our already very full duty roster.
There has been many attempts and suggestions over the years on how to fix a faulty voting system and at the same time reward excellence in writing. This is another good one, but it still maintains the same issues that currently exist. 1) all the mods here are strictly volunteer and to ask them to take on anything else would be patently unfair; 2) any process involving member voting will always end up a popularity contest as it is now.
However, all that being said, there is a shaft of daylight in Andy's recommendation and could possibly alleviate some of the heavy responsibilities of being a mod. Perhaps an esteemed panel of SS authors can be conjoined. Each SS member can nominate a current SS author to be on the panel. The top 7 will be an impartial panel of judges which would read and select the top 3 stories and 3 poems each month, ie. 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Each SS author would be allowed to present for consideration only their "top 2" stories and poems per month. It doesn't matter if they posted 10 pieces of work that month, they would have to decide their best 2 to be judged.
To instill some excitement in the process, all work presented could be listed on the front page and as each judge reads and votes it could be updated daily and shown in a moving up and down accordingly on the list. Each judge would assign his/her vote from 1-10 per story/poem. Obviously the vote totals would be calculated and thus winners would be reflected. A perfect vote would be 70 (a 10 from each judge, highly unlikely). Judges would read and vote independently.
Since it is a voluntary panel as well and we all have other lives, that's why I'm suggesting a 2 piece limit for stories and poems per SS author (max 4 pieces each).
Anyways.. just a thought.
EDIT: I'm also suggesting to do away with the current system of mod voting and front page lists.. mods would only monitor story appropriateness and not be responsible to vote or recommend..
I suppose rather than being a poll in the forum, there could be yet another button for us to press, marked 'story of the month', but then that means more coding, and really it would be pretty much for naught. It wouldn't be used very often, of that I'm sure. People come here to read and write. Most of us... Okay, well I'll speak just for me, I'm not that competitive. I don't care about awards, I don't even care about how I'm perceived. All I want is to sit, write, submit writing and move on. Why has everything got to be a competition? Is it not enough to just appreciate that we have some place, a moderated place, to stick our writing on?
Here's the wackiest suggestion you'll see, yet: How about everything, I mean everything, regardless of quality, gets an award just for being submitted? Call it a Bravery Award, or something. Awards this, awards that, screw that, just write and be thankful that anyone reads it. I know I am (even if I do sometimes rant... That's just me hanging myself, so sorry about that.)
This is strictly a speculative thought. It would need to go though the powers that be to see if it were possible and acceptable.
1) No Moderator will get any additional work unless they volunteered.
2) A single person be picked to run this who is never allowed to vote.
3) The person running the voting would pick five volunteers to vote on stories/poems for one month.
4) Writers could submit only one piece total, either poem or story, not one of each.
5) At the end of the month, the five voters would list their picks of the top six poems and a separate list of top six stories. The lists will be ranked first through sixth
6) The person in charge will tally the votes; 10 points for first, 7 points for second, 5 points for third, 3 points for fourth, 2 points for fifth, and 1 point for sixth.
7) A list would be posted (probably on the forum, but possible on the front page) of the top five poems and stories by total point value.
8) Any story receiving ten or more points or that is listed on four voters' lists and does not score high enough to make the list will receive a honorable mention.
9) Writer of top scored story and poem may, if they wish, be a voting member next month. The person in charge will then pick volunteers to fill out the five person panel.
10) A voting member may submit an entry, but may not vote for themselves.
11) No voting member may be on the voting panel for six months after serving, unless they are rated number one for a month. Only exception is if no other qualifying volunteers are available.
12) At the end of the year, each monthly winner will be voted on in the same manner by a separate panel of ten voting members for the stop poems and stories of the year.
I think this would work well. Give a lot of opportunities for participation as both writers and voters. It should limit favoritism, though I think there is no way to completely do away with it. By limiting it to only one piece per writer it should give more chances to some of the less experienced writers as many writers on here are good enough to qualify in both categories. This way there will be ten different Stories Space members recognized each month. I think the biggest key is high participation as voters. If we could get enough voters, the number of voting members could be doubled, if so honorable mention requirement would need to be adjusted.
You can't get there from here, because when you get there you're still here and here is now there. Small problem, many here posts like five poems daily. You said they can only post one per month. And so we would have to wait to share our stuff, this is a writing site, not a competition site. Plus what your saying is pretty much a competition anyways. And those we get every other season to spark up interest. And those have specific requirements to make them unique and challenging.
Most importantly they are set aside from the normal stuff everyone posts. And everyone will always pick favorites. Because lets see here, what if lets say margot was one of the judges. Everyone knows that we do not see eye to eye like ever. So what if I piss her off, then my story gets a low score because of personal reasons.
Or what if I was a judge, I would favor scifi over romance, while others would like "real" stories better (real as in about reality) then there would be a rift in the judging becausw they wouldn't agree who deserves that slot more.
So I think this might be a disaster waiting to happen, and that is my personal opinion if you agree or not.
I think what Andy had in mind was a members' choice selection open to voting by all members, not a small panel of selected judges. Do I have that right, Andy?
I haven't joined this thread until now, but it did keep my mind working. First of all, I don't see that standstill. I see the normal dynamics, that I see in any other community. People come, people go, only a handfull are active and the rest just reads and enjoys. I haven't found any community yet, that differs in that, regardless of competitions. I don't see anything wrong in that. Ofcourse it would be nice, if the active community grew, but even competitions with money to win fail to do that beyond the end of that competition. Why would replacing one ranking system by another one make any difference? And more important why should it? If the number of people participating in this discussion is any indication, I would say, who cares?
Any competition would become a popularity match. Nothing wrong with that either. It is a community of people after all and friendships will always influence its workings. Nevertheless I honestly believe, that the quality of the work published still is the major reason to vote on a atory. It is for me.
No competition will ever change my reasons for commenting and voting on a story. I honestly believe, the same goes for almost anyone here.
If life seems jolly rotten
there's something you've forgotten
and that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing
from Monty Python's "Life of Brian"
My suggestion would be that if you guys really want something like this, then by all means do it, but it will unfortunately not be run by the site mods. We're spread too thin as it is right now and something like this can end up taking up a lot of time. Let me know and I can open up a new forum category for you to do this, but a member needs to volunteer to oversee it.
Please note - It will be a thread for suggested story/poetry picks and voting, not a discussion thread.
“Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing.”
Thanks Yas. That makes sense.
As the 'proposer' of the idea I will naturally throw my hat into the ring.
