Thread: Fresh writing contest

Note that nothing is final as yet ...

Rules and regulations:

• Any registered member can participate in the contest.
• The article could be on any topic of choice.
• A member can post as many articles as s/he wishes. But a member can post only one entry per day (date). Second entry on the same date will be rejected.
• Article must have a minimum 100 words. These words do not include proper names, pronouns, articles, prepositions, suppositions, conjunctions, interjections, etc. If you are unaware of these grammatical word classifications, please take a look in Google or Wikipedia.
• All threads must be submitted in the section Contests.
• Plagiaristic copying from another site will not be permitted, EVEN IF THAT IS YOUR OWN CONTENT. We have no way of confirming on this and hence any plagiarized content will be deleted by moderators.
• Jokes, suggestions, complaints, news of any kind, reviews of any item (gadgets, movies, software, etc.) are not permitted. However, you can write your own opinion on a news item. For example, you can provide your thoughts on some political party winning an electoral majority.
• You can write on your experiences of a travel destination; that will not be considered as a review. But if such an article only consists of places to see, hotel rate cards, etc., moderators will disqualify it as a review.

Judging

• All members except authors can vote on the entry. Self awarded marks will not be counted.
• Duplicate votes/marks will not be counted. Only the first vote will be held accountable.
• Every view or post (reply) with no marks will be given 1 mark.
• Marks to be awarded as follows (by all including jury):
  
  • Originality of thoughts: 3 marks
  • Writing style: 3 marks
  • Spelling and Grammar: 2 marks
  • Use of humour, anecdotes, etc.: 1 mark
  • Subject selection and relevance to public: 1 mark
• The member should be kind enough to post marks out of 10 - 10 being highest marks. A member who votes for others will get 2 marks as bonus for his/her own contest entry.
• A panel of 12 juries will vote independently on the content. As a corollary of the previous rule, juries cannot vote on their own contest entry.
• Juries will award points out of 10 - 10 being highest.
• Negative marking is not allowed. Marks over 10 will be ignored also.
• Marks counting:
  
  • The marks from Jury Panel carry 50% weight
  • Marks from public carry 50% weight

Jury Selection

• 12 jury positions are open for grabs on first come/first served basis.
• Jury members must be at least 3 month old members and have a minimum 250 posts.
• Being a jury will be a responsible job; so please decide honestly whether you really wish to be a jury.
• Every incumbent jury must apply as a PM to Admin/Mods and state the reason why s/he is best suited/qualified for the job. Admin/Mods will select the jury. Don't worry - there will be no partiality here.
• All juries must undertake an honest commitment to vote.

Winners

• There will be three categories for winners - individual weekly winner, overall individual entry (article) and best contributing member.
• Except for weekly winner, the other two categories will have a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 2 consolation prizes.
• Each article will be individually marked and totaled. The highest marks grabber will get the individual entry award and so on for 2nd, 3rd and consolation prizes.
• In case of a tie, various factors such as number of views, number of top marks, etc. plus Just4kix's personal opinion/veto will be used.
• Since members can submit multiple entries, the total votes of each entry will be counted against the Best Contributing Member's kitty. The member with the highest points will win the Best Contributing Member prize.

Prizes
On this front, I am going to keep the suspense but I have a fair idea that I have passed in a hidden thread; more so because I need Admin's approval. But it is as follows:

Daily and weekly awards:

• Every qualified entry (by the jury) will be worth Rs. x. This will encourage participation.
• Contest will run for one month (30 days) and there will be weekly as well as overall winners.
• Weekly winner (one prize only) will earn Rs. y.

Overall winners:

• Individual entry: 1st prize = Rs. ow1
• Individual entry: 2nd prize = Rs. ow2
• Individual entry: 3rd prize = Rs. ow3
• Individual entry: Consolation prize = Rs. ow4 each

• Best Contributing Member: 1st prize = Rs. bc1
• Best Contributing Member: 2nd prize = Rs. bc2
• Best Contributing Member: 3rd prize = Rs. bc3
• Best Contributing Member: Consolation prize = Rs. bc4 each

There is a potential of earning high:

a) 30 daily entries = Rs. x * 30 = Rs. X
b) Weekly winner (every week) = Rs. y * 4 = Rs. Y/-
c) Overall individual winner = Rs. ow1
d) Best contributing member = Rs. bc1


---------------------------------- end --------------------------------

If you have further suggestions, I solicit it.

p/s. all spams and meaningless posts will be deleted from this thread.

Doesn't our OWN movie review fit here ????

Originally Posted by gothic_coder

Doesn't our OWN movie review fit here ????

Can you ensure that all voters see the movie? Then you can. Still this does not apply for commercial movies (even if your own. )

Well no offence but same can be applicable to different subjects also (Say politics, Technical)..Isn't it... I was just clearing my doubt

:clap: The set of rules are very good and well thought. But some rules are too complex and may lead to confusions and debates later. Anyways, There has to be a start. Lets not get too much into rules here and Start a much awaited contest again. Is the starting date decided as off yet?

Will both normal members and jury members vote at the same place, i.e. as replies to the articles?

Whhhhaaa its gr88888

This is really good to see, but as saurav has said, some things might get confused. But, it seems pretty neat. We can just wait and see.

And I would also like to suggest a power for you (Mods and Admin): To stop the contest whenever you want, so that we can stop problems as soon as we feel ourselves (and IBB) to be in trouble.

And, by the way, what do you really mean by

Note that nothing is final as yet ...

Does that mean that it's not time for members to apply for Jury membership?
I did read that "Jury memberships are open", but just wanted to make sure.
And when can we expect the Contest to begin?

clearly picturized :14:....but too many rules...made me to read 3 times :6:

Originally Posted by dhaneshv

And, by the way, what do you really mean by


Does that mean that it's not time for members to apply for Jury membership?
I did read that "Jury memberships are open", but just wanted to make sure.
And when can we expect the Contest to begin?

What I meant is that I need Admin's approval first; especially on the prize money.

Originally Posted by skap

clearly picturized :14:....but too many rules...made me to read 3 times :6:

I agree. But last time there were some unpleasantness. Just want to avoid that as far as possible.

-------------------------------
Jury selection is on ... I hope the contest happens properly this time.

So, is the jury membership open now. I had send you a PM regarding that.

Originally Posted by dhaneshv

So, is the jury membership open now. I had send you a PM regarding that.

you have already been selected in the jury panel. http://www.indiabroadband.net/contes...selection.html

Originally Posted by saurav_kataruka

you have already been selected in the jury panel. http://www.indiabroadband.net/contes...selection.html

Ohh!! I didn't see that. This thread should have been updated with that thread's link.

Thanks and Rep++++

OK. I have some feedback from Admin regarding judging. Admin feels that it will be an impossible task to keep tab of marks, especially if there are thousands of entries. I have to agree there. So we will come up with new automatic marks system which should be easy calculate from the stats. This is open to suggestion.

I was thinking of making it mandatory to have a poll with each entry so that people can vote but many are lazy and do not bother to do so. There could be marks based on views, replies, etc. also. Mods can remove "trivial" replies.

This means one thing to aspiring jury panelists - and on the not so "good news" side - automatic marking means a panel of jury is not really required.

But as I said, please do suggest a method.

I think one feature is available in Vbullettin that Prevent users from viewing poll results before voting.
This will do some results.

Originally Posted by just4kix

[SIZE="4"]
Judging

• All members except authors can vote on the entry. Self awarded marks will not be counted.
• Duplicate votes/marks will not be counted. Only the first vote will be held accountable.
• Every view or post (reply) with no marks will be given 1 mark.
• Marks to be awarded as follows (by all including jury):
  
  • Originality of thoughts: 3 marks
  • Writing style: 3 marks
  • Spelling and Grammar: 2 marks
  • Use of humour, anecdotes, etc.: 1 mark
  • Subject selection and relevance to public: 1 mark
• The member should be kind enough to post marks out of 10 - 10 being highest marks. A member who votes for others will get 2 marks as bonus for his/her own contest entry.
• A panel of 12 juries will vote independently on the content. As a corollary of the previous rule, juries cannot vote on their own contest entry.
  
• Juries will award points out of 10 - 10 being highest.
• Negative marking is not allowed. Marks over 10 will be ignored also.
• Marks counting:
  
  • The marks from Jury Panel carry 50% weight
  • Marks from public carry 50% weight

I have got a small doubt,If jury is doing the work same as others (public), then whats the purpose behind having 12 juries.

My Formula (sweet & simple):

1. Put all the articles in a temperory forum say "current contest".
2. Put a word limit of 75-500 for each thread(Article).
3. Force all the contestants to post in all threads in "current contest" by having a stat page for No of posts from this temperory forum only.
4. New Threads(Articles) Weightage = 50%.
5. No of Posts Weightage = 30%.
6. Repo Weightage =10%. (unreliable)(this 10% could be reserved for Admins Choice)
7. Senior members/mods vote(for quality) = 10%. (only members posted 1000+ posts could vote at the end of compi)
8. After the contest move all threads to relavent sections.
9. Even smileys, one/two words will be tolerated as posts.
10. Blind copy/paste of info from other websites not allowed.
11. At most 2 infractions will be given. Yellow for minor violations and Red for major violation of rules. Two "Yellow Cards" earn a ban for seven days, one red card earns a ban for 15 days, second red card earns a peramanent ban.

By this way senior/junior members are free to spam in other sections.
And there is enough to ensure Quality.

(BTW: pichle kuch dino me aisa kya hua ki logged users 20-40 se ikdum 100+ ho gaye????)

Originally Posted by Rameshjeee

I have got a small doubt,If jury is doing the work same as others (public), then whats the purpose behind having 12 juries.

suppose 30 members(public) vote on an article. those 30 votes will contribute 50% all taken together.

and the 12 votes of jury members will contribute the rest 50%.

This was the idea i think.

Originally Posted by saurav_kataruka

suppose 30 members(public) vote on an article. those 30 votes will contribute 50% all taken together.

and the 12 votes of jury members will contribute the rest 50%.

This was the idea i think.

Got your point to certain extent...

suppose 30 members(public) vote on an article. those 30 votes will contribute 50% all taken together.

and the 12 votes of jury members will contribute the rest 50%.

But any member can create many user id to vote his/her own post.
I think 12 jury is enough.

Originally Posted by just4kix

This means one thing to aspiring jury panelists - and on the not so "good news" side - automatic marking means a panel of jury is not really required.

May be you are missing this

Originally Posted by rupu1983

But any member can create many user id to vote his/her own post.
I think 12 jury is enough.

mods can figure out multiple userids I think.

-F

Originally Posted by just4kix

I was thinking of making it mandatory to have a poll with each entry so that people can vote but many are lazy and do not bother to do so. There could be marks based on views, replies, etc. also. Mods can remove "trivial" replies.

This is strange, I saw lot of quality good thread has so less reply and view
I always believe in quality not in quantity.
As a example once I have started thread 'Various Brand of Ice-Cream' which has 65 reply (most reply i ever get in any thread except Happy Birthday thread) and more than 1000 view but personally i believe that thread was one of the funny & 'trivial' thread among my 83 thread.
Also the definitional of "trivial" can be contradictory.

Originally Posted by rupu1983

I saw lot of quality good thread has so less reply and view

I second that.

What happened to the contest? When will we see a contest again? If there are some problems in marks calculation and contest rules for writing contest, can we not start a second phase of already tried out contest - Highest Poster Contest ? If I remember correctly, when the Highest Poster Contest started, Admin said that this is just a trial run and we will have a bigger version of the contest later.

I am not particularly asking to start the Highest Poster Contest. But we need to have a contest whatever it may be.

ya starting a contest will make this place more interesting, i am seeing now a days (from a week) some times it is taking hours to get a post here...

see today's itself



if i had not posted then it would have been almost an hour before the next post