Finished voting on the Letter Challenge

Can we have an end to what Februs so accurately describes as navel gazing? If someone doesn't like the contest - don't enter! If one doesn't like the voting system - don't bother voting! Just leave it to the rest of us who genuinely relish the challenge of writing something we would't otherwise do, and who enjoy the pastime of reading other peoples work and casting our votes!

As one who has never won anything, (and doesn't expect to do so this time), or has ever got the top three right, just leave us to enjoy what is a delightful feature of the KLSF.

A small clarification: When I wrote in my comment that people using the second voting method that I described vote on stories that "turn them on" I didn't just mean that only in the sexual sense. They might be turned on because the story is humorous, clever, well written, etc. However those people will probably only read those stories that appeal to their particular kinky preference. I do that myself as I am reading for pleasure and am not trying to be a professional critic so I comment or judge those stories that I like and don't read those that hold no interest for me.

By the way, "turn on" is a phrase from the 1960's that meant getting intoxicated on drugs and then was applied to other things that appealed to a person as well. I don't think the original use of the term applies to most of the Library members but multiple references to sherry are a little suspicious.

Lincoln
Couldn't have said it better myself

- well it should be!

Made it! And I am sorry if the discussion we were having dissuaded anybody from voting. I am sure that wasn't the intention, and personally I construed it quite differently as an interesting tour of different attitudes to story reading and fairness in competitions. I don't think any of us would like the challenges to stop, but I found it quite entertaining to consider different voting systems and their inherent weaknesses. I think the one we now have is as good as any other, and it has the additional virtue of being simple, natural and easy to comprehend.

I wholeheartedly agree!

Even though I typically don't enter, I enjoy reading and judging the entries. And yes, I even enjoy the inevitable forum discussion/[cat fight ] about the mechanics of each contest.

Guy

As a both a reader and an author I feel bound to say that I thoroughly enjoy the competitions; as has been said it not only encourages members to write stories that they may otherwise not have written (and I can attest I have written stories I would not have otherwise written), but it also enables members to read stories written out of our comfort zone, sometimes surprising us that we can actually expand our horizons!
Some authors have already said that they have never won, let alone been placed, and it is true that I (sadly) fall into this category; that may be so, yet my most commented of 180 submissions to the library has been a story competition entry, ´The Owl and the Pussycat´. Why is this? I do not, but I would like to think that readers who would not normally choose to read my work found themselves reading and enjoying, so much so that they felt that having read my story they then wished to comment.

What more can an author ask for? Who cares what votes are cast? Readers are the most important, and if we can give them the most enjoyment then that surely is the most important objective; if they vote for us great, but a competition is surely secondary, for the most satisfying is the fact that they are reading our work, whether in a competition or otherwise.

So for all who have contributed, muchas gracias, and I hope we will continue to encourage contributions via competitions to this emporium of wondrous ´spanko delight´!

My, this sweet little contest that i so enjoyed entering has gotten a tad political. Last summer you had the picture challenge of the yellow boat tied to the pier. I decided to become active in the site back then and sat down to read every single entry.
Generally they were all good. but, I enjoyed some more than others. Sometimes the creativity and originally caught my eye, although in writing, as Rollin remind us with his spanking plots article in the WRweekly, there are a limited number. After creativity I looked at writing style; Were the sentences smooth? Did I have to stop and reread to get the meaning? I like hints and inferences, but generally I like writers to lay it all out for me. I don't like feeling confused at the end of a story and compelled to reread it.
So, if the elements I value are present- those are 9s or 10s
If most of the elements are present but one was weak- storyline or character development that would be a 7 or and 8.
Usually, no one gets less than a 5 from me. Writing takes effort; I value effort and we all have to start somewhere.
I read them all, about 6-10 a day. It took a bit over a week. i think it was worth the effort and I enjoyed the variety of formats and some of the more exotic settings. It gave me a new perspective on storytelling through letter writing.

I second this; despite my comments about competitions I very much enjoy the challenge of writing to a them that is not mine. I would be disappointed to see that disappear, but I wonder of making it a competition adds anything to it.

While I can see the place of an annual competition, I would make the following suggestion:

In the manner of Wellred, some of the challenges could take the form of writing to a theme and length, with the results being placed in a magazine format, thus allowing authors to rise to the challenge, readers would enjoy reading the stories and be able to comment, and writers should be content that their stories are likely to be widely read. Anonymity could be maintained for two to four weeks and readers could even try to guess the author, as an added challenge!

That is the last comment I shall make on this subject, apart from saying that I really don't see the point of making every challenge a competition; as I said an annual competition perhaps more on the lines of SSS would be to my preference, with different classes for different story lengths , but restricted to a single theme.