The Challenges

I vote for leaving it alone and continuing the challenges as is. All you can do is try to write good stories that entertain and no amount of plotting and scheming in the world will guarantee a win. You get lucky or you don't, so just relax and take what comes your way. One big plus is that voters tend to comment a lot more on challenge stories and I've received some great feedback. I think others have too. So I say, forge ahead and let's not let too much dust gather until the next one.

Hmmm... I don't think the Library is a democracy. I do, however, join with you in REQUESTING that the management leave the contest as it is (which, fortunately, is what I believe the management is inclined to do with or without my request)

I think the aim of this post is to clarify why things are as they are and allow people to comment in the hope that we won't have to go though this again on the next challenge and the next and...

That is most certainly my hope anyway

As this thread appears to be doing its very best to bring this interminable discussion to a close, may I now add my voice to those in favour of the 'status quo?'
And, instead of pointless disagreements, may we all expend our energies on writing more and better stories for the enjoyment of all our friends in the library.

I don't mean to rain on the parade of everyone agreeing with everyone else about keeping the contest - uh, I mean challenge - the way it is, but the thing I still think should be changed is that one should have to read ALL the stories in order to vote on ANY of them. VOTING for all of them is not necessary - just vote for the ones you like, assigning more votes to the ones you like the best. However, before you do that, READING them all should be necessary. As I stated in some earlier post, if 5 candidates were running for the same office, a voter wouldn't (or at least shouldn't) vote for one candidate without knowing what all 5 candidates stood for. I believe the same concept applies to voting on the story challenges. Readers could still vote (or not vote, if they prefer) as they read each story; however, their votes would not be tabulated in the library's total votes cast until they read all the stories.

Are there ways to get around this? Of course. One could just open up all the stories, and still only really read the ones they wanted to. But, as someone else said, that would be cheating, and if someone really wanted to do that, then so be it. But at least the basic rule - READ all stories before ANY of your votes count - would be in place. Just seems fairer to me.

Other than that, I strongly agree with everything else everyone else said in the previous posts, even those who disagreed with each other. I feel strongly both ways. The compet - uh, challenge, has great taste, AND is less filling.

Sorry, even though i understand why you would say this, I believe if one had to read all the stories first, many of them would not return to vote on any of them, number of votes cast would drop like a rock in the ocean. First, it would be hard to remember which stories one wanted to vote on. If we followed your suggestion and I only read 55 stories out of 56 then I would not be able to vote....I don't think I can support that one.

I prefer the way voting is now however that is not to say I think the system is perfect. The question is though, is it worth Februs's time and effort to make another system that we as writers and readers would likely complain about regardless of what changes were made....LOL

I believe tinkering with the voting system seems to miss the whole point of these competitions, and a compulsion to read all entries before being allowed to vote is more likely to prove detrimental to viewing, commenting and voting.

Surely the whole point is to give an opportunity for authors to showcase their talents writing on a specific theme or subject that they may not otherwise have considered, and for members to enjoy reading a multitude of differing stories written from the same starting point. The endless variations are quite fascinating; it is always interesting to read how different authors interpret a common theme, and in my view this adds immeasurably to the wonderful diversity and content of the library.

The voting is almost secondary and as far as I´m concerned a bit of fun, and whatever system is used there are always going to some who feel that a particular favorite of theirs appears to have been overlooked. This is inevitable, but while our favorite entries may not always win I think it is hard to argue that all the winners have not been indeed worthy, and along the way we have also been delighted and spoilt with some marvelous stories.

I´m afraid I maybe old fashioned, but I believe in the Corinthian spirit that it is the taking part that counts, not necessarily winning, and as they say, ´if it ain´t broke, don´t fix it´. It appears to me ´it ain´t broke´.

Having been mostly absent from the site for a few months now following the death of my mother, and because of that I have missed the last two challenges I don't have any biased opinions or self interests at heart. But for myself I enjoyed writing for the two challenges I entered last year because it CHALLENGED me to create something out of someone Else's idea.

As several other commenter's have said I never saw it as a competition which I was trying to win, but rather I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in creating a new story which some readers would perhaps enjoy reading. It was far more important to me to focus on building a tale around the theme picture, and like others I was pleased that I did get many more comments than usual which was quite enough to satisfy my humble ego.

Frankly I don't see any reason to change a thing; just as authors have the freedom to decide to take part or not then readers also have the right to read and vote on what their personal preferences are, and to try and court favour revealing my entry or by adapting my writing style or orientation never even entered my head.

Being British I suppose the age old cliché sums up my point of view "It's not the winning that counts but the taking part."

My method, since there is no synopsis, is that I open all the stories and scan them. Those stories that appear to be ones that I might like I read and vote on. Those stories that do not appeal to me I neither read nor vote on. Why waste time reading stories that I have little interest in? I am reading for pleasure and am not a professional critic. The contests are fine the way they are set up now.

Kephren, you have my condolences in regards to your mom.