Theft Story Challenge 2014

Thank you for your permission.

Who else, apart from you, do I need to seek clearance from?


I have no desire, btw, to propose changes.....i already stated I get what I need from the challenge.

Can I please request people don't use his forum to squabble and bicker. There has been endless debate in the past about the voting for the challenges and it's been done to death.

The challenges are a bit of fun for creative people to write something to comply with the particular theme of the challenge, so thanks to everyone who has taken the time and effort to do so.

I am encouraged that the majority of people read the entries, maintain anonymity, comment on the stories they enjoy, and vote fairly.

The challenges are not intended to determine which entry is the 'best' although some people insist on seeing it this way. The voting part, as far as we (the organisers) are concerned, is simply to have a bit of fun. I've explained a few times in the past why agonising over the voting is a pointless task but here's a brief summary of some of the reasons:

1. No voting criteria are defined for the entries so basically people are simply voting on whatever basis they choose. Some will vote based on their subjective enjoyment of the story, others on a more structured, pre-determined set of personal criteria.

2. Even if criteria were defined it's highly unlikely that everyone who votes would be capable of applying those criteria as there is always going to be an element of subjectivity involved and, in addition, the members of the site are not professional critics.

3. Not everyone who votes will bother to read, or vote on, all the entries.

4. People's voting will be influenced by whatever genre, orientation, ages etc are featured in the story. Those writing F/M for example are likely to be at a disadvantage.

5. There's no way of ensuring that people vote fairly, e.g. award themselves or their friends 10 and everyone else 1 or nothing at all.

I could go on and provide further reasons but there's no need. What we'd like people to do is simply accept that the voting is intended to provide a bit of amusement and that the challenges in general from the author's point of view provide, inter alia, a chance to get your writing viewed by a number of people who may not have bothered to do so otherwise and hopefully in the process receive a number of comments.

Given the above I'm at a bit of a loss as to why we still have to debate the voting every time we have a challenge and we're now on the 12th . A couple of challenges ago, I can't remember who it was now, but someone complained to me that the challenges were little more than a popularity contest and that may be the case but so what? Personally, I find they break up the monotony of simply loading new stuff every week and it's fun to see the different approaches taken by authors to a single topic.

Absolutely Februs - they are fun for the authors and readers alike, and long may they continue!

For what it is worth I agree 100% with Lincoln. As I have said before, I love these challenges. I really love reading all the brilliant entries , commenting and voting on all. I would hate for these challenges to end. Thanks to everyone who has worked so hard on making this Library such an enjoyable place.

That is really the surprise to me.

I find it difficult to come up with a scenario that fit the picture. Then I read all the different ways of approaching the scene and am amazed I never thought of 96% of them myself.

But then again when one's butt is frozen at minus 37 Celsius or about minus 38 degrees F then it is a wonder I can think of anything at all. LOL

CS

You obviously need a good spanking CS!

My apologies. I was trying not to bicker, but apparently I did not succeed. My apologies as well to gail.

I'll make just one final comment concerning the scoring system. I see no reason to suspect it won't work properly. After all, it worked perfectly for the last challenge! And I'll be happy to hand over the crown and congratulate the new winner.

Can we expect that it will be freshly polished? What about the official scepter (paddle)?