Fortnightly Writing Competition: The Odd (Platonic) Couple - RESULTS!

Started by JudasFm, Tue 25/06/2019 16:05:52

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Sinitrena

Quote from: Baron on Wed 17/07/2019 03:35:47
Best Writing: I'm going with Sinitrena for the excellent atmosphere.  ;-D  Things could have been a little tighter editing-wise, as there were a LOT of typos: "leader bound book," "thread to well-being," "two older man," "collogues," "decision in a fracture of a second," and many more.... 

Okay, note to self: "Stop writing with a headache, and especially stop trying to proofread with a headache!" But seriously, leader bound? That's a nice Freudian slip, considering what I used as the decoy notebook...  (roll)


Quote from: JudasFm on Sat 13/07/2019 15:51:58
As the administrator, I'm obviously not eligible to vote (although I will provide feedback along with the results) but you guys are and you have until July 17 to get your votes in, so hurry and vote vote VOTE!

Actually, the administrator is elligible to vote, usually as a tie breaker.


Is there nobody around who wants to read a couple stories and vote? This round, it's not even that much to read!  ;)


Baron

Quote from: Sinitrena on Wed 17/07/2019 20:31:21
Is there nobody around who wants to read a couple stories and vote? This round, it's not even that much to read!  ;)

Yeah!  ???  Sinitrena's story was very engaging, and mine was really short.  Get them on your summer reading list, peeps!

JudasFm

Quote from: Sinitrena on Wed 17/07/2019 20:31:21
Actually, the administrator is elligible to vote, usually as a tie breaker.

As a tie-breaker, yes. However, I really don't consider it fair for the administrator to have the same voting rights as everyone else, because they tend to vote and close the voting in the same post.

To elaborate, imagine a round with three entrants and five  categories. Voting starts, and the final scores are:

Entrant 1: 9 votes
Entrant 2: 5 votes
Entrant 3: 1 vote

It's pretty clear who the voters support. But then the administrator weighs in, gives 5 votes to Entrant 2 - causing first and second place to be switched - and instantly closes the voting.

I get that this sort of thing happens when people vote too, but in that case, it's still down to other voters. When the administrator votes and closes in the same post, which tends to happen, he/she is basically saying: "Okay, my votes are in and my word is final, because I stopped anyone else from voting differently! Mwahahaha!" In which case, they might as well skip the voting process and pick the winner directly.

To sum it up, I believe that in the interests of fairness, the administrator should not be eligible to vote unless they do so at the start of voting, or in the event of a tiebreaker. As an entrant, the whole vote-and-close thing really irritates me, so as an administrator, I never do it. I do give hypothetical votes for the entrants' own reference, but those don't count towards the total.

I'm probably alone on this, but that's okay :) My take on contests is that, to a certain extent, the administrator makes the rules. It's a rule that in my contest, the administrator (ie, me) is only allowed to vote in the case of a tie-breaker. 

Phew! See what happens when you post a comment and I'm in Tsudanuma's Burger King with 2 hours to kill? I get wordy!  (nod)

Quote from: Sinitrena on Wed 17/07/2019 20:31:21

Is there nobody around who wants to read a couple stories and vote? This round, it's not even that much to read!  ;)

Just in case, I'll extend the voting time until the end of the week. If nobody else votes, The Squid and I will break the tie  :-D

Sinitrena

Quote from: JudasFm on Thu 18/07/2019 05:04:21

Entrant 1: 9 votes
Entrant 2: 5 votes
Entrant 3: 1 vote

It's pretty clear who the voters support. But then the administrator weighs in, gives 5 votes to Entrant 1 - causing first and second place to be switched - and instantly closes the voting.


That wouldn't change anything.  ;)  But I see your point.
I generally don't assume anyone around here would manipulate an outcome like this. Why should they? But you can always just cast your votes at any point during the voting period, as long as there is a reasonable amount of time before you close the voting, to avoid the problem. I would argue, though, that casting votes earlier voids the tie breaking power, but that might just be my sense of fairness.

I certainly understand where you are coming from. It doesn't exactly feel right to change the winner with your final vote.

JudasFm

Quote from: Sinitrena on Thu 18/07/2019 05:28:23
That wouldn't change anything.  ;)  But I see your point.

ACK! Bad Squid, sneaking in and changing words at the last minute :P Of course, I meant to write Entrant 2 It's a good thing some people pay more attention to my posts than I do (laugh)

Quote from: Sinitrena on Thu 18/07/2019 05:28:23
I generally don't assume anyone around here would manipulate an outcome like this. Why should they? But you can always just cast your votes at any point during the voting period, as long as there is a reasonable amount of time before you close the voting, to avoid the problem. I would argue, though, that casting votes earlier voids the tie breaking power, but that might just be my sense of fairness.

No, I don't think for one minute that it would be abused in the way you're suggesting. Like you said, there wouldn't be any purpose to it :)

I see what you mean about the tie breaker (which kind of ties in with the whole no-votes-for-administrator thing) but I imagine a tie-breaker as only one vote per entry as opposed to voting again in separate categories. Usually I'd extend the voting (like now) and if there are no votes by the end, I think the administrator - as the person who set up the contest and has a vague idea in their own mind of what they were hoping to see - should get a single casting vote, if only so the next round can proceed. Otherwise we could be waiting forever for someone to vote :P

The other problem with giving the administrator both votes is that if they cast all their votes for Entrant 1, then it would be pretty obvious who'd win if it did come down to a tie-breaker.

So yeah. Basically, I think the tie-breaker vote is the only vote the administrator should have that actually counts towards the total, and that's how I've always run this contest when it's been my turn. I'm an administrator, not a judge; I leave that up to the other members of the forum ;) But like I said, that's just my way of doing things :-D

Baron

Did JudasFm just go on a power trip against power trips?   ;)

JudasFm

Quote from: Baron on Sat 20/07/2019 12:01:18
Did JudasFm just go on a power trip against power trips?   ;)
But of course (nod) I don't mind power trips at all; I just want to be the one going on them (laugh)
I'm tired (just got back from a festival) but results and trophies will be posted tomorrow (my time) Up until then, if anyone else wants to vote, it's open!

JudasFm

Okay, it's pretty clear that no one else is going to vote and it's about time for the next round, so I'm closing the contest.

The final amount of votes stand at:
Sinitrena: 6 (counting Baron's extra vote :P)
Baron: 5

I'm on the fence about accepting extra votes as they can be a bit sticky (where does it end? Can we cast 100 votes for someone?) but in this case, I'll run with it, as there were so few votes and even if I had discounted it and ended the contest as a tie-breaker, Sinitrena would still have won.

So the winner of the Golden Platonic Heart is...

Sinitrena!

Which leaves Baron the proud owner of the Silver Platonic Heart!

And now, onto my hypothetical votes and feedback!

Best Friendship: Sinitrena. Even though it's at the beginning of the friendship, we see it start to happen when they agree to go for a drink together. With Baron's entry, I didn't get any sense of friendship at all, much less the oddness of the couple. I suppose a cow and a gander probably wouldn't be friends in the real world, but the prompt was more of a cat-and-dog, wolf-and-lamb friendship.
Best Difference: Sinitrena; it's pretty clear that the two are different and why. The different personalities in Baron's entry came across fairly well, but it wasn't enough.
Best Character: This was a tough one, but I'm going to have to go with Baron. I really loved Dr. Harris in Sinitrena's story, but the gung-ho Tex-Cow just squeaked past into first place. 
Best Story: Sinitrena. Good story with a beginning, middle and end. Baron's struck me as more an extract from a story than the story itself.
Best Writing: Sinitrena. As Baron said, there were several typos, but overall I felt it was a higher standard. Baron's felt very rushed, and the overuse of dialog distanced me from the piece. I would have liked more description.

So, this round is closed, and the next one is down to Sinitrena! Take it away :-D

Baron

Congratulations Sinitrena!  It was a well-deserved victory in my opinion (and in my voting irregularities....   ;) )

I feel like I've got to up my writing game for you literary types.  The easy votes from the likes of Ponch and Mandle are hard to come by this summer.  :P

Sinitrena

Thanks everyone.

Let's hope next round more people show up - to write and to vote.

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