Hey everyone!

So the last probe I sent out only had about seven responses... that's one-tenth of our membership. Which is really sad, I think. But if people don't want to be active, then... *shrug*

I've decided that we are going to have a contest. The reason for this announcement is because I need your opinions on the way it's set up. I could be authoritarian and tell you that it's going down like this, and none of you have a choice, but I like knowing what you members want. I may be an admin, but this wouldn't be a group without you guys.

So here are the issues that need to be address:

= Theme: I got mixed results in the last thread, so I'm asking again. Either set up will have it's advantages/disadvantages for some people. Some like the creativity of an open contest, while others like to have some sort of... inspiration or goal to work towards.
= Anonymous authorship: should we do something like last time, where you sent all your entries to an admin, and they were anonymous come voting time? or would you prefer to claim your work from the start, and risk the author's name having an influence on the vote?
= Anonymous voting: do you want any/everyone to be able to see how you voted, or should it be anonymously worked through admins again?
= Deadline: how long should we have for submissions to come in? how long should the voting period be?

Those are the issues that have come to mind for me. Please, give me your opinions or preferences, and if you have any questions, ask them. I would also appreciate interaction between you all here, not just stating your opinion and leaving. That will not help with the decison, because it leaves me going through all your remarks and taking a tally or something. Interaction means, of course, not coming in to this with your mind made up about what you want; please be open.

I anticipate leaving this thread open for opinions for two weeks; this is somewhat dependent on amount of feedback recieved. If discussion about decisions takes longer than that, obviously, I will postpone the official announcement of the contest until it's decided.

As an administrator of a group that I happen to love, very much, I want as much participation as possible from group members. Like I said, I don't think it's fair that one person be in charge to call all the shots; I want your input. But again, I can't force people to be active... so thank you in advance for your cooperation, and my apologies for being so wordy.

-Cc

w00t! We need to get this group going again.

I think we should just leave it open for the theme. That way people can write about whatever they want rather than risk getting stuck with a topic some people aren't comfortable with or can't come up with anything for.

I liked the anonymous authors. It reduces the chance for people playing favorites and voting for their friends and not the best poem.

Anonymous voting doesn't matter to me. It's a bit easier to just vote in the thread rather than having to PM mods. It might be easier on the mods that way too for vote tallying. They can just run through the thread and count everything up.

The deadline should be about a month. Anything more is too long and anything less is too short. This way people have enough time to think of a poem and be able to submit it. People are busy. Voting time should be around a week to 10 days at most. Since some people aren't on everyday and might not get the notification in time to meet the deadline.

Those are my opinions. Hope it's helpful.

Well, I prefer open-ended competitions, because what I write about it just whatever comes to mind and have trouble writing poetry to a confined theme. But that's my two bits on the matter.

I believe that a month is a good amount of time for people to have to write and revise their works prior to submission. Perhaps we may see some absolute "killer" poems come out of that time frame. It may also allow the more "dead" people a chance to see that it's going on and perhaps get some life in their step. So to speak.

The rest of the categories held good setup from the previous competitions.

Yeah, this groups has seemingly been dead for a while.

Wow, I just realized that AngelKate and I are in pretty close concurrence.

Come on people, don't let our Admin down!

Good to see Cc back again, and being more active. More members should be more active! ^^

Anyways...

About the theme...wouldn't it be a bit disorganized...uh, random (much better term) if there wasn't one? Hmm...perhaps it could be made broad or abstract enough (or creative enough? We were asked during a writers' conference long ago to write a poem on "chalk"...go figure) that everyone could have some idea on it. Just to give us some direction...

On the other hand, having a topic does limit a lot of people, I guess...depends on what kind of contest we're going to have. If it were during, oh, December or the sort, there could be a Christmas- or winter-related theme (like once upon a time, huh, Cc? Haha).
But if this were just a..."whatever" (please forgive the term) contest, then everybody could just think up a storm and come in full force (or something like that) then we'd just wing things from there. Did I make sense there?

Another matter on whether there should be a theme or not depends on whether there's a set criteria for choosing...is there? I mean, members just come in and vote; there's no panel of judges or anything...

After all said and done, I'd prefer a theme but open topic is fine for me. ^^

The authors should be made anonymous like in the previous contests...reduces bias. Besides, it's fun guessing who wrote what poem. ^^

As for the votes, I guess it doesn't matter either way...nobody holds a grudge anyway, I hope.

I agree with the AngelKate and Hasaki-Keissi on a month for a deadline. Well, we could give it about a couple weeks leeway in case any latecomer might want to submit an entry...

Cheers to CLAMPchic for being such a great Admin! We're not dead (just pretty busy I guess)! ^^

New question for you guys to think about: should this be a group-inly contest, or open to any and all who might want to participate, however they hear about it?

And thanks for responding so far, AngelKate, Hasaki-Keissi, and gilesaquil. I appreciate the participation, and the way you include the reason backing your opinions.

Well, I don't think we're really doing anyone any favors by keeping the contest to ourselves. So I say, let the whole of MT participate. We might just bring in some new members in the process. And this should give a wider variation in the number and type of entries we receive.

(And you're most welcome.)

wow, all these ideas looks pretty good!

but we should like do love poems cause i got a really good one that i think all of you guys will like!

WE NEED TO MAKE POETRY CORNER ACTIVE AGAIN! LOL

You're welcome, Cc. ^^ Two thumbs up to all of us! Let's do a good job on this!

I'd like to know...how was it done in previous contests? Members-only for both entries and votation?

Opening the contest to everyone would encourage more participation, meaning that there would probably be more entries (and as mentioned, people who might want to join the group). I don't think it'd reach a point that we'd be having something like too many entries even if "outsiders" would send stuff in, though it is a possibility.

We're not setting a 'minimum requirement' for the poems, are we? So, in effect, anything goes? Just wondering... Though in that case there could be like a screening committee (person?) during preliminary submission, plus a longer time for reading/reviewing pieces depending on how many there will be.

...just trying to think up possible scenarios here...I'm not adverse to the idea of letting other people join; I think it's a good idea, actually. Need time to think it over more... ^^

Here comes my late reply

As for a theme, i do agree with what giles said. Having a theme can indeed restrict, but it also helps because you can 'judge' / vote for the pieces having in mind what it's all about.
If it's open themed, you can encounter equally skillfull pieces, but you'll vote for the one which brings the most 'feelings' out of you... i guess in the end it all comes to that anyway, but it might be a little bit unfair... though that's just what i think.
Plus a theme isn't as restricted as one may think : if you give a "summer" theme, why not have a winter poem, and one line about summer is enough, because winter and summer are always associated... you know opposites are basically the same topic .

So i'd be for a theme oriented contest, but a broad theme that one can interpret in many different ways
Anonymous authorship sounds fine, i don't think it's really a burden to organize, except if there are a lot of participating members

I don't have any preferences about the voting methods. Though voting via a thread is nice and simple (plus the participating members can go and thank the people who have voted for them, so it's more interactive in a way ).

One month deadline is good. I think it leaves enough time for willing people to actually do the job... and if not, then other contests can still be done.

Open community contest sounds fine as well. But that includes creating a forum thread to have people participate, having a forum thread for submissions and one for votes... so a little bit more burden than just a group-only contest.

About the voting methods, just thinking about what giles said, i'm not sure about the screening committee... because even if there are no minimun requirements, and you get all kinds of poems, one person may not 'react' to the piece as another, and thus this person might eliminate said piece while another would find meaning to it... different sensitivities i guess.

Oh, and just one question... if there are no minimun requirements, and you get haikus or such short poems, and more conventionnal poems... it might be hard to decide what to vote for . If there are a lot of both, maybe having two categories would be good (but that would be decided at the end).

Sorry for the long reply, and it's good that all you guys / girls keep the group alive

Good to hear from you, Anj! ^^

Well, yeah that's what's got me a bit worried...there could be poems coming in that are just too diverse to compare (relatively) objectively; we all would be going by "feeling"...

...though that in itself isn't really a bad thing...we can't really be judges of what's fair in this world... ^^

Having separate categories sounds okay, though we're not really sure if it would be necessary...yeah, like you say.

And no reply is too long! ^^

This probe now counts five (5)member responses. We need more!@!@!@ ^^

I agree with you, gilesaquil... more responses!

So I've had a few different reponses about topic or not... and I'm still undecided about it. Again, I can see the advantage going both ways, you know?
If you already have a piece you'd like to submit, then a topic is assigned and it doesn't fit, you're screwed. Or if you are the kind who can't look at something and write from it (the motivation has to come from somewhere in you, to risk sounding cliche).
Buuuut, on the other hand, if you're someone that needs some kind of outside inspiration, something to spark the creative juices... and it could affect the voting, too. Do you vote for the one you like best, or the one that best fits/represents the theme? *sigh*

I'm going crazy here, guys, I swear...

Thanks again for the participation; I decided to take advantage of my admin status for the group and PM'd all the members, saying that a contest will be taking place, and that I wanted there opinions here. So far, I've only had two responses... so hopefully more will be coming.

Hmmm...For those who are currently in need of a theme, why not we give some suggestions? In order to limit the various categories and voting, I shall give four themes/examples:

1. Recollection/Reflection: A memory of yourself or an event.

2. A Season: Describing the season itself, or the memorable moments you had during that period.

3. Love: Be it new love or heartbreak.

4. Erratic/Abstract: Written something you find particularly good yet lacks a common interpretation? This is the one for you.

I like that whole Abstract idea, even if that would end up what I would end up writing anyway.

Perhaps, if we choose to go with something like this multiple category system, it would almost be as good as a completely open-ended one.

Alright, so just to recap everything we seem to have decided...

= The contest will last for one month (4 weeks from the day it's announced), and the voting period will be a week and a half (10 days).
= Voting will be done in an open thread; probably in the same thread I post the entries, so you all can read them, and then vote right away. Any opinion on open-community or closed-member voting?
= Anonymous authorship seems to be favored, to cut down on potentially biased voting (not that I'd have to worry about that with you all, right? ). As such, I will probably say to send me the entries, and I'll compile them or something...
= Sounds like we might have a very general theme to go by... again, there've been arguments both for and against so far.

That's all, I think... okay, I lied. I've got another to pose to you: inochikyo and I have not participated in any of the contests before, due to our admin status. Would it be potentially unfair for either of us to participate? (with open voting, I don't think it would be, but I want your opinions, as usual.)

I personally think it would be a great idea for Administrators to participate, as you said before this is a free voting competition and like presidential elections, it's possible and not illegal to vote for yourself (If you get past the first round of the campaign).

Besides, the more entries the better. I'd personally like to see what a whole collaborated effort from the active side of the Poetry Corner could produce in terms of enjoyable and emotional work.

Go Cc! I insist you admin participate! ^^ (that is, if you'd want to) Though that'd all the more support the need for anonymous authorship.

Potentially unfair? Psshhh...nonesense. ^^

Open-community voting is okay I'm not particularly leaning towards one side or the other. In this case, however, all the more author anonymity is needed (notice a trend here? Hmmm...am I being rather pushy? Haha) since we're dealing with the rest of the MT world and not just us members. Too broad to control or say no bias could occur.

The rest of the issues seem okay as of now...though I think you didn't mention if the entries would be from members only or from anyone in MT...am I right in assuming it's the former? Or it hasn't been clearly decided yet?

Yeah! This contest is starting to take definite shape! Definitely looking forward to it now. Good going, group! ^^

Participate, there's no harm with open voting and anonymous authorship.

Let everyone vote, that's my take.