Shiny questions, dystopian concerns, FTL comments, and answers of the universe

[Swamp]

Well, here we are at the final flash contest of the series, Escape Pod.  I have enjoyed the previous two EA contests (don't forget to finish voting in the upcoming Pseudopod polls), but now it is my turn.  Woohoo!  I've been waiting anxiously for this.
Here is the breakdown: 

I have received 156 stories (157 if I get an expected resub).  So we are going to have 20 groups of 8 stories each with the last 4 groups (or 3) containing only seven stories.  That means there will be 5 semi-finals, and 15 stories in the final round.

So strap in, check your coordinates, and Have Fun!

[Unblinking]

Holy crap, good turnout!

Having 15 in the final will probably spread the votes pretty thin, but with so many I'm not sure there's anything to be done about it.

And I'm VERY excited for this to be starting!

[eytanz]

I have received 156 stories (157 if I get an expected resub).  So we are going to have 20 groups of 8 stories each with the last 4 groups (or 3) containing only seven stories.  That means there will be 5 semi-finals, and 15 stories in the final round.

Whoa, that'll be tricky final round to vote in.

Maybe it would be better to do as follows:

18 groups, of which 12/13 are of 9 and 6-7 are of 8. The top 3 in each group go into 6 quarter-finals of 9 stories each, and the top 3 of each quarter finals go into 2 semi-finals of 9 stories each. Then the top 4 of each semi-final go to the final, with 8 stories?

That's only one more poll than the system you propose, and it would eliminate a huge poll at the end.

[Scattercat]

I like eytanz' idea, personally.

[Unblinking]

I like eytanz's idea too.  Even the semifinals of 12 have been so large that the votes are spread too thin--that's okay for a semifinal, but for a final it'd be nice to have a little lower number because there seems to be a clearer winner in those cases.

[Scattercat]

Big groups lead to wide spreads, wide spreads lead to thin votes, thin votes lead to ties, ties lead to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the Dark Side.

[Balu]

Woohoo !

I've really been looking forward to this.

I bet there's going to be a lot of great stuff in amongst those 157 entries.

[Ocicat]

Ya, 15 is really too many for a final.  Having to do an extra round of polls will drag the contest out a little, but at least it's the last contest, and won't be stepping on the other's toes as it goes long.

So another vote for the Eytanz plan.

[Swamp]

Maybe it would be better to do as follows:

18 groups, of which 12/13 are of 9 and 6-7 are of 8. The top 3 in each group go into 6 quarter-finals of 9 stories each, and the top 3 of each quarter finals go into 2 semi-finals of 9 stories each. Then the top 4 of each semi-final go to the final, with 8 stories?

That's only one more poll than the system you propose, and it would eliminate a huge poll at the end.

I think that is a workable solution.  I wouldn't mind narrowing down the final votes either.  We'll proceed with this plan in mind, and I will provide the details later.

Also, I have done my best to separate out the authors with two entries so that their stories will not compete with each other in the semi quarter finals.  If I miss one or two, I am very sorry.  (This is also why part of me is screaming "No, we can't change the format of the groups because I already have everything nicely organized and segregated."   But I don't think it will too big of a deal to make the changes.)

[Yargling]

Question - is it a group a day/week? If not, what is the schedule of events?

[Wilson Fowlie]

I was hoping for a quarter-finals round in this contest if the turnout was as much higher than Podcastle's as expected.  I'm glad it (looks like it)'s going that way.  Well thought-out, eytanz!

[Unblinking]

Maybe it would be better to do as follows:

18 groups, of which 12/13 are of 9 and 6-7 are of 8. The top 3 in each group go into 6 quarter-finals of 9 stories each, and the top 3 of each quarter finals go into 2 semi-finals of 9 stories each. Then the top 4 of each semi-final go to the final, with 8 stories?

That's only one more poll than the system you propose, and it would eliminate a huge poll at the end.

I think that is a workable solution.  I wouldn't mind narrowing down the final votes either.  We'll proceed with this plan in mind, and I will provide the details later.

Also, I have done my best to separate out the authors with two entries so that their stories will not compete with each other in the semi quarter finals.  If I miss one or two, I am very sorry.  (This is also why part of me is screaming "No, we can't change the format of the groups because I already have everything nicely organized and segregated."   But I don't think it will too big of a deal to make the changes.)

Did anyone tell you you're awesome today?  Well, you are.     The splitting of stories so they don't end up in the same semifinals was a nice thing, but I think it's more important to aim for a structure without too many in the final, so if both my stories end up in a semifinal running it's not so bad.

[Unblinking]

Question - is it a group a day/week? If not, what is the schedule of events?

Assuming this contest is run on similar parameters as the last one, typically the timings are:

For the preliminary groups, there is a new group posted every other day, each poll lasting about 1 week.

For the semifinal/final groups, the poll is posted about 2 days after all of its child polls have been completed.


Swamp, I hope you're reading for the long haul!  It's going to be mid-August before all the preliminary groups are posted, let alone the higher level polls. 

[Ocicat]

It would be great if someone would post in a thread whenever a quarterfinal or semifinal goes live, too.  In the other polls it's been confusing, especially once the two day waiting period was enacted.  The semifinal subtopic gets created as soon as the first group is done voting, but the poll isn't actually created until a week or so later.  I know some people have reported missing voting because they didn't realize the poll was up before it was over.

If there was a thread to give announcements for poll creation, people could just keep up with that rather than having to re-check the groups... "is the poll up yet?  ... is it now?"

[Unblinking]

It would be great if someone would post in a thread whenever a quarterfinal or semifinal goes live, too.  In the other polls it's been confusing, especially once the two day waiting period was enacted.  The semifinal subtopic gets created as soon as the first group is done voting, but the poll isn't actually created until a week or so later.  I know some people have reported missing voting because they didn't realize the poll was up before it was over.

If there was a thread to give announcements for poll creation, people could just keep up with that rather than having to re-check the groups... "is the poll up yet?  ... is it now?"

That's a good idea.  It could even be done in this thread, and then if I can just click on the "notify" button so that I'd get an email update.  Usually I have nothing else better to do (or at least I'm avoiding any other possible duties as long as possible) so if I think of it I'll post a message here when a new semifinal/final poll goes up--if someone else notices a poll first you can post instead.

[Bdoomed]

Swamp could create a new thread here just for poll notifications, that way people can ask anything in here and you wouldn't be constantly notified.

make it a locked topic too so it's ONLY poll notifications/group notifications

[Dem]

I'd be jolly grateful for a heads-up about polls as my story might suffer from 'null points' ignominy unless I can get to it myself!
Yes I know. I read the stuff about voting for your own. Only if it's really the best. Well I'm going to add only if it's really the worst too, just so it doesn't feel unloved!

[Unblinking]

Swamp could create a new thread here just for poll notifications, that way people can ask anything in here and you wouldn't be constantly notified.

make it a locked topic too so it's ONLY poll notifications/group notifications

Sounds like a great idea to me.

[Swamp]

Swamp could create a new thread here just for poll notifications, that way people can ask anything in here and you wouldn't be constantly notified.

make it a locked topic too so it's ONLY poll notifications/group notifications

Yes, Swamp can do that gladly.  Where is that Swamp anyway?  I'll pass it on when I find him.

[Swamp]

Question - is it a group a day/week? If not, what is the schedule of events?

Assuming this contest is run on similar parameters as the last one, typically the timings are:

For the preliminary groups, there is a new group posted every other day, each poll lasting about 1 week.

For the semifinal/final groups, the poll is posted about 2 days after all of its child polls have been completed.


Swamp, I hope you're reading for the long haul!  It's going to be mid-August before all the preliminary groups are posted, let alone the higher level polls. 

Everything said hear is correct (although I need to confer with my fellow mods regarding the two day wait on semifinals).

And yes I plan to be in it for the long haul.

[Yargling]

Question - is it a group a day/week? If not, what is the schedule of events?

Assuming this contest is run on similar parameters as the last one, typically the timings are:

For the preliminary groups, there is a new group posted every other day, each poll lasting about 1 week.

For the semifinal/final groups, the poll is posted about 2 days after all of its child polls have been completed.


Swamp, I hope you're reading for the long haul!  It's going to be mid-August before all the preliminary groups are posted, let alone the higher level polls. 

Everything said hear is correct (although I need to confer with my fellow mods regarding the two day wait on semifinals).

And yes I plan to be in it for the long haul.

So... I have to wait another two days for the next round of stories I can read? *gives Swamp the puppy dog eyes*

[Wilson Fowlie]

So... I have to wait another two days for the next round of stories I can read? *gives Swamp the puppy dog eyes*

For the next round, yes, but there are two whole other contests' worth of stories to read while you're waiting...

[Swamp]

Assuming this contest is run on similar parameters as the last one, typically the timings are:

For the preliminary groups, there is a new group posted every other day, each poll lasting about 1 week.

For the semifinal/final groups, the poll is posted about 2 days after all of its child polls have been completed.


Swamp, I hope you're reading for the long haul!  It's going to be mid-August before all the preliminary groups are posted, let alone the higher level polls. 

Everything said hear is correct (although I need to confer with my fellow mods regarding the two day wait on semifinals).

And yes I plan to be in it for the long haul.

So... I have to wait another two days for the next round of stories I can read? *gives Swamp the puppy dog eyes*

It is tempting to go to a daily poll, I agree, but I think there is wisdom in the every other day posting.  For people who are jumping on the poll as soon as it posted, it seems like a no brainer, but for people with limited access time, once they got behind, it would be much more difficult to catch up and vote in every poll.  They are likely to just give up.  And we want as many voters as we can get.  Compared to burying people with polls and losing them, having people anxiously ready to vote for the next poll seems like a good trade-off.

[Scattercat]

I wave my tiny fists and flail!

[Portrait in Flesh]

I wave my tiny fists and flail!

Whoa.  Didn't know you could cut a rug like that.