Escape Artists
The Arcade => Flash Contest VII => Completed Contests => Flash Fiction Contest VII - PseudoPod => Topic started by: Bdoomed on August 10, 2021, 06:11:11 AM
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SCHEDULE
The PseudoPod Flash Fiction Contest VII will begin on October 4, 2021!
We received 260 stories in total (huge shoutout to our authors, you guys rock), which means Round 1 is going to be brutal. As such, I have decided to split stories into 20 groups (10 groups of 14, 10 groups of 12). These groups will be initially released in batches of 4 each week. That means, on October 4, 70 stories will be released for your voting consideration. The initial round will be open for votes for 3 weeks to give everyone time to read each story.
This is an attempt at a balance between getting the stories out there and giving everyone enough time to make it through all 260 stories.
Please pace yourselves! Voting fatigue is real
Round 2 will consist of 5 rounds of 12 stories each and polls will be open for one week.
The Semifinal round will consist of one group of 9 stories and one group of 6 stories. Polls will remain open for one week.
Our Final round will consist of 6 stories and the poll will remain open for one week.
All in all, the contest will run from October 4 to approximately December 16. The full schedule is posted below, click on it for the full-size image.
Some rounds may be delayed in the event of tiebreaker runoff polls, which will be posted as soon as the poll ends and remain open for 3 days.
UPDATED SCHEDULE: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kTdCoOjVF_eXxPLUqh_N7Ds6wLSBfhtND4z1ZWxA5qU/edit?usp=sharing
There will be no more semifinal round. Instead, the 15 stories that would have participated in two semifinals will now go straight to a final round, where three stories will be picked over the course of one week. This poll will be open from December 1 to December 8.
Dates, as always, are subject to change in lieu of tiebreaker runoff polls.
May the best stories win, and I hope everyone has as much fun reading as I do running this lovely contest!
RULES
A special Flash Fiction contest portal will be open on Moksha (https://escapeartists.moksha.io/publication/pseudopod) and will close at midnight as August 31 changes over to 9/1. If the portal disappears, submissions are formally closed and will not reopen.
1. The story must be no more than 500 words long, not including its title. Do not use the title to skirt around the word count. Word count will be determined using Google Docs*.
2. The story must adhere to the general Pseudopod submission guidelines. Most importantly, it needs to be a horror story; other genres, including science fiction and fantasy, are discouraged. As a general rule, we will take a very liberal view of what constitutes horror, but authors should note that past experience shows that stories which attempt to skirt the genre restriction tend to fare badly in the voting.
3. The story must be original and previously unpublished. Stories will be posted on a members-only portion of the forum, so first publication rights will not be spent if your story does not win.
The person submitting the story must be the story's author (or acting for the author with express permission) and hold full publishing rights to the story. A story that is derived from a previous published work in another format (i.e. not a short story) is fine (assuming doing so isn't in violation of copyright, obviously).
If you are not sure whether your story counts as published or not (for example, if an earlier version has appeared on your blog but nowhere else), please write (PM or send a query to brian@escapeartists.net with the subject line "QUERY") and ask before submitting. Please do not submit stories that have been entries in a previous Escape Artists contest.
4. The story should be submitted in its final form, as the author intends it to be read by the voting public. We may or may not allow minor typo corrections if those slip in, but as a general rule, we will not allow authors to submit changes to stories, especially not after submissions are closed.
5. Each author may submit only one story.
6. This is an anonymous contest. You are not allowed to claim ownership of a story while it is still in the running, and you may not send your friends in to vote for your story.
Included the body of the submission should be the title and the text of your story. Any byline will be stripped when the stories are posted in the contest, and will be revealed when either the story fails to advance, or ultimately wins. Feel free to request a pseudonym for the byline, but we will need a legal name if you win for prize purposes.
Winners will be paid $0.08 per word, making this a pro sale.
Please blog, tweet, email, send postcards, telephone, summon demons, and otherwise get the word out.
* Note: In close cases with word count and Google Docs (ex. 501 words), alternate wordcount services may be employed such as https://wordcounter.net. Discrepancies usually happen due to novel uses of punctuation that Docs counts as a word, etc. You won't be disqualified just because of a header that 'confuses' Google Docs slightly over the wordcount. It's the spirit of the law, not the letter!
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When are these going to start being posted (October, IIRC?) and when does voting close? Thanks!
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When are these going to start being posted (October, IIRC?) and when does voting close? Thanks!
Depends on the number of entries. But the bulk of the event will be in October, because it's the best month of the year.
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[But the bulk of the event will be in October, because it's the best month of the year.
Indeed it is! Thanks.
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Hey there! I finished my competition piece and went to submit it before midnight, but the portal was closed when I arrived. The thread says midnight so I wasn't exactly sure which time zone was required; I'm in the central time zone, and I did finish it before midnight CST. Is there any way I can still submit my piece? Was the deadline in EST? Usually most competitions I've been in close at midnight PST so the rest of the US can submit it before midnight. Thanks for helping to clear my confusion.
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Guys. I don't... I don't know what to do.
265 submissions! This is actual insanity. I legitimately don't know how to contain them all in small enough group sizes to allow for easy voting and few enough groups to avoid voting fatigue. Anyone have any bright ideas? Seriously.
(axellazuli please DM me)
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I don't know if this would work but how about 18 groups consisting of between 14 and 15 stories each. Maybe vote up to 4 stories per group.
All the groups are posted at once and all stay up for 2 months. That would eliminate the pressure of a time limit.
People can then choose to read them in whatever order they want.
It wouldn't matter if some people didn't read all the stories because people always drop out regardless.
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Guys. I don't... I don't know what to do.
265 submissions! This is actual insanity. I legitimately don't know how to contain them all in small enough group sizes to allow for easy voting and few enough groups to avoid voting fatigue. Anyone have any bright ideas? Seriously.
(axellazuli please DM me)
That's like 16 groups of 16. Actual insanity, indeed.
Something worth considering is only have two stories move up from the first several rounds instead of three. That would contract the schedule quickly.
For future flash fiction contests, we may have to consider a cap on the number of entry slots to keep the competition manageable.
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Encourage people to only read every second group in the first round?
That is awesome, but oof.
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Split the stories into two separate and complete competitions. When the first competition ends have a month's rest and run the second competition.
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Guys. I don't... I don't know what to do.
265 submissions! This is actual insanity. I legitimately don't know how to contain them all in small enough group sizes to allow for easy voting and few enough groups to avoid voting fatigue. Anyone have any bright ideas? Seriously.
(axellazuli please DM me)
Is it too far outside the spirit of the contest to let the editors select their top n entries and run the voting based on those? Some stories would miss out on potentially valuable feedback, but the engagement might be stronger with a tighter set of entries?
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Is it too far outside the spirit of the contest to let the editors select their top n entries and run the voting based on those? Some stories would miss out on potentially valuable feedback, but the engagement might be stronger with a tighter set of entries?
I was thinking that - for future contests at least! It's difficult to know what's best with one that's already running.
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Is it too far outside the spirit of the contest to let the editors select their top n entries and run the voting based on those? Some stories would miss out on potentially valuable feedback, but the engagement might be stronger with a tighter set of entries?
For me, that would defeat the purpose of the competition. There'd be no point in running the competition as you can just submit to the regular slush pile. And it would add a lot of extra work for someone.
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I don't think this is as scary as you think (and for Pseudopod, scary is good, no?) - last Escape Pod flash had 22 heats!
If you want to go the "easily divided" route, you could do 16 groups of 16, with people voting for top 3?
That reduces to 4 semi's of 12+ (there may be some equal scores, joint 3rd etc, especially if you don't get so many voters. If you allowed top 4, you'd end up with 16+). Again, top 3(with joint 3rds) from each proceed.
One final of 12+
This is "harsher" in terms of drop off than normal - previous Pseudopod contests have had quarterfinals as well - but otherwise things do tend to drag on.
The challenge will be to incentivise people to read more than a group or two. Or perhaps, to encourage feedback - the primary benefit for those who don't actually win. You could have a "voters" prize - an award made to someone who has been particularly helpful, or (better) a lottery of anyone who (say) comments on at least 32 stories (two heats). The latter encourages many, whereas SOMEONE will read and comment on them all, even without prize.
I wouldn't do a "pre-cull" round internally, because, for those submitting, that seems to break the unspoken contract - this is a peer-judged contest.
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I'm thinking some kind of hybrid approach -- multiple groups posted at once (Iike 3 or so) open for longer periods of time, and yeah vote for top 3, skip quarterfinals. I need to map it out still but I think it's doable.
I agree with Xart, having editors pick their top stories defeats the purpose of the contest and puts a lot of work on the editors to make those decisions. That's up to you all to decide, not us!
Hoping to get the whole thing planned out this weekend and have an official announcement by Sunday/Monday. Stay tuned and thanks for your patience!
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I would not be opposed to a prize for a certain number of commenters, by volume or lottery. I do love a good lottery. I have a nice rock saved up for the next one. I have some cool PseudoPod lanyards that I could mail out to winners.
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I don't know how many groups there will end up being but I get fatigue where there are more than 10 stories in a group. Maybe others are similar. Perhaps something to consider when setting up the groups.
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I would not be opposed to a prize for a certain number of commenters, by volume or lottery. I do love a good lottery. I have a nice rock saved up for the next one. I have some cool PseudoPod lanyards that I could mail out to winners.
Can confirm, the lanyards are great. I've had mine on my keys for many many months now.
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Alas, alak, I've had to withdraw my entry for the best possible reason - it has found a home elsewhere! (Timing not so good - if the voting was open already, I'd have turned down the acceptance (or asked them to wait) and if subs were still open I might have been able to replace it with another story, but I can't really complain!)
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Eyyy congrats Liam!
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Hello hello. Schedule has been posted (edit to the first post)! It's a bit weird, but I'm weary of dragging the contest on too long, and 260 stories is a lot. But I'm pumped and I hope you all are too!
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Ack the image didn't post correctly, I'll have to fix that when I get home! Sorry folks!
Edit: image fixed
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If there are only 15 stories in the Semi Finals, couldn't that just be the Finals?
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Apologies if this is a daft question - is it considered acceptable to participate in the voting if you've entered a story?
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Can't wait to see all the lovely works!
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You can absolutely vote for stories if you're a contestant. You can even vote on your own story! You cannot get others to vote on your story by claiming it as your own publicly or by telling others in private which story is yours :)
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If there are only 15 stories in the Semi Finals, couldn't that just be the Finals?
That's... not a bad idea.
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Apologies if this is a daft question - is it considered acceptable to participate in the voting if you've entered a story?
It certainly is!
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You can absolutely vote for stories if you're a contestant. You can even vote on your own story! You cannot get others to vote on your story by claiming it as your own publicly or by telling others in private which story is yours :)
Excellent! Thanks for clarifying. Despite being a long-term Pseudopod listener/subscriber, I've never really observed the existence of the forums before and the whole nature of the flash contest has been a little tricky to figure out :-)
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Groups 1-4 have been released! Let the voting begin!
There will be a change to the schedule -- I'm going to combine the semifinal into one 15-story final round (brutal, I know). I'll have a new schedule drawn up sometime today/tomorrow along with a link to the file itself if anyone wants a text version.
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Obligatory first post, and looking forward to reading!
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FYI, the next set of groups are to be posted on the 11th. I have a flight that day so they'll be a little late getting posted!
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Groups 1-4 have been released! Let the voting begin!
There will be a change to the schedule -- I'm going to combine the semifinal into one 15-story final round (brutal, I know). I'll have a new schedule drawn up sometime today/tomorrow along with a link to the file itself if anyone wants a text version.
Question: at risk of sounding a little daft, I'm unsure where the stories for these groups will be available to read. Am I missing a link?
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They are in the Arcade section of the forums under Pseudopod Flash Fiction contest VII. ;)
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Excited to catch up on all of these submissions!
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Not sure how to actually place my vote. I get to the screen that says pick your 3 favorite stories in the group. When I click on one it appears to just take me to that story...
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Not sure how to actually place my vote. I get to the screen that says pick your 3 favorite stories in the group. When I click on one it appears to just take me to that story...
You shouldn't even be able to see the stories before you make a post in the forums - there was a permissions problem that allowed you to do that. I've changed the perms on that - so if the stories disappeared for anyone, just make a post and they'll be back!
And! You should have checkboxes next to all the items in the poll to allow you to vote for three stories.
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Thanks for the clarification! I am new to this whole forum thing.... Excited to join the digital age!
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When the heat winners go through to the next round, it might be nice/sensible/fair if they don't have to compete with those they've already competed with. I.e. if winner of group 1 goes into the first 2nd round group, and the 2nd place goes into the 2nd 2nd, and the 3rd into the 3rd, and then the winner of group 2 goes into the second 2nd round group, and so on, (striped, if you like) then each story will compete against new opposition. Just an idea!
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Excited to participate. Thanks for explaining the rules!
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Not sure how to actually place my vote. I get to the screen that says pick your 3 favorite stories in the group. When I click on one it appears to just take me to that story...
You shouldn't even be able to see the stories before you make a post in the forums - there was a permissions problem that allowed you to do that. I've changed the perms on that - so if the stories disappeared for anyone, just make a post and they'll be back!
And! You should have checkboxes next to all the items in the poll to allow you to vote for three stories.
I was wondering where the stories had gone!
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Sorry, folks
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Do people usually submit stories that haven't been beta-d by anyone to preserve anonymity? Or have beta readers but don't tell them about the competition? I feel like the Venn diagram of the friends I have that I would swap critiques with and the ones who would get a lot out of this competition is a circle.
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Thanks! I was wondering what happened 😊. Excited to participate this year!
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Do people usually submit stories that haven't been beta-d by anyone to preserve anonymity? Or have beta readers but don't tell them about the competition? I feel like the Venn diagram of the friends I have that I would swap critiques with and the ones who would get a lot out of this competition is a circle.
Zeke, members of my writing group don't show each other stories they plan to submit to EA contests.
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Are the new groups up? I think I mistakenly got to them earlier when I clicked group 1 but it went back to normal.
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Thanks for the clarification! I am new to this whole forum thing.... Excited to join the digital age!
I thought I was the only one. Excited for to be a part of this
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You shouldn't even be able to see the stories before you make a post in the forums - there was a permissions problem that allowed you to do that. I've changed the perms on that - so if the stories disappeared for anyone, just make a post and they'll be back!
Thanks for clarifying that!
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More groups being posted today? I just see last week's 4.
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Wasn't today supposed to be the second set of Round 1 groups?
My concern is that stories that end up in later groups are already at a disadvantage due to review fatigue, and not having them show up on the advertised day makes it even more likely that these later stories won't be voted on as much as the earlier ones.
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Hi! As I posted earlier, I was traveling today and the next groups are going to be a bit late. Working on them now!
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Alllright, sorry for the delay, folks, but Groups 5-8 have been posted!
My concern is that stories that end up in later groups are already at a disadvantage due to review fatigue, and not having them show up on the advertised day makes it even more likely that these later stories won't be voted on as much as the earlier ones.
Yes, voter fatigue is a thing. Unfortunately, I'm human and while I endeavor to get groups posted around midnight when they're scheduled to appear, life happens. These groups will be available for voting for 3 weeks. I don't think a few hours on the front-end of that is going to tank the vote.
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Note: schedule has been updated in the first post, and you can also now view that schedule here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kTdCoOjVF_eXxPLUqh_N7Ds6wLSBfhtND4z1ZWxA5qU/edit?usp=sharing
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Unfortunately, I'm human and while I endeavor to get groups posted around midnight when they're scheduled to appear, life happens.
❤
Sorry, didn't mean to appear as if I'm complaining! This is awesome, and I'm so glad to be a part of it.
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Hooray for new entries!
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Zeke, members of my writing group don't show each other stories they plan to submit to EA contests.
Thanks Languorous Lass! That definitely seems like the better way to go.
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Not going to suggest how anyone votes, but as this is quite a long contest, and I've been picking off commenting on those stories with no comments, because I feel the feedback is a major part of this, and sometimes there seems to be a reluctance to be first up to comment. That said, the last stories with no comments are quite likely to be... trickier? Slightly unloved? But if you are diving in and can spare the feedback for the lonely stories, then go for it!
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Feeling’ a little dumb, I can’t seem to find these stories? I was able to view the first round right in this forum.
Edit: by some coding sorcery, I was able to view right after I posted which would be my first post. Lesson learned; I’ll pass it on to my next life.
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Feeling’ a little dumb, I can’t seem to find these stories? I was able to view the first round right in this forum.
Edit: by some coding sorcery, I was able to view right after I posted which would be my first post. Lesson learned; I’ll pass it on to my next life.
What is this sorcery? Because I've had the same problem the whole time. I can not for the life of me find the actual stories.
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What is this sorcery? Because I've had the same problem the whole time. I can not for the life of me find the actual stories.
You need to be logged in and have posted on the forum at least once and then go here: Escape Artists > The Arcade > Flash Fiction Contest VII - PseudoPod (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?board=478.0) and you should see the groups of stories posted so far (at the moment 8 groups). Click each and the stories are there. If not, then there's some problem.
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This is helpful information. Currently I can't see the stories, but maybe posting this reply will reveal the magic.
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Do people usually submit stories that haven't been beta-d by anyone to preserve anonymity? Or have beta readers but don't tell them about the competition? I feel like the Venn diagram of the friends I have that I would swap critiques with and the ones who would get a lot out of this competition is a circle.
I myself turned to friends who don't participate in this contest to help proof-read my submission. My writing group has at least two members who are active here and it wouldn't be fair. It's good to have multiple writing friends/people willing to read your work even if they aren't writers. It is interesting to see the reactions of my other writing friends whom I don't normally send horror to, though!
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Groups 9 through 12 are live! Now go do that voodoo that you do so well!
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Groups 9 through 12 are live! Now go do that voodoo that you do so well!
I’m curious, how are you finding participation with the new format compared to the previous way of releasing stories? Are the stories getting similar views/comments? Has it helped with reader drop off?
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I like the new format of how stories are appearing in batches a week apart. It feels less pressured.
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I haven't done any analytics on it yet. I'm waiting for a full set to close out before I start on that whole project. I'm definitely curious to see how the new format is working though. It'll be a learning experience either way.
At this moment, I feel like I made the right decision -- it just *feels* like there's more time to read each story before another bunch roll out, unlike previous contests where it was every other day you'd get another load of stories.
Hopefully the numbers will be clear enough to draw conclusions. It's hard though, since there are sooo many other factors that could influence these numbers. But we'll see :)
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Looking forward to reading these...
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Hello, just learned that I had to register here to see the FF contest stories (including mine), and also that I have to post something first so my newborn account is not purged. I have no idea if this will work, so I'll just post and see.
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It's easy, just make a post & you will be activated
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Yes, it is easy...
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By thisse post I do make thy incantacion to reveal the horror!
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Groups 13 through 16 have been released!
Also, Groups 1 through 4 polls have closed! (Woo!). Winners of these groups will be officially announced later today.
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Hello, just learned that I had to register here to see the FF contest stories (including mine), and also that I have to post something first so my newborn account is not purged. I have no idea if this will work, so I'll just post and see.
Thanks for this, I have been trying figure out how to read the stories!
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Hello. I'm extremely confused. I submitted to this contest and I last time I checked up on the polling, around the time of the first groups release, I could see everything. Now I can only see this thread...
EDIT: Never mind, it seems to have appeared now.
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Hello. I'm extremely confused. I submitted to this contest and I last time I checked up on the polling, around the time of the first groups release, I could see everything. Now I can only see this thread...
EDIT: Never mind, it seems to have appeared now.
I had board permissions screwed up at first. You need to have at least one post to view the stories 🙃
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You shouldn't even be able to see the stories before you make a post in the forums - there was a permissions problem that allowed you to do that. I've changed the perms on that - so if the stories disappeared for anyone, just make a post and they'll be back!
And! You should have checkboxes next to all the items in the poll to allow you to vote for three stories.
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I was wondering where the stories had gone!
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I'm just trying to figure this whole thing out, so...here's a post to hopefully help me find the stories?
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first post for stories
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Should I be seeing a Round 2 voting already?
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^ ACK you're so right. That totally got away from me, my apologies! Going to get the first group of round 2 up ASAP!
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Hey so Round 2 (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?board=496.0) has been posted. Totally on time, totally exactly when it was supposed to hit. No idea what you're talking about. Look at the official schedule, it reads Oct 29 posting date! Psh. Why are you looking at me like that? I honestly don't know what you're on about.
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No name reveals of those authors who didn't advance? Or just not yet? I always liked seeing who had written what in these contests.
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It'll be forthcoming :) In the meantime, authors of stories that did not advance are more than welcome to 'out' themselves!
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Heads up! If you haven't voted already for groups 4-8, get your votes in soon! These groups close November 1.
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me, too
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Replying for visibility.
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Heads up! The final four groups have been posted! Also, the next four groups are closing in ~16 hours so get those votes in!
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Maybe this has already been posted, but I didn't see it in the rules. What happens in the event of a tie among the leaders? Will both stories advance? Or will there be some sort of tie-breaker?
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Ooop looks like I left it out of this year's rules -- I'll get some language in there shortly.
Essentially, a runoff poll is held, and if THAT one ties, then I'm the tiebreaker.
Edit: Nope, turns out I DID have it and then struck it out in error when doing some further edits to the scheduling language
Some rounds may be delayed in the event of tiebreaker runoff polls, which will be posted as soon as the poll ends and remain open for 3 days.
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Just dipped in to comment on the zero -comment, least viewed stories in groups 9/10/11/12. If a few more people do the same, then every story even if it doesn't advance, still goes home with feedback!
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Fun
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It looks like group 17 is visible without being logged in.
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It looks like group 17 is visible without being logged in.
Thanks for noticing that, I went and fixed it.
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Oop, thanks!
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Hoping to get authors up for the recent groups by Friday — I’m going back through all the submissions to make sure I’ve picked out all the correct pseudonyms if they’re requested!
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I'm late to the party and new to the forum. Where do we go to vote?
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Tgriff, if you haven't already figured it out, just click on "Flash Fiction Contest VII -- PseudoPod" and you should be able to see the groups of stories. Just click on one of the groups. The voting's already closed in some groups, including Group 1 in Round 2.
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Get your votes in for Groups 9-12, they're closing in just a few hours!
Author names have been posted for Groups 5-8 and shortly for Round 2 Group 1
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Hey everyone, be sure to head on back to Group 9 for the first Tiebreaker Poll. It's open for only three days so cast your votes quickly! http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=15214
Edit: Ditto for Group 12 http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=15215
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Another runoff poll is up! Who will survive Round 2 Group 2? YOU DECIDE! http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=15224
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There doesn't appear to be an even spread of stories in this competition. Some groups were stacked with good stories that deserved to progress but won't. Meanwhile weaker stories in other group progress.
I don't know what the solution is. Is there a fairer way?
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Unfortunately that's just the luck of the draw. Stories were completely randomized. The outcome would likely be the same in either case -- good stories that deserve to progress would still end up losing out to the stories they lost to initially, just in a later round. So it doesn't _really_ matter much in the end except for bragging rights.
We could move to some kind of double-elimination, but we're already combating some pretty heavy voter attrition and that would just make things way way worse.
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Bdoomed, can stories that don't win the competition be submitted to Pseudopod?
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yes! I would wait until the contest is over, because the editors can and will select their own favorites to purchase (usually from the finals round but there's no rules there)
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Related question, I noticed that in round 5 an author asked for their story that didn't advance to be deleted before they submitted it somewhere else. Since these forums are private, though, it's not really a necessity though, is it? Just caution on their part?
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Correct. These stories are considered unpublished since they can only be seen by forum members with a post history. You're more than welcome to request deletion of your story, but it's not necessary to retain first publication rights.
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Will those that didn't advance receive an official notice from PseudoPod? For purposes of reporting to Submission Grinder...
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Is the rest of Round 2 Group 3 going to appear soon?
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Will those that didn't advance receive an official notice from PseudoPod? For purposes of reporting to Submission Grinder...
Depends on if the software we're using lets me send out mass messages at the end of the contest, otherwise no (Moksha is newer to the org, super new to me, so I don't know its capabilities fully and I don't know if I even have access to do something like that). Generally I like to send out messages to everyone but it's not guaranteed for the purposes of this contest.
Is the rest of Round 2 Group 3 going to appear soon?
Yes! Sorry, life keeps getting in the way. I posted the poll announcements in the middle of the workday so I wasn't able to get the stories transferred over and whatnot. Working on that now. :)
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Round 2 Group 3 (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?board=502.0) is alive and hungry for your votes. Don't make it wait. You won't like it if it has to wait.
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"Depends on if the software we're using lets me send out mass messages at the end of the contest, otherwise no (Moksha is newer to the org, super new to me, so I don't know its capabilities fully and I don't know if I even have access to do something like that). Generally I like to send out messages to everyone but it's not guaranteed for the purposes of this contest."
Therefore, for those who did not advance to the next round, we are free to submit our work elsewhere?
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Therefore, for those who did not advance to the next round, we are free to submit our work elsewhere?
Yes!
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How should unsuccessful entries be reported (to Submission Grinder or Duotrope)? Rejection form? Rejection personal? Withdrawn?
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That's a good question, and one I'm not entirely sure how to answer. It's not like PseudoPod is rejecting the story, specifically. The Submission Grinder doesn't really have a category for contests. I suppose it's up to your judgement, but I'd lean towards 'personal' rejection since it was voted on by forum members, likely has one or more comments on it, and simply didn't continue to further rounds.
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How should unsuccessful entries be reported (to Submission Grinder or Duotrope)? Rejection form? Rejection personal? Withdrawn?
There's actually a special Submission Grinder entry you can use, "PseudoPod Flash Fiction Contest" https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/Market/Index?id=1164
Rejection form or personal are what I'd use.
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For some reason I can't find the stories anywhere, like they aren't showing up for me at all.
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How should unsuccessful entries be reported (to Submission Grinder or Duotrope)? Rejection form? Rejection personal? Withdrawn?
There's actually a special Submission Grinder entry you can use, "PseudoPod Flash Fiction Contest" https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/Market/Index?id=1164
Rejection form or personal are what I'd use.
10-4 thank you
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For some reason I can't find the stories anywhere, like they aren't showing up for me at all.
You should be able to see them now -- you need at least one post in the forums to unlock the stories!
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Round 2 Group 4 is aliiiiive! http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=15247.0
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Bit of a busy day today, folks. Expect the next group announcement to come a bit later today!
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New here! Excited to read some stories
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New runoff polls up for Group 18 and 19, get your votes in quick, because they're open for only three days!
Group 18: http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=15287
Group 19: http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=15285
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Long time listener, first time caller.
Making the obligatory linkless first post to stave off deletion.
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New here, also. Just looking to see what the stories are.
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Will Round 2 group 5 go up soon?
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I suspect Bdoomed will wait until the runoff polls have closed, which happens on November 26. But I'm just speculating. :)
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Correct! There are two runoff polls currently, and once they're finished and we know who wins third place in groups 18 and 19, the next round will go up.
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Posting so I can operate the polls, thankyouverymuch.
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This has been fun to watch.
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Groups 18 and 19 will be closing out a bit later today and then I'll be posting Round 2 Group 5 right after! I'm shooting for ~9 EST to get that all up, so stay tuned!
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Hey go check out Round 2 Group 5! http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?board=504.0
Voting is open for a week and then we're on to the final round!
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Obligatory first post! This is exciting!
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Our last round before the finals closes tomorrow around 10:30pm EST, so get your votes in if you have not already!
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Hello, tentacles! The Final Round is up and ready for voting carnage! It's running for 10 days so you can have some extra time to brush up on all of our finalists! Happy voting! http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?board=505.0
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I'm awfully late to the party! :-[
But I'm excited to vote on the finalists!
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Am I too late to see the finalists?
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We have a TIEBREAKER on our hands in the finals! *Spicy!*
For the next three days, these two awesome stories will be battling for a place at the top, so get your votes in!
http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=15358
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Can’t wait to check ‘‘em out
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My first post. Looking forward to reading some awesome flash fiction.
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My first post, thanks so much for putting this on!
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First post, happy to be here!
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The final bell has been rung, the curtains drawn, the battle... over.
And only three remain standing. Battered, bloody, but alive (we think).
VICTORY belongs to the winners of the PseudoPod Flash Fiction Contest VII!
In first place, with 21 votes, the undisputed champion Got Your Nose by Karlo Yeager Rodriguez (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=14858.0)!
In second place, with 14 votes, Weapons They Gave You to Fight the Blood Monster by Hannah Whiteoak (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=15066.0)!
And in third place, after a particularly vicious tiebreaker, with 12 and then 26 votes, Overnight Home Companion by Frank J. Oreto (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=14812.0)!
Certainly deserving of an honorable mention for a hard-fought tiebreaker is Fishing Season by Anna Madden (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=14955.0) -- that was neck and neck for a long time!
Thank you, once again, to all of our authors, voters, and commenters -- you are all amazing people and this contest would be nothing without you!
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Is there anyone else who still says "Closed" on Moksha?
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Yes, mine is still showing "closed" as well.
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Yup, mine's also closed. I was just wondering whether we should be expecting notification of rejection in the usual manner, or whether it's just a matter of checking in here? (I know I was out in a very early round!)
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I came, I saw, I posted.
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Do we know about when the stories will be released?
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Posting to peruse any notes left on my sub. Thanks again for hosting such a great contest, and congrats to the winners!
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posting so i can see how it happened
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first post by curious author
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First post to see contest. Thanks.
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I'm hoping that by writing here I'll be able to see the stories. I feel kinda dumb for not being able to figure this out. :-(
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Writing here to see if I can see the comments on my story! Congrats to all who participated :)
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Ohhhh, so I have to reply here before I can see the stories? I did not know that.
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Didn't realize that, either. Apparently this is a lurker-free zone.
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That's a neat feature to make sure the place stays active!
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Posting so hopefully I can view the stories. Congratulations to the winners.
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Token post to see the stories, congratulate the winners and commisserate the other people who didn't make it through.
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What's going on? Why am I here?
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What's going on? Why am I here?
I understand your confusion 8)
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Commenting to see the stories...
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Hoping by posting I get so see at which fence my story fell...
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Same as everyone else, excited to have finally joined and interested in seeing how I did!
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Hi. Am attempting to post so I'm authorized to see the contest results.
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me too
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Just want to see the stories!
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hiii
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Congrats to the winners! Posting to see the stories : )
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9 out of 10 undertakers would recommend this product to a friend.
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Congrats to the winners! Would love to see the stories.
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Congrats to the winners!
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What's going on? Why am I here?
I understand your confusion 8)
Very late, but I love this 8)