Author Topic: Wondering what group you're in?  (Read 21806 times)

SFEley

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on: February 02, 2007, 03:45:43 AM
Okay, so we've hit February, and we're just over a third of the way through posting all of the contest entries for initial voting.  There are 27 groups in total, with a final count (unless I missed something) of 321 stories.

I know a lot of people have been getting anxious to see their stories posted, and are wondering when it'll happen.  I understand that feeling.  Only a few of you have e-mailed me to say "Where the hell is my story I e-mailed it two days ago and it's not up on the boards yet what did I do wrong oh my god TELL ME PLEASE?!?!?!"  To those of you who didn't do that, you have my gratitude, and my sympathy if it was tempting.

I am e-mailing people as their stories get posted to let them know.  Unfortunately, I haven't had time to send acknowledgement e-mails for all the hundreds of stories.  I have checked the word count on all of them and put them into groups, however.  If you sent to contest@escapepod.org and you didn't receive a rejection message from me saying that your story was too long, you can trust that it's in there somewhere.  Story length, i.e. going over 300 words, is the only reason we have rejected any stories.  (Well, that and one person who sent me 10 stories in the same message.)

But I can tell you here, all at once, in general terms, what the date ranges are.  If you can remember (or find in your send logs) when you e-mailed your story, this'll probably let you deduce your approximate group.

In general, if you followed the rules, you can expect your first story to be posted in the following groups:

Group 11 contains stories from 1/21 through 1/22 (and a few from 1/25, because of an organizational error)

Group 12 contains stories from 1/22 through 1/23

Group 13 contains stories from 1/22 through 1/25

Group 14 contains stories from 1/23 through 1/27

Group 15 contains stories from 1/27

Group 16 contains stories from 1/27 through 1/28

Group 17 contains stories from 1/28

Group 18 contains stories from 1/28 through 1/29

Group 19 contains stories from 1/29

Groups 20 and 21 contain stories from 1/30

Group 22 contains stories from 1/30 through 1/31

Groups 23 through 27 contain stories from 1/31

Yes, you all are a bunch of procrastinators.  >8->  I'm giving you this list so you'll know when to start looking for your story.  If you didn't send it until January 30, there's no point in asking me about it before Group 20 goes up.  And so forth.

Now, there are a few things that can throw your group off:

If you sent to submit@escapepod.org instead of contest@escapepod.org, you're going to be in a later group than I said above.  That's because you sent it to the wrong address.  Scott's been forwarding messages to me if they're obviously contest entries, but he gets to them a few days later, and I'm slotting them based on my receipt date at the contest address.  You'd be surprised how many people did this.

If you sent more than one story, then we're bending over backwards to make sure your stories don't all end up in the same group.  This is actually for your benefit, to prevent your stories from competing against each other in the first round.  But it means your second and third stories may end up in a later group than your date suggests.  (Usually the next consecutive group, but not always.)

If you sent multiple stories in the same message, it gets even more complicated.  I didn't specifically prohibit this, so a lot of people did it, but it throws off our organizing scheme which is based on IMAP mail folders.  I had to forward multiple copies of your e-mail back to myself just so I could put it into three folders.  This isn't strictly bad, but it does make the dates all wacky for your second and third stories.  I did the best I could to keep them close together, but I can't make any guarantees.  Just trust that if your first story goes up, your other two eventually will too.

...Whew.  I hope this made a slight degree of sense to someone.  If you have any questions I didn't cover, feel free to ask.  And if you've sent us stories before January 21 and haven't seen a single one yet, e-mail me or send me a private message and I'll try to figure out what's going on. 

Thanks again.  Man, has this gotten big.  >8->

ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine


Heradel

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Reply #1 on: February 02, 2007, 03:52:37 AM
You need interns.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


SFEley

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Reply #2 on: February 02, 2007, 03:58:31 AM
You need interns.

My experience has been that, if something has a limited duration, training someone else to do it consistently is usually more time-consuming than just doing it.

If we are going to do contests again on a regular basis, though, I'm definitely going to put someone else in charge, and let them come up with their own methods.

ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine


GoodDamon

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Reply #3 on: February 02, 2007, 06:24:40 AM
You need clones, then.

Damon Kaswell: Reader, writer, and arithmetic-er


Rachel Swirsky

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Reply #4 on: February 02, 2007, 06:57:43 AM
So, 321 stories means 27 groups and 81 semi-finalists, which in turn means 7 semi-finalist groups, and 21 finalists. Do I have that right?



Heradel

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Reply #5 on: February 02, 2007, 07:26:15 AM
Eugh, 21 finalists? Maybe only the top two should be taken from the semi-finals. Or any story within 5 votes of the top story in the group.


I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


SFEley

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Reply #6 on: February 02, 2007, 08:07:26 AM
So, 321 stories means 27 groups and 81 semi-finalists, which in turn means 7 semi-finalist groups, and 21 finalists. Do I have that right?

Yes, that's the right math. 

And while I agree that 21 finalists is rather a lot, I'm not inclined to screw with the formula any more than we already have.  By then most people will have read all those stories once or twice, so it shouldn't be hard to keep them all straight.

ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine


Airickson

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Reply #7 on: February 02, 2007, 12:48:48 PM
I agree -- gotta stick to your guns here, Steve.  21 stories in the "championship" should make for some interesting discussions, that's for sure!



degan

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Reply #8 on: February 02, 2007, 02:24:52 PM
Hey,

Thanks for all your hard work Steve. 



RKG

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Reply #9 on: February 02, 2007, 03:07:25 PM
Hey,

Thanks for all your hard work Steve. 

Hear hear... a very hearty second to this sentiment.

This contest has been a lot of fun for all of us - and a lot of work for you.

Thanks!

rkg  101010


slic

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Reply #10 on: February 02, 2007, 03:13:36 PM
Quote
Hear hear... a very hearty second to this sentiment.
Thirded and then some.  The organization, the output, the timeliness all speak highly of you, Mr. Eley.  You've managed to keep the contest moving, adapted to needed changes and even managed to get the weekly EscapePod out.  Amazing!  Apologize to your lovely wife and son for us - I'm sure all the posters and all the lurkers really appreciate your work.



Swamp

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Reply #11 on: February 02, 2007, 05:08:48 PM
Truly, a heartfelt thank you to Mr. Steve Eley, the POD MASTER.

Escape Pod was the first podcast I listened to and is honestly still my ultimate favorite podcast.  I look forward to it every week, more often if we are lucky.

Facehuggers don't have heads!

Come with me and Journey Into... another fun podcast


GoodDamon

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Reply #12 on: February 02, 2007, 05:33:20 PM
Truly, a heartfelt thank you to Mr. Steve Eley, the POD MASTER.

"POD MASTER" sounds like a villain in a cheesy 80s sci-fi schlockfest. Which seems utterly suitable to me. :)

Damon Kaswell: Reader, writer, and arithmetic-er


pkdan

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Reply #13 on: February 02, 2007, 08:16:12 PM
Thank you very much for the update, Steve.  And thank you for all the work you're putting into the contest.

-Dan



smartbombradio

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Reply #14 on: February 02, 2007, 08:48:40 PM

Yes, that's the right math. 

And while I agree that 21 finalists is rather a lot, I'm not inclined to screw with the formula any more than we already have.  By then most people will have read all those stories once or twice, so it shouldn't be hard to keep them all straight.

Can we call that round BLACKJACK


Roney

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Reply #15 on: February 03, 2007, 10:58:29 PM
Good Lord!  And I thought I'd been tardy in submitting!

It's great to see the response to this contest from all us frustrated wannabe writers but I can't imagine how much work Steve's having to put into it.  I believe the phrase is "created a monster".  That said, I'd love to see more contests in future.



BlairHippo

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Reply #16 on: February 06, 2007, 04:39:33 AM
321 stories enter!

3 stories leave!!!