Fixin', Favoritism and Fun!

by michaelcahill

Review: Contests and Competition Contest Winner

"Are ya kiddin' me? Mikey won AGAIN? Why he can't near write his way oughta paper bag. He's got a voting cabal, don't tell me n'er another thing. All his buddies votin' for him. Why, ya can spot his scribblin' nothingness a MILE AWAY! Why bother enterin' if HE'S in the contest. That scoundrel's nuthin' but a low down dirty thievin' dawg!"

I use myself as an example, but there are others who have the same complaints lodged. I can say for myself, yes, there's some truth in those allegations, within what is meant to be humorous. Indeed, I am well known. I'm reasonably certain I do have friends who vote for me ... just because. There's no doubt my style is easily recognizable.

No, I don’t have a cabal or solicit votes. I'm certain there are those who do. And, yes, letting your buddy know you're in a contest IS soliciting their vote, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Popularity is certainly a factor in contests, there is no question. Simple name recognition IS a factor in voting; it's a fact.

Anonymity is a myth. All entries are in portfolios for the perusing and they ARE perused. Styles and content ... easily ascribed to particular authors, yes, almost a certainty in many cases.

All of this to come clean, especially for the new members, the prompts and member created contests are NOT completely FAIR endeavors. Many, many times a worthy piece IS overlooked for one reason or another. It is NOT a reflection on the quality of the work in many cases. We are in a hurry to be frank. Everything we do here is in a hurry. Review, review, review, vote, vote, vote, post, post ... repeat ... that's the FAN story. If you're piece is a bit deep or complex, there's an excellent chance we'll all skim right over it and vote for the cute puppy. So, don't take it so hard. Remember, we were all newbies once too. Before long, you WON'T be a newbie any more.

All of this is subject to debate, of course. I contend, when it comes to prompts, member created contests and any endeavor that requires member voting, this IS what we are up against.

Still, in perusing the recent month's list of winners and honorees, I see dozens of names. Yes, there are some repeated more than others. Keep in mind though, the more you enter, the more chances to win. Trust me, I lose way more than I win ... I just happen to enter a LOT. There's a suggestion in there.

Frustration and even outrage is a real thing though, isn't it? I remember all too well the feeling of entering one of my better offerings, the excitement anticipating the vote and reaction, and then the sinking feeling of total rejection receiving one vote, while a piece about a cute puppy took the day. Yes, I still feel that despite all my success.

Why bother then? Every contest isn't unfair. Some contests are unfair or appear to be. If you let the one unfair contest take you out of the game, then all you have is the notion that it is a total waste of time to enter for it's impossible to win ... it's rigged ... only Mikey, or whomever, wins the contests. So be it. There you will sit until the end of time. On the other hand, you can do what "Mikey" did. Keep entering as many contests as you are able until you DO win. Then you'll win again ... and again. You'll lose too. In the meantime, you'll learn new writing forms and improve greatly as a writer. At least, this is how my aunt Pollyanna explained it to me.

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Site contests are a completely different animal. As the name implies, site contests are sponsored by Fanstory and judged by a committee made up from the membership. It's an anonymous committee.

Here's a good place to address committees in general and the fact they are anonymous.

I understand the cry for transparency. If one feels they've been wronged, it would be logical to desire ascertaining the identity of the wrongdoer.

There are several committees at Fanstory. The ones I'm aware of are, The Quality Seal committee, The Welcoming Committee, The Reviewers Committee, The CEC (Contest Entry Compliance), The Site Contest Committee, and one which sorts through the months offerings to submit entries to Tom for poem, story, and book of the month honours. There may by others, there probably is.

The committee members must be anonymous, it makes sense. If I was on a committee, the last thing I would want is for anyone to know it. Honestly, can you imagine choosing the Site Contest for Sonnets winner when everyone KNOWS who YOU are? Do ya think ya might get a message or two in your in box?

Is their bias? I suppose there could be some to a degree. There's certainly a tone or preference in styles the committee seems to lean towards in site contests. That's true of the site in general though. I must trust the committees don't have vendettas against particular members though. It that is the case, then the entire organization is suspect. I would leave if I believed so. I do have people who have messaged me with their accusations and ill will, but I feel that no single person can hold sway over an entire committee. I've suspected I've been black balled in the past only to place in a site contest a week later. So, honestly, I doubt it's the case.

If I'm objective, which isn't easy considering our work is important to us, these committee jobs must be the most thankless jobs in the world. No one is happy to lose, true?

The CEC is a recent addition and I was part of the group of people who called for it. So, the newer members gain a better understanding of the need for the CEC, let me explain how and why it came about. At one point, there was zero monitoring of member sponsored and prompt contests. It was often the case that entries non-compliant with the rules would nonetheless emerge with the win. Indeed, sonnets would on occasion win haiku contests. Initially the CEC disqualified non-compliant entries outright. If one entered a 5-7-4 in a 5-7-5 contest, the CEC would disqualify the entry and the booth would open with ONLY qualified entries. I was disqualified seven times. No, I didn't complain. It's what I asked for.

The membership complained that immediate disqualification for little easily correctable mistakes was a bit harsh. So, the site empowered the CEC to issue warnings to non-compliant entries and give them 24 hours to make their entries compliant. The booth would then be open within the 24-hour period, if the non-compliant entries were still non-compliant, THEN they would be disqualified. If they were fixed, they would go to the voting booth along with the other entries.

Some complain they should be disqualified outright and there's some merit to such a complaint. However, I believe that with a site so diverse in skill levels greater leeway should be the order of the day. I don't feel newer members and less skilled or knowledgeable members should be discouraged from entering out of fear they'll be disqualified with no chance. I'm not worried about someone getting a chance to fix a small error and then getting to compete. Why be cutthroat?

In any case, site contests are subjective. There is some truth that the same names do pop up more frequently than others. However, in all truth, some writers are simply exceptional and difficult to best. I seldom can honestly say, "Mine was better" as more than wistful thinking or sour grapes. Here again, there is a tone and a conforming to traditional form and content one usually sees in site contest winners. So, keep that in mind when entering. I know damn well some of my off the wall incomprehensible nonsense doesn't stand a chance. So, no, I'm not going to cry about it. HA!

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Competition is a great thing, especially when the chance to enhance our skills is involved. Do you truly wish to be in a competition against folks you can stomp with little effort?

I recall my early days here. Some of the contests were downright terrifying, especially to an unknowledgeable newbie such as myself. The thought of entering a sonnet contest against the stellar sonneteers of the day made me weak in the knees and the brain. But it was a tremendous thrill to finally get that damn iambic pentameter down and gets votes against the best. To this day, running second to Brooke Baldwin in a sonnet contest is my greatest achievement here. Me, little mikey, received votes against the premier poet of Fanstory. WOW! I recall as well, prose contests. I remember competing in horror writing, not in my wheelhouse for sure, against the site's best and holding my own. I remember one contest, it was a dialogue only affair and all the best prose folk entered ... all of them, and little ME. LOL Trust me, I poured my soul into my piece out of fear and pride and wrote the best dialogue EVER (for me) just to hold my own. It was sooooo much fun to see my name there, especially since I DIDN'T look like a total moron. HA! No, of course I didn't win. But I did compete, and I did write better than I ever had. THAT is why we enter contests, or one of the reasons anyway.

We are here to write and improve the way we write, yes?

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That brings me to sportsmanship. In my view, this is sorely lacking here at Fanstory. The ability to win with grace and to lose graciously is near non-existent here.

The entire voting process is a study in RUDE. The comments in the voting booth defy belief. Do people sit in a dark room contemplating what might be the most vicious thing to say that would hurt the most people?

"Well, NONE of these entries are any good, but I had to vote for something." (Wow. How lovely for all the entrants to read.)

"This is the best poet on site." (I suppose the rest of the entrants are dog crap then.)

"The only real haiku of the bunch." (the rest of you don't know what a haiku is, IDIOTS!)

"Why have a contest if only people who can't write enter. This had a nice picture. (You think I'm exaggerating? I'm not.)

Well, aren't those lovely anonymous remarks? Interestingly, when I call these people out in the forum, not a single one will step forward to claim their remarks.

I love also when blocks of voters all comment and make it known they KNOW who they are voting for. Gee, you couldn't pretend like the contest is anonymous, you have to rub our noses in it?

When one wins a competition, it is customary to graciously congratulation those they bested for their great effort. When one loses a competition, is is generally accepted practice to congratulate the winner on a job well done. It's rather rude to ignore EVERYONE else and just congratulate your buddy. How sad to see newbies win a contest and not ONE person can lift a finger to type: "Congrats!" on their page. But their bud who came in third has a speech with graphics. How nice. Well, just a pet peeve. No, I'm not offering up myself as an example of anything. I'm sure I'm just as guilty as anyone else. Still, a call to me and you, yes?

The simple solution to any and all voting discrepancies, cartels, cabals, voting blocks and the like is to VOTE. There are hundreds of eligible voters. I've won contests with six or seven votes MANY times. If you think I've got some huge ring of voters in the bag, then just OUT VOTE THEM. Don't cry about these problems if you aren't doing anything about them. All these problems would disappear if the membership showed some support. Take some time out, read the entries, then vote for the one you think is best. Yes, I AM a genius.

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Finally, I'd like to address plagiarism. It's bad enough to submit pieces that are not original as regular posts. To submit unoriginal work as contest entries is wrong in more ways than I can ennumerate. I understand the site considers ONLY pieces that copy a piece word for word to be plagiarised. That doesn't mean WE, the membership, view it thusly. Just because it isn't a violation of site policy doesn't make it right. This is true in many areas and never more true than when we speak of lifting other people's work and claiming it as our own.

I honestly don't understand why anyone would be satisfied with anything but their own original thoughts and writings. But I've seen too many contest entries that are rehashes of work I've seen many times before. There's no rule to turn anyone in over. There is peer pressure however. We too often overlook things here that shouldn't be overlooked. If we don't maintain standards for ourselves, we can't complain about the standards that result.

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Mercy! Even I can't listen to anymore of ME. LOL!

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