Survivor

[Master_Vassago]

DS, that's a fine idea but again we fall into the short comings of the voting system around here. No matter who we choose to vote if it be the readers or a small panel of our peers I think it is quite possible that you could still be slanted if one had an ill opinion of you or your style of writing.

The only way to really keep things completely fair would be to have everyone choose a new writer profile as someone else mentioned and then write under that name all year only revealing who each was at the end of the contest. Still too many variables I believe but that's just my thought on it.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Obviously I won't be entering, but I do respect the people who have the versitility to cross gategories at will. Best of luck to you all!

-Colly

 

[Boxlicker101]

DS, that's a fine idea but again we fall into the short comings of the voting system around here. No matter who we choose to vote if it be the readers or a small panel of our peers I think it is quite possible that you could still be slanted if one had an ill opinion of you or your style of writing.

The only way to really keep things completely fair would be to have everyone choose a new writer profile as someone else mentioned and then write under that name all year only revealing who each was at the end of the contest. Still too many variables I believe but that's just my thought on it.

A new writer profile would work for the purpose of this contest but isn't that the tail wagging the dog? The reason I am here, and I believe the reason everybody else is here, is to enjoy writing erotica or porn or stroke or smut or whatever, and then to have people read it and enjoy it and, hopefully, tell us why they enjoy it. A contest like this one is strictly secondary. Some of us build up fan clubs, and the people who specifically enjoy our stories would be out of luck. I don't mean actual, organized clubs, of course; I mean readers who look for stories by specific writers. One of my first stories is going to be about such a person.

I think it would be a good thing if there could be a way to give credit for well-received stories. Maybe an extra point for every story submitted during the year that has a rating of "H" on Dec. 31. That would penalize people who pile up stories and submit them at the last minute, and it would benefit people who submit stories throughout the year but I don't think that would be a bad thing. Some people have suggested extra credit for a rating of "E" but that rating is just one person's opinion, and that person doesn't favor the idea.

Anyhow, I am going to continue submitting stories, but it will be because I like doing it.

 

[Master_Vassago]

The problem with your suggestion is that if a writer had a fan base they could ask those fans to stoop low enough and vote down the others stories. Or simply do it him or herself the night of the 31st or before hand. Do it immediately and most stories don't have a shot of making it to those sweet little H's.

I'm only trying to play the devil's advocate here not disagree with anyone.

As to last minute submission you will have it with every contest on lit. Maybe, just maybe some writers need that deadline to sit down and bust ass to finish a lot of stories or even one masterpiece they have been working on.

Once again I'm not trying to argue or disagree here just show the flipside.

 

[Quasimodem]

. . . Oh I understad that they get extra points if they do every catagory, but basically a person can win just by posting more stories than anyone else. Even if they are all in the same catagory, or for shit's sake a couple of different catagories, the one with the most stories wins . . .

I suppose your representation, of winning with just one, or a few, categories is possible, but that certainly isn't the idea behind the survivor's contest. Just look at the scoring.

[Copied from the scoring FAQs]


Objective: To post at least one story in each category listed on the main story index.

Winning the Contest: The person who has the most points wins!

Scoring

First story posted in a given category: 3 points
Each successive story posted in a given category: 1 point
There is no limit for additional stories eligible to receive points.
All stories must be original works.

Bonuses
For 10 categories filled: 5 points
For 20 categories filled: 10 points
For all categories filled: 20 points

Immunities

Weekly immunity: 2 points – See rules.



It would appear that the majority of writers take on two challenges, to write as diverse and and as prolifically as they can, while doing all in their power to maintain, and even raise the quality of their product.

Unfortunately, if some few try to win, with the attitude suggested in Lauren Hynde's post, that is no impediment toward winning.

Quoting Lauren's post: "Granted that the Survivor contest, unlike all the others, is about the writers, not the readers, but some things go a bit too far."

Granted, the "challenge" of the Survivor's Contest falls more emphatically upon the writers, but as long as the stories are being posted to the general Literotica Archive, the reader is not entirely divorced from the process, and therefor, some of the reader's concerns should be represented, to assure some attempt to maintain quality.

We can write whatever, and however we wish, as long as we don't publish. Once the decision is made to make the stories available to the reader, it becomes a transaction.

Authors give of their time and – hopefully – talent, to produce entertaining works of fiction. The reader gives their time, attention, and – hopefully – criticism, in payment for the writer's efforts.

An author's beef is not getting any, or enough, votes and feedback. The reader's beef is that the author doesn't bother to rewrite, edit, or polish the work they do, at whatever level their talent permits them to write. Both need to consider their opposite's concerns as much as their own.

And the contests should be set up to reflect the concerns of both sides of the reader – writer dichotomy.


That's all from me! I just ran out of pennies.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

That's all from me! I just ran out of pennies.

They were well spent, though. Very good post.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I believe it was Phildo who had a problem with an author who wrote something for the survivor contest. Apparently the work was far beneath the authors standards and he/she was not at all concerned about the drop off in the quality of what they posted.

Certainly quality should have some precedence in a contest for writers. On the other hand I would also expect some drop off in overall quality when a writer is streching to produce a work on a subject they aren't familiar with or that dosen't arouse them. I like the contest as a venue for writers with the versitility to go out and try things they might otherwise never try. I can understand the qualms about quality of the work, but I think this contest is the only one at lit where no one gets angry about being low voted. I think tying the points to score would make it a more subjective contest and therefore less attractive to some writers.

I don't have a definitive answer, but it seems you could add bonus points for stories that do exceedingly well in thier category without diminishing the contest. Perhaps add points for a story that garners an H? That however would require a lot more work on the part of the contest moderators.

-Colly

 

[Master_Vassago]

I do have a suggestion for a points bonus, now that I think about it if you qualify in a certain section as that months top voted story I'd say three bonus points. If you manage to be a monthly winner for all the stories then add that as another three points.

Just suggestions. I do know I had two pieces of material submitted that weren't up to my own standards and I have submitted revised editions of those stories. I did so before ever submitting another story in the contest. My goal now is to go back and edit some of the stories submitted in 2002 and early 2003 and polish them.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I believe it was Phildo who had a problem with an author who wrote something for the survivor contest. Apparently the work was far beneath the authors standards and he/she was not at all concerned about the drop off in the quality of what they posted.

Certainly quality should have some precedence in a contest for writers. On the other hand I would also expect some drop off in overall quality when a writer is streching to produce a work on a subject they aren't familiar with or that dosen't arouse them. I like the contest as a venue for writers with the versitility to go out and try things they might otherwise never try. I can understand the qualms about quality of the work, but I think this contest is the only one at lit where no one gets angry about being low voted. I think tying the points to score would make it a more subjective contest and therefore less attractive to some writers.

I don't have a definitive answer, but it seems you could add bonus points for stories that do exceedingly well in thier category without diminishing the contest. Perhaps add points for a story that garners an H? That however would require a lot more work on the part of the contest moderators.

-Colly

I actually wrote four stories to enter the contest: Gay Male, Lesbian, Toys & Masturbation and Science Fiction. My average voting score for these is 4.3, which is about my overall score. It was actually fun writing them.

DS mentioned that a writer could write all his or her stories in one category and win. MV would have needed 208 stories to score what he did. I would have needed 105 to come in fourth. Actually those numbers are too high because I had some immunities and I suppose MV did too.

Versatility is rewarded in particular but so is being prolific. I had 49 stories which I thought was pretty good, considering I has only writing for about ten months I either posted or had immunities in 21 categories. Some of the categories, like audio and illustrated, aren't so much about writing as they are about having the proper equipment and knowing how to use it.

MV, I can't imagine anybody being such a sleazebag to ask readers to sabotage other writers by bombing them. I have some fans from before I registered here and I don't deny asking them to give me high votes on my holiday story, but I would never ask anybody to bomb somebody else.

 

[wishfulthinking]

Master V: The only way to really keep things completely fair would be to have everyone choose a new writer profile as someone else mentioned and then write under that name all year only revealing who each was at the end of the contest

I definitely think there should be a quality element, but I have to say that this idea doesn't work for me. This is going on the basis that people vote people down ONLY because of who they are, and doesn't take into consideration that people vote down simply because a story is doing well. Both are a problem. Perhaps people need to login when coming onto site, so all their votes are recorded, or login when voting. I know you still have the problem of people signing in on different alias's, but at least thier membership can be knocked off if they continue to vote 1.

But regardless, good luck!!!

I don't know how you do it! Takes some stamina.

 

[Master_Vassago]

Those sleazebags are out there Boxlicker. I know they are and have dealt with them in the past. I am long over the entire scoring and winning the monthly contests. I don't want to get into it but I did get an email from a fan who also enjoyed another writer's stories and said that he had sent out emails trying to do just that.

It's stupid but happens.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

True, there's the risk that an author will sacrifice the quality of his/her stories in order to have time to write more of them. But how would we go about judging the quality of stories? One person's hate object is another person's fetish.

And in order to be fair, we should not limit this only to contests, but to all stories! True, Laurel doesn't let just any crap get posted on Lit, but there are stories on Lit which I think are really, really bad, but they're still good enought o be posted, and other people like them.

If Laurel decides that a story is good enough to be posted, that's pretty much all there is to it.

Besides, an author who writes bad stories does get "punished" for it, by 1-votes or angry feedback/public comments.

 

[Guest]

I might try to participate in Survivor 2004. However, I do have one question. Do immunities count as a story? In other words, if you have an immunity in one category and have not written any stories for that category but have written stories in all other categories, do you still get the bonus points for all categories?

 

[Boxlicker101]

True, there's the risk that an author will sacrifice the quality of his/her stories in order to have time to write more of them. But how would we go about judging the quality of stories? One person's hate object is another person's fetish.

And in order to be fair, we should not limit this only to contests, but to all stories! True, Laurel doesn't let just any crap get posted on Lit, but there are stories on Lit which I think are really, really bad, but they're still good enought o be posted, and other people like them.

If Laurel decides that a story is good enough to be posted, that's pretty much all there is to it.

Besides, an author who writes bad stories does get "punished" for it, by 1-votes or angry feedback/public comments.

Any limitations on stories or non-acceptance would have to apply to all stories. If somebody submits a story and is not a contestant in the Survivors, that person may become a contestant later. I think the contest is just fun on the side, not the main reason to be here and post stories.

If you are referring to somebody who enters another contest, such as the holiday contest, that person would not win with a bad story anyhow. Laurel andd/or Manu have to be the ones to decide, unless they delegate that authority to somebody else.

Not only bad stories get "1" votes. We all know about trolls who give such votes for reasons of their own, not as an honest opinion.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I might try to participate in Survivor 2004. However, I do have one question. Do immunities count as a story? In other words, if you have an immunity in one category and have not written any stories for that category but have written stories in all other categories, do you still get the bonus points for all categories?

Assuming the rules from last year will still apply, if you win an immunity, you apply it to a category, and get two points for it. You can never post anything else to that category. For the purposes of figuring bonuses, it is considered to be a story in the category. The first one I win will go to the non-English category, and subsequent ones will go to auditory or other categories that require other than straightforward writing.

 

[Guest]

Thanks BL, I was hoping that was the case considering that I only speak (and write, lol) in English, plus I cannot do illustrations either, LOL.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Thanks BL, I was hoping that was the case considering that I only speak (and write, lol) in English, plus I cannot do illustrations either, LOL.

You're welcome, CM. I don't speak anything but English either and the first immunity I got last year went to non-English. The same thing will happen this year. I think illustrations can be either photos or drawings. I have some female fans and I have often written stories for them, using the name and description, etc., of a real person. If I can figure out how to do it, I might get someone to send me some pics for me to use to illustrate a story about her. I would tell her what I would have in mind and not use them without her knowing it. I don't kniw how to cut and paste, or whatever, photos onto a story, though. I know it can be done, but I don't know how.

 

[Icingsugar]

I don't kniw how to cut and paste, or whatever, photos onto a story, though. I know it can be done, but I don't know how.

Well, them instructions are pretty simple.