[Suggestion] Contest Changes

[Pavoneo]

Recently, due to real life interfering with some of the owners of contests, the contests themselves have been lacking in terms of being on time. Weeklies are becoming bi-weeklies or monthlies, and monthlies are turning into an even longer time frame.

To get around this issue, I thought of this. Have contests run by any/all mods who wish to choose to help. To do this, have all submissions for every contest PM NB bot (or make a contest bot if you wish to choose so). Make the name/password known by all mods such as NB bot and have users submit their entries in terms of "{Contest} {Contest #} {Username}'s Submission." Or something along that variant.

If the contests are maintained by multiple mods instead of one, there's more of a chance for an active mod to be on to act accordingly during the deadlines of a contest, whether it be making winner threads, entry threads, etc. Therefore, contests will be more frequent and overall more pleasing to the members of the base.

There may be some issues at first, but in the long run, this form of contest running would be beneficial to the base. It would avoid issues like contests ending or being passed onto someone else because they need to quit or etc.

I'd really like to try and make this happen, so if you see any issues please address them to me and I'll see if I could find a solution around the issue.

Potential issues I see: With so many voting threads and submission threads happening at once, how could we notify what's going on in the contest world with only 5 spaces? Well.. Instead of linking to specific voting/submission threads, you could link to the contest in general and the members could make their own way to the specifics of the contest.

..Can't really think of any other issues. If someone mentions an issue, I'll edit this post with some (hopefully) answers.

[EDIT] I understand there'd be a bit of an issue with teaching mods how to work the contests properly, but seeing as how we've had so many contests it shouldn't be a problem. Just tell them to copy/paste a previous contest thread style that they're making and just change the dates/theme/anything else. It shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[~Zonta~]

Thats nice suggestion and to make it more efficient you can split it up into Weekly and Monthly contest itself...

it will differentiate the contests and can be less hectic plus Mods usually copy paste thee Old stuffs so it not a big deal and knowing the MODs which are appointed instead of selections process sure will know basics of it and if they don;t then it can't be helped

 

[Michael92]

The idea is nice, but it will not work with the concept of NB. Each contest is being run by each their own Staff Member (for most times), and those Staff Members make the contest their own, as their responsibilities (example, Lawliet = The FanFic Contests, Caliburn = The Art Contests). The amount of work they put into them would only be disrupted if any of the Staff could do it through the method you suggest. I agree that if one of the contests holders have problem keeping it on time, that would be problematic, but at the same time, you have to understand that people do have real life as well (and different time zones), and making it on time can't always be that easy. There is a reason why some of the contests has been run by different Staff members through time, as some just have to pass the stick to another Staff Member because he or she don't have time anymore or due to other reasons, but the idea of having the NB bot available for all of them won't work in practice. Some of the Staff members might even find it offensive if someone suggest they should get help to run them or be replaced. Having your suggestion available would only cause chaos among the Staff on who should do what, and it would not be beneficial in the long run. If it ain't broken, don't fix it, and if you have a problem like you mentioned above, report it or ask the Staff Member directly about it through PM if you have to. You might disagree with my post, but I'm sure the Staff Members will say the same thing as I just did.

There is a reason to why Mods gets assigned to different Sections instead of letting all of them have access to all of the sections... This is it. It creates more work and chaos than it do good, trust me on this one. Like I said, your suggestion sounds good in theory, but in practice... Not so much. I mean no harm with my post btw, it's just my opinion, so feel free to disagree.

 

[Pavoneo]

The idea is nice, but it will not work with the concept of NB. Each contest is being run by each their own Staff Member (for most times), and those Staff Members make the contest their own, as their responsibilities (example, Lawliet = The FanFic Contests, Caliburn = The Art Contests). The amount of work they put into them would only be disrupted if any of the Staff could do it through the method you suggest. I agree that if one of the contests holders have problem keeping it on time, that would be problematic, but at the same time, you have to understand that people do have real life as well (and different time zones), and making it on time can't always be that easy. There is a reason why some of the contests has been run by different Staff members through time, as some just have to pass the stick to another Staff Member because he or she don't have time anymore or due to other reasons, but the idea of having the NB bot available for all of them won't work in practice. Some of the Staff members might even find it offensive if someone suggest they should get help to run them or be replaced. Having your suggestion available would only cause chaos among the Staff on who should do what, and it would not be beneficial in the long run. If it ain't broken, don't fix it, and if you have a problem like you mentioned above, report it or ask the Staff Member directly about it through PM if you have to. You might disagree with my post, but I'm sure the Staff Members will say the same thing as I just did.

There is a reason to why Mods gets assigned to different Sections instead of letting all of them have access to all of the sections... This is it. It creates more work and chaos than it do good, trust me on this one. Like I said, your suggestion sounds good in theory, but in practice... Not so much. I mean no harm with my post btw, it's just my opinion, so feel free to disagree.

I see the logic. I don't really see staff members being offended if my suggestion were to be taken in place. They know they're slacking when it comes to deadlines and seeing as how they're moderators of our forum, they're logical, rational people. They would understand the circumstances and probably agree. Reporting an issue like this wouldn't be a solution to this because the only person in charge of the contest doesn't have the time to fix the problem. If a staff member I PMed did indeed do something like make a thread needed, or close a thread due to a deadline, then they're going against the will of the person who set up the contest in the first place. So if they're doing that, it'd be better if a contest bot account was added.

Real life issues for the moderators are the whole reason as to why this post was made (which is why this "broken" and needs to be fixed). My suggestion would terminate those issues properly, and again, if people wished to not participate in contest running, they would have the option not to. People with real life issues passing the torch onto something else is only a temporary solution because each moderator needs to pass onto another at some point. Meanwhile, with my suggestion, there would be no need to do that because the maintenance of the contests would be shared by a number of mods rather than just 1.
There wouldn't be an issue of "who does what" on the NB bot (or any variant) because anyone could do anything for any contest needed. It would be a universal contest account maintained by all the moderators who wish to contribute to contests for every contest.

Some mods are assigned specific categories, some mods only do RP, or only do GFXing, that's fine. If they don't want to help with contests, they don't have to. There doesn't need to be a lot of people in charge of moderating contests, there just needs to be people who are active enough to maintain it rather than having one semi-active contest holder in charge of each contest.

I honestly believe this could work in theory and in practice. It may take 1-3 weeks to get used it, but it could be very beneficial.

 

[Avani]

NB bot doesn't check it's mail. ^_-

What you are suggesting is already done, apart from using NB bot for it. Mods using a shared account will be too chaotic and is not really needed. Otherwise, if a mod or contest runner is not available other mods can take it over for that period if they are interested. That's not much of an issue. The only problem is that sometimes others have their own schedules as well and cannot spare more time to NB.

If a contest is delayed you can ask an admin about it and ask whether it can be assigned to someone else if a contest is delayed for a long time. For they may not have noticed it yet as they are always busy with others tasks as well. Rei is in charge of contests and if she is not available you can contact Zise.

You can contact me too and I will check out if it's possible or forward it to an admin.

 

[~Zonta~]

@ Ira

I contacted you long time ago about the contest and after the three weeks the contest is being still delayed further :'(

I honestly don't like the delays and because of the Delays I haven't participated in the contest.

 

[Avani]

@ Ira

I contacted you long time ago about the contest and after the three weeks the contest is being still delayed further :'(

I honestly don't like the delays and because of the Delays I haven't participated in the contest.

Your PM had 3-4 different different questions/issues and you asked me why contests were delayed only. When I asked if you were asking about some specific contest, you mentioned AotW contest and this PM exchange was on 26 of Sept.

Here is the contest :

You must be registered for see links

Posted on 29 of Sept.

It's only 11 days since I received that PM. :|

Please add more details next time so I can understand the exact nature pf problem.

 

[~Zonta~]

Your PM had 3-4 different different questions and you asked my why contests are delayed and you even added in the end that it ( the contest) doesn't matter that much...

Seriously if a topic is being a problem for you don't send me such casual and vague PMs. I still don't even know if it was some specific contest you meant. I don't run any of them and if I am to forward them, I need to know exactly which contest and the exact problem.

Sowwy about that but I had lot of questions and main issue at that time was about a MOD using bad words which you solved and I really appreciate that =D

Contest issue is still persistent and I did mention it was the Album of the week contest. Yeah I know you don't run the contest so it was not feasible to continue further.

Plus I would talk about the issue once again cause MODs always end up giving reason about RL and all but have MODs ever consider that we are also making our time to enjoy the forum from RL ??????


Edit : --

You are one of the few I admire but now you have posted the link

thanks for placing the link and check the same link for me please you will see the reason for contest being delayed and if you want more proof of it should I add some more links about the delays ?????

 

[Akasha]

I would honestly have to disagree. There is a reason that certain stuff member is decided to be conductor of certain contest. From experience that is needed for certain competitions to being a moderator in more then one section and being already busy with what they've got to run and work on.

If every stuff member was in charge of every contest it will become mess. Nobody will know who is doing what,when etc. And waiting for a week or two for a conductor to come back is not a bother. They as well as us have life that is not based on Narutobase.

Also as we seen with FUB competition,if a conductor is inactive for a long time or wont be able to conduct competition for a longer period somebody is going to take over in their place.

Just be patient,competition is going to be run,just at that certain moment conductor is busy with real life(or have some other problems like internet connection) and will come back to competition when they get time.

 

[-S-]

It's not an easy thing, to let other people run the contest you've been dedicated to for a time.

 

[Deviation]

It's not an easy thing, to let other people run the contest you've been dedicated to for a time.

Adding to that: It's not an easy job to run the contest let alone just one. There is a long process involved and having to wait on people. Like Sam mentioned, these people were given this responsibility because they are dedicated to it and know how to handle it. Sometimes real life gets in the way not to mention school. I don't think many of you understand and find it easy to nitpick rather than provide a real solution bar Pavo since he is actually proposing a solution. Sorry if it sounds mean but things can't always turn out the way we plan them even if we try. I hope you guys can understand that much and just patiently wait like the rest of us. Well don't count me since I don't have a life. x.x

 

[Zise]

Contests can be delayed out of endless amount of reasons, and things that have happened in the past like... internet problems, computer broken, and as mentioned different types of real life matters that the person prioritize before having a contest online. All this things must be respected and ofc, when the people having contests leave notes that they need to be absent we try to find someone to replace them for the time being, but this is not always possible. So the other mods do as mentioned already step in for eachother when needed, however from time to time it's not possible.

I'm sure the moderators and other helpful members do their best to keep the contests running. However since its been more hectic than usual within the contest section we will of course look into what can be done and organize it a little bit better.

 

[Avani]

Sowwy about that but I had lot of questions and main issue at that time was about a MOD using bad words which you solved and I really appreciate that =D

Contest issue is still persistent and I did mention it was the Album of the week contest. Yeah I know you don't run the contest so it was not feasible to continue further.

Plus I would talk about the issue once again cause MODs always end up giving reason about RL and all but have MODs ever consider that we are also making our time to enjoy the forum from RL ??????


Edit : --

You are one of the few I admire but now you have posted the link

thanks for placing the link and check the same link for me please you will see the reason for contest being delayed and if you want more proof of it should I add some more links about the delays ?????

I only meant to point out that I thought problem was resolved. Yea I noticed the last post in the thread by the concerned mod last night. It was explained that he was delaying it due to internet problems.

Contests can be delayed out of endless amount of reasons, and things that have happened in the past like... internet problems, computer broken, and as mentioned different types of real life matters that the person prioritize before having a contest online. All this things must be respected and ofc, when the people having contests leave notes that they need to be absent we try to find someone to replace them for the time being, but this is not always possible. So the other mods do as mentioned already step in for eachother when needed, however from time to time it's not possible.

I'm sure the moderators and other helpful members do their best to keep the contests running. However since its been more hectic than usual within the contest section we will of course look into what can be done and organize it a little bit better.

^this. I had already informed admins about general problems with contests and delays. It cannot be helped all the time and sometimes delays are inevitable but we will try to plan it in better way in future to keeps it to a minimum.