Is it really that time already?
Well, if I'm going to write my first SCP, I may as well go big…
SCP-2000 "Science Fiction" Contest Hub / Discussion
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This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-2000 "Science Fiction" Contest Hub.
Is there going to be a theme like there was for 1000?
This is addressed in the contest thread. See here.
I actually wasn't around for the 1000 contest, and I've got a couple questions about expectations. Are we allowed to have outside help when it comes to editing and feedback, or are we expected to do this all on our own?
Also, is discussion in the articles expected like normal, or should we just vote (whenever that happens) and leave it be? Maybe a weird question, I dunno.
EDIT: Holy shit, how did I post this in the wrong thread?
Outside help, feedback, and discussion are all expected and desirable. Our main goal here is to get good articles on the site, not to let people flex their writing muscles. I mean, there's a little of the latter, but it's not the point.
if your reading this your gay
I wish that was the case in all the writing contests I enter.
Slightly facetious followup question: Are we expected not to sabotage the efforts of competitors who ask us for feedback?
"The Gorgorazatron 9000 is a truly compelling article, Scantron, but what it really needs, if you ask me, is more laser swords. And you should put some Telekill in the hull, just to be safe."
Well, being a dick is against the site rules — if we think you're giving bad advice unironically on purpose, we'll most likely discipline accordingly :)
Also, Mouse, you didn't say how the winner will be picked. As such, I am obligated to assume that I will be picking winners, and that I am simply given a full two weeks to peruse and judge entries at my leisure.
if your reading this your gay
f u scntrn
Also, if you give others bad advice and we find out about it, your entry will probably be disqualified. I'd add that to the FAQ but I don't think it's really a legit question :P
Now that there's an entry for "don't be a dick in the contest", I think that pretty much covers all instances of dickishness.
srslythosomeonemakethegorgorazatronthatonesfree
I'm considering it, but not for the contest.
if your reading this your gay
I think three weeks is a reasonable amount of time. (Enough to get off my lazy ass and rewrite my rabbit sattelite.) Can't wait to see new articles!
I'm going to systematically downvote all the competition on the basis of you-didn't-say-not-to.
Also, guys… I was there when Nala said there were 100 slots left. I am history.
Unless you had a reason for downvoting, wouldn't that be seen as malicious (and rude)?
James and Ghost Sign: Buddy Cops
James strode in to a round of applause, accompanied by 329 in his telekinetic Gopher mobility scooter.
“Great work on the Site-47 breach, Jimmy!” “I heard you really gave it to ‘em!” “The bastards never saw it coming, nice to see you came through!” “Generic compliment, guys! SCP-329, will you be the father of my children?”
“Only if you wear a ruuuubbeeeeeer…” “But-“
“JAMES! 329! GET YOUR ASSES IN MY OFFICE!”
Clef, chief of the Researchers-what-can-also-do-Security Force, had had it out for them after they had screwed up the 999-J operation, who ended up in his bed the next evening (”I had to buy a new bed! The pillows were stuffed with chest hair, corn chips and damned-if-I-know what else!”) Before either of them could protest, he had strode back into the other room and slammed the door.
After a few hand-shakes, back-claps, and consolations, they resigned to go talk to Clef.
“Don’t worry guys. He’s always on about something.” Their contemporary, Agent Jackson, was always the good-natured foil to their shenanigans.
“We should eeeeaaaaat somethiiiiing fiiiiiiirst.”
“You can’t eat, you’re a sign.” “A ghooooost siiiiiiign.”
“We’re both gonna be ghosts if we don’t get back there.”
“Let’s get some cooooooffeee fiiiiirst. Then we can outsmart hiiiiiim.”
Four poorly planned exchanges later, James and the Ghost Sign tapped the door to Clef’s office. “It’s open.”
The two entered, neither of them actually worried about what would ensue.
“Is the paperwork for the 019 breach done?”
“Noooooo, but we can outsmaaaaart yooooouuuuu, so yeeeeeesssssss.”
“What? Why the hell does he have coffee?”
“Look, Doctor, we started it on the flight back, but I couldn’t get it finished because of customs.”
“I don’t give a damn why! You didn’t even solve the breach! That idiot did!” “I was able to beeeaaaaat them with ghooooooost kaaaaaaaarateeeeeeeeee.”
“THREE PEOPLE DIED AFTER YOU GOT THERE!” “I was able to beeeaaaaat them with ghooooooost kaaaaaaaarateeeeeeeeee.”
“YOU TWO ARE LOOSE CANNONS! I’LL HAVE YOUR ASSES IF YOU PULL THIS AGAIN!”
“Then I’d beeeeee a Buuuuuuuuutt Ghost Siiiiiiiiiign.”
“Damn it, I don’t have time for this. Speaking of the Butt Ghost, you’re both being put on 789-j security until I speak to you again. You get to see your old friend, Jimmy!” “Chief!” “I don’t wanna hear it! You’ve got nothing better to do. The last time I let you two to yourselves, Dr. Gerald ended up on a Segway tour!”
“We needed a third hand to go undercover and see if the C.I. was up to anything! We stopped them before-“ “GHOOOOOOOST SIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGN.”
Clef and James looked for a moment. 329 was wearing a fake beard, but nothing was actually wrong. Clef rubbed the bridge of his nose and started again.
“Look. I just need somebody to review security on some of the older containment procedures. I know it’s been awhile, but you put the Butt Ghost away, and damned if you didn’t do a good job. And Ghost Sign is the leading expert on all things ghost-oriented. That thesis he turned in on extranormal budding habits of semi-inanimate objects really caught the eyes of some higher ups. I need you two on this, just until something else comes up.”
James nodded, and the Ghost Sign no longer wore the beard.
“Alright chief. We’ll get that paperwork for you.”
“I said we already diiiiiiiiiid iiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.”
I'm totally gonna post this everywhere.
Now would be a perfect time to start using hidden tags. I suggest _scp2000.
Why do people never ask me questions about tagging. It's like we don't have a tagging expert on the site or something.
Edit: Alternatively, there's also the actual, sanctioned use of categories. You could have the names for these pages be "scp-2000:User Name". That would make things even easier.
Everything would be easier if you just asked a Wikidot expert…
Edit 2: Come to think of it, the new Wikidot Admin Panel lets you disable voting for a single category, which would let people post entries without having people vote on them until you're ready.
Is anyone even reading this? Does anyone even care?
Alternatively, there's also the actual, sanctioned use of categories. You could have the names for these pages be "scp-2000:User Name". That would make things even easier.
I am so on board with this. This makes things so much easier than tagging. I believe we can even have a button at the bottom of this hub that lets you create a page automatically in the SCP-2000 category.
Why do people never ask me questions about tagging. It's like we don't have a tagging expert on the site or something.
Because we were scrambling to get this up and you didn't sign on in the evening ;(
That said, literally any tag you suggest would be fine.
I am also fine with using categories, though… I don't know whether or not that's adding too many layers of complexity.
EDIT: To be specific, a reason why this would be beneficial.
Note that we don't want any drafts to go live but with voting disabled, because then people might read… and then never come back to vote, potentially meaning early posters lose out on scads of votes. Unless there's a convincing case made otherwise, the gates will open for everyone at the same time that voting opens on Nov 22.
Doesn't mean we can't use categories though.
EDIT: To be specific, a reason why this would be beneficial.
Because if you use a category, you can set up submission forms that can set up things like tags automatically?
Note that we don't want any drafts to go live but with voting disabled, because then people might read… and then never come back to vote, potentially meaning early posters lose out on scads of votes.
As opposed to trying to coordinate possibly dozens of authors and having them post at the same time? Some of those authors are not going to be on at the same time, some will be away for hours or days, and you'll end up with the exact problem that gating submissions was supposed to fix.
You have, what, two weeks set aside for people to vote? Isn't that the entire point?
So, your method gives us the small benefit of automatically adding one tag, with the same problem of burying the early submissions? I think it'd be worse for entries to be buried and impossible to vote on, rather than being posted with a bunch of articles which can all be voted on.
Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you!
No, a submission form would automatically place the page into the category, add the necessary tags, and then disable voting and (optionally) not allow that page to be viewed until the category is unlocked.
I still don't see how this constitutes burying the early submissions; if someone reads an early submission but isn't around to vote on it when voting opens up, then that person logically wouldn't be around to vote on later submissions either. If you allow that person to vote early, then he still won't be around to vote on later ones, which is the original problem of not giving later submissions a fair chance.
So, again, what's the point of doing all this if all you're doing is shifting the problem?
Edit: If by "burying" you are actually referring to the fact that the earlier pages won't be on Recent Changes, that's what the hub page is for. Recent Changes would be a complete mess with a few dozen authors posting/editing/tagging at the same time anyways, it's not like it would be that useful.
When I say "buried" I mean the entry gets lost in the shuffle of entries that are up, not recent created/changed. If there's 10+ entries up on a hub page, people aren't going to read them all at once, a few're just going to get less attention than others. I have some more to say but this class is ending and I need to go.
Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you!
If there's 10+ entries up on a hub page, people aren't going to read them all at once, a few're just going to get less attention than others.
I honestly see this as something that will happen no matter what. What makes you think that this won't happen if everyone physically posts all at once as opposed to voting becoming available all at once? The only way to get around this is to move away from using raw community vote over all entries as the only measure of who wins, either by:
- Using some method to cut down the body of submissions into a palatable set of "finalist entries", or
- Don't use the raw rating system and give everyone X votes to cast, which encourages people to read more before using said votes.
In a perfect world, all of the submissions would be given to staff and staff would post these all at the same time, but the provenance issues that would arise from that are a nightmare. I'm just trying to come up with a fair system using the tools we have.
While I'm clearly not as concerned as Aelanna about this issue, I think this is a good suggestion to level the playing field, and I'm for it.
Per Roget's recent objection, I do not think that the plurality of entries all hitting at once would be a significant detrement to the process. Two weeks is plenty of time for everyone to read, vote, and promote the entries on forum and in chat. Sure it's a bit of a rush but it doesn't seem like enough of a deterent. I'm interested to see what else you have to say.
[This is also a reply to the subthread above]
Because if you use a category, you can set up submission forms that can set up things like tags automatically?
This is, indeed, an upside…
Some of those authors are not going to be on at the same time, some will be away for hours or days, and you'll end up with the exact problem that gating submissions was supposed to fix.
This is addressed in the Q&A, though. People can post their page early & get someone else to put it up on the 22nd.
You have, what, two weeks set aside for people to vote?
Four weeks, if they post on the 22nd, but two weeks minimum. So yes.
If you allow that person to vote early, then he still won't be around to vote on later ones, which is the original problem of not giving later submissions a fair chance.
We have this already — it just begins on the 22nd. People can vote for the two weeks that entries are open AND they can vote for two MORE weeks after entries are closed. But this way everyone gets three weeks to prepare — which helps level the playing field.
Writers who make good use of that time will get the chance to react to feedback for two whole weeks. Writers who make poor use of the time will still get two weeks to get eyes on their piece, even if they can't react to feedback.
The sole reason we don't want early entries is to give everyone the same 3-week drafting period up-front.
Both suggested alternate methods are also good ideas, though at least up-front I feel they may lead to too much complexity for too little payoff. If enough others disagree, though, I/we are willing to listen.
all of the submissions would be given to staff and staff would post these all at the same time, but the provenance issues that would arise from that are a nightmare.
Actually, this could still be done, by having users post blank pages in advance, and then having staff paste in the page text from a draft all at the same time. Which is, incidentally, what we're already providing as an option for people who won't be around on the 22nd. This way the pages are still attributed to them, but the page still goes up on the 22nd.
Post a page to the site labeled '2000contest<yourusername>' with your site user name in place of <yourusername.>
Should there be a space in between our username and 2000contest or not? For clarification, should mine look like this ( 2000contestDrThorn ) or like this ( 2000contest DrThorn )?
So the page's url should be "2000contest<yourusername>", yeah.
What can the page's title be? Should it just be "SCP-2000"?
Actually, I'd say the title should be "[username] SCP-2000" or "SCP-2000 [username]", otherwise the "Recently Added" and "Recent Changes" pages will be full of multiple pages labeled SCP-2000 with no easy way to distinguish between them.
Giving bearhugs to the unsuspecting since 1872.
/forum/t-715920/scp-2000-science-fiction-contest-hub#post-
page revision: 2, last edited: 15 Jan 2023 15:06
