Contest Section

All of this sounds great but what if a contest is abandoned because the contestants aren't active or they are active but have dropped out but didn't say anything about dropping out? I had a contest where a bunch of people joined and then didn't submit there entries even when I messaged them etc. I think they should get a penalty for that. Like...Minus 3 points.

And also I saw something about a way for users to see what contest have been made/finished/ abandoned by the contest maker, but what about the contests that no one was interested in? Technically those would have been abandoned but I mean its not their fault that people weren't interested.
Maybe there should be like a chart like This

@ iBleedSarcasm
It's been discussed that you would be able to view a users stats, that there would be a deadline and possibly a points penalty even though everyone else seems to think that's a bad idea.

@ iBleedSarcasm
I think it is important to have a difference between abandoned because no one handed in entries (or no one entered) and simply abandoning because you can't be bothered anymore.

I think when users are clearly active on Mibba but haven't posted in the thread to say they're dropping out, then they should get a penalty. Same for hosts.

I think that if the contest section really does get a lot of these features (which hopefully they will) maybe we should do a survey and post it on the homepage asking if users agree or disagree with a host being penalized for abandoning a contest, or whatever you want to call it, and the majority would win.

Because honestly, I feel a lot aren't for, or wouldn't be for, getting in trouble for not continuing a contest. I feel like that puts more hurt than help on the contest, and creating them, or entering them, would be less fun and more stressful.

@ ladyschrei
I don't see Dujo implementing point penalties, because it doesn't fit with what the point system was meant for. It would piss people off, and points supposed to be a positive thing, not a punishment.

@ Kurtni
I don't just mean points, but I mean being in trouble in general. :|

@ ladyschrei
What else was suggested that would get a user in "trouble" besides point penalties?

@ Kurtni
I don't remember, I feel like something else was suggested XD

Like, wasn't there something about getting temporarily banned or something from the Contests section? I don't recall XD

@ ladyschrei
Oh yeah, that was suggested, but I don't think it will be seriously considered... we don't ban people for things like that.

@ Kurtni
Oh okay XD

Well, I really do hope the points penalty system isn't implemented. I mean, I can understand why some would want them, it just seems to do more hurt than help.

I do hope something goes into place to keep people from entering a billion contests and never turning in a submission or starting a million contests and never judging. Otherwise, again, I don't see the point in wasting the coding time to create a contest section that will be just as "bad" as the forums are in regards to regulation.

^ Agreed.

dru's hammer.:

I do hope something goes into place to keep people from entering a billion contests and never turning in a submission or starting a million contests and never judging. Otherwise, again, I don't see the point in wasting the coding time to create a contest section that will be just as "bad" as the forums are in regards to regulation.

Well what if contests that are never judged could be reported? Like, the host should be required to put in a deadline, and say the contest is never judged, it could be reported.

Then whoever takes care of the contest section (if there are mods or if the Admins watch after it) could send the host a message and ask what's going on with it.

If the host says they're still judging or whatever, their contest could be left there until done, or given a certain period to finish it or else it gets deleted. If no reply is given after a few days, it should be deleted.

Also, the host should be allowed to delete users from their contest. Like if they know a specific user doesn't turn in entries, or they PM the host and say they don't want to/can't complete it, the host could just... disqualify them or something.

@ ladyschrei
Okay. So, say 50 people do that with contests and don't respond. Then their contests get deleted and the same people start three more contests. Those get abandoned, they get messaged, those get deleted. Repeat process.

I want to know if anything will be in place to stop that.

(And what if a user is out of town for a week, can't reply, and plans to finish their contest when they get back, only to come home and find it deleted?)

I understand a contest may not get judged or an entry may not get turned in. If it's not someone doing it constantly, I don't think they should be "punished". But if someone is constantly not holding up their end of the bargain, will anything be done to stop that?

Also, what is to stop someone from disqualifying a user from their contest because they: don't like them, don't like their style/genre of writing, that person left a con/crit on their story and it pissed them off, etc?

@ dru's hammer.
I agree with what you said above, and that I think something about that should be done, but the only thing I could think of is then referring to the loss of poins or a temporary ban, neither of which users seem to be in favor with, so I dunno what we could do :/

The only thing I could say as a suggestion is that hopefully contest stats will be put in place so hosts can see how many times their entrants have actually completed a contest, and how many times a host has actually judged a contest, and the ones that aren't up to par with that will be ignored.

@ ladyschrei
This is exactly where I just figure, leave it. What's the point of changing it if it won't fix the problems?

@ dru's hammer.
Is there anything you suggest that could be done to help it?

@ ladyschrei
I'm actually for the payment to enter/host a contest that you get back on completion of your responsibilities. No one else likes it, but I think it's one of the simplest ideas that would encourage individuals to do what they said they would without actually being a charge.

@ dru's hammer.
See, that I'm for, and I think I said it before, that if the points are given back then it's fine. But not getting them back is where I start to get a problem, or not getting the same amount back than you had to give.

But what would happen to those who don't complete it? Where would their points go?

@ ladyschrei
I think you should get the same amount back. It's just holding your place until you're done basically.

I do think repeat offenders should get a temp ban. I know someone said they "wouldn't be happy" about it, but I'm pretty sure that when you do something wrong and receive a consequence, the consequence is to help you learn your lesson and not make you smile and do cartwheels.