We would like to know how the contests work

Ok, dear all, since our questions were deleted from the Fantastical thread as they, as funny as it may sound, were considered, and I quote, “off topic”, we decided to make a separate thread to get our questions answered. Below you can find a copy of the original post which I luckily managed to save in our initial thread (FEATURE: supporting small authors discussion - #678 by Alex_Af). I basically wasn’t given any advanced notification that it would be deleted and pretty much learnt that post factum.

Ok, well, here we go. I can promise from my side that I will keep asking questions until we get a clear answer as this is indeed an important issue that needs clarification. I really hope, @Liz, to get all the answers soon as many people are concerned.

Dear @Liz,

I hope you are great. As you may know, I have created a thread specifically destined to find how to balance the chances of small authors to get noticed. (App: supporting small authors discussion) Many people offered their opinions, we had quite a productive discussion where both emerging writers as well as big moguls took part. Since so far contests are the main way for smaller authors to get noticed, most of the suggestions concerned these contests. However, we got stuck because we realised that we do not understand your judging criteria and system very clearly.

Here is the list of questions we have formulated for you. Please, note, that I am speaking not just for myself but on behalf of many people who commented on my thread and would like to know the answers as well.

Here is what we would like to clarify (credit to @EliseC for her great input)

  • Is every story being read? (At least one episode) Is every story is being assessed against the rubric or only those which reader retention is high enough? In the second case we would like to clarify what this high enough would mean in percentage, ie if you only read stories that rate high enough according to reader retention, how much in percent does a story need to score in reader engagement to qualify for being read and assessed against the rubric?
  • Reader retention: is there’s a certain “checkpoint” that a reader must get to for them to “count”? Like, if someone enters a story, sees that there’s no CC and exits, does that automatically affect the reader retention? If someone enters a story and has it crash in a crowd scene every time so they can’t progress, does that affect reader retention?
  • To the above point: would it be considered more “fair” to track reader retention only from episode 2? So in this case, seeing who continues reading a story only if they already read the first episode? (That is a suggestion rather than a question)

Most of the participants in the thread’s discussion also agreed that we would like the contests and the judging system to be transparent, ie we would like to see all the results (engagement, rubric, theme fitting, accordance with the guidelines) However, since we do not quite understand how the judging works we would like to clarify that first so that we can work from that.

Thank you very much for your reply.

Kindest regards,
Alex and a lot of amazing people eager to know the answers

:blue_heart::blue_heart::blue_heart:

I am also tagging all the people from almost 700 comments thread because I care and because these people care as well. Please, Episode, kindly take that into consideration. We, big authors, small authors, readers and all other lovers of Episode, will only benefit from transparency. Explaining the contest judging system is a good start.

Thank you all.

:blue_heart::blue_heart::blue_heart:

And here I present the list of people who care (thank you all very much for your participation) SINCE I CAN ONLY MENTION 100 PEOPLE IN THE POST THE SECOND HALF WILL BE IN THE COMMENTS. MY APOLOGIES FOR THAT, YOU ALL ARE EQUALLY IMPORTANT: @writingwithwings, @Gracex, @Estefi, @TheTurtleTrainer, @AMANI182-EPISODEEEEE, @LI05, @cribb, @PerplexedJam, @Bells.C, @FieryTenderness, @CoraMae, @k.w.episode, @Echo_D, @m-d, @yazhin, @Aaisya, @Annieways, @LiaMina, @EpisodeGirl, @episode5, @iamangiee, @thesktales, @M.G, @September, @K_Artist2001, @Priti, @S_Unique, @daniepisodewriter, @Funicidal, @silhouettej, @Jalissashewrote, @LaurieKrisette, @SarahtheBeaut, @Sparklekat17, @RIAwriter, @talesbykaterina, @Yeah09, @queenkhadijah999, @Sarina.K, @ashley.scott, @WinterMoon05, @feck.b, @Booklady1017, @Abhigna, @AllieM, @shara.stories, @asinedxo, @Mehasels, @Castino, @thesoulpunk, @Lady-Mehek, @Sophia-Oh, @S.Dsana, @CeceKaye (see the continued list down below in the comments)

Special thanks to these people for their amazing input (even though we may disagree on certain issues your contribution is extremely valuable): @EliseC, @K_Artist2001, @amepisode, @FieryTenderness, @Langdon, @thesktales, @TheTurtleTrainer, @yazhin, @brvnda, @AMANI182-EPISODEEEEE, @CoraMae, @Mei, @PerplexedJam, @passionatewriter_tah, @LI05, @Annieways, @Scotti

It is very likely that I have missed some people, so, please, accept my apologies for that. I will be updating the list once I review the thread and everyone’s input.

Thank you all very much and I hope we will get the answers in the near future.

:blue_heart::blue_heart::blue_heart:

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And here I present the list of people who care (thank you all very much for your participation) CONTINUED LIST: @Victoria_Smith, @Purple_Ghost, @Ni_shee, @Starlynn, @ChayChay, @Akanksha, @Alexx.lapakka, @carntz, @Shani_Theo, @GabbieC, @cateyedgoddess, @Saramona, @Littlefeets, @Ninahcakkes, @passionatewriter_tah, @Kyralynn, @pea, @sandy_candy, @episode.anisha, @Xayah, @LanaAugustine, @Soe_Jaded, @GG_writer, @Vienas, @AnaCK, @Catalenia, @EpisodeAfra, @luciaricci, @Ramones, @ReeseTheReallyGrumpy, @amelianelson, @Gimere, @Natka, @miss.h.m, @Liisa, @shannfergg, @Gina123, @loveyourself, @Catelyn, @Amanda_C, @Miss_Moonlight, @Januva, @author.y.w, @AllyJay, @JJ.Author, @GiGi_is_Me

THANK YOU!

:blue_heart::blue_heart::blue_heart:

33 Likes

Amazing post @Alex_Af :clap:t3:

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Thank you very much for your support! Together we stand and together we will get the answers and bring transparency!

:blue_heart::blue_heart::blue_heart:

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Great post, I’m with ya! :two_hearts::blue_heart:
Thanks for tagging me!

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Thanks for taking the time to post this…
Its amazing @Alex_Af

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Thank YOU for your support!

:blue_heart::blue_heart::blue_heart:

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Thank YOU very much for your time to support!

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It’s a great post, Alex! But I’m very sarcastic today, so I can’t help giving a comment that I hope that we’ll at last receive the answers and this post will not be deleted as “not episode related” or for some other reason. :slight_smile:

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I have taken screenshots to prove this post has been created. I will not give up until we get the answers and I really want to hope we will, as it is only fair and we are not asking anything bad or unreasonable.

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2 minutes later

Post gets deleted :joy:

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This is the funniest thing. We are asking for such a trifle, but being dodged and waved aside for three weeks already. During three weeks it was possible to generate all the contest results in the worst case :slight_smile:

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You’re so welcome! :green_heart::yellow_heart:

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Well, let’s keep asking. Maybe eventually the answers will be granted. :wink:

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I agree… all the way with you guys…
It should already been accepted not just hanged for three weeks…

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I’m sure the episode team will come around soon! :wink:
MEGA SUPPORT!

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Let’s hope so!

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All we have to do is wait and see, and continue to stick together and support each-other. :heart:

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Moved to Episode Fan Community as this is an Episode-specific post :v:t2:

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Thanks for the tag! Let’s hope we can get some answers soon :smiley:

Support! Support!!

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