That... is something I forgot about.

 

It was precisely for that reason. We weren't getting much interest in participation at all, so we stopped organising them. I think the last one we did got 3 entries, the one before that something like 5.

 

Oracle, (I don't know why I'm giving you an idea) if you really want, make a group for this stuff and see if anyone joins it.

 

I can already foresee how well that will work out.

 

How long ago was that? If it was more than, say, two years, it might be worth looking at again.

I know that I personally have felt the urge to write something fun and loose and not necessarily super well-thought-out and structured. Kind of, "here's the prompt, take a few hours, bang out some words," especially when I have the itch to write but I can't quite muster up the energy to put in "serious effort."

Anyway, my point is it seems like the niche interest probably exists, and the base of "active" writers is always in flux.

 

We've talked about it several times on irc in the past month. There's been a few different ideas talked about, but nothing concrete yet. I think we want to try and not make the same mistakes as last time.

 

Perhaps if an incentive were offered, the story competitions could get off the ground again.

Say, an Amazon gift card of some value or equivalent.

We could use the anthology funds - not enough to do it every month, of course. But if there were a quarterly or even bi-annually competition, the gift card could conceivably hover between $25-$50.

I dunno - the last bit of cash I received from the anthos was donated via the donation link, so it'd require some thought. If someone got off their ass and started punching out those anthologies again, we'd have more to work with.

But time and time again the guy running them has shown himself an unreliable asshole.

 

If I recall correctly they were monthly competitions, weren't they? Maybe it would work better if they were more infrequent?

 

I think that's a good point, monthly is a bit too often, especially with the busy lives most of us lead.

Perhaps quarterly would be the best idea? I think bi-annual would be a bit too long. Or every 4 months, which is... thirdly? I guess there isn't really a provision for a third of a year.

 

I would do this competition, love the idea.

 

The short-termed competition sounds pretty cool. I'd suggest doing it over the weekend to give the people enough time, with a thought to time zones (i.e. starting Friday at midday Australian time, ending Sunday night west coast time).

 

Well, at least I raised interest in something

As mentioned, weekends and other holidays are your best bets. I also like the idea of it having a specific scenario, rather than something more wider in range.

 

I don't know if this is intentional or not, but the DLP banner at the top of the screen is only clickable on the left side. I would think it more normal for the whole banner to be a link to the main site. And it annoys me at times when I click the wrong part of the banner and nothing happens...

 

Assuming you're using the Classic DLP skin, intentional. It's two separate images.

 

Yes, forgot to mention that was the theme I was using. Would it still be possible to make the whole length a link to the main page? It's of course not a big issue for me, but it sometimes annoy me when I press the wrong side and, in my limited expertise, I believe that having the whole width be a clickable image is the norm for banners.

 

It's certainly possible, whether they do it or not is the question. You could switch to Project DLP if you want a single wide banner that's clickable.

 

Oh, thanks. That should probably have been one of the first things to try, changing the theme...
Changed to Project DLP and that banner works perfectly

 

So, is anyone actually planning on doing this? Because it really does sound like a nice idea. I checked out the old ones and like you said they probably didn't want to dedicate their time to such long submissions in that case the time competitions would be better like you said for those on DLP who're busy.
Also longer submissions like they used to do could be the quarterly competitions and the timed ones can be advertised and held more frequently since they take less time?

Also, still wondering if anyone started planning one of these since ?