Contest Rules?

[JLT]

I've got a couple of questions about the contest rules:

1. Is there a thread that discusses the rules of the contests? In the recent announcement by Homer, subjects were discussed but not genres. So is it possible to submit a poem for a contest where the genre isn't specified?

2. It's assumed that the submitted work will be entirely the writer's. But suppose that the work was first submitted to a beta reader, for the purpose of correcting things like typos and spelling and such, and identifying parts that weren't clear. As long as the beta reader didn't provide replacement verbiage that was used, would this be permissible in a submission?

 

[DLC]

Poems are for poetry contests. Work shopping entries is haram. No creating extra accounts to vote for yourself either.

 

[Homer Potvin]

I've got a couple of questions about the contest rules:

1. Is there a thread that discusses the rules of the contests? In the recent announcement by Homer, subjects were discussed but not genres. So is it possible to submit a poem for a contest where the genre isn't specified?

2. It's assumed that the submitted work will be entirely the writer's. But suppose that the work was first submitted to a beta reader, for the purpose of correcting things like typos and spelling and such, and identifying parts that weren't clear. As long as the beta reader didn't provide replacement verbiage that was used, would this be permissible in a submission?

1. If there's no genre specified, then there's no genre specified. You'd have to check with @dbesim if an actual prompt could be in doubt there, but generally speaking, I don't see how genre could be a factor.

Are you referring to something in the Fourth Contest where I mentioned multiple formats?

2. That's fine. Don't care about beta readers.

 

[dbesim]

I've got a couple of questions about the contest rules:

1. Is there a thread that discusses the rules of the contests? In the recent announcement by Homer, subjects were discussed but not genres. So is it possible to submit a poem for a contest where the genre isn't specified?

2. It's assumed that the submitted work will be entirely the writer's. But suppose that the work was first submitted to a beta reader, for the purpose of correcting things like typos and spelling and such, and identifying parts that weren't clear. As long as the beta reader didn't provide replacement verbiage that was used, would this be permissible in a submission?

Regarding genre, you’re free to explore any genre you like as long as you’re addressing the prompt.

Regarding beta readers, I would advise no, because it might compromise the anonymity rule, so if you PM for a beta reader, someone else might know the work was yours and it’s a rule that only you need to know who posted the submission. However you can always share your poem for a beta reader after the voting process is over.

More on the rules here.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Regarding beta readers, I would advise no, because it might compromise the anonymity rule,

That's a good point, too. Guess it would depend on the source of the beta reader.

 

[JLT]

Are you referring to something in the Fourth Contest where I mentioned multiple formats?

Yes. I was unclear about that.

That's a good point, too. Guess it would depend on the source of the beta reader.

I guess that rules out anybody on the forum. I'll stick with going solo.

 

[Clutch]

No creating extra accounts to vote for yourself either.

This got a laugh...do people actually do this...for these contests? Dang, I'm very competitive but wow!

As far as beta readers...my wife reads everything I write, makes corrections and suggestions, she's suggested plot ideas and endings. She is a great reader. She's a lousy writer...

Then I run everything through (free) Grammarly because I'm still learning the finer aspects of literary punctuation, and although I am a grammar Nazi with a fetish for punctuation, I still miss things.

Writing in a vacuum is very difficult, I don't recommend it.

 

[Homer Potvin]

As far as beta readers...my wife reads everything I write

Me too.

This got a laugh...do people actually do this...for these contests?

Back in the day at the OG, yeah. It hasn't been a thing for awhile. The forum software catches dupes fairly easily.

 

[big soft moose]

We had a woman once who created 4 duplicate accounts so they could have a conversation about how great her competition entry was

She then claimed they were her friends who’d joined to support her until we pointed out that they were using one computer and two of the email addresses were only one letter different

People are strange

 

[Homer Potvin]

We had a woman once who created 4 duplicate accounts so they could have a conversation about how great her competition entry was

She then claimed they were her friends who’d joined to support her until we pointed out that they were using one computer and two of the email addresses were only one letter different

People are strange

Who was that?

 

[big soft moose]

I can’t remember, it might have been girlwriter or that may have been a different mulltiple sock puppet incident

There been so many they blur after a while

 

[Homer Potvin]

sock puppet incident

Reminds me of the Pets.com sock puppet. There's a famous market book that has a picture of it dead on the street like it had been run over, presumably as a warning to ill advised IPOs and an overreliance on marketing when you don't have a viable business model.