Signature of the Month Contest Generic Discussion Thread

[Hiroi Sekai]

Hey, I'm a regular member and I'm permitted to run the writing competition around here. Sure, it's nowhere near as popular as SOTM, but it runs in a similar fashion nonetheless. With that said, if you're truly dedicated to making signatures, a forum competition should only be a side project; one can continue to create signatures and improving their skills regardless of the contest being active or not. I'm sure Solace isn't one to just have all the free time in the world to throw at this competition, and we've been promised that it WILL continue.

Now if Solace was unable to run it anymore, that's a different story. I'm sure a member could run it just as easily as long as they had the right idea on how to organize the details. However, I think everyone should be patient and avoiding pressuring Solace to the point where he actually doesn't want to do it anymore. Nothing worse than constant annoying poking from the community, after all. Or maybe it'll be the people giving up on it that brings it to a true end. If you want a medium to create and receive opinions, set a theme for yourself and post something to your personal threads or collaborate between each other for tips and criticism, and always show interest in the potential that it can continue. When it's actually dead, there WILL be an announcement, and then everyone can feel sad about it.

With that said, looks like Solace does have plans to continue. Nice banner, I'm looking forward to it myself. I still find it kind of funny that as soon as I find the ability to compose the most basic of signatures and even consider entering something, the contest takes a sudden hiatus. Unlucky timing, I guess.

[Larthak]

Originally Posted by Solace

To be continued....

See? Gauging the interest by teasing us and waiting in the shadows, observing our replies!

Originally Posted by escimo

I personally would count 20 or so entries as a success. If there's less it might need a bit more time to simmer. I've been more or less gone from the forums for a year and I do have to admit the activity of the whole Fan Creations sub-forum seems to be down from what it used to be but then again a bit of a headlining event might help to rejuvenate the FC as well.

Having 20 contestants is just enough to get some interest going, I agree.

Originally Posted by escimo

Anyway resetting the theme cycle will probably help as will the new technical regulations. I know that there are a few already used themes I'd love to have another stab at and looser regulations are an added bonus as well.
I believe I'm not alone.

A reset is necessary. At least I know I didn't participate in the later ones just because finding material for the theme was even more time-consuming than the signature creation process itself. It became a huge bother.

[Marina]

Originally Posted by Solace

To be continued....

Nice banner, Solace I'm in for whenever the contest starts up again!

[Frailty]

Originally Posted by Solace

To be continued....

oh, you

[ahelo]

Oooh something's finally starting!

[Solace]

Indeed! So let's make a new announcement. Looking at my priorities for the rest of the year, running a contest full time is not among them. This isn't a sign of ending or abandoning the contest, but I want to get this going and unfortunately my free time is too random to do what I had been doing in the past. As such I'd rather delegate the duties of the contest to individuals who will be interested in helping out with the SOTM for the foreseeable future. It's a passing of the torch, basically, which should help keep the contest going as people come and go from the forums.

Here's the overall duties required to run the contest:

1. Timely creation of Entry and Voting threads.
2. Ensuring that every contestant understands the theme and follows the rules
3. Ensuring that each entry meets the standards of the theme and the rules
4. Ensuring that entries are collected for the Voting thread
5. Ensuring that voting is done according to the rules and as accurately and fairly as possible
6. Tallying the results and posting them when the voting period expires
7. Working with the winner(s) to ensure the next theme is ready for the next month
8. Rinse, repeat.

Ultimately, I am going to retain the role of "moderator" for the contest. This means I will work to ensure the integrity of the contest remains intact, and that the rules for the contest and the forum are followed. All major decisions about the contest, as always, are discussed and deliberated with the community.

As they are now, the rules are set. The only thing that needs updating is the new entry rules regarding what signatures are allowed. These will be as follows (updated to follow the new forum signature rules):

Entries cannot exceed a maximum of 100 KiB (102,400 bytes).
Horizontal ("Standard") entries cannot exceed a maximum of 600 pixels wide and 160 pixels tall.
Vertical Signatures are now allowed. Entries cannot exceed a maximum of 140 pixels wide and 350 pixels tall.

Vertical Signatures are only for the contest. If you choose to use your entry as a standard signature, you are expected to stick to the forum rules.

Also, we're resetting the theme cycle. Any theme we've already done is now open for reuse.

So drop me a line and let me know who is interested. I will choose from the volunteers and let everyone know so we can get the contest restarted again.