Yahoo Forum Archive

Is this just so it's easier to see where a comment begins and ends?

I can see why that would be good. But it would also add 2 characters to
every vote. Do we just subtract two from the character count? Or do we up
the cut-off points for each point by 2 characters? Of course, if we did
that, the numbers wouldn't be very round. 1102 and up?

It would be good though to have a good way to show where a comment begins
and ends. Because we did see some that started right after the title--on
the same line. Or that still had the summary in the ballot, which made it
hard to tell where the comment started.

Thoughts on this one, folks?


--Ainaechoiriel
MEFA Admin and Founder

"This evil cannot be concealed by the power of the Elves," Elrond said, "for
it is Windows-compatible, and freeware at that." --H.F.

http://gabrielle.sytes.net/mefa The Middle-Earth Fanfiction Awards
Blog: <http://www.ainaechoiriel.blogspot.com/>
http://www.ainaechoiriel.blogspot.com



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Since we're putting the votes in word anyway...you can do a find and replace.
Find the quotes, then replace them with nothing, then count the characters.

Either that, or maybe (if we do it online) we can set it up not to count quote
marks?

Or...failing all else, just let them stay in and not worry about it. They won't
make a difference unless a vote is right on the edge of a point range anyway.

And if that happens, maybe just say that they'll be taken out at that point and
the lower point value will be counted for that vote. I have my doubts that too
many votes would fit that criteria.


--- Ainaechoiriel <mefaadmin@earthlink.net> wrote:

> Is this just so it's easier to see where a comment begins and ends?
>
> I can see why that would be good. But it would also add 2 characters to
> every vote. Do we just subtract two from the character count? Or do we up
> the cut-off points for each point by 2 characters? Of course, if we did
> that, the numbers wouldn't be very round. 1102 and up?
>
> It would be good though to have a good way to show where a comment begins
> and ends. Because we did see some that started right after the title--on
> the same line. Or that still had the summary in the ballot, which made it
> hard to tell where the comment started.
>
> Thoughts on this one, folks?
>
>
> --Ainaechoiriel
> MEFA Admin and Founder
>
> "This evil cannot be concealed by the power of the Elves," Elrond said, "for
> it is Windows-compatible, and freeware at that." --H.F.
>
> http://gabrielle.sytes.net/mefa The Middle-Earth Fanfiction Awards
> Blog: <http://www.ainaechoiriel.blogspot.com/>
> http://www.ainaechoiriel.blogspot.com
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

I just watched an episode of Monk. So I'll try to tone down my obsessive
compulsiveness and say two characters doesn't matter.

But I don't think quotes would be right. Why? Because there might be quotes
inside the comment. We'd need a piece of punctuation that won't occur in a
comment. Like a $ or @ symbol.

Or, I could make it even simpler and put a line under the summary on the
ballot, so votes have to go beneath that. I could also remove the summary
from the ballot. I left it in there this year so that it might help voters
remember which story is which.

--Ainaechoiriel
MEFA Admin and Founder

"This evil cannot be concealed by the power of the Elves," Elrond said, "for
it is Windows-compatible, and freeware at that." --H.F.

http://gabrielle.sytes.net/mefa The Middle-Earth Fanfiction Awards
Blog: http://www.ainaechoiriel.blogspot.com



-----Original Message-----
From: Larian Elensar [mailto:larian_elensar@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2004 10:29 PM
To: MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MEFAwards] PM: comments have to be enclosed in quotation marks


Since we're putting the votes in word anyway...you can do a find and
replace.
Find the quotes, then replace them with nothing, then count the characters.

Either that, or maybe (if we do it online) we can set it up not to count
quote marks?

Or...failing all else, just let them stay in and not worry about it. They
won't make a difference unless a vote is right on the edge of a point range
anyway.

And if that happens, maybe just say that they'll be taken out at that point
and the lower point value will be counted for that vote. I have my doubts
that too many votes would fit that criteria.


--- Ainaechoiriel <mefaadmin@earthlink.net> wrote:

> Is this just so it's easier to see where a comment begins and ends?
>
> I can see why that would be good. But it would also add 2 characters
> to every vote. Do we just subtract two from the character count? Or
> do we up the cut-off points for each point by 2 characters? Of
> course, if we did that, the numbers wouldn't be very round. 1102 and up?
>
> It would be good though to have a good way to show where a comment
> begins and ends. Because we did see some that started right after the
> title--on the same line. Or that still had the summary in the ballot,
> which made it hard to tell where the comment started.
>
> Thoughts on this one, folks?
>
>
> --Ainaechoiriel
> MEFA Admin and Founder
>
> "This evil cannot be concealed by the power of the Elves," Elrond
> said, "for it is Windows-compatible, and freeware at that." --H.F.
>
> http://gabrielle.sytes.net/mefa The Middle-Earth Fanfiction Awards
> Blog: <http://www.ainaechoiriel.blogspot.com/>
> http://www.ainaechoiriel.blogspot.com
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

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How did I know you watched Monk!!?? *grin*

I recently found it myself. *hee*

I think the line under the summary would be the easiest thing to do. Or even
add the line then something like...


VOTE HERE:

so they know where to start their comments?


--- Ainaechoiriel <mefaadmin@earthlink.net> wrote:

> I just watched an episode of Monk. So I'll try to tone down my obsessive
> compulsiveness and say two characters doesn't matter.
>
> But I don't think quotes would be right. Why? Because there might be quotes
> inside the comment. We'd need a piece of punctuation that won't occur in a
> comment. Like a $ or @ symbol.
>
> Or, I could make it even simpler and put a line under the summary on the
> ballot, so votes have to go beneath that. I could also remove the summary
> from the ballot. I left it in there this year so that it might help voters
> remember which story is which.
>
> --Ainaechoiriel
> MEFA Admin and Founder
>
> "This evil cannot be concealed by the power of the Elves," Elrond said, "for
> it is Windows-compatible, and freeware at that." --H.F.
>
> http://gabrielle.sytes.net/mefa The Middle-Earth Fanfiction Awards
> Blog: http://www.ainaechoiriel.blogspot.com
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Larian Elensar [mailto:larian_elensar@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Friday, December 10, 2004 10:29 PM
> To: MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [MEFAwards] PM: comments have to be enclosed in quotation marks
>
>
> Since we're putting the votes in word anyway...you can do a find and
> replace.
> Find the quotes, then replace them with nothing, then count the characters.
>
> Either that, or maybe (if we do it online) we can set it up not to count
> quote marks?
>
> Or...failing all else, just let them stay in and not worry about it. They
> won't make a difference unless a vote is right on the edge of a point range
> anyway.
>
> And if that happens, maybe just say that they'll be taken out at that point
> and the lower point value will be counted for that vote. I have my doubts
> that too many votes would fit that criteria.
>
>
> --- Ainaechoiriel <mefaadmin@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> > Is this just so it's easier to see where a comment begins and ends?
> >
> > I can see why that would be good. But it would also add 2 characters
> > to every vote. Do we just subtract two from the character count? Or
> > do we up the cut-off points for each point by 2 characters? Of
> > course, if we did that, the numbers wouldn't be very round. 1102 and up?
> >
> > It would be good though to have a good way to show where a comment
> > begins and ends. Because we did see some that started right after the
> > title--on the same line. Or that still had the summary in the ballot,
> > which made it hard to tell where the comment started.
> >
> > Thoughts on this one, folks?
> >
> >
> > --Ainaechoiriel
> > MEFA Admin and Founder
> >
> > "This evil cannot be concealed by the power of the Elves," Elrond
> > said, "for it is Windows-compatible, and freeware at that." --H.F.
> >
> > http://gabrielle.sytes.net/mefa The Middle-Earth Fanfiction Awards
> > Blog: <http://www.ainaechoiriel.blogspot.com/>
> > http://www.ainaechoiriel.blogspot.com
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make
> a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar.
> Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free!
> http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/wx3olB/TM
> --------------------------------------------------------------------~->
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

> But I don't think quotes would be right. Why? Because there might

be quotes

> inside the comment. We'd need a piece of punctuation that won't

occur in a

> comment. Like a $ or @ symbol.
>

That's true. I think at one point I suggested ^ or | because I can't
think of why those would be used in a summary. Whatever character we
use, we probably should tell nominators somewhere to make sure that
they don't use it in their summaries (and I presume, voters shouldn't
use it in their votes except to mark off quotes.

> Or, I could make it even simpler and put a line under the summary on

the

> ballot, so votes have to go beneath that. I could also remove the

summary

> from the ballot. I left it in there this year so that it might help

voters

> remember which story is which.
>

I found the summaries very helpful. When I read stories I just went
through the ballot and chose the ones I wanted to go to, then went to
that URL and read the story. So taking the summaries out altogether
would make participating more difficult for me. However, I think you
could require that people trim the summaries out on the ballot they
send to the Yahoo group with their votes.

Marta

-----Original Message-----
From: Marta [mailto:MartaL0712@netscape.net]
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 2:19 PM
To: MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [MEFAwards] Re: PM: comments have to be enclosed in quotation marks

>That's true. I think at one point I suggested ^ or | because I can't think

of why those would be used in a summary. Whatever character we use, we
probably should tell nominators somewhere to make sure that they don't use
it in their summaries (and I presume, voters shouldn't use it in their votes
except to mark off quotes.

The simplest way is to not leave it to the nominator at all. I can easily
add a VOTE HERE line to a ballot by mail merge.

>> I could also remove the

summary

> from the ballot. I left it in there this year so that it might help

voters

> remember which story is which.
>

>I found the summaries very helpful. When I read stories I just went through

the ballot and chose the ones I wanted to go to, then went to that URL and
read the story. So taking the summaries out altogether would make
participating more difficult for me. However, I think you could require that
people trim the summaries out on the ballot they send to the Yahoo group
with their votes.

Well, no. Why? Because the author knows the story best. I trust their
summaries. So whatever the author writes is summary enough. I pretty much
copied the summaries for my nominations word-for-word from what the author
wrote. Copy-and-paste. No brain-work required. ;-) And I'd hate to make
a summary that detracted people from reading an author's work. No, I think
the summary should be the one you find on whatever archive you find the
story. Of course, if its own your story....
--Ainaechoiriel
MEFA Admin and Founder

"This evil cannot be concealed by the power of the Elves," Elrond said, "for
it is Windows-compatible, and freeware at that." --H.F.

http://gabrielle.sytes.net/mefa The Middle-Earth Fanfiction Awards
Blog: http://www.ainaechoiriel.blogspot.com