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Hello all,

I have a working demo. As of right now, I believe it has everything
required to do nominations and voting for stories and authors for this
year.

I need some testers/reviewers.

Will anyone who is interested please visit the demo at:

http://holder.dyndns.org/ctpro.

and tell me what you think.

It's being served on a 1999 vintage iMac G3/400 MHz at my house through
DSL, so it's not a real server, but it seems to do the job. (MacOS X is
great!) If it is not available, send me an email (or AIM me,
awh142857), and I'll check to be sure it didn't get put to sleep.

Please read the FAQ, but here are a few things you should know, which
may not be there:

1) It is not done. There are still some instructions to write, and
plenty of code to write (such as pages for viewing results, but I don't
need those until October). Please email me privately with questions
about problems with the site, or things you don't understand, or
suggestions. I'll compile answers into the FAQ that is already on the
site.

2) Feel free to edit anything you can edit, and let me know if anything
doesn't edit correctly. I especially need to know about data entry
errors, where you did something and the system didn't get it right!

3) Since voting is limited to members of MEFA, you can't create your
own accounts. Some 'dummy' accounts have been created. You can login
using any of these accounts and nominate stories and enter reviews of
other peoples' stories. A list of accounts and passwords is available
at the end of this email. Please try to spread them out, so we have
stories written and nominated by more than just the first dummy user.
Eventually, we'll give everybody a real account. Don't spend much time
adding real stories, because they'll have to be deleted.

4) There is an admin interface. I'll ask Ainae for who should be sent
that password for review.

5) The site has a built-in schedule (which the admins can change). For
this demo:
Nomination Season closes Tuesday at midnight CST
Check ballots is Wednesday the 9th
Voting starts Thursday the 10th at midnight and runs till the end of
the month.
I need to make a 'schedule' page to show what the system is scheduled
to do and when.

6) Depending on what season it is, different actions are possible. For
eample, after nominating season, the 'submit story' link disappears.
Also, author reviews can't be entered until the end of 'check ballots'
season, because the system doesn't know the award category until that
time. There's a list of active seasons at the top, abbreviated, but you
can probably figure out what they are.

7) For the demo, unless Ainae wants to assign the stories to different
categories on Wednesday, they will all be assigned to their first
suggested category.

8) A review for a story will follow the story even if it gets moved
from one category to another.


Once I've gotten some comments, and had a bit more chance to QC things,
I'll want to run a test. We'll try to enter all the stories from one or
more voting categories from the 2004 awards, and then enter all the
reviews. Right now, the counting should basically follow the 2004 rules
(except for the whitelist of allowed characters, which MEFA members
will need to confirm), so the scores should add up the same, or be
pretty close. We'll check to be sure that they work.

User/Pass for dummy accounts:

AnyMember/AnyMember
NoName/NoName
NoName2/NoName2
nn3/ppnn3
nn4/ppnn4
nn5/ppnn5
nn6/ppnn6
nn7/ppnn7
nn8/ppnn8
nn9/ppnn9
nn10/pnn10
Guest/Guest * Special User, see FAQ

--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, Anthony Holder <aaholder@s...>
wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I have a working demo. As of right now, I believe it has everything
> required to do nominations and voting for stories and authors for

this

> year.
>

Anthony, this is really wonderful. I'm impressed.

I was using Opera 7.54 in Apple OS X, FYI. Here's some of the actions
I did (all without error):

1. Log in under nn6
2. Nominate story by nn6.
3. Vote for said story.
4. Nominate second story by a different author (Ainae).
5. Create author ID "Marta".
6. Change author of seconds tory (originally by Ainae) to Marta
7. Nominate third story by Marta.
8. Log out.

As I said, I think it's great. But that doesn't mean I don't have
quibbles, namely:

1. Actions List (http://holder.dyndns.org/ctpro/index.php?page=index)
-- Maybe add "Add an Author" and possibly even "Add an Author Group"
here?

2. Story Type (on the nomination form) -- change "Story" to "Other",
or else add "Nonfiction", to cover essays?

3. Categories (again, on the nom form) -- right now there's a partial
list, with several subcategories. I suggest listing all the *main*
categories (available, among other places, at http://groups.yahoo.com/
group/MEFAwards/message/3416), and forgoing the drabble/poem/WIP
distinction there - they'll already be selecting that anyway, under
"Story Type".

Also, it was my understanding of the rules that the authors, not the
nominators, choose categories. I'm not sure whether Ainae wants to
change the rules, or if you have an idea how to approach this problem.
Presently, I can see two options, one more work-intensive for the
awards admins and one more work-intensive for you.

Solution 1:

a: Nominator nominates piece. There is no suggested category field on
the nomination form.
b: Admin emails author asking s/he to select category choices and
reply back to the admin with them.
c: Admin logs into website and enters categories into the system.

Solution 2:

a: Nominator nominates piece. There is no suggested category field on
the nomination form.
b: Automated email is sent to author, alerting them that their story
has been nominated, including a password to log into the website.
c: Author logs in and selects categories.

4. Posting votes to MEFAwards. As it's set up now, I think all votes
made during reading season are posted to the list on the second day.
Is there a way to spread this out, so that votes in 1/4 of categories
are posted first day of voting, second 1/4 a week later, and so on?

I think that's it. I'm a beta tester for henneth-annun.net/, so I am
used to thinking about stuff like this. If I can help in any other
way, or if I haven't been clear, please let me know.

Marta

> I need some testers/reviewers.
>
> Will anyone who is interested please visit the demo at:
> .
> http://holder.dyndns.org/ctpro.
>
> and tell me what you think.
>
> It's being served on a 1999 vintage iMac G3/400 MHz at my house

through

> DSL, so it's not a real server, but it seems to do the job. (MacOS X

is

> great!) If it is not available, send me an email (or AIM me,
> awh142857), and I'll check to be sure it didn't get put to sleep.
>
> Please read the FAQ, but here are a few things you should know,

which

> may not be there:
>
> 1) It is not done. There are still some instructions to write, and
> plenty of code to write (such as pages for viewing results, but I

don't

> need those until October). Please email me privately with questions
> about problems with the site, or things you don't understand, or
> suggestions. I'll compile answers into the FAQ that is already on

the

> site.
>
> 2) Feel free to edit anything you can edit, and let me know if

anything

> doesn't edit correctly. I especially need to know about data entry
> errors, where you did something and the system didn't get it right!
>
> 3) Since voting is limited to members of MEFA, you can't create your
> own accounts. Some 'dummy' accounts have been created. You can login
> using any of these accounts and nominate stories and enter reviews

of

> other peoples' stories. A list of accounts and passwords is

available

> at the end of this email. Please try to spread them out, so we have
> stories written and nominated by more than just the first dummy

user.

> Eventually, we'll give everybody a real account. Don't spend much

time

> adding real stories, because they'll have to be deleted.
>
> 4) There is an admin interface. I'll ask Ainae for who should be

sent

> that password for review.
>
> 5) The site has a built-in schedule (which the admins can change).

For

> this demo:
> Nomination Season closes Tuesday at midnight CST
> Check ballots is Wednesday the 9th
> Voting starts Thursday the 10th at midnight and runs till the end of
> the month.
> I need to make a 'schedule' page to show what the system is

scheduled

> to do and when.
>
> 6) Depending on what season it is, different actions are possible.

For

> eample, after nominating season, the 'submit story' link disappears.
> Also, author reviews can't be entered until the end of 'check

ballots'

> season, because the system doesn't know the award category until

that

> time. There's a list of active seasons at the top, abbreviated, but

you

> can probably figure out what they are.
>
> 7) For the demo, unless Ainae wants to assign the stories to

different

> categories on Wednesday, they will all be assigned to their first
> suggested category.
>
> 8) A review for a story will follow the story even if it gets moved
> from one category to another.
>
>
> Once I've gotten some comments, and had a bit more chance to QC

things,

> I'll want to run a test. We'll try to enter all the stories from one

or

> more voting categories from the 2004 awards, and then enter all the
> reviews. Right now, the counting should basically follow the 2004

rules

> (except for the whitelist of allowed characters, which MEFA members
> will need to confirm), so the scores should add up the same, or be
> pretty close. We'll check to be sure that they work.
>
> User/Pass for dummy accounts:
>
> AnyMember/AnyMember
> NoName/NoName
> NoName2/NoName2
> nn3/ppnn3
> nn4/ppnn4
> nn5/ppnn5
> nn6/ppnn6
> nn7/ppnn7
> nn8/ppnn8
> nn9/ppnn9
> nn10/pnn10
> Guest/Guest * Special User, see FAQ

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marta [mailto:MartaL0712@netscape.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 8:36 AM
> To: MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [MEFAwards] Re: 2005 Voting Website Demo
>

> Anthony, this is really wonderful. I'm impressed.
>
> I was using Opera 7.54 in Apple OS X, FYI. Here's some of the
> actions I did (all without error):
>
> As I said, I think it's great. But that doesn't mean I don't
> have quibbles, namely:

>
> 1. Actions List (http://holder.dyndns.org/ctpro/index.php?page=index)
> -- Maybe add "Add an Author" and possibly even "Add an Author Group"
> here?

> 2. Story Type (on the nomination form) -- change "Story" to
> "Other", or else add "Nonfiction", to cover essays?

> 3. Categories (again, on the nom form) -- right now there's a
> partial list, with several subcategories. I suggest listing
> all the *main* categories (available, among other places, at
> http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/MEFAwards/message/3416), and
> forgoing the drabble/poem/WIP distinction there - they'll
> already be selecting that anyway, under "Story Type".
>
> Also, it was my understanding of the rules that the authors,
> not the nominators, choose categories. I'm not sure whether
> Ainae wants to change the rules, or if you have an idea how
> to approach this problem.
> Presently, I can see two options, one more work-intensive for
> the awards admins and one more work-intensive for you.
>
> Solution 1:
>
> a: Nominator nominates piece. There is no suggested category
> field on the nomination form.
> b: Admin emails author asking s/he to select category choices
> and reply back to the admin with them.
> c: Admin logs into website and enters categories into the system.
>
> Solution 2:
>
> a: Nominator nominates piece. There is no suggested category
> field on the nomination form.
> b: Automated email is sent to author, alerting them that
> their story has been nominated, including a password to log
> into the website.
> c: Author logs in and selects categories.

I think the best solution is closer to #2, but not all Authors will log in.

Just remember this is a demo and it will have some tweaks after we test how
it works. Like finalizing the forms. I already mentioned to Anthony about
authors making category decisions. I think what would be best with that is
Authors, Admin, and Author Contactors (if we can have groups for admin
access) have access to edit categories. Authors because they can set their
own. Admin and Author Contactors because not all authors may come to the
web site and log in. They may simply reply by e-mail and we'd have to put
the categories in there for.

I'd like an automated message to the authors to be including more than a
password. I want to do it a bit more like we did last year. More personal
(it can still be a form letter automated by the system). It should mention
what story was nominated and ask them what 3 choices of categories they
want, list the categores, show them th summary and ask them to make sure
it's accurate, and ask them how they would like to describe the length (with
suggestions shown). I can help write this, of course.

Marta, you were going to write up some more for the FAQ, and that can be put
on the web site, too, I believe.

> 4. Posting votes to MEFAwards. As it's set up now, I think
> all votes made during reading season are posted to the list
> on the second day.
> Is there a way to spread this out, so that votes in 1/4 of
> categories are posted first day of voting, second 1/4 a week
> later, and so on?

I don't quite understand. Are we talking about the testing schedule? I'm
just confused. If we are talking about the real one, I don't want any
reviews posted to the list until Voting Season.

> I think that's it. I'm a beta tester for henneth-annun.net/,
> so I am used to thinking about stuff like this. If I can help
> in any other way, or if I haven't been clear, please let me know.

Any other comments, I'll leave to Anthony. My brain is much right now.

--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

Hi Ainae,

[snip]

> Just remember this is a demo and it will have some tweaks after we

test how

> it works. Like finalizing the forms.

Okay, I probably jumped the gun there. I wasn't sure how nit-picky I
should get this early done. (Though it's not *that* early. Will we
have time to finalize all this in the next three weeks?)

> I already mentioned to Anthony about
> authors making category decisions. I think what would be best with

that is

> Authors, Admin, and Author Contactors (if we can have groups for

admin

> access) have access to edit categories. Authors because they can set

their

> own. Admin and Author Contactors because not all authors may come

to the

> web site and log in. They may simply reply by e-mail and we'd have

to put

> the categories in there for.
>

That sounds good to me, if it's technically feasible. Is there a
reason you need separate groups for Admins and Author contactors? (I.
e., couldn't all author contactors just be authors?)

> I'd like an automated message to the authors to be including more

than a

> password. I want to do it a bit more like we did last year. More

personal

> (it can still be a form letter automated by the system). It should

mention

> what story was nominated and ask them what 3 choices of categories

they

> want, list the categores, show them th summary and ask them to make

sure

> it's accurate, and ask them how they would like to describe the

length (with

> suggestions shown). I can help write this, of course.
>

Sure. I meant that it should include a password for the author's
account, on top of whatever else we want to include -- not that it
should *just* include a password.

> Marta, you were going to write up some more for the FAQ, and that

can be put

> on the web site, too, I believe.
>

Yes, I'm planning on it. So far I've written one on how admins
categorize and subcategorize pieces, and a description of the
different available categories. I've also thought of writing one on
voting. Any other topics you want to see covered?

> > 4. Posting votes to MEFAwards. As it's set up now, I think
> > all votes made during reading season are posted to the list
> > on the second day.
> > Is there a way to spread this out, so that votes in 1/4 of
> > categories are posted first day of voting, second 1/4 a week
> > later, and so on?
>
> I don't quite understand. Are we talking about the testing

schedule? I'm

> just confused. If we are talking about the real one, I don't want

any

> reviews posted to the list until Voting Season.
>

I was referring to this section of the Demo FAQ:

*****

Reviewing Stories is allowed from the beginning of Nominations until
the end of Voting. Reviewers may mark their reviews as Draft,
Tentative, or Final. Draft Reviews will never be visible, except to
the reviewer and the admin, and will not count. Tentative reviews will
be converted to final at the end of Voting Season, and counted. Final
Reviews will be posted to the group when they become final or at the
beginning of Voting Season, whichever comes later.

Reviewing Authors is allowed from the end of Check Ballots until the
end of Voting. Reviewers may mark their reviews as Draft, Tentative,
or Final. Draft Reviews will never be visible, except to the reviewer
and the admin, and will not count. Tentative reviews will be converted
to final at the end of Voting Season, and counted. Final Reviews will
be posted to the group when they become final or at the beginning of
Voting Season, whichever comes later.

*****

As I understand it, this says the following:

1. Any member of MEFAwards can create a vote for any story (assuming
their not the author), at any point after it's nominated.

2. Any member of MEFAwards can create a vote for any author other than
themselves after nomination season closes.

3. Any vote that is submitted before voting season and marked "Final"
will be posted to MEFAwards on the first day of voting season.

4. Any vote that is submitted during voting season and marked "Final"
will be posted to MEFAwards when it is submitted.

My concern is (3). I'm envisioning a flood of votes on the first day
of voting season. My suggestion is that they be spread out somehow --
if a vote is made before voting season it is posted to MEFAwards on
some predetermined day during voting season. The exact date would
depend on the category; something like

Races & Places - post on the opening day of voting season or when the
vote is marked final, whichever is later.

Genres - post on the day falling one week after the opening day of
voting season or when vote is marked final, depending on whether vote
is cast during voting season or before.

Time/Source - post on the day falling two weeks after the opening day
of voting season or when vote is marked final, depending on whether
vote is cast during voting season or before.

The idea is to spread out the posting of votes made during reading
season more.

I have a massive head ache, so your other post will have to wait until
tomorrow or the day after. But I will get to it.

Marta
Marta