Yahoo Forum Archive

Hey guys,

(Apologies for the late educational post - between Labor Day and Rosh
HaShannah this week got a bit wonky for me schedule-wise.)

Sometimes you want to find stories by a certain story length, or you
want to see just the stories of a certain type (for instance, you want
to read poetry). For whatever reason, the MEFA website makes this easy
enough to do.

****************************************

FINDING STORIES BY LENGTH

--- 1. Log in to www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/
--- 2. Click the "Stories" link at the top of the page.
--- 3. Click the link to display the filter.
--- 4. Click the "Clear All Filters" button.
--- 5. Select the length you want.
--- 6. Click the "Display Selected Nominations" button.

The available options are:

--- (a) True Drabble: single pieces, exactly 100 words
--- (b) True Drabble Series: a series where each part is a true drabble
--- (c) Ficlet: single pieces, less than 1,000 words but not including drabbles
--- (d) Ficlet Series: a series where each part is a ficlet
--- (e) Short Story: 1,001-10,000 words
--- (f) Medium Length: 10,001-40,000 words
--- (g) Novel: 40,001+ words
--- (h) N/A: for poetry or non-fiction

These are based on the info authors report, and it's always possible a
mistake was made. If you find a story that's wrong you should report
it to mefasupport(at)gmail(dot)com.

Once you do this, it will bring up all the stories (excepting ones
you've told the website to skip) and you'll be able to read and vote
for the ones you like. This is particularly useful for people who want
to read novels, since you probably want to start on them early if you
haven't already read them. (You may be able to squeeze in a half-dozen
drabbles in the last week of the awards, but probably not a half-dozen
novels.) This lets you look over the stories of any length you like
and see what might be appealing to you.

***************************************

FINDING STORIES BY TYPE

You can also find all the stories of a certain story type if you like.

--- 1. Log in to www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/
--- 2. Click the "Stories" link at the top of the page.
--- 3. Click the link to display the filter.
--- 4. Click the "Clear All Filters" button.
--- 5. Select the type you want.
--- 6. Click the "Display Selected Nominations" button.

The available types are:

--- (a) Drabble: including single pieces of 100 words, or series where
each part is 100 words.
--- (b) Incomplete: including pieces of all types (non-fic, poetry,
ficlet series, full-length story) where the author is either adding
new parts or is seriously revising the currently-posted parts
--- (c) Non-Fiction: including essays and research aids
--- (d) Poetry
--- (e) Story: including everything else - from Ficlets up to Novels
but not including WIPs

You can also find stories of the same type by pulling up the
subcategory you want, as we discussed a few weeks ago. Stories in the
same subcategory are always the same type.

--- i. Subcategories ending with "Incomplete" contain WIPs.
--- ii. Subcategories ending with "Drabble Series" contain drabble series.
--- iii. Subcategories ending with "Drabbles" contain true drabbles.
--- iv. Subcategories ending with "Mixed Drabbles" contain both
drabble series and true drabbles.
--- v. Subcategories in the "Poetry" main category contain poems.
--- vi. Subcategories in the "Non-Fiction" main category contain non-fiction.

Everything else, including the "General" subcategory of each main
category, contain the story type "Stories."

*************************

For more info:

--- How do I find a story to vote for?
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_15

--- Do you categorize based on length?
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/index.php?page=FAQcategories#cat_10

--- What are the mandatory subcategories?
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/index.php?page=FAQcategories#cat_4

*************************

P.S. - Don't forget, annmarwalk is posting reviews to the
[mefa-reviews] Yahoo group and the [mefas] LJ. Join up at either or
both places to get reviews by email or on your LJ friends page.

***********************

Marta
(MEFA Admin.)

It looks like we've been hacked....

Vorondavë ar linalmië,
Rhyselle


Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative
mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and
likeness of a Maker. -- J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairy-Stories, 1939

On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 2:16 PM, <tafchin@aol.com> wrote:

> http://www.ice3.ssdrugs.com
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Visit our website: http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2009/
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


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

MEFA or Yahoo haven't been hacked, no. Incidents like this have been
happening a lot lately where legitimate email accounts send out spam to
everyone in the address book. If a mailing list is in the address book, the
mailing list also receives the spam, as we see here. I assume it's caused by
a virus, but I'm not sure. I've had it happen to several friends, as well as
other people on Tolkien and SCA lists I belong to, people I know well enough
to know they're not spamming lists and friends intentionally. :)

Dawn

On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 4:42 PM, Berni Crumb <rhysylle@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> It looks like we've been hacked....
>
>
--
~oOo~
Dawn Felagund
http://themidhavens.net/heretic_loremaster/
http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org


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

This is Elvish Writer under this new email/alter ego of Aearon. I just wanted to give you all a heads up about this since my changing has been brought about by the naughty SPAM continously sent despite my attempts to block it to my former account.

This has nothing to do with the current run of hijacked email address books. I have received those email too on my other accounts so it just isn't Yahoo that is affected.

Hello Aeron/Elvish Writer!

Sorry you had to go to such lengths to spare yourself SPAM, but I know the feeling, I've had to resort to similar things in the past, myself. Glad to know that Aeron is you! :-)

Lin

--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, "aearonoflandandsea" <aearonoflandandsea@...> wrote:
>
> This is Elvish Writer under this new email/alter ego of Aearon. I just wanted to give you all a heads up about this since my changing has been brought about by the naughty SPAM continously sent despite my attempts to block it to my former account.
>
> This has nothing to do with the current run of hijacked email address books. I have received those email too on my other accounts so it just isn't Yahoo that is affected.
>

Howdy Lin!

Thank you for the support! I'm sorry to hear you had to do this too.
*tucks in left out a my new name* Aearon. *winks*

Aearon/Elvish Writer




________________________________
From: linaewen0 <marggrenawalt@sbcglobal.net>
To: MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thu, September 16, 2010 10:26:01 AM
Subject: [MEFAwards] Re: Hello all again!

 
Hello Aeron/Elvish Writer!

Sorry you had to go to such lengths to spare yourself SPAM, but I know the
feeling, I've had to resort to similar things in the past, myself. Glad to know
that Aeron is you! :-)

Lin

--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, "aearonoflandandsea" <aearonoflandandsea@...>
wrote:

>
> This is Elvish Writer under this new email/alter ego of Aearon. I just wanted
>to give you all a heads up about this since my changing has been brought about
>by the naughty SPAM continously sent despite my attempts to block it to my
>former account.
>
> This has nothing to do with the current run of hijacked email address books. I
>have received those email too on my other accounts so it just isn't Yahoo that
>is affected.
>

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

Hey guys,

This week I want to talk about how to read reviews. Many reviews are already
available at our website, and more will be added as the awards go on.

******************************
TO FIND REVIEWS:

--- 1. Log in to www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/
--- 2. Click the "Reviews" Link at the top of the page.

And you're there! You are looking at the first twenty-five reviews
published, that you haven't already marked. You can see more than
twenty-five at a go using the "Per Page:" menu, or view additional sets of
reviews by selecting from the "Jump to Page:" menu.

You can also filter the reviews, to see just those written by a certain
author, or for stories competing in a certain category or subcategory. That
first option is particularly useful because it lets competing authors find
their own reviews more easily. (The author's name is hyperlinked in each
review, but clicking that will take you to a different page.)

New this year, you can also vote for the story being reviewed, add it to
your wish list, or add it to your skip list. Just click the link above the
review.

*****************************
MARKING REVIEWS

The website lets you mark the reviews if you would like to. Marking a review
just means the website won't show it to you again by default. Think of it
like moving an email message out of your inbox and into a folder: it's still
there, but you have to tell the website to pull it up.

You can only mark a whole page of reviews, and you have to start with the
first page. Simply scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "Mark &
Load." The reviews page will reload, only now it will show you the next
twenty-five (or however many) reviews. This is a great way to only read the
most recent reviews.

If you want to see reviews you previously marked, simply click the "Show
Marked Reviews" link at the top of the page. This will display all the
reviews (twenty-five or however many at a time). Marked reviews will have a
pinkish background; new reviews, blue.

*****************************
REPLYING TO REVIEWS

Authors can reply to reviews of their story by clicking the link "Reply to
This Review" link. That will pop up a window with some instructions. You can
either click a link to open up an email in Outlook, Thunderbird or some
other email program you have installed; or you can start up an email in your
web-based email program. To do the latter you will need to copy a subject
line the pop-up window displays to you, and send it to
mefareviews(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

In either case you then type in what you'd like to say to the reviewer. Our
intrepid volunteer Foxrafer skims the email and then forwards it along to
the reviewer, along with your email address so the reviewer can reply back
to you if they like. We skim the replies, not to crimp your style but
because emails we forward on seem like they're coming from the MEFAs. So we
don't want to inadvertently pass on spam or anything and get the reviewer
annoyed at you.

If you have a problem with a review -for your story or someone else's - you
should email mefasupport(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Don't use the "Reply to This
Review" feature unless you want to, you know, actually reply to the
reviewer. :-)

********************************
For more information:

--- Someone left me a review, and I'd like to reply to it. How do I do
this?
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_20

--- Can an offensive review be removed?
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_8

********************************
P.S. - Annmarwalk is posting reviews to the Yahoo group [mefa-reviews] and
the LJ comm [mefas], tag "review posting 2010." Subscribe or watch those
places to get the reviews delivered to you by email or on LJ.

Thanks so much to Annmarwalk, to Foxrafer, and to all our other volunteers
who work with reviews. Your work is very much appreciated!

********************************

At your service (and your family's),

Marta

Hey guys,

This week I want to talk about quotes in reviews - how to use them and how
not to use them.

When discussing a story, you may want to talk about the specific turn of
phrase that inspired you. You may also want to mention a passage from
Tolkien or somewhere else entirely that the story reminded you of. That's
fine, and quite natural. However, several years back we decided that quotes
wouldn't add any points to a review. This is because our reviews are scored
on how long they are. It really isn't fair for someone to quote a Tolkien
description, and another person to write an original review of the same
length, and for them to be worth the same number of points.

That doesn't mean you can't use quotes. You just have to tell the website
not to count them when determining how many points your review is worth.

**************************************
HOW TO MARK OFF QUOTES

When writing your review simply enclose the quote in square brackets. For
instance:

["In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit"] is the first line of the
_Hobbit_

has a quote properly marked off, and the website knows not to count it. It's
as simple as that. Simple include quotes inside square-brackets, and you can
use as many quotes as you like.

***************************************
WHAT NEEDS TO BE MARKED OFF?

You should mark off any quote you use. That includes:

--- a quote from the fanfic story being removed
--- a quote from the Tolkien source material
--- a quote from other source

You do *not* need to mark off the title of the work. Some reviewers choose
to do that if the title is long, as they don't want to artificially inflate
their review. You're allowed to do this, but don't have to

If you ever choose to include a URL for some reason, you should include that
in brackets as well. While not technically a quote, it's also characters you
didn't write yourself so to keep things fair we don't want that to give your
review more points.

***************************************************
WHY QUOTE, IF IT DOESN'T COUNT?

The quote itself doesn't add points to the review, but anything you say
leading up to or following up on the quote does give the story more points.
Veteran reviewers will tell you that one tool to write longer reviews is to
get specific. Say a particular passage struck you as having wonderful
imagery. Including a specific quote lets you explain just what about the
story you found so beautiful, and if you write a sentence or two about what
the imagery reminded you of or why it appealed to you, that can easily add
points to your review.

It also serves as a nice "hook" to interest other potential readers. If they
like the quoted passage they probably are more likely to read the story
themselves, and potentially vote on it.

Finally, authors like to know what passages you liked. They'll appreciate
reading your favorite bits. And that's a good reason to include them, even
if it doesn't give them points.

********************************************************
WHAT TO DO IF YOU SEE AN IMPROPERLY-MARKED QUOTE

Send an email to mefasupport(at)gmail(dot)com. Include the reviewer's name
and the story ID #. (Just copy the header above each review.) Also tell what
you think is an improperly-blocked quote. If I agree, I'll add the brackets
so the review's points will be calculated properly.

*********************************************************
For more information:

--- Can I include quotes?
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_10

--- How are reviews scored?
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_11

--- How do I edit a review?
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_7

**********************************************************
P.S. - Annmarwalk is posting reviews to the [mefa-reviews] Yahoo group and
the [mefas] LJ comm. Remember to follow those groups if you'd like to
receive reviews by email or on your LJ flist.

Marta

Hey guys,

Apparently FF.net is having problems. From Isabeau:

[[I started having trouble last night-I'd get so far in a story, then
couldn't access later chapters. Now I can't get on at all.
Other people on one of my lists are reporting the same problem. ]]

So if you are having trouble accessing stories posted to that site, don't
panic. I'm sure FF.net knows about the problem, and will fix it as soon as
they can. In the meantime you may put stories you want to read but can't
reach on your wish list.

Authors, if you would like me to change your link, just send a new one to me
at mefaupport(at)gmail(dot)com. I'll update them as soon as I can.

Marta

Hello,
 
I just received - and opened - several story alert notifications for FFN stories. Granted, they were only a chapter each, but I could read them without a hitch. I guess FFN is back to normal again. :)
 
Just thought people might want to know...
 
Regards,
Rey

--- On Sat, 9/25/10, Marta <marta.fandom@gmail.com> wrote:


From: Marta <marta.fandom@gmail.com>
Subject: [MEFAwards] FF.net problems
To: mefawards@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, September 25, 2010, 10:59 AM


 



Hey guys,

Apparently FF.net is having problems. From Isabeau:

[[I started having trouble last night-I'd get so far in a story, then
couldn't access later chapters. Now I can't get on at all.
Other people on one of my lists are reporting the same problem. ]]

So if you are having trouble accessing stories posted to that site, don't
panic. I'm sure FF.net knows about the problem, and will fix it as soon as
they can. In the meantime you may put stories you want to read but can't
reach on your wish list.

Authors, if you would like me to change your link, just send a new one to me
at mefaupport(at)gmail(dot)com. I'll update them as soon as I can.

Marta











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

This is spam. I have moderated the member, so hopeful no more spammish
messages will get through.

Marta

> -----Original Message-----
> From: MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of tafchin@aol.com
> Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 2:25 PM
> To: MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com; chinwags@btinternet.com;
> info@nachbarn.de; gsteven02@yahoo.com; do_not_reply@ign.com;
> tino@pimp-my-profile.com; info@kolayarkadas.com; mynet@mynet.com;
> stlchinchillarescue@yahoo.com; do-not-reply@plimus.com
> Subject: [MEFAwards]
>
>
>
> http://www.pvba.cpxstore.com
>