1st Season Experience

[St. Linnane]

Well my first season of F7s is now over.

Some observations/comments:

It was great fun to be a part of. I enjoyed (with the exception of 1 article) telling some of my personal league anecdotes. I hope someone found them worth reading.

In the main the standard of writing here is exceptional.

750 words can be very touch to stick to.

I would also add an opportunity for improvement. Different referees appear to prefer different styles of writing. It would be good to see referees declare this at the start of the year to give each participant equal opportunity to appeal to the referees taste; rather than learning on the run.

I will definitely be putting in over the off season in the hope of gaining, firstly, a contract, and secondly, a jersey in 2011.

Cheers
Matt

 

[dubopov]

Linnane you have been signed until 2015 with a possible 2 year extension ..

I concur with your observations .. most of my stories are cut down versions of 2000 worders .. I lose a lot of characterization and plot intricacy when culling.

I also have difficulty understanding marking which appears to be divergent and, at times, random.

 

[madunit]

I think you'll find the refs are fairly even and don't display much tendancy to mark one way or another based on the topic chosen.

If they stated what sort of articles appeal to them most, every match would be full of the same style of article and essentially would lead to the ref getting a bit sick of seeing the same sort of article over and over again.

 

[Titanic]

Wondered when you'd turn up after your last night revelry, 'Unit. Enjoy it while you can

On topic ... some positive reinforcement never goes astray. The debate about marking schemes is as perennial as petunias (my own metaphor, thank you all), as delicate as daisies (another one) and as thorny as LoD on Bundy Rum (you guessed it). For sure and certain as 'Dell is a clown, this topic will be revisited during the oncoming off-season.

 

[Drew-Sta]

A few things:

* There's an art in writing a short story, and including in it a plot, theme and point. I began as you guys; I wanted to write novels and thought there was a lot I left out that was gold. But the reality is that we can't have referee's reading two and a half times as much and still be expected to mark in a timely fashion and fairly. It's also difficult to keep people interested when they need to write novels as opposed to short stories.

* Referee's in F7's are just like any other kind; They hold their own style of marking and opinions. They're more broad and accepting than, say, Hollywood Harrigan, but some level of bias will always exist as they're humans and not robots. The trick is to continue to challenge your referee with new pieces and this is what will get you good marks; pushing fences they themselves don't know is what will in fact see the evolution of this competitions and stronger players.

* Keep enjoying it. You guys are doing so well

 

[dubopov]

A few things:

* There's an art in writing a short story, and including in it a plot, theme and point. I began as you guys; I wanted to write novels and thought there was a lot I left out that was gold. But the reality is that we can't have referee's reading two and a half times as much and still be expected to mark in a timely fashion and fairly. It's also difficult to keep people interested when they need to write novels as opposed to short stories.

* Referee's in F7's are just like any other kind; They hold their own style of marking and opinions. They're more broad and accepting than, say, Hollywood Harrigan, but some level of bias will always exist as they're humans and not robots. The trick is to continue to challenge your referee with new pieces and this is what will get you good marks; pushing fences they themselves don't know is what will in fact see the evolution of this competitions and stronger players.

* Keep enjoying it. You guys are doing so well

drew-sta .. given that i'm the only poster who exclusively writes short stories, i gather your comments are for my benefit .. in the literary world, can you point me in the direction of a writer who frequently writes short stories limited to 750 words ??

That being said, this isn't about word length, it's about a petty approach .. why not penalize someone for writing 749 words ?? The penalty for going over is ridiculous in the context of the points awarded - virtually every story is given between 80 and 90 .. why ?? to encourage people ?? so why then would you affect resuts with penalty deductions ? To discourage ?? How about marks are given on a criteria rather than arbitrarily or on random whims ??

The whole F7 concept should be about fun, but it's not in practice. Try comforting a distraught kid who thinks that he has f**ked his team over by justifying his paragraphs after the time had elapsed .. mind you, no time clock had appeared so if the hooter hadn't sounded, why was it fulltime ?

 

[Drew-Sta]

Dubo, my words weren't meant to chastise; Merely to provide my insight after nearly 3 years of doing this.

I can't point you to any short story competitions for 750 words; then again, I don't think I could point you to any short story competition that is based around sport that is run through a forum and via the efforts of volunteers. The entire competition is unique and is comprised entirely through years of experiences and through the attempt to provide a framework that the general population of the forum would be interested in competing in.

Nothing like F7's exists, and therefore it is in itself its own art; which is why I said there's an art to doing what you do in 750 words and still get across what you want. It's not easy; I didn't say that. It's a challenge for me every time as I've got forum posts longer than 750 words (This could hit the bar on that ).

With regards to the penalising, I can't speak on that. The rules were set to give framework; if they aren't there then what are we judging on? Someone could offer up Tolstoy's W&P on Rugby League yet getting a referee to read it within a week is not exactly a fair request. 650-750 is there to give a boundary.

I would agree that the marking scheme is, in essence, somewhat... curious. I found it strange that an article I wrote that contained various allegories and had a spiritual theme not to mention was completely original was marked with the same mark as another that was essentially a rehash of the F7's season and had been done in years past. But then, that's refereeing. It is what it is. If you want to help improve the process, volunteer to be one, offer you time and help to set a new standard of what is 'good' in the competition. Challenge players so they don't offer up the same sh*t. I agree that change in this area would be a good thing. I find the team scores too high for what is read but then if you mark too harsh you scare people off.

Perhaps a set of criteria on what gets points would be a good way to go.

With regards to DR, I cringed when I saw the edit. It was a mistake of good intent and find myself sympathising with you on it. Again, he did have 10 days to compile it but also how can you draw a line for 5 minutes?!

I was hoping my words would be of encouragement, as I truly don't meant to be offending you and know your must be frustrated now.

 

[madunit]

I think the key thing to remember here is that what we are all doing is art.

And the true beauty of any art is how it is perceived by others.

The referee's are volunteers. They are objective, unbiased and fair.

Maybe it's possible that as the quality of the writers and articles continues improving that the difference between scores is going to get closer and closer.

The penalty for exceeding the word count is fair.

Ultimately how hard is it to remove 1 or 2 words from an article with 750 words already in it?

I think the rules are very fair and reliable.

Same goes for the editing of articles after the designated full-time, which I might add, isn't decided by when someone posts a picture of a clock, it is stated clearly in the opening post of the match thread.

And as much as everyone is busy and may not have time here nor there to get their article in and tidied up before 9pm Wednesday, there is almost 2 weeks to get said articles done. If you aren't going to have time, call in a sub, thats what they are there for.

I don't mean to appear confrontational, but I just cannot fathom how any of the comments made in this thread are irritating players.

 

[St. Linnane]

I think you have misread the intent of my initial post guys.

In short. It was my first season. I enjoyed it. I found it challenging.

I offered a suggestion for the future. The suggestion stems from my competitive attitude and desire to achieve a perfect score and was not aimed to criticise.

 

[muzby]

i agree with you linane.. i quite enjoy writing these peices.. gives me a chance to strech the old brain.. and be creative at times...


and in regards to the whole refereeing style & marking... well, that's all part of it...


when writing any medium you must always consider your audience & play to what will attract them the most.. and for these articles you must ensure you play to what the refs want.. understanding what this is comes down to a mix of experience and teamwork... part of what makes this fun..

and hey, i've been caught out before.. some of my work can be left field, and i've had it where i have put in work that i should have saved for another week as the ref for that particular game just didn't get it.. but hey, that's all learning & experience...

 

[St. Linnane]

Maybe that is our issue Muzby; with the exception of our captain, who had played last year, all members of the Dragons side made their debut this year; we have yet to work out the nuances of each referee, like Bill Harrigan blowing time on from the sideline to catch players offside.

I am confident the Dragons will be back next year, better for the experience. I'm just disappointed that we have missed out on finding out how Dragonz Rule's story ends; it is kind of like losing the 4 v 5 match in the McIntyre system and finding out over the weekend instead of reporting for training on Monday, report to the pub.

 

[Willow]

Great first season St Linnane. :thumn

To play your first semi-finals in your first season is something special.

I sense the disappointment from some Saints players and that's expected. It's no one's fault and really just comes down to what ifs. It's how you move on that counts most.

But I genuinely believe the Dragons will gain truckloads of experience from this and will be a force to be reckoned with in 2011.

 

[murphyscreek]

St Linnane,

I concur with every point you made in your initial post. Particularly how much fun it's been, and absolutely on how hard it is to keep to the 750 words. At the start of the season I thought it would be the opposite, that I'd have to 'pad' out every idea I came up with. Wrong.

I've loved the satisfaction when I've come up with something I've been really, really, proud of. That's only happened twice, but enough to spur me on to try and achieve that feeling again. So it's a competition, but also an opportunity to challenge yourself. Sort of a wordsmith's version of golf.

Better sign off and have another beer.....I'm starting to waffle (I know the symptoms). Cheers.