I am torn between mintxcore and shuckiduck! :\

it really, really is. aren't there like judges or something?

It's always so much fun to play during the week...then you have to vote..ugh. Who to pick? Good luck to them all!

I find it very bemusing that the ones that have been chatting about the ways to garnish votes for the two in the lead would be the ones to point out how ridiculous this is getting on the voting.

I've been refreshing the thing here all day and as fast as I can refresh it there are new votes on the two leaders.

Makes me feel really bad for anyone without a huge friends list to drag in votes from. I even saw one fellow admit he ain't used LJ in a long time (mid 2006) and only voted because he was asked to. :-/ Makes me wonder how many of the voters actually had LJ accounts this morning?

I agree with Mintxcore, is there a way to make this more fair to people that are not able to have 500+ friends culling in votes? This is too cool of a prize to let it go to the one with the highest level of friends and community connections to drag in here to vote.

Shoot, I been excited for the folks I know that have made it, including me once, so I can't fault anyone for that. (Please don't take it that way.)

I just have to agree that there must be a better way. No idea what that could be, but there must be one.

We need a codemonkey to write a better poll engine ::snicker:: I know there was one poll deal that allowed tokens to be distributed and if you didn't get a token you couldn't vote, but don't recall what one that was, used it about 3 or 4 years ago.

"Bemusing." You said "bemusing."

That's the trouble with writing, it is hard, even with emoticons, to convey the right tone of voice and facial expressions and all the other nuances that convey the meaning behind how something is being said.

I have seen the dearest of friendships nearly fall apart because of misunderstandings over written stuff. I'm guessing a lot of us can say we have "been there, done that".

And yeah, I'd have used a much different word ;-) I believe I have been accused of scaring people and making them think I was going to go over counters after hotel clerks for minor disagreements. O:-)

i agree, there's definitely a fine line between spamming and encouraging friends to check out this community (and obviously vote for their favorite). At this point its seemed like the only way to stay in the game is to beg, and plead people to vote-- but it should never have gotten this far or been about that.

It's a WRITING CONTEST people. and it should be about the best writing. When the line is blurred between being told who to vote for versus voting for the best one, you know something has to be done differently. I think it would be cool if JUDGES stepped in at this point (considering its been neck and neck all friggin' day) and considered the writing, discussion of the prompt, and storytelling at hand. It's seems to be the only fair way at this point to judge-- and may the best WRITER on the topic of "horrible job experiences" win.

yes it is about the best story. and part of having the best story is having a well written story. storytelling and writing are basically the same thing.

"In determining each prize winner, Sponsor’s judges, comprised of members of Sponsor’s staff, will first choose the top Submission received by Sponsor in response to each weekly question with the highest composite scores based on the following factors:

Content: 30%
Originality: 30%
Style: 20%
Grammar: 10%
Spelling: 10%"

that's from the official rules. Sounds like a writing contest to me! (and I would love to see THAT being the determining factor in this contest instead of it being all about an internet popularity contest).

in the end, i think whoever the moderator is for this contest will have the best "worst job experience" story of the bunch!!

But...good writing is judged on content and originality...and style.

Yes, actually, I am a judge of good writing.

Don't ya just love it? I stop every time to watch it scroll through and read it. :-D

Well in 200 words i think its understandable for people to discuss "worst jobs" and therefore "worst experiences" at said jobs. Clearly all four finalists entries were originally judged as well written and as having followed the prompt-- OTHERWISE they wouldn't be finalists.

i'll agree that stating "who would you like to see as the winner for Week 8 -- Career" as the headline for the poll already sets the tone of "popularity contest." add to the fact that there weren't any clear rules for voting or what would be grounds for disqualification and that makes it stickier. And clearly by the end of the day voting numbers were being skewed, tons of new accounts made, and just all around craziness. it wasn't against any rules, so technically it may have been okay, but ultimately this contest became about numbers and not about anything relating to writing.

which is why i say what i said before: throw the stupid votes, which may or may not, have been rigged out the window and just have JUDGES decide what entry was best. no one should be disqualified-- just get a judge or perhaps a panel to decide WHO WROTE THE BEST ENTRY? that's who should win.

By the way, I just looked over the voting list, and my vote was not counted. What's going on here?

Voting issues aside, I just want to say that I am thrilled to have had my story chosen as one of the final four (so to speak) I feel like I already won just to see it up there. I agree with the person above who mentioned that it is so difficult to keep the stories under 200 words! I unfortunately had to chop a lot of mine out.
I have enjoyed this group so much! Thanks for the memorieeeeees! :)

Yeah, my job lost a lot of its horribleness by pruning it down to 200 words (I listed some of the other horrible aspects in my LJ). For the song category, I didn't even bother with the limit-- I just wanted to tell the story because it was so significant to me.

BTW, I meant to comment on yours for this week. I know how you feel. My dad had ALS for 14 years and spent quite a bit of that time at home.