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sportsfest2018-09-18 07:26 pm
Re: Talkback
Thank you all for taking the time to leave such detailed feedback for Talkback. Here’s a few of the common themes we noticed (along with some of our commentary as mods):
Mod Organization: Many of you brought up organization issues that plagued the event. One of the biggest contributors to the lack of organization was that many mods became unexpectedly busy, and thus Sportsfest was only run by 2-3 mods at any one time. We failed to compensate for the smaller mod team, and the event suffered because of it.
There were also many ideas of how to improve long term organization of the event, such as having write-ups done earlier, added tutorials to reduce confusion, and having a dedicated project manager for the event.
Mod Conduct: We also wanted to touch on mod conduct, since many of you reiterated your feelings from Halftime. Internally, mod expectations should have been more clearly laid out from the beginning. We want to sincerely apologize to anyone who may have had a bad experience interacting with any of the mods.
Scoring: A lot of you had something to say about SportsFest’s scoring system. One of the main critiques was that MRs and BRs were weighted unequally. This is a completely valid point, and, honestly, something that slipped through the cracks when we were coming up with the scoring scheme. The current scoring system is also discouraging casual participants from joining teams because of how each member’s contribution is weighted evenly. Balancing the scoring system is sorely needed in future iterations of the event.
There was also discussion about pros and cons of SportsFest’s scoring scheme versus SASO’s, but this decision will be left to any future mod team.
Scheduling: Most of you commented that the schedule of the event was generally successful, except for the close deadlines between MRs and BRs. Halftime was also a major boon to the event in regards to late additions to the sign-ups and fandoms, having mid-event feedback, and being able to take a defined break.
Dreamwidth: There were a lot of flaws in the event’s Dreamwidth posts - these included large text walls and mobile compatibility. We made the decision early on to use the rich text editor, instead of coding the raw HTML, which often screwed up the formatting. The mod team was also unfamiliar with the nuances of DW which often led to frustration on our end. In addition, we should have done a better job at linking to tutorials, because as we learned firsthand, Dreamwidth can be very confusing.
Remix Round: In general, there were mixed reactions to Remix Round lasting the entire event. Some of you liked that it allowed more flexibility, while others thought it distracted from BRs and MRs.
Remix Permissions: While our new system for remix permissions gave more flexibility in how you could give remix permissions, it also made things more confusing. As mods, we could have been more explicit in what constituted a valid remix, but coming to a consensus on how transformative a work must be to count is a much more complex discussion.
Originally, we also intended to get remix permissions searchable in the Prompt/Fill database, but this never became a reality.
MR Limits: There was also discussion on whether the next iteration of the event should reinstate Main Round entry length limits. Many of you brought up that MR Limits would make the entries more accessible, while others really liked the freedom of having no limits.
Discord: There was also mixed feelings on the Discord server. While all agreed that it shouldn’t be the main point of information dissemination, some really enjoyed the community aspect, while others thought that the server was too big and that the chats moved too fast.
The Discord server will remain up and running after the conclusion of SportsFest to maintain the community that was created during the event. There will be some changes to the server regarding mods and channels, but all future announcements regarding the server will be announced on Discord.
Afterhours: Most appreciated that Afterhours was contained in its own community. We realize that having prompts in Afterhours encouraged more explicit NSFW prompts, and that borderline prompts were caught in limbo between the main community and Afterhours.
Additionally, because there was no unanimous consensus of whether we should open Afterhours to the public, we’re going to keep it closed to respect those who wish that their works are not shared.