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Tagged: competition challenge
- This topic has 55 replies, 20 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 6 months ago by Alan Rain.
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August 29, 2018 at 2:45 pm #227AthelstoneModerator
Well, I’m probably woofing bonkers, but I’m running a new annual short story challenge over on the WordCloud. Only minutes after posting and people have signed up already. My view is ‘flush those people out’ and if we love ’em get ’em over here to the Den. And keep the Cloud going as well. Let the Writing Forums proliferate. I know many of my wonderful Den Friends have already signed up, but it would be wonderful if as many of you as possible could take a look. We all have busy lives (except me) so there’s no pressure to sign up.
Thanks for reading!
August 29, 2018 at 5:04 pm #231Philippa EastParticipantThanks Ath
They are always a really good motivator for me, even if I can’t get my story over the finish line in the end. Will go and sniff about and no doubt sign up.
xAugust 29, 2018 at 5:07 pm #232WoolleybeansParticipantAwesome sauce. I’ve signed up to the challenge.
August 29, 2018 at 5:13 pm #233PinkbeltParticipantI think i’ll go over and sign up too. I could do with a new project to keep me occupied.
August 29, 2018 at 7:09 pm #237DaedalusParticipantYay!
August 29, 2018 at 9:12 pm #238Amanda Berriman (Skylark)ParticipantGreat idea, Athel 🙂
August 29, 2018 at 10:19 pm #240PinkbeltParticipantI’m all signed up and choosed.
August 29, 2018 at 10:22 pm #243Mad IguanaParticipantAfraid I won’t have the time to get involved, Ath. But good luck to ye all.
August 29, 2018 at 10:58 pm #252AthelstoneModeratorThanks all. I hope the extra pressure on the Cloud isn’t breaking it. I notice that things like style sheets and image files aren’t loading straight away which does some odd things to the Cloud’s appearance. I wonder if SocialGo have stopped routine tasks that keep the system in good order.
August 31, 2018 at 11:51 pm #351DaedalusParticipantI was wondering that, but it was happening to me just as much before the announcement.
Without wishing to sound too pessimistic, what happens if the Cloud finally breaks beyond fixing before the conclusion of the challenge?
September 1, 2018 at 12:08 am #352KnicksParticipantWas wondering the exact same, Daeds. Today it loaded for me, but with none of the pictures or graphics. So it looked even whiter than usual, if that’s possible ?
September 1, 2018 at 12:14 am #353JulesParticipantI found the Cloud has been slower and more erratic than ever over last few days. Could be coincidental or coukd be increased activity I guess. Suggest that everyone keeps a record of their choices and the story when it comes to it, just in case.
September 1, 2018 at 7:09 am #355JaneShuffParticipantPresumably we’ll shift the challenge over to here if the Cloud breaks. It often doesn’t load for me at all, particularly if I try to go onto the notifications page.
September 1, 2018 at 8:21 am #359JanetteParticipantYes I’ve noticed a change these last few days. For me, slower, no pictures showing and headings all over the place. Notes have been made just in case.
September 1, 2018 at 8:25 am #360AthelstoneModeratorOne issue I can foresee with moving the competition here is that when it closes for entries, we may well have entrants who do not wish to join another forum in order to participate. Also, I don’t have a way to contact all members except via the Cloud should it go toes skywards. I think I will be backing up topics and the wall as we go along once the group goes private, but we’ll just have to see if and when anything bad happens.
The SocialGo model is not well organised. They seem to have some data held on their own servers. As far as I can tell these are mainly system files, but also things like cached images and links which are drawn in when you view a page. They also hold a lot of customer data on Amazon Cloud Servers which may be something they started more recently: a few years ago. I assume they’re not actually just pocketing Harry’s money, so they will be paying the Amazon bills and Amazon, for all that, have a business to run and are professional. On the other hand, I strongly suspect that SocialGo no longer intervene at all to maintain their own servers (or a minimum amount) but leave that to automated procedures, defragments, reboots, data moves whatever they have in place. This would mean that sometimes when, say, a server hits a problem, any alerts are ignored and we see an issue at our end such as icons missing or images not loading. This remains the case until the next automated process fixes it. How long this can last is just speculation. Could be weeks; could be years.
September 1, 2018 at 9:36 pm #364BarnyParticipantTotally barking, Ath, but very very well done!
MPO is that if the cloud goes then all communication with participants goes too and you aren’t responsible for that. Attempting to continue with a subset wouldn’t be the same competition, would it?
September 6, 2018 at 11:32 am #511AthelstoneModeratorWell, looking at my last post, the Cloud seems to have only lasted a few days. I have a full list of all the members who joined the group, and a record of all the choices made before the Cloud fell over. What I didn’t have time to do was to collect contact addresses so that the competition could be resurrected at another venue. Time for a think.
September 6, 2018 at 11:59 am #513KateParticipantHope you are able to get it up and running at a new venue Athelstone. Took me ages to figure out where my room could be! I reckon all of us must have a few e-mail contacts with other Cloudies, that when pulled together would cover the majority of those that signed up for the challenge. Perhaps messages could be passed on. Good luck with getting it sorted. It would be a pity for all your work to be wasted.
September 6, 2018 at 12:16 pm #514RaineParticipantLooks suspiciously like a move of our rooms here might be necessary… I wish now I’d been quicker to post a general comment about this place on the Cloud wall so’s more people had found us here. But like Kate says, if we can all check our Facebook/emails we might be able to trawl a fair few untethered CLoudies.
I guess, if this is it for the CLoud, at least it happened at the start of this comp, and not, say, once people had started posting stories. :-O
September 6, 2018 at 12:37 pm #515JulesParticipantI hesitated about posting a general update about the Den too. But I think you’re all right – I’m sure I’m in contact with some Cloudies on twitter, FB and email so I’ll set up a smoke signal and see who responds. Maybe everyone else could do the same?
You could definitely hold the challenge here, Ath, assuming you’re happy to. I think you’d get a lot of takers and there was a reasonable window of time on it so it should allow people to join the Den and get used to the new navigation before the competition is fully underway. It does look like the Cloud is really gone, doesn’t it?September 6, 2018 at 12:49 pm #517Debi AlperParticipantShould we have a hashtag so we can all find and share tweets and guide people here?
September 6, 2018 at 12:53 pm #518JulesParticipantThat’s a good idea, Debi. Any suggestions? #writingden ? #denofwriterforum ?
September 6, 2018 at 12:56 pm #520WoolleybeansParticipantI’ve put a post on FB.
I am not great with twitter, but is there a reason we can go with the hashtag denofwriters? Is it already out there it the twitterverse?
September 6, 2018 at 12:59 pm #521WoolleybeansParticipantHave shared the FB post to my twitter, but with zero hashtags, because. If a hashtag is decided upon, I’ll try remember how to get on twitter properly and add the hashtag.
September 6, 2018 at 12:59 pm #522Debi AlperParticipantThere are quite a few people with WritersDen handles. Nothing with Den of Writers and no hashtag for it. Yet!
September 6, 2018 at 1:00 pm #523WoolleybeansParticipantLet’s go denofwriters, then.
If anyone wants to share my post, it’s out there to be shared. Please add the hashtag. I am off for a dog walk on the beach.
September 6, 2018 at 1:21 pm #524RaineParticipantOooh I love a good hashtag!! #Denofwriters 🙂
September 6, 2018 at 1:34 pm #526Mad IguanaParticipantOh I’ll try to tweet all my writing tweets with #DenOfWriters for the next wee while (i.e., for as long as I remember to do it).
And I’ve created the twitter account @denofwriters too, so we can tag that in if we want to. Anyone who wants to follow it, fire ahead. I might pass that on to someone else who has the time to administer it, but for now, it’s there at least.September 6, 2018 at 1:39 pm #527JulesParticipantGood thinking, Mad. Thanks 🙂
September 6, 2018 at 1:48 pm #530AthelstoneModeratorThe competition group was open, so I don’t think there’s a problem posting the names of those who had already signed up here. Several are already here, but it would be great to see whether we could get the rest. I worry about one or two who may not be quite so internet-savvy and I tend to take Barny’s point – it would be a great shame not to include them if possible because it would be a different event without them. If and when the competition goes ahead, I will obviously allow a little time for latecomers to join, bearing in mind the problems. That said, I won’t allow a lot of time!
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