Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
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Team Captains: Issues/Alerts/Discussions (A place for them to communicate.) Round I
Mod
The other thing that was brought to my attention as far as start and end dates was that some people are using an app version of goodreads and in order to change dates they need to log on to their computers.
Ah! Yes, that could take some time. Drat! So many people travel. We are a mobile society.
That would be nice, Mary, but not essential. ...but the organizer in me would LOVE it. LOL!
Mod
Team Co-Captains: Karen, Vikki, and Tanya
Okay, I have officially deleted Diana (190) from your team's list. Everyday, when doing my calculations before adding new members, I have remember to NOT count her (moved her row in Excel). Tonight, I forgot. So your "anticipated goal" (when I get everyone added tonight) is going to be quite a bit lower than the other teams.
You will get the next adds.
My apologies.
~Lisa Kay
Mod
Mod
Could everyone please check that the links are working on the team members list? Thanks!
I think after about a week or two, it would be a good idea to nudge those people who have not yet signed into the challenge. I know I originally posted they should do so after their first book was read, but I'm re-thinking this.
~LK
Mod
Maybe this blogsite will help you a bit: The Daring Novelist.
Science Fiction Writers of America
Short fiction: under 7,500 words
Novelette: 7,500-17,500 words
Novella: 17,500-40,000 words
Novel: 40,000 words and up
Short Mystery Fiction Society
Flash story: up to 1000 words
Short short story: 1001 - 4000 words
Long short story: 4001-8000 words
Novelette: 8001-17,500 words
Of course, now you have to find an eBook publisher who gives you the word count.
Lisa Kay, The Team D Co-Captains are: Rebecca, Rachel, Leslie and Vi. Thanks!
Thanks, Rebecca. I'll update it when I change sign-ons.
I have what might turn out to be a stupid question... :)I just did a check of Team C's books - verifying dates and page counts, etc. - and after I plugged everything into a spreadsheet and totaled things at the bottom, I got a group target of 5,521 books. Our Team thread says our total is 5,637 books, while the Team widget on the NBRC homepage says our total is 5,355 books.
Not that I think it matters too much what the difference is between these numbers, for my own peace of mind, do you happen to know which is correct and why there is a disparity? I've double checked my numbers twice, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm right - I'm the history grad who frequently can't balance a checkbook. :)
Thanks!
Tanya,There are a couple of reasons for this, besides the fact that the Mod for NBRC joined each Team and made a goal of one book.
Not everyone has signed up on the Home Page, so their totals are not in that one. Team C has four members who have not yet signed in.
I spent a long time the other night comparing members goals on the Home Page with what I had posted in each Team's thread, and using my "power" as Moderator to decide if they should match or not.
Some people are constantly changing their goal number. One person does it with every update/team addition I post!
Another person's I changed almost every time (early in the game) because her number is such an outlier. But I haven't done it in awhile. I believe her goal - and mine posted for her - now match.
While I have changed some people's goals from last year with good reason ("I started college..."; "I got a full time job...", etc.), I haven't changed everyone's. One person started high and has decreased her goal by 7/8 of what it was! Maybe that is all she is going to do. **shrugs** I don't know.
One person transposed their numbers. I sent them a PM, but haven't heard back.
Some people joined up and gave an estimate of what they will read for 2013, but then changed their minds - upwards or downwards. If they go downwards, I look at their bookshelves and see what they read last year, and if their page counts qualify. If they go upwards...I look at their bookshelves again and make an arbitrary decision.
Honestly, I'm trying to be a fair as possible. If you, or anyone, see a glaring discrepancy, please let me know.
Lisa Kay wrote: "Tanya,There are a couple of reasons for this, besides the fact that the Mod for NBRC joined each Team and made a goal of one book."
Nope, Lisa Kay, that makes perfect sense. I was just afraid that I did something wrong in my math and wasn't sure which number was correct. I had just copied the list of members and their goal number into a spreadsheet to keep track of when I checked their books last, and when I summed it at the bottom it didn't match. But it makes sense, as that's a fixed number in the thread. I never considered people would change their goals, but that would certainly explain it.
Thanks for the answer - and the way you're doing it seems perfectly fair. As I said, math is not my strong suit, so I figured there was a better than decent chance I was doing something wrong myself. :)
Mod
So, I have been doing that for the last hour and a half. While the numbers are quite changed, the total at the bottom has NOT changed much (I've been keeping that up-to-date), except when someone has changed their goal since last night. It is very time consuming to do this, but I don't want to confuse anyone. (More than one team has started a spreadsheet.)
One more team to go with this, then I'll start assigning new members. Adding new team players, of course, changes the numbers again.
Mod
What is posted in message #3 in each Team's tread - and in what each person set on the Home Page challenge - should now correspond. This should help those of you doing spreadsheets. You will still have to account for those members NOT yet sign-up.
Now, I'm going to try and even up assigning the new team members.
Mod
Moderators of Nothing but Reading Challenges wrote: "Okay, I went ahead and changed the person who had decreased their goal by 88.3% and found another who had decreased their's by 62.5%. **shrugs** There was someone else who had increased their goa..."Wow...you have the patience of a saint! :)
I'm just not going to worry about our "goal" totals not matching then, and focus on making sure our "read" total is correct.
Mod
Moderators of Nothing but Reading Challenges wrote: "That is fine, Tanya. Hopefully, people won't start changing their total, in an effort to get more readers on their team. However, I'm not too worried about this, as most people have adjusted thei..."*sneaks out to adjust goal to 2* Hmm, what? Who would do such a dastardly thing! ;)
Mod
I'm not a captain but I've been reading this thread anyway because I'm nosy. I just want to say thanks for all the hard work you guys are doing for this. I had no idea so much was involved.
Mod
Neither did I, Mary. I thought we could just let GRs tally it for us.
Didn't count on the GRs "glitch" with the year/date change. I actually had one person adjust their goal based on NOT wanting to enter a start date for every book they read this year. Which will NOT be a problem, in a week or two.
Because of this, I think next year we will just allow any book FINISHED in 2014. LOL!
What I was expecting trouble with was people signing up for the challenge and NOT through the sign-up thread; however, only three people have done that out of 187. Pretty good. And no one has signed up on the wrong team. I'm impressed.
Another thing I was trying to do - at the beginning, anyway - was even out the readers by range. For example, all the teams have the same amount of "50 book readers" or "200 book readers." Now, while I still consider it, that has lowered in importance.
It is nice to be appreciated, Mary. Thanks. All us mods just want it to be a fun challenge.
I just want to say one thing. Since the teams results are so close, you did a hell of a wonderful job with the team's distributions Lisa Kay!!!*bows to LK*
I also want to thanks the mods for such a fun challenge.
Thanks, Sonia. Yes, except for the beginning (because Team C had so many people finishing up books from 2012), it has remained a pretty even race. I predict Team D to catch up in a few weeks, once their "heaviest hitter's" books start totally up.
Mod
It looks like, if they delete their specific bookshelf - but do NOT leave the challenge - their book total will still appear by their name. However, their books will NOT count towards the Team Total. Hopefully, after the cache has 24 hours to catch up, their total will disappear also.
Hopefully, they will notify you that they are doing so.
Please be sure to notify me. Thank you.
I'm not in this challenge..but all you 100+ readers impress the heck out of me..I thought I was doing well with trying to read 26 this year...y'all put me to shame.
You can join, if you like, Dee. The lowest commitment is five books. You can even only commit to one. ☺
Really?!? I can commit to 5 at least..what are the other requirements?
The books you tag must be >170 pages, Dee. Your bookshelves can remain private, as long as you "friend" the of the following: Moderators of NBRC (sign-on used by all mods), one of them individually, or your Team Captain.
You don't have to participate in the Team Discussion Thread, but you are certainly welcome.
Only books you STARTED on January 1st or after count.
Oh, sorry...and no picture books or children's books allowed.Edited: No manga.
Okay..count me in please. I will friend someone after work today, unless I can figure out how to from my smartphone.
Mod
12 days in the challenge and we already have teams reading the 200 books mark, if we'll keep this up will reach 2013 sooner than expected.I can't stop being amazed how a simple team challenge improved group participation so much.
LK, the glitch on goodreads is really getting on my nervs! We can't do anything about it but, the A-team total was 178 books, after I hav the trouble of checking on everyone's shelf to update the spreadsheet, it change to 206. Some shelves had a 5 book difference
Is not anyone's fault, I know, but I needed to rant, sorry :(
@ Sonia - that has me frustrated as well. I actually had my husband help me run through the numbers to make sure it wasn't me.
Anyone of the MNRC moderators-just was curious if I had been added to any team yet. No rush but I just want to make sure I didn't miss that I was. Thank you...it's Saturday woo hoo
Dee - it looks like you've been assigned to Team B:Sign-ups - Message #1
Be sure to check out this message as well:
Sign-ups - Message #516
Sonia wrote: "LK, the glitch on goodreads is really getting on my nerves!"Mine, too. ☺
If someone's books aren't showing until you click on them, you need NOT worry. They will count in the total eventually. It has something to do with the cache.
I don't think clicking on them helps, other than making you happy you can see a member's numbers. The change you saw after doing so might have been because of the time zone you are in. Or the delay of about 30 minutes. However, I'm not sure.
I can check with the GRs Feedback group and tell them the type of challenge we are doing, the importance of comparing teams. I don't know if it will help. It probably wouldn't be a priority, even if they could fix it.
I've decided to ignore GR's glitch and go with the flow. The totals will eventually be updated... it really is annoying when we are checking the books, but, since we have to check every shelf, nothing we can do about it.So mature of me.
Sonia - if it's any help, it does seem to "reset" around 9:00 PM EST. I was working last night and somewhere from when I started at 8:30 to when I ended at 9:30, I gained 20 books in our group's total.
I'm at GMT, I should be used by now, but it still annoys me :o)
Nothing But Reading Challenges
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It has been brought to my attention that some of the date issues may be occuring when members mark their books as "currently reading" even if they aren't really reading it. For them it is a reminder that they have it next on their list and is a nudge to read that book.
I have asked these members to make sure they change the start date when they mark the book as read to avoid further confusion.