Team Reading Competition Rules

[Mayim]

Are the nonBRs a problem? Because I hesitated for a very long time before I added my non-fantasy work related books which I read A LOT of.

[Lundos]

Mayim wrote: "Are the nonBRs a problem? Because I hesitated for a very long time before I added my non-fantasy work related books which I read A LOT of."

Not per se and certainly not for me. It was stated from the start that non-fantasy books also count.

However, it does give the Mods some difficulties with fair team selection if you can get e.g. 3.000 extra pages from work/study related books that you normally doesn't count as part of your yearly reads. Then again I'm one of the slow readers in the competition and I expect to average 30 points pr. month.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

No Mayim... everything you've added is fine... I'd be adding all those things if I was reading them... I've just been doing tons and tons of Buddy Reads, lately...

This all stemmed from a discussion of how lenient the entrance requirements for the competition are, and how best to make sure the people who sign up are active, keeping the leaderboard competitive...

[Mayim]

Undoubtedly, I am one of those happy people who are paid to read actually. But I do tons of BRs in my free time too. In case something changes, I'd ask the Mods to just PM me.

[Bill]

I think I have only done like 3 or 4 buddy reads in the year and a halfish I’ve been with the group but I participate heavily in the challenges. That’s why in my suggestion I said br or challenge participation. Getting into the competition now has me getting into the br aspect more.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Returning to the topic of me and Choko's Pop-Up Buddy Reads... we're starting to think we could use that folder, even if they're unsanctioned for the competition... we're in talks to read/re-read InCryptid #3-6 before Tricks for Free releases in March, now... on top of Kushiel's Dart (of which Bill says he'll comment in if we make a thread)... I'm sure we'll come up with more... we're enablers :D

[Choko]

Bill wrote: "I think I have only done like 3 or 4 buddy reads in the year and a halfish I’ve been with the group but I participate heavily in the challenges. That’s why in my suggestion I said br or challenge p..."

I agree with Bill:) Challenges would be considered:) Not everyone enjoys BR and reading with others...

[Choko]

Iain wrote: "Returning to the topic of me and Choko's Pop-Up Buddy Reads... we're starting to think we could use that folder, even if they're unsanctioned for the competition... we're in talks to read/re-read I..."

Second that:) I think they said they will discuss it on Monday:)

[RuinEleint]

Regarding Buddy Reads participation, I have now signed up for 9 in February. I maybe a teensy bit overloaded.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

That's how many I had a scheduled for February a month ago... at this point it's probably closer to 18

[Siobhan]

Iain wrote: "That's how many I had a scheduled for February a month ago... at this point it's probably closer to 18"

Arkadeb wrote: "Regarding Buddy Reads participation, I have now signed up for 9 in February. I maybe a teensy bit overloaded."

Crazy people! :p

[Delitealex]

Iain wrote: "That's how many I had a scheduled for February a month ago... at this point it's probably closer to 18"

You are definitely slaying the buddy reads this month :)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I think me and Choko are in a friendly competition... on multiple levels... just sheer points, page count, and buddy reads... all 3 numbers are pretty close, but they have to be...

13-14 Buddy Reads, 8442-8462 pages, 136.4-139 points...

Choko's just more discrete about it... you don't even notice how many Buddy Reads she's doing...

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

I may be taking a too simplistic approach, but wouldn't raising the minimum comment count (without adding other criteria) be a relatively accurate indicator as to how involved someone has been with either buddy reads or challenges? It seems to me that it would be difficult to rack up that many comments without getting engaged in some part of the group. My memory says that most people who show up and don't stick around for more than a week or two barely make the 25. By the time they hit 100, they feel part of the family.

[Delitealex]

I think 100 or so comments is a good number I was thinking adding the other options (br and challenges) when 500 comments were brought up

[Siobhan]

You're right Niki. It is the simplest way and does demonstrate involvement. You can't predict involvement going forward from anyone, you can only go on what info you have.

[Saar The Book owl]

I'm also a member with still '0' as a score, but January is a bad month for reading, but I'm still participating. Not everyone reads as fast as the other.
I think it takes a lot of time to get to 500 comments, so 100 would be easier. I think some members are 'silent' members': members who reads the comments and posts, but don't post often.

[Choko]

Saar wrote: "I'm also a member with still '0' as a score, but January is a bad month for reading, but I'm still participating. Not everyone reads as fast as the other.
I think it takes a lot of time to get to 5..."

You are doing fine:) This is for fun, not to stress us out:) Just enjoy and keep on doing as you are:):):)

[Veronica]

Iain wrote: "I think me and Choko are in a friendly competition... on multiple levels... just sheer points, page count, and buddy reads... all 3 numbers are pretty close, but they have to be...

13-14 Buddy Rea..."

Shoot, that's not even counting the BRs Choko does in the other BR group we both belong to (but which I haven't been very active in lately). lol

[Diana Stormblessed]

Veronica wrote: "Iain wrote: "I think me and Choko are in a friendly competition... on multiple levels... just sheer points, page count, and buddy reads... all 3 numbers are pretty close, but they have to be...

13..."

I think I'm in that group, too. But this group takes us so much of my time I don't even have time to be active in that one. There're only so many hours in the day! lol

[Veronica]

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I think I'm in that group, too. But this group takes us so much of my time I don't even have time to be active in that one. There're only so many hours in the day! lol "

Glad I'm not the only one slacking over there, lol. I'll probably be scaling back on the number of BRs I do here just because I'm too much of a mood reader. I miss going to my massive TBR pile and picking something because I'm just in the mood to read it as opposed to reading it because it's on my schedule. I need more freedom!



Or at the least some more wiggle room. So, once I get through these first couple of months where I overscheduled myself, I'm going to try to stick to about three BRs per month.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Veronica wrote: "Iain wrote: "I think me and Choko are in a friendly competition... on multiple levels... just sheer points, page count, and buddy reads... all 3 numbers are pretty close, but they have to be...

13..."

Almost everything Choko does must be a Buddy Read then... We've only read 20-22 books each...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm still getting about the same amount of Mood Reading done as I was before... I've just been using all the extra time I gained speeding books up on Buddy Reads... 8 Buddy Reads + 8 randoms is now 16 Buddy Reads + 8 Randoms... or something similar...

[Yanique, Thread Master]

My mood reading just doesn't match up with the buddy read schedule, especially since half my reading is SFF and the other half is Literary Fic. So I'm really excited when I can find some that I can take part in.

Whenever someone says they're booked till September I'm like wow!

[Veronica]

You've set a killer pace, for sure. :-)

Me personally, I don't want to rush through books...unless I'm just really not enjoying them, lol. But I want to savor the books I like.

PLUS, I also have some shows I like to watch so I need time for those ("The Alienist" premieres tonight!). And of course, my four kiddos.

So, I need to find a better balance. :-)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

For me, I consider 3-6 days savoring a book :) ... Malazan took 3-4 days, I think.... Sookie Stackhouse, on the other hand, is a 4-5hr read...

@Yanique: scheduling my reads has become a bit of an addiction... I'm even semi-scheduling my random reads for the most part, since I've been working through Nightside & Vorkosigan Saga...

Others like my random re-read of InCryptid #1-2 are truly random... and some of the Buddy Reads I join on a whim are pretty random...

[Yanique, Thread Master]

Iain wrote: "For me, I consider 3-6 days savoring a book :) ... Malazan took 3-4 days, I think.... Sookie Stackhouse, on the other hand, is a 4-5hr read...

@Yanique: scheduling my reads has become a bit of an ..."

Well this is part of what makes it fun for me. Seeing if I can catch up to you two with my limited number of BRs based purely on page count.

I similarly don't take long to savour a book; I enjoy each book thoroughly, I read quickly naturally and don't skip/skim/speed-read anything. My reading pace is determined by the difficulty of language or density of plot. GOTM too me almost a week because it was so complicated.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yanique wrote: "Iain wrote: "For me, I consider 3-6 days savoring a book :) ... Malazan took 3-4 days, I think.... Sookie Stackhouse, on the other hand, is a 4-5hr read...

@Yanique: scheduling my reads has become..."

At least for me, I think having Choko neck and neck all the time is causing me to get a bit more reading done... not "take a nap" since I'm "so far ahead" :) (Tortoise and the Hare reference)

Also, sometimes a narrator sounds a bit chipmunky, still, for the first 30 seconds after I turn an audiobook on, but often I find myself triple-checking that the book is being sped up at all... I'm thinking about switching to audible app to try going even faster sometimes...

[jess]

Mayim wrote: "Undoubtedly, I am one of those happy people who are paid to read actually. But I do tons of BRs in my free time too. In case something changes, I'd ask the Mods to just PM me."

You get paid to read??? How???

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

@Iain & Choko

Flash Buddy Reads are allowed and count towards BR points. We'll continue to set them up like normal going forward. :)

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

We are bumping the minimum comment count requirement to 100 for new entries beyond this point. Thanks FBR peeps for your feedback and discussion. :)

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

Rules have also been updated to reflect all the changes we have made. I hope you all are having as much fun with this as I am. :)

[Mayim]

Jess wrote: "Mayim wrote: "Undoubtedly, I am one of those happy people who are paid to read actually. But I do tons of BRs in my free time too. In case something changes, I'd ask the Mods to just PM me."

You g..."

I work at the university and so I need to read for my research and lectures.

[Choko]

Niki Hawkes wrote: "@Iain & Choko

Flash Buddy Reads are allowed and count towards BR points. We'll continue to set them up like normal going forward. :)"

Thank you, Niki!!! :):):)

[Saar The Book owl]

Maybe a stupid question, but how do you find the most popular version of the book you're reading on GR? Because if I read a book in Dutch translation, it can have more pages than the original edition and vice versa.

[Jenna, I'd be free if not for Temper & Edgewalker]

Saar wrote: "Maybe a stupid question, but how do you find the most popular version of the book you're reading on GR? Because if I read a book in Dutch translation, it can have more pages than the original editi..."

If you are reading the book in another language, then go with the edition you are reading in. Otherwise, the one that comes up first when you type the book in the search bar (can also be found by looking at the first edition on the list when you click "other editions")

[Anni]

When you click on 'other editions ' the list is sorted by popularity. The first Dutch version in the list is the most popular Dutch edition for this book :) Normally it's also the edition you get, when you type the title into the little search window.

[Saar The Book owl]

Okay, thank you both :)

[Olivia]

Question: Germany split the Malazan books into 2. So once I join the read during Memory of Ice I’ll basically be reading 2 500-600 page books (German translations are on average 30% longer than English because our language is wordy lol) and I guess it would be unfair for me to mark it as that and I will simply choose the English Memory of Ice version.

Agreed?

[Saar The Book owl]

I think, but I'm not sure anymore, that Iain once said: if you're reading a translation, then take the original English version with the most pages? But I'm not sure, because I've posted that question a while ago.

[Olivia]

I just feel like me having read TWO books instead of one while all the English speaking folk only have one book is probably what makes it unfair and I was planning on simply choosing the same edition everyone else has.

[Saar The Book owl]

Yes, I think that would be the best option.

[Anni]

I asked the same questinons for the 'Song of Ice and fire' books. (They are also splitted and a Buddy Read) I think it is ok to count the German editions if you're reading them... I mean you truely read more pages, why not count them?

[Jenna, I'd be free if not for Temper & Edgewalker]

Saar wrote: "I think, but I'm not sure anymore, that Iain once said: if you're reading a translation, then take the original English version with the most pages? But I'm not sure, because I've posted that quest..."

This is not true. If you are reading it in English, use the most popular version. If you are reading it in another language, use the edition in the language you are reading in.

[Jenna, I'd be free if not for Temper & Edgewalker]

If you read it in German, Dutch or whatever language, whether the book is one or split into two, you should use the language you read it in. If you read 30% more (even if it was the same story), you should get those points. :)

[Saar The Book owl]

Jenna wrote: "Saar wrote: "I think, but I'm not sure anymore, that Iain once said: if you're reading a translation, then take the original English version with the most pages? But I'm not sure, because I've post..."

Like I said, I wasn't sure anymore. Thanks for correcting me :)

[Olivia]

Cool. Thank you.

[Jenna, I'd be free if not for Temper & Edgewalker]

Saar wrote: "Jenna wrote: "Saar wrote: "I think, but I'm not sure anymore, that Iain once said: if you're reading a translation, then take the original English version with the most pages? But I'm not sure, bec..."

No worries :)

[idiffer]

Dunno if this has come up before and if it's smth that can/should be managed, but I sense ppl who read alot of books published only in ebook format are getting massively shafted - one such book has 236 pages on GR, while Calibre page-count addon says 370. Another is 210 on GR, but Calibre says 240. Though I've encountered ebooks with GR-stated page counts twice that of hardcover/paperback. So it's a big mess, really. This is more of a FYI, I get that this isn't rocket science, and we're here to have fun.

[Em Lost In Books]

i mostly read ebooks but i add page numbers of most popular editions only. sometimes it is good and at other it is not so. like in case of White Hot, kindle edition has 416 pages but the most popular edition of MMP has only 389...