Round 10: SS How to Play, Help & Discussion

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

Just answered in your thread. Only A, An, The are excluded, If counts. (There's a "titles with 4 or more words" category somewhere in the alternates list, the title in question would fit into that.)
Should be more clearly phrased in the list now.

[Mary X]

Mave on team 7 hasn’t checked in with her book choice or to acknowledge the roll. I sent her a message yesterday. How long should we wait? She’s not in the hurricane area judging by her profile.

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

I wouldn't worry too much about Mave. She didn't check in with her SSS team before the day the reviews were due either, but had hers up in time. If you haven't heard from her by Thursday evening maybe message again.

Selection posts aren't strictly mandatory according to the rules, so those who haven't played before or were on a team that didn't do them last time might not know that many experienced players are used to doing them or they might be expected. As captain, it's up to you whether you require them from your team. If you haven't yet, maybe make an "official" captain's announcement to lay down the basic groundrules of what you expect, such as selection posts and/or regular check-ins to make your job easier.

[Mary X]

Ok. Every time I have played we posted our books when we picked them. I just don’t want to miss our turn this week if she doesn’t. But since you say she did it before then I won’t worry.

[Mary X]

She hasn't checked into our team since 9/12.

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

She did check into her SSS team yesterday to post her latest review, so at this point I'd still operate on the assumption that she'll turn up. I do understand you getting antsy, though. If she hasn't posted by evening, message her again. I'll keep an eye on your thread and send her a message tomorrow if she hasn't posted by rolling time.
I'd definitely recommend adding a request for players to check in at least once after each roll with their book selection so you don't need to stress as much when you post your next roll.

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

An addendum to this point of the rules:
★ Review posts MUST include the following: Book title, author, cover, how it qualifies for the spot you're on, date finished, rating, review (min. 3 sentences)

If you're using a cover colour or cover item alternate, your completion post will NOT count without the correct cover.

Otherwise, you can add the cover later if you're posting your review from the mobile app. I also won't be stressing myself and everyone else out by hounding everyone to include covers every time, but for cover-specific alternates they are non-negotiable.

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

Also, I figured I'd point this out again:

✸Standalone books can be used for a 1 or a 0

[Carrie]

Hi i never saw this anywhere, but after the selection has been made can we change our book for another one?

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

Yes, you can change your book anytime.

[Carrie]

Denise wrote: "Yes, you can change your book anytime."

Thank you :)

[Shae]

Hello! Would a 1.5 count for spot 15 as it has a 1 and a 5? :) thanks

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

It would count as a 1 (in case of .5 books, only the preceding numeral counts), so you can use it for spot 15 that way. :)

[Shae]

awesome! thanks so much!

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

Just make sure it fits the page limit! :)

[Mary X]

Just curious as to what the time deadline for rolling on Fridays is? Does it need to be done by a certain time of day or as long it's done by 11:59 pm?

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

You have the entire day, until 11:59pm central time.

[Mary X]

That's what I thought.

[Mary X]

Never mind

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

I saw she's put up a proper review post now, so this is probably a bit redundant at this time, but: Go ahead and roll if that kind of situation comes up again, but get her to edit her post with the necessary information.

[Bee]

About the bonus points, if two of the same team, for exemple, read a >500 pages, it would only count as one point?

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

Yes, each bonus point can only be earned once per team.

[Krissy]

Does the free pass actually replace the person's book review so they don't have to finish one at all or do they still have to post a review?

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

If it's the first time time the player is missing a review, they can skip their review for that week entirely.

[Krissy]

K. Thanks!

[Suman]

@Denise, consider a situation where a series has 6 books and one reads all of them. Will that person get both the bonus points, for reading 3 books and finishing the series ?

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

They need to be two different series to get both bonus points, so you'd need to decide which one to claim.

[Suman]

@Denise, by any means, is it possible to retract a bonus point claim. I didn't know about this rule, may have overlooked, I don't know. I have read 4 out of 5 books in a series. Can I retract the claim for the bonus point for reading 3 books in a series? If yes please do the necessary. :(

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

If your team hasn't used the bonus point yet, I'll allow it. I'll drop by your team thread to adjust the bonus point tally in the first post once I get home from work, but you'd best let your team know you requested this so they don't think I'm just arbitrarily taking away their bonus point.

[Suman]

Denise wrote: "If your team hasn't used the bonus point yet, I'll allow it. I'll drop by your team thread to adjust the bonus point tally in the first post once I get home from work, but you'd best let your team ..."
Sure .... Thanks. :)

[Angie ~aka Reading Machine~]

Does this count for Grey/Silver cover ? I tried checking on tinyeyes but not sure what to make of the results.

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

I'll have to take a look at it when I'm home and can use the PC, at the moment I'm just squinting at it on my phone and would rather not make a call based on that. I'll get back to you in about 5h, sorry for the delay.

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

Angie ~aka Reading Machine~ wrote: "Does this count for Grey/Silver cover ? I tried checking on tinyeyes but not sure what to make of the results."

Hmm... I agree the TinEye result seems weird (72% black??), but either way I'd say the background is more blue-ish than grey-ish, so I'd say no on this one.

[Mary X]

How long should a player be Awol before we worry? Abir made a comment on our team thread on 9/24 but missed posting a review last week even after being sent a reminder. We used our free pass. I messaged her yesterday to see if she was still playing.

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

Apologies for not getting back to you sooner, Mary.
For now, there's nothing much you can do except wait and see, maybe message her again later in the week. I'll keep an eye on the situation and message her if nothing has been heard from her by rolling day. The good news is, your team will get to roll (provided everyone else gets their reviews in) even if she doesn't turn up - as this would be her second time missing a review, it would result in disqualification. Until that happens, i.e. until the deadline passes without a review from her, she's officially part of the team, so if she doesn't show or let you know she's dropping out, you'd have to wait out the deadline, but would then be able to roll first thing after it runs out.

[Mary X]

I got a response from her that she had been traveling for work and that she would still like to play. I said she hadn't been replaced from the team but that she needed to have her review posted in time for us to do this next roll.

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

Very good.
Please do advise her to check in with the team should something come up again, and if she knows beforehand she'll be travelling and won't make a deadline to ask for a pre-arranged absence.

[[deleted user]]

What should I do if I don’t believe I’m going to be able to make tomorrow’s deadline because schoolwork, Halloween, and play rehearsal got in the way?

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

You couldn't make last week's deadline and used the free pass for that, right? Then missing a deadline for a second time would unfortunately get you disqualified.
Can you find a very short book (page limit is 140, so if you find something around 150 pages long that would do) or something that is very quick to read like a children's book that you can squeeze in before the deadline to replace your original choice with?
Your team will wait for you until the deadline runs out if you think there's any chance you'll make it. They'd still be able to roll once the deadline has passed, but they'd have to continue without you if you can't get your review in in time.
However, if you're sure you can't make it (or it gets too stressful to try), I would recommend you officially withdraw from the team, so the others don't have to wait until end of day tomorrow to roll. You don't have to make that choice right now, though. It's just an option to consider, you can see how things look for you when everyone else on your team has their reviews in or later tomorrow.

[[deleted user]]

Unfortunately, I won’t know until then because it depends on how much I’m needed at play rehearsal along with my homework situation.

[Donna, Chief Inspector]

So, my team is missing two reviews. That means we can't roll until next Friday, correct? Do they still need to have this week's reviews in before then?

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

Yes, since we don't have a free pass we need to sit this roll out and can roll again on Friday. We can roll without their reviews.

[Suman]

"One bonus point can be earned for not reading from alternate list..." what about the standalone books ?

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

Standalone books read for a 1 or 0 don't count as reading from the alternate list.

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

Captains, please do look over your players' completion posts and make sure they comply with the requirements noted in the FAQ section in this thread. While I drop by all threads regularly and will comment when I see something to be corrected, I do have this pesky thing called a life (hard to imagine, I know :P) and can't always study every single post in detail rather than just briefly checking that they're present by deadline and the book fits when I'm pressed for time. I rely on you to keep an eye on the finer details. Thank you!

[Book Concierge]

I see a reference to a "pre-arranged absence" but I don't see any instructions on how to get this approved?

Who approves? Where do I post request?

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

I do. Just let me know when and why you need it. Request here or by pm, whichever you prefer.

[Krissy]

Greenfairy has been MIA from GR for a while. I've PMd her but I don't think it'll be much help. Other captains from other challenges haven't heard back from her either

[Denise, Manufacturing Director]

*sigh* What is it with people disappearing this round...? :(

Would this be her first time missing a review on this challenge? If so, I'm afraid there's nothing you can do except hope she turns up by deadline since you don't have a free pass anymore. I can shoot her a pm as well when it gets closer to the deadline, but if she's been away from GR entirely it probably won't do much good.

[Krissy]

That's what I figured :(