The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion
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The Future of SRC
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Christine US
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Aug 03, 2010 01:47PM
Gina, you can find your own posts by going to the Home page and clicking on "My comments" or "comments" (one or the other) on the section under "My Profile". It's about halfway down on the right side of the page.
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Christine wrote: "Gina, you can find your own posts by going to the Home page and clicking on "My comments" or "comments" (one or the other) on the section under "My Profile". It's about halfway down on the right si..."Or you can just click on your name in a post and it will bring up all your comments.
Gina wrote: "Is there a way that you could make it easier for people to find their own posts? For instance, organize the Completed Tasks by alphabet or something so that it is easier to find posts."I keep track of the post numbers for my completed tasks, as well as the total points as of that post, in the word document where I keep track of the books I'm using for each task. That way I can refer to it every time I make a new post and add the new points to the old. If everyone did that individually, we could send our lists in when/if they became necessary.
Thank you so much for taking this on. My favorite 4 Saturdays of the year are the first Saturdays after the tasks are posted. I have always had this problem where I obsessively buy books and then I am too overwhelmed to decide what to read. Since I started the SRC I read more because the tasks help me decide what to read. BTW, I spend those Saturdays re shelving what I couldn't complete during the last challenge, and pulling all the books I hope to read. I know there are a ton of members who are motivated by the points, and I respect that. When there was a delay in points totaling, I came to realized that to me, the points only made me keep working. I would imagine that keeping track of the points is awful. Maybe not, but is this something that could be eliminated. Don't get me wrong. I love seeing myself on the leader board, but I have always worried that keeping track is such a monumental task that the whole challenge would be scraped.
Could you set up a poll to see how many people want the tasks to end 2 weeks early? I love the full 3 months and there are tasks posted at the beginning that can be started on before all the 20, 25 tasks are posted.Heather in KS
Some people have mentioned cutting the number of tasks, and I have to admit, I'd be crushed if there were fewer tasks overall. Two of the major things I love about this challenge is the variety of tasks and the creativity of the group members in creating them. It wouldn't be fair to cut the 20 point tasks because many of those are taken by people who can't or don't finish the entire challenge, and the 25+ point tasks are the rewards for people who are able to finish. If anything, cut the number of 5-15 point tasks, because audience participation is what makes this challenge shine.And besides, the number of tasks increases and decreases based on the number of people who complete the challenge--as more people finish one challenge, there are more tasks in the next, which means fewer people finish the second challenge, so there are fewer tasks in the third, which means more people finish, ad nauseam. It's a cycle, and I think it manages to work itself out overall.
Ms Anderson wrote: "Gina wrote: "Is there a way that you could make it easier for people to find their own posts? For instance, organize the Completed Tasks by alphabet or something so that it is easier to find posts....""Smacks self on head" - How did I not think of that? I keep everything on a spreadsheet and that is so obvious and would have saved me some searching time quite a few times. Thanks for the suggestion!
Heather KS wrote: "Could you set up a poll to see how many people want the tasks to end 2 weeks early? I love the full 3 months and there are tasks posted at the beginning that can be started on before all the 20, 2..."We don't think a poll is necessary for that. People can stop early if they want to. People who want the full 3 months can continue to the end.
This challenge has completely changed me as a reader. The challenge of finding books to fit each of the tasks feeds my competitive nature!! I will happily follow the challenge if a new group has to be created. I can't imagine the stress of being the sole moderator of this group, working two jobs, and dealing with illness. I am sure that Cynthia appreciates the work pjreads and sandy have gone to as much as we do and I hope that she will be able to join us again someday!
I think deciding on a new name for the group would be easy enough. I also think that changing the rules so that they would be different enough to meet the requirement of the mods of GR does not necessarily have to be that difficult or complicated. It could just be a matter of rearranging the word or using slightly different words! I doubt mods really trawl every single group and post to make sure language isn't duplicated. I guess the only time it will become an issue is if someone makes a complaint to them and I don't think cynthia is going to do that!
The issue raised that we may lose people in the migration I'm not sure that would be a problem. The group has grown massively since we moved from TNBBC and not shrunk. A link could be posted at the bottom of this thread and a new thread started explaining that due to Cynthia being missing a new group has been started so that we are able to continue a similar challenge. As nothing on this group will be kept updated people will notice that and will then hopefully see the link thread and move over.
PJ and Sandy I realise that coming up with new rules may be hard work for you but would you (or even ask another member to work on it as you already have the massive job of keeping this challenge updated!) be able to work on that between now and the end of the month so that if Cynthia doesn't turn up we have that back up plan and a new challenge for Autumn can start from the new group? For the new name we could even have a poll on here for people to vote! If Cynthia does then turn up between now and the end of August things continue on here.
If Cynthia does turn up, which would be the best result, then I think asking her to make PJ and Sandy moderators would be a great idea. It would mean that holidays, illnesses and just busyness could be covered by another moderator.
PJ and Sandy thank you for continuing to work on keeping this summer challenge running and updated as well as working on the best way forward from here.
Cynthia I hope things are ok. I think you can probably tell from all the comments and posts made but we do all appreciate the hard work and all the time you've put in to these challenges over the last few years. I've done 7 challenges, missing just the first one, and personally I love them and your organisation of them has been brilliant. We hope to see you back.
Alice
Last night my husband asked me if I was being a bit obsessive in my reading and posting and spreadsheeting for The Challenge! Maybe, but I do love it! I would hate to miss out as I just found this when Winter started. I did obsess then, took a break in Spring and learned to make a better spreadsheet for Summer.I will do whatever is needed to keep The Challenge going.
I miss Cynthia and her comments, hope she is OK and can not wait to hear from her again!
PJ and Sandy, it occurs to me that if the rules need to be re-written (as GR says), you could "assign" pieces to interested volunteers from the group -- they could then resend them to you for your approval and final compilation. That would make a lot less work for you. I'd certainly volunteer to re-write a section -- I imagine others would as well.
I'm happy to work on rules also.What if all of the Completed Challenge Tasks were worth 25 points? It seems like a big hassle to move tasks around from 25 to 30 and then renumber, etc. as people finish.
I can help with the rewriting! And I second Ashley's idea. It'd help streamline the challenge, and the Completed Challenge Tasks could still be broken up into ten per post to make them easier to read.
I think Ashley's idea is a good one, too. It would make things easier. I could help in rewording as well, if needed.
I could definitely help if you need it. A majority of my job is wordsmithing & changing terms around -- it wouldn't be too bad to do this at all:)
If folks want to lower the number of tasks since we introduced a vast number of 20 pointers, why not eliminate the 15 pointers? That would give the moderator 20 tasks, the unique ones (like group read, rookie, etc) 10 tasks and those who complete 10-20 tasks (depending on how many finish).I know I will /never/ finish a seasonal challenge. I haven't enough time in the day. Doing 10 books a month is a max for me just about. And most seasonal challenges require 50+ books.
I personally like the high number of tasks. It allows for a lot of variety. I know I will probably never finish a challenge and I am okay with that. I would rather have 20 or so books left over to pick from rather than have 1-3 that I really don't want to read. Plus with all the 20-pointers more than just the finishers get to design tasks!
I wouldn't want to limit the number of tasks either. As Erin says, it allows for lots of variety.However, streamlining the Point System may be helpful to the Moderators.
Tanja wrote: "If folks want to lower the number of tasks since we introduced a vast number of 20 pointers, why not eliminate the 15 pointers? That would give the moderator 20 tasks, the unique ones (like group r..."As Ms Anderson noted: the fewer the tasks, the more people finish = more tasks next time. I think the challenge has evolved to the optimal number of tasks.
The idea of the new version of 20.5 is to have an award for people who want to set a lower goal.
Since a couple of people have already mentioned it on this thread, I wanted to share that the new Reading with Style group is now open!Reading with Style, for those of you who don't know, was formed as the result of conversations that occurred in The Suggestion Box, a thread I created last November. Reading with Style is a lighter challenge that has less tasks and more ways to score points. I hope many of you will check us out and join if you like what you see!
I also love the high number of tasks. I think most people would agree that picking books for the new tasks is probably the best part.
I've divided the contingent rewrite of THE RULES and the GROUP DESCRIPTION among the volunteers.Big THANKS to Ashley FL, Beth NC, Christine, Colleen PA, Petra and MS Anderson.
I like to help as well, if you need any additional help.
Thanks to all who have volunteered to help re-write so that we can form a new group! I really appreciate everything you all are doing to keep this going.
i'm not sure if i'm going to be around next season, because I have two grad school classes scheduled (and my one right now is kicking my butt). But I wanted to say thanks to pjreads and sandy for stepping up. I also emailed GR a week or so ago to ask about what could be done in this situation and got the same answer, which is unfortunate!An idea, might be to have task completion threads divided into manageable chunks of the alphabet and then assignment one of the winner of a challenge to each chunk...i.e. A-C is person A...D-F is person B and then weekly they can report to the overall mod the points for the week...
I also have a spreadsheet I used this session if anyone would like to use it...just PM me...it could easily be adapted as an overall tracker
Delicious Dee the book slut wrote: "i'm not sure if i'm going to be around next season, because I have two grad school classes scheduled (and my one right now is kicking my butt). But I wanted to say thanks to pjreads and sandy for ..."It would be much harder to go through the COMPLETED TASKS posts and skip some than just do them all. And, as a compulsive re-checker, it would really drive me NUTS!
i'm not saying skip tasks on a thread...i'm saying literally have different threads for the different alphabet letters...one of the other groups i'm in (144 in 2010) does that so people can post their lists...makes it easier than having a mess of posts all mixed together...so post one would be letters A-C
Post two - D-f...or something like that...
does that make more sense?
Sara Grace wrote: "As for getting from Pjreads and Sandy to "the Big 4." My vote is for them to simply pick whoever comes to mind and see if that person is interested. They could also start a thread and ask who is in..."I couldn't agree more Grace
Erin (NY) wrote: "I personally like the high number of tasks. It allows for a lot of variety. I know I will probably never finish a challenge and I am okay with that. I would rather have 20 or so books left over to ..."I agree with Erin :0)
Added to Draft Posting Guidelines:"9. Problems or questions about posts for Completed Tasks are posted in the NO POINTS FOR THIS TASK thread."
Needs wordsmithing; intent is to let everyone know it's their responsibility to check whether there are problems with their posts; (+ possible new name for thread)
How about:9. All posts are validated by the Moderators. Any questions or problems with a Completed Task will be posted in the "No points for this task" thread and need to be addressed. No points will be awarded until the issues are resolved.
Mod
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...
Mod
Speaking only for myself, I got involved with doing this because I really like the challenge and want it to continue - and I wanted to help PJreads out when she so graciously stepped up to keep this running.
I'm more than happy to continue, but I really would welcome having more than 1 or 2 of us. Being realistic about it, I have a pretty demanding job, and there are weeks when I'm working 12 hour days and weekends, so I'd feel a lot more comfortable if I only had to handle a piece of the action!
Sandy and pj, I am retired, so I have time. I do have trouble with numbers so I would be hopeless at the spreadsheet stuff, but I would certainly be more than willing to moderate task threads. I think this group is important--we've created a great community of readers and I would hate to lose contact with so many of you that I know from your comments about the books that you love--or hate.
I would also be willing to help moderate. I work at home at my own pace so I have as much spare time as I need. I am good with numbers but I would need to learn my way around Goodreads a bit better.
Like Coralie, I work from home on my own schedule. I would be completely willing to pitch in with whatever is necessary to keep the challenge going and to make it easier on Sandy, PJreads, and/or other moderators. I'm fairly computer savvy and use spreadsheets all the time. Just PM me and let me know what you need ;o).
I can help out as needed. I probably don't have enough time to be a moderator, but anything computer-related I can help out with (I am a software engineer). I can design a spreadsheet like you wouldn't believe :)
All of you stepping up to keep this going - Thank You! I love this challenge even though I never come close to finishing. Once I complete grad school, I'd love to assist with moderating but until then Thanks to all of you!!
I second what Tammy said. Thanks to everyone!
I was browsing some groups here on GR and found this private group, which judging by their group reads and logo, appear to have copied the SRC. Here's the link:
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/2...
That's weird. They have the same books as us. The only difference is they want participants to pay $5 and the top winner gets a $50 Barnes and Noble gift card.
Wow - it's a library! It makes me sad that they would be so flat out lazy as to copy everything including the old logo and pretend it's their own. I think Cynthia may be a librarian and perhaps she shared it with them. I hope so. I'm half tempted to e-mail the library director and ask about it.
Tried to e-mail them and they don't appear to have e-mail. And the library director appears to be the moderator for the group, based on a small b/w photo. Kind of creepy.
Tammy wrote: "Tried to e-mail them and they don't appear to have e-mail. And the library director appears to be the moderator for the group, based on a small b/w photo. Kind of creepy."I guess you could always let GR know...
I clicked to view their summer mystery selection and I was able to see that they have 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 point tasks just like we do. I was unable to see if they were the same as ours because you have to be a member to see their tasks. If they can create something that similar I would think that there shouldn't have to be drastic changes made to our rules and set up.
Also... we could have a "template" way that we post. We have to post using the following (or different) info:READERBOARD NAME:
TASK:
BOOK(S):
TOTAL POINTS:
The Seasonal Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Daughter of the Forest (other topics)The Girl Who Played with Fire (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Neil Gaiman (other topics)Stieg Larsson (other topics)
Juliet Marillier (other topics)
