Dabysan in Hammersmith Palais

Argh! A Comment War

With Vox contests, the devil is in the details. A cunning opponent like Jodi will game the system by taking every advantage of vague or poorly crafted rules, so they must be clear at the outset.

While there were many excellent suggestions for this year's challenge, Hotrod's recommendation of Comment War seems to have had the greatest resonance. Both Jodi and I also liked Michael's recommendation of thematic posts, but there is nothing in the Comment War model that would prevent us from drafting such posts. 

The advantages of Comment War are numerous. First: absent an absolute tie, Comment War will most assuredly produce a winner and a loser. Second, Comment War rewards quality over quantity, without creating annoying artificial deadlines. I think we'll all be happy to see the end of random YouTube clips and 100-word meditations on belly button lint. Finally, Comment War leaves little room for interpretation and argument (though, I suspect we'll find a way).

So here they are, the official rules of Jodi and Dabysan's 2010 Comment War...

1. The winner of Comment War will be the contestant who receives the most comments on his or her blog in 2010. Comments will be tallied at the end of each month.

2. The Comment War officially begins after both Jodi and Dabysan agree to this (or another rule-set) and applies only to comments submitted to posts that are published after the final rules post.

3. Comments posted by Jodi and Dabysan will not be included in either contestant's tally (this will help to prevent cynical comment boycotting).

4. Neither Jodi, nor Dabysan will link to -- or solicit comments for -- their Vox blogs on Web sites, blogs or social networking services outside of Vox. Linking/cross-promoting within Vox is permitted. Violators will be charged a 50-comment penalty per violation.

5. Spam comments will not be counted. 

6. The contest ends December 31, 2010 at midnight Eastern time. Comments posted afterward will not be tallied.

7. Once the final comment is tallied, the losing contestant will provide the winning contestant with either a pie or a pan of brownies of the winner's choice. Fast-food and prepackaged pies and brownies are not acceptable. The loser will also craft a post extolling the winner's many virtues. This post will include some form of multimedia element (sound or video) recorded by the loser.

I think that's it. Consider the gauntlet cast...

Gauntlet

 

The Third Time's the Charm, or Choose Your Own Adventure

I have to say I have really enjoyed not having any Vox deadlines in the past week or so. After completing two successful yearlong challenges against my nemesis, the so-called "Supergenius" (if that that is her real name) and tasting the pie of victory, while never surrendering the brownies of defeat, I think I earned a few days of peace and respite.

Now however, I fear a return to the bad old days of 2007, when I managed a paltry 32 posts. Indeed, with Vox becoming increasingly moribund (I guess this post won't make the "Culture is Good" front), and with a book writing project taking up a growing portion of my attention, I could see myself going the way of so many other Vox wraiths.

Well I say to hell with that. I was one of the first people on this service and I intend to go down with the ship. Besides, I'm wayyyyyy to lazy to start a real blog, with a real Internet address out there in the wilds of the Internets. And my mom says she misses the dulcet tones (can writing be dulcet....or have tones?) of my petty insults and digressions.

So I think it's high time that I called Jodi out again, only this time, I want a contest that produces one winner (me) and one loser (her) and includes clear benchmarks and rewards. I always like a victory pie, and a good post extolling my many virtues, but I'm willing to consider other inducements.

The question, if Jodi's not too much of a coward (a big if) is what form should the new contest take? The flaw, as I see it, with the most recent iteration, was that it allowed for a draw if both of us completed the challenge, and everybody knows ties are for communists.

It is here where I would seek the guidance of my large and growing global audience.  Here are some options:

1) Comment War -- I have to give Hotrod credit for suggesting this one. The idea is that we keep a running tally of al the comments we receive on our respective Vox blogs over the course of the year (subtracting comments that we make ourselves, or those that we make on each other's posts). At the end of the year the person with the most comments wins. This appeals on a lot of levels. First, it allows for a looser posting schedule, encouraging quality over quantity. Second, it creates a real incentive to stoke the kind of arguments that can make Vox so much fun. Finally, it is clearly measurable, and will, without fail, produce a winner in 2009.

2) 156p52w -- In 2008, I challenged myself to write a post a week for the entire year. In 2009, I challenged myself to write two posts a week for the entire year. One could make a strong argument that 2010 should be the year that I attempt three posts per week. This has the advantage of continuity, but the disadvantage of being a giant pain in the ass. Also, we would need to create a tiebreak function in the event that we both completed the challenge successfully.

3) Tandem Writing Project -- Jodi and I tag team on a Vox-based novella, in the classic tandem writing project style, where one of us writes some sort of drivel and the other has to follow along. We could set deadlines, and declare a loser if there are any defaults, and then create a voting process for best plot development to determine the winner in the event of a tie.

4) ???? -- I'm open here. Surprise me.

So that's it cast a vote if you're interested. It might be a futile gesture, since I think Jodi will be way too much of a wussy to take me up on it, but it's worth a shot.