replies to points in 126

[sae@arts.ubc.ca (Olga Betts)]

My take on entries from Digest 126

About Judges:
 Why don't we think of some judges, toss out any that there are violent
objection to, and get in touch with the others and ask if they would be
interested in doing this? We can say it is a preliminary request to lay
groundwork for the whole thing really happening.

I propose George Booth who has said he's not interested in entering... but
maybe he'd judge... one can always ask. I propose Merril Cohen who is a
super guy, very fair and an expert aquatic plant grower (also a dog judge
so he knows about judging very well). How about Claus of Tropica fame?
Dorothy Reimer of AGA (retired - super lady of the old school)? That's 2
US, 1 Canadian and 1 Dane... anyone have other suggestions? Let's quit
rabbitting on and do something! <g>

_____________________
Entry rules:
 >That could be the answer to that one.  Add a line to the entry form asking
>for the owner's name (and permission) if different from the entrant.

Our entry form is getting bigger and bigger! <g> If a contestant signs our
entry form as the person who aquascaped the tank, I say it's on their head
if they have lied.

----------------------
Scoring:
 >Formulating a scorecard for Judges to use is an excellent idea

Yes! Scorecard is a good idea. I believe we have to have points per tank
for it to work.

_______________________
Paludariums:
 >The issue of paludariums has come up - I'd love to see some good ones. But
>for our first attempt, again I suggest that we stick with tanks which are
>full of water

I agree. Let's stick to full aquariums. This is complicated enough as is.

_____________________
Plastic Plants:
 >I don't like the idea of any tank containing plastic plants as being
>acceptable in a contest/showcase approved by the AGA.\\

<gasp> Who suggested plastic plants be allowed?? Boo... hiss! We should
pretend that Erik has equipment that makes photographed plastic plants glow
purple!

______________________
Scoring again:
 >>I've given some thought to how judges might score the entries.

I think this will be a quite long discussion and can be started and
concluded later after the *main* things are nailed down. We don't even have
dates yet. :( Let's not get off on yet another tangent.

_______________________
Entry numbers:
 >Hardly likely, since there _ain't_ no judges with any experience with this
>sort of thing.  It hasn't been done before.  And believe me, in fish shows
>dog shows and horse shows, there are plenty of "one horse classes".  I'd
>bet there are in art shows too.  (not that I'm advocating splitting off one
>entry classes, I'm not)

As I said before we should make it clear that without sufficient entries a
category will be cancelled or added to another most similar category. I
also think that when awards are given the number of entries should be
given: Category: small: 15 entries: 1st place: xxxx, 2nd:  xxxxxx, etc.
This is far more significant than winning 3rd out of 3. If we give results
to 3rd place then we need minimum 3 entries per category. BTW I'm not very
concerned about people's feeling being hurt. If you enter contests it is a
fact that you may loose... someone always comes last. It should be an
incentive to improve not give up. And everyone has been learning that since
they were 2.

_______________________
Art etc.:
 >Idealism and theory has it's place - and from my previous post you know the
>expectations I have of myself. But I would not not expect that from someone
>else. I don't want us to set the bar, or the tone, of this showcase too high
>that we scare anybody away.

I agree. I think we are getting way too complicated with all the talk about
"artists", "mechanics" and etc. This will essentially be a beauty pagent
with good gardening practices thrown in. Let's not get carried away here.
No matter what we do, the results will be subjective. I say, people who
know aquatic plants should judge... not painters, photographers or
celebrities (unless they happen to be both).

________________________
Scores:
 >This brings up something that I've been wondering.  Will the actual scores
>that each judge gives each entry be made public?  Or will only the entrant
>get all of the scoring info for his/her aquarium?

My feelings are: Winning entries have scores published. Category: Small.
Entries: 20. First place: xxxx with score of: 1) 5, 2) 4, 3) 5 etc.
Definitely only the winners. The tank that got 0, 1, 0, 0, 1 will never be
known. <g>

________________________
Making decisions:
 >In order to get some actual decisions made, I recommend that after hearing
>(actually reading) opinions given over a reasonable amount of time, that you
>propose the more popular choices and call for a vote.  (Much like you did
>when you gave choices for names and set a deadline to enter the vote).

Yay Mike! Yes... yes... I get very tired of going around and around. We can
discuss these things forever and a decision will never be made. Action, I
say!

Olga
in Vancouver


  ------------------
  To unsubscribe from this list, e-mail majordomo@aquatic-gardeners.org
  with "unsubscribe aga-contest" in the body of the message.
  To subscribe to the digest version, add "subscribe aga-contest-digest"
  in the same message.
  Old messages are available at http://lists.thekrib.com/aga-contest