RE: Mock Judging Results

["VanderWall, Dave" <Dave.VanderWall@hboc.com>]

Whoa!  We're back!

-On the issue of faked entries/pre-screening:
        I agree with Erik here.  Leave it up to the judges.  If one of them
disqualifies it we could do some follow-up.  The follow-up will dictate what
happens from there (eliminating the entry, asking the judge to reconsider
and score the entry, etc.).  I think this eliminates the need for
pre-screening.  (I would volunteer on something like this, depending on
where we need help the most.)

-On the issue of submission guidelines:
        5 shots seems nice and arbitrary.  I would like to require a full
view of the tank.  Optional, but suggested, could be 2 more views from the
left and right sides of the tank.  This leaves 2 more shots of the
contestant's choosing.  (Or we could require the first three views
mentioned, but this may cause some problems depending on the type of tank,
placement with regard to walls, etc.)

-On the issue of tank parameters:
        We should require the volume and dimensions of the tank and the
water temperature.  pH, KH, GH, etc. could be optional but encouraged.  I
don't know how this relates to the viability category, which is really the
only category I could see where the tank parameters such as pH would come
into play.  Then again, non-standard parameters may not be so bad, and it
does not mean that the contestant does not plan to do anything about the
water conditions.  I know that many people do not take pH readings, etc.
(But I'll bet everyone here does!)

-On the issue of judging guidelines:
        I think we all agree that we must clearly communicate our guideline
intentions to the judges.  I think it should be a points system.  Pull down
lists, radio buttons and a database all sound great!  Instead of a
percentage, we could make it points.  When I was doing the judging I just
took each category at a percentage point = a point.  So the first criteria
was scored at 0 to 35 points.  Then I added everything up for a total.  I
guess if a tank got a 95 that means it was 95% good, but I don't know what
that means.  I think the fact that we decided a while ago to have everything
add up to 100, and the fact that James split the category weights into
percentages, was just a coincidence, sort of.  I didn't think of it in terms
of anything complicated like, "I'm going to score everything from 0 to 100
and then figure out what the composite score is based on a weight," but
maybe some feel we should do something like that.  I agree that we should
instruct the judges not to tie two of their own scores, but we may have a
tie when results are tabulated overall.  A tie-breaker round sounds good to
me.  I'm not sure I like the idea of a single tie-breaker judge as it may
lend itself to a conflict between two judges.  ("So-and-so agreed with me so
I'm right!")  I'm no judge, though, so take what I say with a grain of salt
on this topic.

-On the issue of tank categories:
        We're tabling the actual category discussion for now, right?  I'm
tempted to say that 2 entries would make a category as that's all it takes
to compete, but that might not be realistic.  We're not seriously thinking
about 50 categories or anything, are we?  Here's my take:  Let's say there
is a "fantasy" category and we receive 10 entries.  After we sub-divide by
tank size (I really don't think a 120 gallon tank and a 5 gallon tank should
compete against each other at all), we may end up with only 2 tanks that are
"fantasy" and under 20 gallons.  Why not let those two tanks duke it out?
Depending on the outcome of this discussion we are looking at the potential
of sending out some emails that begin, "Thank you for your submission but,
due to lack of interest..."

-On the issue of 1st, 2nd, 3rd:
        I think there will naturally be a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.  We could
just rank them all the way down to wherever.  I assume this relates to
prizes ("what do I get for my 3rd place tank?").  Are we talking about
prizes yet?


Hmmm ... I'm going to sit back for a second and see where the discussion
goes from here.



Thanks,

Dave VanderWall
Minneapolis, MN


p.s.  Jennifer, I have about a year of experience in this hobby and I was a
judge in the mock contest.  If you want to get involved, send a private
email to James.  I'm sure he would love to hear from you.  I know that the
input from inexperienced people has its place in this forum.  After all, one
of the goals is to generate interest in the hobby.  Everyone has to start
somewhere and it is our job to make sure this contest is accessible to
everyone!
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