Re: Categories and Information

["James Purchase" <jpurch@interlog.com>]

Dave VanderWall wrote:

> Other's have pointed out that we should encourage the contestants to
> provide certain information, such as a plan of the aquascape, but this
> should not be a requirement.  I agree.

When I re-do the list, a "plan view" suggestion will be included. As Erik
has suggested, we could do up a "sample entry" for the real web-site (not my
mock up, but I don't mind putting one up) which will show what we would
_like_ each entry to contain.

On this vein - does anyone have a series of, say four photographs of their
tank which they are proud of (I want to use a nicely planted tank as our
sample) that they wouldn't mind using for this purpose??? Please contact me
privately if you do.

> I do not agree with having tank dimensions and/or volume fall under the
> optional heading.  If this is the case we may as well throw out the part
> about dividing entries up into different categories.  This goes back to
that
> "faked" discussion that was going on earlier.  How are we going to feel
when
> we put someone's 120 gallon in a class with much smaller tanks?  Or has it
> been decided that tank size is irrelevant and a 2.5 gallon should be
capable
> of competing with a 240 gallon?  (Or vice versa.)  Maybe I'm just beating
my

I don't know if _anything_ has been decided about regarding "categories",
other than the fact that entries will be sorted into categories for both
display and judging. In what I have posted recently, I have deliberately NOT
mentioned the "sorts" of categories we will use because it seemed that
whenever I did so before it got _someone_ upset. I think that because this
is the first time we will be doing this showcase/contest event, going into
it with too rigid a notion of what we will receive as entries might be a big
mistake. If we announce a certain "category breakdown" in advance and then
based on the entries received discover after the fact that an alternative
scheme would be more suitable, we could find ourselves in a bind. Sort of
like "backs to the wall, arms tied behind our backs...". At least for this
year, it might be better to simply state that entries will be sorted and
arranged into "like" or similar groups, where numbers warrant. Once we get
the entries in hand, we can decide on how best to arrange them.

As for "requiring" the size info - it's like pretty much everying else. I
_want_ the info, but where do you draw the line between must have and nice
to have? I think that _most_ people will freely give us the size information
if it is "requested". If we get a few entries without it, I think that it
wouldn't take too much effort to send an e-mail to the person after the
fact, specifically asking them to "fill in the blanks".

I think we are more likely to run into folks who will refuse to give us
their name and address than information about their tanks (the old e-mail
"handle" routine). To prevent any worries people might have about providing
names and addresses (and e-mail addresses), I think that we should make it
very clear on the web-site and on the entry form that the information
provided will NOT end up on a "for sale" mailing list or be used for
_anything_ other than the contest. Also, that only a person's name, city and
country will be displayed on the web-site (exact street address will not be
made public, nor will e-mail addresses).

James Purchase
Toronto

  ------------------
  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