My story was unfairly disqualified

[Jassy Melson]

I was given notice this morning that the story I had posted in the story contest for November had been disqualified because the story had been posted in August. The story was removed. I didn't write the story till September. I posted it in the story contest in September. Needless to say, this came as a complete surprise to me. Someone has screwed up--and it wasn't me.

[Scheherazade]

Jassy,

I was hoping to deal with this quietly; however, since you chose to bring this up in the public area, here is a link to the story you posted in August:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64040

The competition rules clearly state that
7. All entries should be your own original work and not have appeared anywhere else before. Authors retain the copyright rights for the stories submitted to the competition.

8. All submissions must be your sole creative work and written for this particular competition. Anyone found plagiarising will be disqualified from this and all future contests.
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18200

Also, anyone who submits a story to the competition agree to keep their identities confidential until the end of the competition whether they are disqualified or lose the competition, which is in itself grounds for disqualification and which is a rule you broke yesterday.

[Jassy Melson]

Although submitted in late August for the September contest, my story was not posted in August--it was posted in September as one of the contest entries. I received a thank you from you for entering the contest. When my story was disqualified and removed from the contest because it was misunderstood by someone--they thought the story had been posted in August--I assumed that I was free to post the story in the general story posts. Instead I was given an infraction by you for posting the story before the contest ended. Since my story had been disqualified and removed from the contest, I was at a loss to why I was given an infraction. I posted the details of this publically to let everyone know what was going on.


Jassy,

I was hoping to deal with this quietly; however, since you chose to bring this up in the public area, here is a link to the story you posted in August:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64040

The competition rules clearly state that http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18200

Also, anyone who submits a story to the competition agree to keep their identities confidential until the end of the competition whether they are disqualified or lose the competition, which is in itself grounds for disqualification, which is a rule you broke yesterday.

It doesn't state in the rules that anyone who submits a story to the competition agrees to keep their identities confidential until the end of the competition whether they are disqualified or lose the competition. It doesn't state in the rules that someone whose story is disqualified agrees to keep their identity confidential until the competition is ended. It also doesn't state in the rules that someone whose story is disqualified cannot post their story before the competition is ended.

[Varenne Rodin]

I'm glad this came up because I wouldn't have known that "anywhere else" included varying threads on Litnet. I thought it meant other websites, forums, books, magazines, publications outside of Litnet. The anonymity thing I get though. I'm sure the rule makers wanted to avoid the possibility of favoritism in voting. Perhaps deadlines could be made more clear? In any case, it sounds like a simple misunderstanding. Punitive action would probably be pretty harsh.

[Jassy Melson]

I've been given an infraction because I posted my story after it was disqualified and removed from the story contest. I simply think it's wrong that I received an infraction.

The simple fact is this: Someone in the administration misunderstood. They thought I had posted a story in August. In fact, the story was not posted until September in the contest.

[Scheherazade]

Although submitted in late August for the September contest, my story was not posted in August--it was posted in September as one of the contest entries. I received a thank you from you for entering the contest. When my story was disqualified and removed from the contest because it was misunderstood by someone--they thought the story had been posted in August--I assumed that I was free to post the story in the general story posts. Instead I was given an infraction by you for posting the story before the contest ended. Since my story had been disqualified and removed from the contest, I was at a loss to why I was given an infraction. I posted the details of this publically to let everyone know what was going on.Here is the story posted by you in the General Writing section. Date: 08-28-2011, 01:11 PM

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64040

It is not possible for anyone else to make it look like a story posted by someone else... More importantly it is impossible to fake the date of a post.
It doesn't state in the rules that anyone who submits a story to the competition agrees to keep their identities confidential until the end of the competition whether they are disqualified or lose the competition. It doesn't state in the rules that someone whose story is disqualified agrees to keep their identity confidential until the competition is ended. It also doesn't state in the rules that someone whose story is disqualified cannot post their story before the competition is ended.It is clearly stated that you agree to keep your identity confidential until the voting is over; this includes all scenarios. Otherwise, we would have added that "unless they are disqualified".

What's more you posted your story repeatedly before being disqualified. No one can decide at what point they should declare themselves a winner or loser in the competition and proceed to reveal their identities.

By revealing your identity before the deadline, you had already disqualified yourself from the competition; however, I had decided to look over that until I discovered that the very same story was posted on the Forum in August.


I'm glad this came up because I wouldn't have known that "anywhere else" included varying threads on Litnet. I thought it meant other websites, forums, books, magazines, publications outside of Litnet. The anonymity thing I get though. I'm sure the rule makers wanted to avoid the possibility of favoritism in voting. Perhaps deadlines could be made more clear? In any case, it sounds like a simple misunderstanding. Punitive action would probably be pretty harsh.Again:
7. All entries should be your own original work and not have appeared anywhere else before. Authors retain the copyright rights for the stories submitted to the competition.

8. All submissions must be your sole creative work and written for this particular competition. Anyone found plagiarising will be disqualified from this and all future contests. The rule no.8 states that the stories should be written for this particular competition, which rules out the possibility that works posted on the Literature Network Forums are acceptable in the competition.

Deadlines are clearly stated in the polls and my posts - if anyone takes a moment to read the posts carefully.

Varenne ~ I appreciate your feedback on the matter; however, no one on this Forum can claim that they have been unfairly penalised as we take these matters very seriously. Jassy was warned repeatedly not to post his story before the voting was over and only after the third time he received the infraction points.

What's more, it is also stated in the Forum Rules that members should discuss moderating decisions through PMs and they should be kept off the boards.

[Jassy Melson]

I DID NOT post my story in the general writing area. I only submitted it to the contest. I repeat I DID NOT post the story anywhere else, until after it was disqualified and removed from the contest. If something is telling you that I posted the story in the general writing area on August 28, that something IS WRONG.

[Scheherazade]

Jassy ~ Have you check this link and the date on it?

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64040

The Forum records shows that you posted the story on that date, which is the evidence I will have to go with.

[Jassy Melson]

Okay, I've checked everything out and I understand now that I have made some serious errors. I did indeed post the story that I entered in the contest in the general writing section on August 28. This was purely an accident on my part. I wasn't aware until today that my story had been posted in the general writing section on August 28. I sent the story to the contest address, not to the general writing section. I don't understand how I made this mistake. Be that as it may, I also committed the error of revealing my identity and posting my story in the general writing section before the competition was ended. This happened because of my ignorance. I assumed that since my story had been disqualified and removed from the contest that I was free to post my story in the general stories section. I have since learned that this is not allowed. Again, all this happened because of my ignorance of the rules. But some of it was totally accidental.

[Calidore]

A willingness to stand up, publicly acknowledge a public goof, and make it right is rare and worthy of respect.

[Scheherazade]

Thank you, Jassy.

I am glad this issue has now been resolved and we can move on.