Text Player Pages | Satisfying Multiple Day's Prompts in One Challenge | Player Page Updates | Tags

[dawn_felagund]

We're now into the second day of the challenge, and what a wild and wonderful two days it has been! :)

Text-Only Player Pages

Those of you who requested text-only player pages, they are ready. (Access text only player pages here.) I am still putting the final stamps on cards there, but you can get the idea of what they will look like.

Satisfying Two Days' Prompts in One Piece

Now that we have two BINGO numbers posted, I've been asked this question a few times, which the teacher in me knows means that more of you are wondering but haven't asked. :)

Is it okay to use prompts from both days' numbers in a single story?

Yes! Absolutely! If you want to combine "Maglor the Mighty" for I18 (Sons of Feanor card) with Thuringwethil and Other Vampires for O72 (Horror card), you are welcome to do so. However, please remember that you'd need to observe the deadline for both numbers. So you'd need to claim your stamp for I18 today; there is no extension because you're also working on the O72 prompts in the same piece.

Please also make sure you request stamps on both relevant posts, meaning you need to comment on the I18 post with the cards you need stamped for I18, and again on the O72 post with the cards you need stamped for O72. We currently have almost 90 participants signed up for this challenge. We have five volunteers stamping cards. It's really important that they have one place where they can see whose cards need stamping. Requests made in the wrong place won't be fulfilled.

Player Page Updates

Several participants requested cards shortly before the challenge started or after the challenge started. This is fine; you can continue to request new cards throughout the challenge, if you'd like. Several of you have asked me when your player pages will be ready or updated, so that again tells me many more of you are wondering but haven't asked! :)

I initially set a soft deadline for card requests to be in by the end of last weekend (Feb. 26) in order to guarantee your player page would be ready for the first day of the challenge. I ended up satisfying requests through Tuesday morning EST, so that deadline was extended by almost two days. That allowed five days to choose from the full list, and some of the cards have been posted for over a month.

I realize that it's a pain in the tail to have to sift through the card claim page, and that it's not as much fun if you can't see your stamps when you earn them. Unfortunately, at this point, player pages are relatively low on my list of priorities. The first few days of a challenge like this always verge on insane, as the other volunteers and I answer questions, fix mistakes on the pages, and of course, stamp cards. This will slow down--it already is--and we'll be free to work on other matters. My hope is to get at least the new players set up this weekend. My fellow stampers have been a huge help in getting player pages created and updated as well. I'd like to get everyone updated, but player pages are made by hand, and I currently have 31 update requests in my inbox from the past few days alone. I very much appreciate everyone's patience as the other volunteers and I work through these.

Community Tags

There are a few tags set up on the community right now for admin purposes, namely 2012:bingo cards and 2012:bingo number. Please don't add these tags to stories, especially the latter, which was set up so that visitors could find the day's number with relative ease.

I'd like to set up a tagging system so that it's possible to find pieces by BINGO number (e.g., all pieces created for I18), BINGO card (e.g., all pieces created for the "All OCs, All the Time" card), and character, genre, pairing, format, et cetera ... the usual stuff people look for. Anyone willing to help with tagging, do let me know.

Again, it's been truly awesome to see this event take off the way it has! To see the number of new fanworks being created, the enthusiasm and support we all show for each other, and the new friendships being forged always make B2MeM well worth the effort. Keep creating and keep having fun! :)

Comments

[dwimordene-2011.livejournal.com]

How do you help with tagging? I'm pretty pressed for time myself, but perhaps if you told me what was involved, I could do this and take a little bit of the load off.

[dawn_felagund]

I have several other volunteers below, so if you're pressed for time (and I know you are! :) then please don't feel obligated! :) I think we should have plenty of help. But if you want me to set you up to tag posts, I'd be glad to do so.

[independence1776]

*squees about the text-only page* That will make this so much easier for me.

I could help with tagging. I definitely have the time.

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you, Indy! :) I'll set up whatever permissions are needed for you to tag. I'll set up some sample tags, too, so we can keep a consistent format.

[independence1776]

You're welcome! :D I'm looking forward to getting started!

[dawn_felagund]

You should have tagging privileges now, Indy. If not, please let me know; this was my first time working with the tag settings on a community! :)

[independence1776]

I was in the midst of writing an email about what I've done so far when you wrote this. :P

[dawn_felagund]

GMTA! :) I am proud of myself for successfully figuring out how to change tagging settings while Skyping with my sister and stamping cards at the same time! She can be taught! :D

[independence1776]

:D I don't think I could do that!

[zdenka]

Please also make sure you request stamps on both relevant posts

Oh, thanks for pointing that out! I hadn't realized.

I would be happy to help with tagging.

[dawn_felagund]

No worries! :)

And thank you--I've added some sample tags to give an idea of format, and I will add permission for you shortly. :)

[dawn_felagund]

You should have tagging privileges now. If not, please let me know; this was my first time working with the tag settings on a community! :)

[zdenka]

Wonderful! I can see the full list of tags now, at least. I will get to work right away!

I can see sample tags for card, number, genre, and format. Is there anything else we should tag for? Author/artist and character, maybe?

[dawn_felagund]

Yes, character would be a good one. I'd actually meant to add this but forgot! XD

Not all of the tags are on the list. I added a bunch yesterday, partly to set up a consistent format and then got carried away and added all of the cards that had been written for by that point, at least on my stamping list.

Thanks so much for your help with this! :)

[zdenka]

I'm an out-of-work librarian in RL, so organizing things makes me happy. I love metadata. :-)

I've started adding character tags, but I accidentally gave some of them a space after the colon, since that's how I do it in my journal. :-( And apparently I can't edit tags. Can you fix that in your Copious Spare Time? (If you go to Manage Tags, you can fix the master tag and all the ones on the entries will change over.) *looks guilty* Argh, I was trying to help, and now I've made more work for you. :-(

Should we make character tags for OCs? And should we tag exactly as the author wrote it (barring obvious typos), leaving out any fields they didn't use, or should we impose consistency (e.g., merge gen and general)? (Both usages have their merits -- and I'm getting over-excited about metadata again, aren't I? Er. Shutting up now.)

[dawn_felagund]

This made me smile! :D

No worries on editing the tags--that's pretty easy to do! :) I or one of the other mods will take care of it.

I wouldn't recommend character tags for OCs, although a general "character:OC" tag might be useful. I'm definitely in favor of consistency, i.e., if I write a story about "Maitimo on Thangorodrim" and Lyra writes a story about "Maedhros on Thangorodrim," they should both be tagged "character:maedhros." Since this is a basic community, we also have a 1000 tag limit, which might also influence things.

As far as the merger ... 8^| That's my blank stare. If you have a metadata-loving, professional opinion on which is best, feel free to go for it, with my thanks and blessings! :)

[independence1776]

Hey! Glad to have someone else helping! :D

I propose a division of labor-- I handle the format and genre while you handle the characters? (I've done Feb. 29 and March 3 for that stuff.)

Basically, what I'm doing is going with the information the author gave us, so unless there's typos, I just tag. If there's more than one genre listed, I list them all, etc. Unless that's not what you meant?

ETA: If you make a mistake typing tags, while you can't officially fix them, if you go back into "edit tags" and correct the mistake, the bad tag disappears off the visible tag list. (At least, that what it looks like on my end.)

[zdenka]

Division of labor sounds good! Is someone responsible for card and number?

[independence1776]

Awesome!

Not that I'm aware of; most of the recent entries have had those two. But I'm getting into March first and second now, where I'm having to add those as well. You want to take cards while I do number?

[zdenka]

Okay!

[independence1776]

I'm not sure you saw my comment immediately below this one, but um, I went overboard. (Partly because I was having fun and partly procrastinating on my fic.) The only thing that needs adding are the character tags.

[dawn_felagund]

Partly because I was having fun and partly procrastinating on my fic.

That doesn't sound familiar at all. (Says she who never did claim her cards. ._.)

[independence1776]

:( Well, you could always claim them now, even though I know that's at the bottom of your priority list running this whole thing. And they'll still be there after March. Eru knows that's when I'll get to most of the prompts.

[dawn_felagund]

If I ever find myself with a spare moment, I totally plan to grab a card with a cool-looking prompt and go wild! :D

[independence1776]

Good! I hope you get a spare moment.

[independence1776]

Umm… Never mind what I said above. All entries should now have genre (unless the author didn't put one), card, number, and format. The only thing that's left is characters. *tired smile*

[zdenka]

I salute you! I will do characters going back, and characters & cards going forward. Unless -- from the comments below it looks like arwen75 has joined our merry tagging gang. I will offer her cards, if you've no objection -- both characters and cards tend to be a long list -- but I can take numbers if you want to have fewer things.

[independence1776]

By the time I wanted to quit, I had ten entries left. No point in stopping then. :P

So I would have format and genre, you would have character and number, and she would have cards?

That works for me!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Ooops, sorry! I've removed the "2012:bingo cards" tag from my story here. :)

[dawn_felagund]

No worries! :) It was rather ambiguous. I've actually gone and added some real tags for those of you who want to tag your stories. :)

[febobe.livejournal.com]

I just want to say that I don't mind having to wait for the last card I claimed to be added to my player page and get stamped. I know y'all are doing the best you possibly can and in my view you're working absolute miracles. I'm so enchanted with this game. It's taking a great deal of stress off me during an extremely stressful time (husband just had a cardiac arrest and open-heart triple bypass less than a month ago, is in cardiac rehab now) and I want y'all to know that what you are doing means the WORLD to me. It couldn't have come at a better time or been one iota more delightful, and I would just like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all you wonderful volunteers who are making this happen. You make my life so much better every single day. I never thought I could enjoy myself this much with all that's going on in my offline life, but you're making it all possible and I SO appreciate y'all, each and every one. :)

Thank you for helping me when I needed it most. :) B2MEM has touched my life as never before. Thank you for making it happen.

Love,
Febobe :)

[dawn_felagund]

Febobe, thank you for this. It thrills me to no end to see how much this event has meant and has done for you. It really makes it worth it, to see how something as seemingly simple and silly as a fandom event can reach people in a positive way.

*hugs*

[wormwood-7.livejournal.com]

I have almost completed the story for day 1 :) Never was a fast writer.

[dawn_felagund]

Hooray! :D Good luck with it!

[arwen75]

I can probably make some time to help with tagging as well. Enjoying this and it is forcing me to write again which is a good thing.

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you, Arwen--I'll add permission for you to tag! :) I created some basic tags so we can all stick with the same formatting.

[dawn_felagund]

You should have tagging privileges now, Arwen. If not, please let me know; this was my first time working with the tag settings on a community! :)

[zdenka]

Hi! indy1776 and I are the other taggers so far. Welcome to our team. :D Would you be comfortable adding the card tags going forward? Indy has taken on genre and format, and I'm doing character and number. If that doesn't work for you, we can do it a different way.