ONLY WARNING: Contestants Talking About Their Items

[caith]

Matthew Morris wrote:

Ironic thing now is, those of us weho posted 'developers notes' gave the other contestants* help for round 3. *shrug* not that it matters, I hope to see 15 different lahamu!

*** spoiler omitted **

The notes could help or hinder another contestant in many ways. For the voters, it will give more insight into your process and possibly clear up some things in a way that will earn you fans.

[Charles Evans 25]

Matthew Morris wrote:

Ironic thing now is, those of us who posted 'developers notes' gave the other contestants* help for round 3. *shrug* not that it matters, I hope to see 15 different lahamu!

*** spoiler omitted **

Possibly it helps, and possibly it constrains, because the creature now has a much tighter defined background that voters expectations can measure any Round 3 lahamu against. If it deviates from what you laid down, it needs to look generally more awesome to take the heat out of any 'that's not what the designer intended' posts.

[caith]

+1

Couldn't have said it better myself, Charles.

[Erik Mona]

I think it's really, really, really important not to toe the line on this rule. If a contestant thinks they can get away with this, they are badly mistaken.

People WILL get DQ'd for this type of behavior.

[Richard A. Hunt]

Jim Groves wrote:

I feel bad because I've been trying to build my fellow contestants up and give them useful feedback. I hope I haven't crossed any lines, but I guess I'll be witholding my comments (except for my own stuff) henceforth.

For my part, I've enjoyed your comments and think you've been quite kind and diplomatic. :)

[Clark Peterson]

I echo Erik's comment.

And for those not paying attention, we have without a doubt upped the notification from round 2 to round 3 that this would be a DQ issue.

In Round 2 commenting wasnt spelled out in the rules, it was only in the FAQ, which provided:

"If the judges or anyone else has questions about my monster, can I post answers to their questions?

No! At least, not while voting is open. See Rule #14 on the Official Rules page: "Contestants are prohibited from posting in their own entry threads beyond asking for feedback and requesting your vote. Such discussion may not add to, expand upon, or clarify the content of the submission. Doing so may result in disqualification, in the sole discretion of the judges and/or Paizo." In other words, your submission has to get by on its own, even if everyone has the same question and you could answer it with a single word. That's because if you write a monster and it gets published, the book doesn't include a little copy of you to answer questions or offer suggestions, so you need to make sure your submission is clear on its own. Just grin and bear it--you'll be able to say as much as you want about it once voting is closed. In fact, you may just want to copy this safe-to-post statement: Thank you for your support and please vote for my entry! If you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them once voting for this round is closed."

Those who know their history of this contest also clearly know commenting is a no-no.

Then, during Round 2 we had the "last warning" thread:

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/rpgSuperstar/general/o NLYWARNINGContestantsTalkingAboutTheirItems

Then, in Round 3, Sean included commenting in the actual DQ rules:

"DISQUALIFICATION: Submissions may be disqualified for the following reasons:
....
Competitor adds to, expands upon, or clarifies the contents of his or her own submission during the voting period, whether this takes place on paizo.com or elsewhere."

And the FAQ now reads:

If the judges or anyone else has questions about my monster, can I post answers to their questions?

No! At least, not while voting is open. You may just want to copy this safe-to-post statement: "Thank you for your support and please vote for my entry! If you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them once voting for this round is closed." See Rule #14 on the Official Rules page: "14. During public voting rounds, contestants are prohibited from any public discussion that could be considered as adding to, expanding upon, or clarifying the content of their current submission. This applies to (but is not limited to) personal blogs and messageboard posts on paizo.com or elsewhere, including the paizo.com discussion thread for the entry itself. Any such discussion may result in disqualification, in the sole discretion of the judges and/or Paizo.". If you are considering posting something that may toe the line or cross the line regarding this rule, you probably shouldn't post it at all. Just grin and bear it--you'll be able to say as much as you want about it once voting is closed.

Sean moved the "safe answer" for cutting and pasting up to the front.

So I would say we HAVE ramped up the warning on this from round 2 to round 3.

There can literally be no mistake that commenting IN ANY WAY will get you DQ'd.

If you, as a contestant, do anything in your own thread or elsewhere other than say "Thank you for your support and please vote for my entry! If you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them once voting for this round is closed" or some other similarly harmless comment you risk DQ. Period.