Was so very happy to see your story was first on the list of newbies....:) Got to hand it to ya, I got the heebie geebies! How morose! How lonely and pathetic and evil! I like the way you thingk...Angie.

Just read the news....congrats!

All points well taken. I will try harder. Like I said, I am sorry for hurting feelings and I will try my best to adjust my style to be more effective and less offensive. :)

shadinah....i did read your comment. thanks for trying to understand other's viewpoints and being appreciative of them.

hebe....it's only been recently that SM added the suggestive verbage to the rating system. You may choose to rate as you please. I may choose to rate as I please. If I say that I relate a score of 5 to an A, it's because an a grade is what one would recieve for having almost no issues with the technical and creative side of their work. It was just an analogy. I use the judging guidelines from the last contest and just compare the stars to letter grades. Same as when 100% on a test means you have an "A". I gave you other comments besides my flawed view of the pov and feel that I substantiated my score....which, by the way, was changed to a 5...so that no one whom I originally scored low would be able to come back and say my score kept them from winning...which sounds absurd, but I've heard it before.

You don't earn money when you comment? Some days, that's all I do and I see my earnings go up....so I just assumed. It doesn't have to be a 60 day limit....that was just a suggestion...SM would definately have to figure out which way to work that.

I got a check for almost $9.00. Still waiting for the check from TSNK. It takes alot of effort to earn cash. One way is to actually mash other's works and and another is to comment. These factors give me incentive to read, write and comment...the whole nature of SM! I would ike it better though, if when we happen to win in a contest, that we got paid immediately after our win, rather than having to wait weeks or months for the contest to be over. I know SM has to accrue funds through advertising for payment, but with all of the posts, can it be that hard to scrape up $100? Maybe it is....I am not in on the technical and financial side of this site. But, if they are going to have to pay out a grand in 18 weeks anyway, the money should be tallying up somewhere in the meantime, right? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I think that tags should not be mandatory for any entry. I could list tons on each of mine, but really prefer not to have to list any at all. Same thing with previews.

http://storymash.com/blog/2008/07/16/judging-guidelines/

I, as well as others, suggested some time ago that we have scoring available for both the technical and creative sides of postings. I feel that writiers should be praised for creativity on ne end, if warranted, and scored concurently on the technicalities of grammer and such...and that boths scores would average out in one final score....all 3, showing. the link above is from Katrina's blog on judging guidelines for contests. In an effort to be consistant, so that other writers know what to expect when I am rating their works, I use these guidelines.

Oh, yes! I like Nash's suggestion of an entry fee! Even if one is new to the site and has not accrued any money, if they choose to enter, they can be in the negative. For instance, my daughter has one entry on this site and has written about 5 comments, so her earnings are low. Let's say for the sake of arguement that she has earned 50 cents. She wants to enter a contest with a $1.00 fee. Her total earnings are now at negative 50 cents. She can build her funds by adding more submissions and commenting on other's stories. By the time the contest ends, she has the potential to earn the money back and pay the entry fee. If not, she cannot enter another contest until the deficit is accounted for. A one time allowance for the negative funds can apply to users who have joined the site within the 60 days or so prior to the contest.

This would also help us instantly know the level of critique we should expect form those adding comments for us. :)