Festivids: Still Awesome
People have often asked me why I have to be so gosh-darned critical all the time, why I have to be harshing their squee and dragging things down; people have suggested to me, in the past, that if I want change to happen I should praise things that are done well and not focus on things that are done poorly. This is obviously complete bullshit, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. Because 
festivids just posted a helpful reminder post, addressing peoples' concerns in advance and providing lots of information about the schedule and the process, and it reminded me of how much I love Festivids.
Things I Adore About Festivids, and Specifically the Manner in Which Festivids is Modded:
1) The rules, schedule, and workings of the challenge are determined ahead of time and made transparent - all the information I've needed to understand and plan for the challenge has been provided to me well in advance, and has been easy to find on the website, the LJ, and DW. This makes such a big difference to me, for all that it's a relatively small thing and easy to accomplish - I like to know in advance what I'll be doing when, and this really helps.
2) When I've asked a question (by commenting on the DW or emailing the mods) I've received thoughtful, helpful responses to my questions within 48 hours of asking them. Even when the answer wasn't the answer I was hoping for, I felt as though I had been considered seriously and treated with respect, and so I was satisfied.
3) Because the rules were explained well in advance of anything I had to do (nominations, disputes, requests) there was plenty of time for me to ask my questions and wait for answers - I didn't have to worry about whether the mods would get back to me in time so that I could do the bit I needed to do.
4) I was frequently encouraged, on the website, LJ, and DW, to contact the mods if there were any problems; the mods had obviously made an effort to make themselves available so that any concerns could be smoothed over or fixed right away.
5) When a task loomed that was too big and required too much work for the mods to be able to accomplish it on their own, they asked for help. Specifically, because the work of determining the eligibility of fandoms was way too much for any two people to handle, even if they didn't have jobs/lives/stuff to do, they allowed the community to pitch in and count extant vids for each fandom. I feel sure that, should the challenge get bigger in years to come, they will continue to ask for help - help with fielding questions at the mod email address, help with coding, help manage the crowdsourcing, help with matching participants, help with whatever gets out of control. This makes me glad because on one hand, I have the comfort of knowing that no one is burning themselves out on my behalf (I don't need more guilt in my life), and on the other hand, I know that nothing is being left undone - that my tiny fandom won't be unfairly disqualified - due to overwork. And, of course, if the mods aren't visibly overworked, I don't feel guilty about emailing them with a question.
6) There was a clear, pre-determined cutoff point at which any given fandom became ineligible, and if there's some residual unfairness to the fact that a 99 vid fandom could conceivably get in while a 101 vid fandom might not, at least the cutoff point is predetermined, transparent, and applied equally to all fandoms. This makes me feel so much less anxiety about nominating fandoms in the first place, because I can find out easily for myself whether or not I was wasting my time by nominating X.
7) When folks were uncomfortable with the original name of the challenge ("Yulevid"), due to its Christian-centric implications, the mods took those concerns seriously and thought about whether it was feasible to change the name of the challenge. They decided that it was perfectly feasible, and did so.
8) The mods specifically engineer the challenge deadlines so as to not coincide with any major religious holidays or anything (insofar as they can do so). I was so glad when I saw that mentioned on the festivids DW (with a note that, if there's something they've overlooked, you should point it out to them).
It's really become clear to me over the last few years, as I've suddenly become a co-mod of a fairly large fandom challenge (>1000 participants this year!), just how much work and how much consideration it takes to mod, if you want to do it right. It honestly thrills me to see good modding happen, and to be part of a challenge in which I can feel confident of the rules and the process. Festivids - along with other fandom challenges that are modded well - teach me more about how to be a good mod, about how to step up and do things better. I will find a way to make the Kink Bingo rules simultaneously easier to read, shorter, and more detailed/comprehensive - I will, I will! I will do more to make the kink names/descriptions obvious so that we don't get so many people confused about what counts as X kink: this is my goal! I'm so inspired by all the good mods all over the internet, you have no idea. Also I'm reminded that I have KB stuff to be doing that I ought to get moving on.
So! My question for you, the internet: what are your favourite fannish challenges, in terms of how well they're modded? What specifically says "good modding" to you? What's your Platonic ideal of good modding? I've never done Remix Redux or Three Ships or Yuletart or Big Bang or Sweet Charity or very many fandom-specific challenges, so I'd be interested to know what kinds of good modding you've seen at the places I don't frequent.
(click to comment at dw || there are
comments right now)
festivids just posted a helpful reminder post, addressing peoples' concerns in advance and providing lots of information about the schedule and the process, and it reminded me of how much I love Festivids.
Things I Adore About Festivids, and Specifically the Manner in Which Festivids is Modded:
1) The rules, schedule, and workings of the challenge are determined ahead of time and made transparent - all the information I've needed to understand and plan for the challenge has been provided to me well in advance, and has been easy to find on the website, the LJ, and DW. This makes such a big difference to me, for all that it's a relatively small thing and easy to accomplish - I like to know in advance what I'll be doing when, and this really helps.
2) When I've asked a question (by commenting on the DW or emailing the mods) I've received thoughtful, helpful responses to my questions within 48 hours of asking them. Even when the answer wasn't the answer I was hoping for, I felt as though I had been considered seriously and treated with respect, and so I was satisfied.
3) Because the rules were explained well in advance of anything I had to do (nominations, disputes, requests) there was plenty of time for me to ask my questions and wait for answers - I didn't have to worry about whether the mods would get back to me in time so that I could do the bit I needed to do.
4) I was frequently encouraged, on the website, LJ, and DW, to contact the mods if there were any problems; the mods had obviously made an effort to make themselves available so that any concerns could be smoothed over or fixed right away.
5) When a task loomed that was too big and required too much work for the mods to be able to accomplish it on their own, they asked for help. Specifically, because the work of determining the eligibility of fandoms was way too much for any two people to handle, even if they didn't have jobs/lives/stuff to do, they allowed the community to pitch in and count extant vids for each fandom. I feel sure that, should the challenge get bigger in years to come, they will continue to ask for help - help with fielding questions at the mod email address, help with coding, help manage the crowdsourcing, help with matching participants, help with whatever gets out of control. This makes me glad because on one hand, I have the comfort of knowing that no one is burning themselves out on my behalf (I don't need more guilt in my life), and on the other hand, I know that nothing is being left undone - that my tiny fandom won't be unfairly disqualified - due to overwork. And, of course, if the mods aren't visibly overworked, I don't feel guilty about emailing them with a question.
6) There was a clear, pre-determined cutoff point at which any given fandom became ineligible, and if there's some residual unfairness to the fact that a 99 vid fandom could conceivably get in while a 101 vid fandom might not, at least the cutoff point is predetermined, transparent, and applied equally to all fandoms. This makes me feel so much less anxiety about nominating fandoms in the first place, because I can find out easily for myself whether or not I was wasting my time by nominating X.
7) When folks were uncomfortable with the original name of the challenge ("Yulevid"), due to its Christian-centric implications, the mods took those concerns seriously and thought about whether it was feasible to change the name of the challenge. They decided that it was perfectly feasible, and did so.
8) The mods specifically engineer the challenge deadlines so as to not coincide with any major religious holidays or anything (insofar as they can do so). I was so glad when I saw that mentioned on the festivids DW (with a note that, if there's something they've overlooked, you should point it out to them).
It's really become clear to me over the last few years, as I've suddenly become a co-mod of a fairly large fandom challenge (>1000 participants this year!), just how much work and how much consideration it takes to mod, if you want to do it right. It honestly thrills me to see good modding happen, and to be part of a challenge in which I can feel confident of the rules and the process. Festivids - along with other fandom challenges that are modded well - teach me more about how to be a good mod, about how to step up and do things better. I will find a way to make the Kink Bingo rules simultaneously easier to read, shorter, and more detailed/comprehensive - I will, I will! I will do more to make the kink names/descriptions obvious so that we don't get so many people confused about what counts as X kink: this is my goal! I'm so inspired by all the good mods all over the internet, you have no idea. Also I'm reminded that I have KB stuff to be doing that I ought to get moving on.
So! My question for you, the internet: what are your favourite fannish challenges, in terms of how well they're modded? What specifically says "good modding" to you? What's your Platonic ideal of good modding? I've never done Remix Redux or Three Ships or Yuletart or Big Bang or Sweet Charity or very many fandom-specific challenges, so I'd be interested to know what kinds of good modding you've seen at the places I don't frequent.
(click to comment at dw || there are
comments right now)