McShep Match 2010 Rules and FAQ
What is McShep Match?
McShep Match is a bit of friendly competition between two themed teams of 25 writers and 5 artists. Each team takes on the same set of prompts and creates their entries to fit both their team theme and their selected prompt.
Entries are posted anonymously and readers vote on how well the entries fit the team theme (this year's themes are Work and Play) and the prompt used, as well as how much they enjoyed it. Please note that the wording is deliberate - we want to know how much you actually enjoyed it, not how good you think it objectively is. Once voting is over the average score for each entry is added to the overall team score and the team with the highest total is awarded the win. All individual results are viewable only by the mods and only the final team results are ever announced or viewed by anyone else.
What type of prompts will they be? How will they be assigned?
You can see prompts used in previous fests here (2007), here (2008) and here (2009). Prompts will be of a simliar type again this year. Only team members will see prompts until the entries are posted. Prompts are posted to the team communities for claiming at a pre-arranged time, so you will have a choice unless you’re the last one to show up!
What are the rules?
1000 words minimum per participant for writers.
No crossovers except for SG-1.
All participants must join the team community and at least watch the main McShep Match community.
Extension time is very limited, so if you’re not finished by the deadline or fail to respond to deadline reminders you risk being replaced by a backup at the discretion of your team moderator.
Final acceptance of all entries is at the discretion of the mods.
What is your policy on warnings?
All participants must warn for the following if they appear in their entry:
Character death, non-con, underage (below 18).
Warnings may be whited out but must appear in the header and not linked or at the end of the text. The mods reserve the right to ask participants to include additional warnings if they feel it is necessary.
I have a problem with one of the entries posted, what do I do?
If you have a problem with any entry please do not comment on the post itself with your concerns. Entries are posted anonymously and it is difficult for our authors and artists to respond and defend themselves. Please contact the mods directly at the address given below and they will take any necessary action as quickly as possible.
If you think the entry does not meet our warning standards (above) or you think extra warnings should have been included then please contact the mods at mcshep_match@refugeeblues.com.
If you have a concern about plagiarism or similar matters then please contact the mods at mcshep_match@refugeeblues.com.
Please note that if adequate warnings were given and you ignored them the mods (and everyone else) are unlikely to have much sympathy.
When can I sign up?
Friday 21st May, from 10pm GMT. (When is that?) We will post an announcement to this community when the sign-up posts are up.
How do I sign up?
All you'll need to do is follow the links we give in the announcement post - please note that there will be two links, one for each team.
This is the info you will need to provide:
LJ name
Email address (not your default LJ address please)
Writer or artist (choose one or the other to sign up as, not both)
Simple!
I don’t know which team to join!
Then check out this post, which introduces our teams for this year and their captains!
I won't have access to LJ at that time!
Then you can have someone else sign up for you. They follow the same instructions above with only a couple of simple rules:
1. Each comment can only contain one sign up.
2. They can only sign up one person who isn't themselves (whether they are signing up for the fest themselves or not).
Two of us want to sign up to co-write, how do we do that?
As long as you have co-written fics together before (any fandom) then you can sign up to co-write for this fest. Please be aware that the 1000 word minimum is per writer, so if there are two of you co-writing your minimum will obviously be 2000 words.
Just one of you should sign up for the team you want to play for, and list the LJ names and email addresses for both participants. Please also include a link to a posted fic you have co-written together if you haven’t co-written for McShep Match before.
I'm signing up as an artist/vidder, what will I be expected to create?
You will need to provide a minimum of one piece of art/one vid, though you can create more than one if you wish. If you want to do something wildly different from the usual type of entry please do ask and we will do our best to accomodate you.
For non-video artwork we will need you to provide a preview image along with your entry. This can be either a smaller version of your whole work or just a part of it. If your work consists of several parts we will probably need a preview for each but just ask the mods (mcshep_match@refugeeblues.com) if you're not sure. Preview images need to be no bigger than 400x200px.
Vidders do not need to provide preview images.
What happens after I've signed up?
Once we have our team members sorted out you will receive an invitation to join the team community. That's where the prompts will be distributed - in secret - and you can get plotting on your art or story.
Please note that there are a limited number of places available on each team, though anyone who misses out on sign-ups will be able to volunteer as an alternate/backup participant.
When are entries due? When will they be posted?
The schedule for the fest is below.
Sign-ups open: Friday 21st May
Prompts allocated by: Sunday 6th June
Deadline: Wednesday 21st July/Friday 23rd July
Posting starts: Monday 2nd August
And if you have any more questions, feel free to ask!
McShep Match is a bit of friendly competition between two themed teams of 25 writers and 5 artists. Each team takes on the same set of prompts and creates their entries to fit both their team theme and their selected prompt.
Entries are posted anonymously and readers vote on how well the entries fit the team theme (this year's themes are Work and Play) and the prompt used, as well as how much they enjoyed it. Please note that the wording is deliberate - we want to know how much you actually enjoyed it, not how good you think it objectively is. Once voting is over the average score for each entry is added to the overall team score and the team with the highest total is awarded the win. All individual results are viewable only by the mods and only the final team results are ever announced or viewed by anyone else.
What type of prompts will they be? How will they be assigned?
You can see prompts used in previous fests here (2007), here (2008) and here (2009). Prompts will be of a simliar type again this year. Only team members will see prompts until the entries are posted. Prompts are posted to the team communities for claiming at a pre-arranged time, so you will have a choice unless you’re the last one to show up!
What are the rules?
1000 words minimum per participant for writers.
No crossovers except for SG-1.
All participants must join the team community and at least watch the main McShep Match community.
Extension time is very limited, so if you’re not finished by the deadline or fail to respond to deadline reminders you risk being replaced by a backup at the discretion of your team moderator.
Final acceptance of all entries is at the discretion of the mods.
What is your policy on warnings?
All participants must warn for the following if they appear in their entry:
Character death, non-con, underage (below 18).
Warnings may be whited out but must appear in the header and not linked or at the end of the text. The mods reserve the right to ask participants to include additional warnings if they feel it is necessary.
I have a problem with one of the entries posted, what do I do?
If you have a problem with any entry please do not comment on the post itself with your concerns. Entries are posted anonymously and it is difficult for our authors and artists to respond and defend themselves. Please contact the mods directly at the address given below and they will take any necessary action as quickly as possible.
If you think the entry does not meet our warning standards (above) or you think extra warnings should have been included then please contact the mods at mcshep_match@refugeeblues.com.
If you have a concern about plagiarism or similar matters then please contact the mods at mcshep_match@refugeeblues.com.
Please note that if adequate warnings were given and you ignored them the mods (and everyone else) are unlikely to have much sympathy.
When can I sign up?
Friday 21st May, from 10pm GMT. (When is that?) We will post an announcement to this community when the sign-up posts are up.
How do I sign up?
All you'll need to do is follow the links we give in the announcement post - please note that there will be two links, one for each team.
This is the info you will need to provide:
LJ name
Email address (not your default LJ address please)
Writer or artist (choose one or the other to sign up as, not both)
Simple!
I don’t know which team to join!
Then check out this post, which introduces our teams for this year and their captains!
I won't have access to LJ at that time!
Then you can have someone else sign up for you. They follow the same instructions above with only a couple of simple rules:
1. Each comment can only contain one sign up.
2. They can only sign up one person who isn't themselves (whether they are signing up for the fest themselves or not).
Two of us want to sign up to co-write, how do we do that?
As long as you have co-written fics together before (any fandom) then you can sign up to co-write for this fest. Please be aware that the 1000 word minimum is per writer, so if there are two of you co-writing your minimum will obviously be 2000 words.
Just one of you should sign up for the team you want to play for, and list the LJ names and email addresses for both participants. Please also include a link to a posted fic you have co-written together if you haven’t co-written for McShep Match before.
I'm signing up as an artist/vidder, what will I be expected to create?
You will need to provide a minimum of one piece of art/one vid, though you can create more than one if you wish. If you want to do something wildly different from the usual type of entry please do ask and we will do our best to accomodate you.
For non-video artwork we will need you to provide a preview image along with your entry. This can be either a smaller version of your whole work or just a part of it. If your work consists of several parts we will probably need a preview for each but just ask the mods (mcshep_match@refugeeblues.com) if you're not sure. Preview images need to be no bigger than 400x200px.
Vidders do not need to provide preview images.
What happens after I've signed up?
Once we have our team members sorted out you will receive an invitation to join the team community. That's where the prompts will be distributed - in secret - and you can get plotting on your art or story.
Please note that there are a limited number of places available on each team, though anyone who misses out on sign-ups will be able to volunteer as an alternate/backup participant.
When are entries due? When will they be posted?
The schedule for the fest is below.
Sign-ups open: Friday 21st May
Prompts allocated by: Sunday 6th June
Deadline: Wednesday 21st July/Friday 23rd July
Posting starts: Monday 2nd August
And if you have any more questions, feel free to ask!