No need to apologize, Claude and Red Ant, for being poopers. I, for one, have always appreciated a good pooper.

For example, Butt of Corse.
http://www.amiright.com/parody/90s/disneysbeautyandthebeast1.shtml

Here's an MP3 of the original song:
http://spaff.com/dktos/

xoxox
Spaff

I had a few this month that I would have liked to enter... from "The very model of American Democracy" to "The Devil Went Down to Springfield"... however, the former would have been somewhat hypocritical in the light of my comments about M-G parodies in last month's contest ;)

I'm going to go with "I Ain't Been Ham-uh-let", more out of random selection than anything else.

Back from my vacation! Hope this is a winner!

http://www.amiright.com/parody/2000s/franzferdinand4.shtml

Hear the OS & see its video here (will stream as soon as the page loads up):
http://www.virgin.net/music/musicvideos/franzferdinand_doyouwantto_hi.html

~~By entering, you are agreeing to read all the other entries and vote.
...
~~Anyone who enters but does not vote by the end of the month is disqualified and may not participate next month.
~~Voters must leave a brief comment on every parody, indicating they've read it for the SOTM contest (something like, "SOTM--555" or whatever)


May I suggest a rule change? How 'bout replacing the above with this:

~~By entering, you are agreeing to read and comment on all the other entries and vote.
...
~~Anyone who enters but does not both comment on all entries and vote by the end of the month is disqualified and may not participate next month.

I.e., the requirements remain the same, but the disqualification penalty gets extended to those who don't comment. IMHO, the whole point of the contest is to exchange feedback. Without a comment, there's no feedback, nor is there any evidence the parody was even read.

xoxox
Spaff

Maybe this too:

~~Anyone who leaves cop-out comments (like "DKTOS") on more than a few entries WILL BE PUBLICLY FLOGGED.

If it passes, I'll volunteer to do the flogging.

xoxox
Spaff

May I suggest a rule change? How 'bout replacing the above with this:

~~By entering, you are agreeing to read and comment on all the other entries and vote.
...
~~Anyone who enters but does not both comment on all entries and vote by the end of the month is disqualified and may not participate next month.

I.e., the requirements remain the same, but the disqualification penalty gets extended to those who don't comment. IMHO, the whole point of the contest is to exchange feedback. Without a comment, there's no feedback, nor is there any evidence the parody was even read.

xoxox
Spaff


I agree completely but there are a few problems with this Spaff.

1: Say there happens to be 30 entries in a contest (besides my own) and I leave 29 comments, accidentally forgetting to comment on one parody but I still read it. By the new rule I would get DQed. Should that happen perhaps a "grace period" of a few days to leave a comment to avoid a DQ.

2: Simply jotting down 30 "(SOTM) Read It" would technically be okay while  not adhereing to the spirit of the contest. Luke and Stu mentioned this back in June or July SOTM thread.

However, I second this rule change as written.


Maybe this too:

~~Anyone who leaves cop-out comments (like "DKTOS") on more than a few entries WILL BE PUBLICLY FLOGGED.

If it passes, I'll volunteer to do the flogging.

xoxox
Spaff


Don't think that'll fly. Besides, we might have some weirdos here who'll leave DKTOS just to enjoy that.

Want to let you know I will be back as Max Power since I couldn't use my friend's screen name anymore and the fact that when the name was deleted, so did the songs I typed, just want to know if anyone have the lyrics of the song I entered so I can resubmit it?

1: Say there happens to be 30 entries in a contest (besides my own) and I leave 29 comments, accidentally forgetting to comment on one parody but I still read it. By the new rule I would get DQed. Should that happen perhaps a "grace period" of a few days to leave a comment to avoid a DQ.


There are typically about 25 entries; that's a manageable number for anyone intelligent enough to enter the contest, so I don't think a grace period is needed. (Plus, a grace period would quickly be taken advantage of by slackers like me.) However, I don't want Claude (or anyone else) to have to look at every entry and make sure that everyone commented. So we could just leave it open to post-tabulation reporting from participants; if someone obviously bypassed a bunch of entries, I guarantee they'll be reported by one of us, so they'll be DQ'd. If someone inadvertently leaves out one comment, however, I doubt anyone will care enough to protest. That leaves room for some subjectivity in enforcing the DQ's, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. In most cases it will be obvious who played by the rules and who didn't.


2: Simply jotting down 30 "(SOTM) Read It" would technically be okay while  not adhereing to the spirit of the contest. Luke and Stu mentioned this back in June or July SOTM thread.


That is true. However, if we require comments, it'll be obvious who's trying and who's not. I.e., if someone leaves a bunch of "SOTM DKTOS" comments, they're pretty much advertising the fact that they suck, and we can ridicule them mercilessly. On the other hand, if they don't comment at all, we may completely overlook the fact that they suck, so we'll miss the opportunity to ridicule them mercilessly. It's all about enforcing responsibility. And doling out guilt and shame.

xoxox
Spaff

Maybe this too:

~~Anyone who leaves cop-out comments (like "DKTOS") on more than a few entries WILL BE PUBLICLY FLOGGED.

If it passes, I'll volunteer to do the flogging.

xoxox
Spaff


I kind of like to pride myself in K-ing a lot of OSes...so I HATE it when I DKTOS...but alas, sometimes it happens.  So, what if I leave more than one comment that says, "Sorry, DKTOS...but hotdamn, you are a handsome parody writer?"

Or something...you know...to show that while I didn't know the OS, I still read the lyrics and gave them some thought?

I kind of like to pride myself in K-ing a lot of OSes...so I HATE it when I DKTOS...but alas, sometimes it happens.  So, what if I leave more than one comment that says, "Sorry, DKTOS...but hotdamn, you are a handsome parody writer?"

Or something...you know...to show that while I didn't know the OS, I still read the lyrics and gave them some thought?


Don't get me wrong - I'm not suggesting that every SOTM participant should know every song being parodied. That's maybe a wee bit unrealistic. What sucks, though, is when a participant will conclude, "Aha! I don't know this original song, so that's one less I have to read! I'll just leave a 'DKTOS' comment, or no comment at all, and move on."

Comments that indicate that you actually gave the parody some thought are, for me anyway, what these contests are all about. So in your case, your DKTOS would only result in flogging upon request.

xoxox
Spaff

So in your case, your DKTOS would only result in flogging upon request.



Oh...phew.  My next question was going to be whether or not I needed to pretend that I knew fewer songs than I actually know...in order to receive said flogging. 

Thanks a million!

Well you would hope that we as SOTM competitors actually did read through the work, even if in a DKTOS. I have found some parodies that were so good, I didn't even need to know the melody to enjoy it. That takes craft.

Well you would hope that we as SOTM competitors actually did read through the work, even if in a DKTOS. I have found some parodies that were so good, I didn't even need to know the melody to enjoy it. That takes craft.


Amen, brother.

xoxox
Spaff

2: Simply jotting down 30 "(SOTM) Read It" would technically be okay while  not adhereing to the spirit of the contest. Luke and Stu mentioned this back in June or July SOTM thread.



Spaff - Yes, Red is right - we did discuss this exact issue back then. I even offered to be a one-man "Comment Police" to take the workload off Claude, so people could PM me privately and anonymously, then I'd compile a shame-list.  But for the same reasons as mentioned above, I changed my mind.

BUT, I believe I have personally solved this problem, and I urge others to follow.

I've decided to take a lack of comment on my SOTM entry by another entrant as a PERSONAL INSULT
- mainly because that's exactly what it is.  They want me to read and comment on their entry, but their time is far too valuable (compared to mine apparently) to be bothered commenting on mine.

So I now invoke the "GRUDGE RULE"

I keep track of everybody who has "personally insulted" me this way and, in the next comp only, I read and comment on their parody as usual but, after ranking all the entries, I then move their parody 3 notches down the list.  So if the insulter happened to have submitted the best parody, instead of awarding 5 votes, I award 2 votes.  4 becomes 1, and after that, WGAF. 

It's not a severe or an angry penalty, but it's commensurate with the degree of personal insult they have served to me.

I urge all other SOTM entrants to also invoke the "GRUDGE RULE"

it also solves the other problem, because it's left to each individual whether they feel a "(SOTM) I read it!" comment is enough comment to avoid being punished by the......(JAWS music)........"GRUDGE RULE"

If every entrant invokes the "GRUDGE RULE" the problem would immediately disappear, as there would be no point in these Insultors entering, as they'd have no chance of placing even....

Power To The Insultees!!

May I suggest a rule change? How 'bout replacing the above with this:

~~By entering, you are agreeing to read and comment on all the other entries and vote.
...
~~Anyone who enters but does not both comment on all entries and vote by the end of the month is disqualified and may not participate next month.

I.e., the requirements remain the same, but the disqualification penalty gets extended to those who don't comment. IMHO, the whole point of the contest is to exchange feedback. Without a comment, there's no feedback, nor is there any evidence the parody was even read.

xoxox
Spaff

I'm glad you brought this up, because I just realized that guideline in the entry thread looks like this in the voting thread:

~~Voters are strongly encouraged to leave at least a brief comment on every parody, to prove they've at least clicked on them all. Failure to do so will not result in official consequences, but will indicate to others that you're not interested in receiving comments either.

If I remember correctly, we actually changed it from a requirement to a "strong encouragement" after someone complained or something; I can't even recall exactly.  But I apparently only changed it in the voting thread and not the entry thread.  But before we changed it, not commenting actually was grounds for disqualification, I believe.

Anyway, I think the idea was that people would eventually figure out who wasn't leaving thoughtful comments, or leaving comments at all, and sanction them personally by blowing off their songs in the future (or right away, as we've seen).  Over time, the leeches would either catch on and start commenting, or stop participating.  That hasn't happened, though, because most of our regular participants are either too darn nice or don't pay that much attention because the offending parties still receive plenty of cheap attention for their songs.  So I definitely second the proposal to make not commenting a disqualification offense, so I'll include it in the voting thread and we can vote on it this month.  Obviously, we can't regulate the thoughtfulness of the comments, though, so we'll have to rely on social sanction to shame those who leave the lame copout comments.  It will probably help, too, if I don't provide a sample like "SOTM 555 or whatever" in the actual guideline wording.  I also realize that sometimes people procrastinate and run out of time, and go ahead and vote and leave comments later.  Which is fine, as long as they actually leave the comments; I'd only dq someone if it were time to vote for the next contest and they hadn't commented for the last contest yet. 

So I guess what I'm really saying is:  Yes, of course you may suggest a rule change.

Spaff - Yes, Red is right - we did discuss this exact issue back then. I even offered to be a one-man "Comment Police" to take the workload off Claude, so people could PM me privately and anonymously, then I'd compile a shame-list.   But for the same reasons as mentioned above, I changed my mind.

BUT, I believe I have personally solved this problem, and I urge others to follow.

I've decided to take a lack of comment on my SOTM entry by another entrant as a PERSONAL INSULT
- mainly because that's exactly what it is.  They want me to read and comment on their entry, but their time is far too valuable (compared to mine apparently) to be bothered commenting on mine.

So I now invoke the "GRUDGE RULE"

I keep track of everybody who has "personally insulted" me this way and, in the next comp only, I read and comment on their parody as usual but, after ranking all the entries, I then move their parody 3 notches down the list.  So if the insulter happened to have submitted the best parody, instead of awarding 5 votes, I award 2 votes.  4 becomes 1, and after that, WGAF. 

It's not a severe or an angry penalty, but it's commensurate with the degree of personal insult they have served to me.

I urge all other SOTM entrants to also invoke the "GRUDGE RULE"

it also solves the other problem, because it's left to each individual whether they feel a "(SOTM) I read it!" comment is enough comment to avoid being punished by the......(JAWS music)........"GRUDGE RULE"

If every entrant invokes the "GRUDGE RULE" the problem would immediately disappear, as there would be no point in these Insultors entering, as they'd have no chance of placing even....

Power To The Insultees!!





I definitely like the "GRUDGE RULE" -- in spirit, anyway.  The problem is, most of the people who leave the lame comments, or no comments at all, have songs that -- how shall I put this? -- aren't exactly gonna crack the top half very often anyway.  If you see what I mean.  Often times, I suspect, especially with nonvoters, that they entered this contest to win, dammit, and since nobody is picking their brilliant song then like hell they're gonna go to the trouble to read and comment on all these inferior songs by idiots who have no taste.  So dropping them from, like, 23rd on your list to 26th out of 24 probably won't have much effect.  I think the public flogging is the way to go.

What Claude said.

xoxox
Spaff

The problem is, most of the people who leave the lame comments, or no comments at all, have songs that -- how shall I put this? -- aren't exactly gonna crack the top half very often anyway.



not necessarily - I've been insulted by the full spectrum  ;) :)

Want to let you know I will be back as Max Power since I couldn't use my friend's screen name anymore and the fact that when the name was deleted, so did the songs I typed, just want to know if anyone have the lyrics of the song I entered so I can resubmit it?


Um, I don't. I hope you have them backed up somewhere, somehow because it's not like I go around printing out other's parodies and put them on my refrigerator or anything. Sorry Teddy Bear.

Um, I don't. I hope you have them backed up somewhere, somehow because it's not like I go around printing out other's parodies and put them on my refrigerator or anything. Sorry Teddy Bear.

Yeah, I meant to reply to this last night but ran out of time.  We don't save the lyrics, we just link to the page so if the page is gone, the lyrics are gone.  The good news is, you can take it as a great opportunity to start fresh, rewrite it, resubmit it, and enter it some other month.  Good luck!

By the way, in case anyone is wondering, I'll be putting up the voting thread later tonight.

They want me to read and comment on their entry, but their time is far too valuable (compared to mine apparently) to be bothered commenting on mine.

I think my time is too valuable to check whether or not every participant commented on my entry...

With that said, I think it's fair to assume that I don't participate so that EVERY one leaves me comments, just those with integrity.  I don't know if I like comments from losers anyway...  such as Ben's comment here "Under The Seat"

I keep track of everybody who has "personally insulted" me this way and, in the next comp only, I read and comment on their parody as usual but, after ranking all the entries, I then move their parody 3 notches down the list.  So if the insulter happened to have submitted the best parody, instead of awarding 5 votes, I award 2 votes.  4 becomes 1, and after that, WGAF. 

It's not a severe or an angry penalty, but it's commensurate with the degree of personal insult they have served to me.



I am trying really hard to decide if you're being serious with this...

Well, I don't know if this is a good idea or not, and I'm just thinking/typing out loud here, but one way to "fix" this problem, if it is a problem, would/could be to make a rule that all entries should be commented upon IN THE VOTING THREAD and that commenting the "normal way" in the parodies's comments field is optional.

UPSIDE: It'll scare off the exploiters who only sign up to get attention to their own song and don't really wanna comment/bother about anyone elses. (Additional: On second thought, they'll probably just sit the month out and will achieve that anyway). (Additional additional: On third thought, it would make a cop out list of DKTOSs very obvious though).

DOWNSIDE: We'd have to stack up on our comments as the month progresses, in some way, because I doubt that anyone evaluates all the entries in one row.

I think my time is too valuable to check whether or not every participant commented on my entry...





I am trying really hard to decide if you're being serious with this...



not really serious, and no I don't really check either, Tim.  I was only formularising a process to reflect what I'm sure my subconscious is actually doing.  ie. I don't care at all if a newbie doesn't leave comments, but I'm sure I wouldn't give 5 votes to someone who I recall pissing me off by not even looking at my entry, while expecting me to look at his

oh, and btw



not necessarily - I've been insulted by the full spectrum  ;) :)



this too was supposed to be a self-deprecating joke - but probably bombed too (why does this often happen with me?) - I think the "insulted" thing has only happened twice since I've been entering, and the truer wording should have been "across the spectrum"

still, I urge others to feel insulted too, because I still think it would solve the problem :)

Well, I don't know if this is a good idea or not, and I'm just thinking/typing out loud here, but one way to "fix" this problem, if it is a problem, would/could be to make a rule that all entries should be commented upon IN THE VOTING THREAD and that commenting the "normal way" in the parodies's comments field is optional.



that would certainly work, as it would be obvious who was slacking, although I would prefer to keep any comments about my parodies in the one place - ie. connected to the parody

Well, I don't know if this is a good idea or not, and I'm just thinking/typing out loud here, but one way to "fix" this problem, if it is a problem, would/could be to make a rule that all entries should be commented upon IN THE VOTING THREAD and that commenting the "normal way" in the parodies's comments field is optional.



I don't like that idea...not sure why.  I just don't.  As much as it pains me, I'm going to have to agree with Stuart.

As much as it pains me, I'm going to have to agree with Stuart.



>:(

Man, I hate to be a pooper.  But the guidelines state:

"~~Any song first appearing at AmiRight during the contest month (this year) is eligible."

I'd love to not be anal about it, but if we allow Nov 1st entries, there's no reason not to allow Nov 2nd entries, and so on.  The line has to be drawn somewhere, and since the daily updates are clearly labelled by date, it seems like the most logical way to go.  So, sorry; this is a November parody and will only be eligible for the November contest.


Geez.... I give up. Every month I've entered this thing it seems something or someone is there with all the rules why I cant be eligible. Then there are those who bitch me out for not leaving enough comments or voting, as if to say I should have alot more free time to do so. Well, I don't. I'm carrying two PAYING jobs and unfortunately don't have the time to write new parodies, let alone read the hundreds of others and comment on them.
All I wanted was a place to put up my work for others to read, but it seems there's always an issue every month about rules and requirements, as well as people leaving nasty comments and to tell you the truth, it's more of a headache than it should be.
And no, I'm not bitter that I've never won any of the contests (although it seems the same people always get the votes every month), I guess I'm tired of all the intentional crap that some people like to lay on others when some just want to share their work for a laugh.
I suppose this posting will result in alot of nasty feedback, but I wouldn't expect anything less.
Thanks for letting me rant. Maybe one day I will submit more parodies on AmIRight. Right now I'm too busy for these headaches.
Merry Christmas.

I hear your frustration, Mikey, but with the whole SOTM concept (ie. its rules, enforcement of them, and everything) Claude has my total support, respect, admiration, and appreciation.  The success of SOTM, which grows in number of entries every month, attests to how right he's gotten it.

Whoa, there, Mikey. No one's out to get you. We're all in the same non-seaworthy boat here.

If you wanna play in the X-month SOTM, all you gotta do is enter a parody that first appeared on Amiright during X-month. And then read and comment on the other entrants and rank your five faves. You only have to do that on the 25 or so contest entries, not on all the many hundreds that get posted on Amiright.

The only SOTM rule change *I'm* suggesting is a DQ if one of the entrants doesn't comment on the others. (FWIW, I didn't have *you* in mind when I suggested that.) I believe we all enter the SOTM for the same reason, which is to give and receive feedback, so I think it's fair to DQ somebody who doesn't do that.

As for nasty comments, we all get those. Those and lower-than-we'd-prefer ratings are what we all risk when we post our work in a forum that's open to every living freak with an Internet connection. However, we also open ourselves up to compliments, and those are always nice.

Don't give up because of a couple of rules. You'll get used to them pretty quickly. Since you have a parody that appeared on Nov. 1, you're ahead of some of us because you've already got a contender for the November SOTM.

And Ditto what Stu said about Claude.

xoxox
Spaff

Heaven's sake! I thought at first there were 55 entries...then I read them.;D 1st of all, joke or no, I agree with Stu. Are we really expected to rat on the non-commenters?:( I still would like to see better comments, rather than SOTM, though.

P.S.Cheer up, Mikey! It DOES take a while to get used to this stuff.:)

(although it seems the same people always get the votes every month)

I don't have much to add, the others covered it quite nicely.  But as someone who routinely tends to vote for some of the same people month after month, I just have to point out that it's because they're the most talented, accomplished writers who tend to write the best parodies month after month.  And the goal here is to recognize the best parodies, not spread the points around equitably so no one gets their feelings hurt.  Hang in there, and sorry if it feels like we're ganging up on you.

Sorry for the whinefest I posted there a couple of days ago. I guess I was having a really bad day, well, bad month actually. I didn't mean to upset anyone by any my half-assed comments, I just find things to be sooo frustrating lately. I understand and respect the rules and regulations of the contests, and by no means was I intending to offend anyone. I  plan to continue to submit to AmIRight and enter the contests whenever I can, and I hope you all continue to embrace my parodies with open arms.
I have been a busy little squirrel lately, but I plan to be back in full force after the holiday season.
Thanks for all the comments and putting up with my squirrelly crap. :)

Sorry for the whinefest I posted there a couple of days ago. I guess I was having a really bad day, well, bad month actually. I didn't mean to upset anyone by any my half-assed comments, I just find things to be sooo frustrating lately. I understand and respect the rules and regulations of the contests, and by no means was I intending to offend anyone. I  plan to continue to submit to AmIRight and enter the contests whenever I can, and I hope you all continue to embrace my parodies with open arms.
I have been a busy little squirrel lately, but I plan to be back in full force after the holiday season.
Thanks for all the comments and putting up with my squirrelly crap. :)

Don't worry, as far as whinefests go, there've been way worse; I don't think yours would even make the top ten.  I'm with ya on the holidays; my wife goes nuts with the decorating and whatnot.  See ya later.

http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/muddybottomboys0.shtml