Used and Abused - Round of 16

[Claire]

Sadly, out of our 16 contestants, only 11 handed in a story. @Vile8r and @Hazard, that is @Mr. Kinky Guy and @Photographer have officially withdrawn from the tournament. The other three have simply not handed in a story, with two of them never even reading the PM informing them about their pen name and the theme for their match. In case the three authors missing the deadline would like to hand in a story over the course of the week, I would be fine with that. The later somebody hands in a story, the less time there is for them to accumulate a high rating. But if their opponents insist on them being completely disqualified, then that would be fine with me too.

As it currently stands, the following 5 matches would see one author advance to the next round by default because of a missing opponent:

• R16-2: @Traumatized Teddy
• R16-3: @Gross Indecency
• R16-5: @Perverted Mimic
• R16-6: @Alien Drunk
• R16-8: @Parasite

To be honest, I was always afraid of people dropping out en masse and the tournament collapsing from that. That is why the first tournament was flash fiction and it worked fine. I thought that short stories might work, too, and I wanted to at least try it. But seeing not 1 or 2 people drop out over the course of the entire tournament but 5 people in the first round is likely a sign that the format needs to be changed to be sustainable in the future.

[Vela Nanashi]

I have a competing suggestion if the five abandoned authors feel up to it, you could be randomly merged into two tournament brackets, one with three authors and one with two, and thus have some competition not on the same theme but for the quality of your story, I personally would prefer to have an opponent if mine dropped out than win by default, but I don't know if the rest of you feel that way.

[Lucius]

I have a competing suggestion if the five abandoned authors feel up to it, you could be randomly merged into two tournament brackets, one with three authors and one with two, and thus have some competition not on the same theme but for the quality of your story, I personally would prefer to have an opponent if mine dropped out than win by default, but I don't know if the rest of you feel that way.

This doesn't really work, I'm afraid -- we get the quarter-final round with five participants instead of the expected eight. I'd go with @Claire's proposal to wait for the stragglers.

[RapeU]

While it's bad that some people did drop out, it's not that bad because someone is going to win in each bracket. Bad would have been if multiple brackets had no story at all.

Since the next round will have the number of expected writers, there's no need to change anything about the tournament. Keep running it as normal. Since all the winners, whether by vote or no story, participated in the first round it's more likely everyone will participate in the second round.

[Shocker]

While it's bad that some people did drop out, it's not that bad because someone is going to win in each bracket. Bad would have been if multiple brackets had no story at all.

Since the next round will have the number of expected writers, there's no need to change anything about the tournament. Keep running it as normal. Since all the winners, whether by vote or no story, participated in the first round it's more likely everyone will participate in the second round.

I do agree with RapeU’s point of view. It’s a pity not everyone could do their entry, but sometimes inspiration can’t keep up with life.

[Vela Nanashi]

Yeah, just sad to not have competition in a contest, but I don't blame those who did not post nor those who get a free win. We will get you next time gadget! or something

[Bukkake Power Wash]

@Claire
Täusche ich mich oder fehlt in Runde R16-7 meine Story? Bitte überprüfen.
Danke

[Claire]

@Claire
Täusche ich mich oder fehlt in Runde R16-7 meine Story? Bitte überprüfen.
Danke

Hmm no, seems to be there in the opening post?

[Bukkake Power Wash]

@Claire:
After I responded to Shocker's post, the post suddenly became visible. Previously, it hadn't been visible on my PC, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

[Traumatized Teddy]

While it's a bit unfair that some people had to face competition to advance to round 2 and some didn't, I think some drop-outs are inevitable. It's down to chance at least so not totally unfair. If we got an even-numbered set of drop-outs then certainly the unpartnered participants could be paired off with each other in future.

I expect there'll be some more drop-outs going forward... but the contest can still be enjoyable for those of us taking part and those who just read. It certainly got me to write a story I mightn't have bothered to come up with.