SASO 2016: Talkback

[referees]

This post is closed; thank you for your feedback. If you would like to provide constructive criticism, please contact the mods directly. All further replies to this entry are screened.

The mods still plan to reply to the topics listed at the bottom of the post.

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This is not the final wrap-up results/etc. post—that's coming in a couple of days. But while the mods tabulate final scores and create prize graphics, now's a good time to look back and reflect on your SASO 2016 experience.

Please leave comments giving us feedback on the event this year! What did you like? What did you dislike or find frustrating? What can we improve for next year, and how can we improve it? What was your favorite part of the event? Least favorite? Would you participate next year or not? Why? If you could mention your team when making your comment, we'd appreciate it.

If you would prefer to submit your comments in private, you can e-mail us at anime.espn@gmail.com or send us a Dreamwidth PM. We would prefer it if you'd put "Talkback" in the subject line.

Here's what the mod team plans to improve for next year:

• Voting program reliability. We'd like to apologize again for all of the server dowtnime, and definitely plan to make it much more stable for next year. The voting system in general, though, will remain the same.


• Bonus round program reliability. We think we got most of the kinks out during this year, but want to keep it stable for next year too.


• Dreamwidth capability for NSFW cross-posting. We didn't have time to implement it this year, but next year it should be ready to go.


• Clarifying the rules, especially on what "popular culture media" is acceptable to include in SASO work.

We also wanted to thank you again for being patient with us this year. We had a lot of technical hiccups, and you were all so kind while our heroic codermods worked out the kinks. We really appreciated your support.

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Mod Replies: (updated 12:55PM EDT 8/28/16)

Please note that inclusion of a topic on this list indicates that we're going to address it, not that we've made any decisions on judging/implementing or not implementing it.

Voting:

The preliminary vote system

Triggers in a participant's assigned vote pool

Juried panel (having the mods decide which entries were the best)

Voting mechanics

Bonus Rounds:

Promptless rounds

One day break between bonus rounds

Bonus round prompt and fill tracking/filtering

Recs round work count

Image size limit

Remix round

Remix/rec round timing

Rec round

Quality control (both prompts and fills)

What is allowed as a fill (tags and ratings)

Unscreening bonus rounds

Fairness to small teams

Comment screening

Main Rounds:

The anonymity policy

Professionalism:

Twitter tone

What information gets posted where

Considering a dreamwidth announcement community

Mod participation in the event

Comments

(frozen comment)

[sky_rose]

This was my first SASO, and although it did get stressful at times and I may've destroyed my sleep schedule a bit that was entirely me and overall I really enjoyed it! Thank you to the mods for all your hard work - I hope I'll be able to participate again next year.

I don't know how helpful my thoughts are since this was my first SASO and I was also just getting a feel for it and what it was about, but I'll do my best.

1. The twitter: I had no issue scrolling through memes/jokes/whatever to find what I was looking for, and thought they mostly added a fun aspect of community. That said, I think having a space for announcements only would be beneficial.

2. I really liked the voting system with the random selection of entries, actually - I think it was more encouraging for the teams in the long run since it felt like each had more of a fair shot at votes (though I do get why people disliked this). As people have said, this is for fun, and I don't think having a voting system where all the voters pick from the entire 30-something entries would benefit that. Also there's the issue of time; not everyone is gonna be able to look through that many entries, and the sheer number might put people off voting, especially as SASO grows. The selection of ten helps to narrow it down so it doesn't feel as intimidating imo (also it would be hard to remember which ones stood out the most with so many to choose from).

I second the idea for a "fan favourite" vote though, or something like it, for people who do have an entry they desperately want to vote for that isn't in their selection.

3. Promptless bonus rounds were great! The first one burnt me out a lot so I couldn't do much for the second, but that could be solved with some shuffling like others have said. The only round I really wasn't a fan of was the gift tags round - it's a nice idea and I can see why it could be fun for people, but I found it a bit too restrictive.

4. I highly disagree with capping bonus rounds or doing quality control. Both of those seem incredibly confining. Plus, "quality" is extremely subjective; what's "sub-par" to you could be something the creator is extremely proud of and that took hours to make. Putting limits on that hinders creativity and accessibility and that's not a good idea. I didn't write or draw nearly as much as some people did for this event, but it was still more content than I would ever have put out if SASO hadn't been going on. As someone with huge productivity issues it got me motivated to produce content and I really, really enjoyed just how free & fun & creative the entire event felt. I disagree with any attempts to cut that down.

Semi-related, I'd also like to say that taking part in a teamwork-oriented event was really great and I loved creating stuff /with/ people and working to improve while also having a good time. SASO brings out the sports anime character in me <3

5. The mods have lives beyond SASO, and we're here to have fun. Both these things are important to remember.

That's about it, I think! Thank you so much again to the mods for running this - y'all did an amazing job. Whatever ends up happening, I'm looking forward to next year!