A little bit of everything, colored my own way. |
THE PROMPT: "Design and write about what would be your ideal contest on WDC." Good morning folks! While I'm catching up on my "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" entries and before I get into this prompt, maybe it's time for a brief, helpful public service announcement. Always remember to copy your entry before you save it, even if it's not complete. We've probably all had that situation where we've typed up the "entry to end all entries", hit save, and some unforseen circumstance happens and wipes all of your work clean. I nearly averted such a crisis myself last night. As I was typing the previous entry through Blackberry Central, the wi-fi quit. When I was done, luckily this phone allows for the copy/pasting of text, so I did. And then I hit send, but had no service...the rest of the night. I left my phone open on the counter with the browser open; I wasn't taking chances. I woke up this morning to having a working wi-fi signal, so I resent the entry, but was obviously timed out of WDC. After signing back in, I had to paste back in what I had already entered. Sure it took a little bit and was a slight pain in the ass, but it beats that feeling of emptiness and dissatisfaction of totally losing an entry and having to start from scratch. So the moral is: Always save your work!! Now, onto yesterday's prompt... I've been a WDC member for a lot of years, and with varying degrees of involvement. I've had times where I didn't know what to do with my time and wanted to be more involved, and other times where I couldn't even keep my upgraded membership. I tend to go in spurts (outside of blogging), where I'll upload a bunch of items, and go months or years without even looking at my port. I tend to go on review binges also...I know, terrible, right? Anyway... So one day, I was trying to figure out how to get my items read more. This was years ago, before blogging was even a twinkle in WDC's pants. I had entered and won a few contests, so I figured what the hell. I had plenty of GP's to fund a contest, so it was time for me to develop one. I also thought, since I'd been a yellow case for so long, it'd be a great way of getting "promoted" to Moderator (I've long since given up on that dream). I sat down at the desk in my living room at 542, went on the Contest page, opened up to add a new one, and I had...nothing. No ideas. Couldn't come up with anything. It was like what little I could come up with was already taken in some form, or my ideas just weren't feasible. I did manage to come up with something really lame (I don't even remember what it was). I promoted the hell out of it, everywhere I could on WDC. Nobody entered. And that was the end of my contest-creation days. Until now. Sorta. I get that what I'm about to propose isn't really fitting with the prompt, and I'm ok with that. It's more of an idea than a design. I don't have the time nor energy for designing. But if you're ready for it, the following is what I'd like to see. I'd like something interactive that pits two or three users, or even groups of users, against each other, in a format of something like the game shows on tv in the '70's and '80's. Something wacky and fun and cheesy, with a tux'd-up host and models holding prizes. Something like Tic-Tac-Dough or Family Fued. Or Name That Tune or The Dating Game. Surely of all the users on WDC, someone has to not only remember these shows, but can be smart enough to adapt and format them. I can already see it now...tens of people wearing out the refresh button on their browsers, chasing down virtual prizes like MB's, GP's and an all-inclusive trip to the WDC Support Forum!! "Storymaster, tell 'em what he's won!!" It almost makes me sad that this'll probably never happen. MUSICAL BREAK!! I couldn't resist adding this gem from the early days of MTV. VITAL STATS: I had a dream about WDC, among the many oddities I dreamed of while I slept. I checked my email, had 12 messages, and one stood out but I don't remember why. Another was the prompt for today's entry (coming later) about the Sunday favorite. That's kinda creepy. Anyway, I'm gonna take a break, grab something to eat, hope the wi-fi's still workin', and maybe catch you all a little later. Peace, and GOODNIGHT NOW!! |