Suggestion Box

Yes, I am requesting a change to a WdC policy. I know. But I'm not sure where else to bring this up. Forums that allow book entries and direct forum posts should be allowed to count as a contest if they are still created here and judged on the skill of the entrant.

Currently, to be considered a contest, it says...

A writing contest that is eligible for posting on the Contests page involves three things:
- The typical entrant creates a piece of writing in an item in their own port.
- The entering process must happen here on the Writing.Com site.
- There must be competitive judging of the writing based on the skill of the entrant.

I believe this rule was conceived before anyone thought of super short contests like "Invalid Item"  or "Twenty-Five Words or Less" . I bet tweets didn't even exist when this rule was made.

A contest is a competition between people. Thus, I don't understand why a forum that recognizes that it doesn't make sense to require a user take up a space in their portfolio for only 25 words or 140 characters can't still be considered a contest. Fast and easy contests (yes, because in the outside world, they would be considered a contest) also help encourage newbie participation if they allow posts directly in the forum. I know as a newbie I was scared to take up valuable item space by entering a contest.

When people are looking for a contest to enter, they look on the Contest pages, not the Activity pages. And people don't generally define a contest as requiring an "item" but as requiring writing you created that will be judged. Thus direct forum entries and book entries should count, IMO. I think this well-intended rule was created before WdC was such a fully-fleshed site and before there were contests that allowed such short entries. Basically, I see no legitimate reason why they DON'T count, except that it's against the rules, thus I am recommending a rule change.

If, because I'm not supposed to request a policy change here, this should be submitted elsewhere, please let me know where. The world changes and our laws, rules, and policies must keep up.

Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy post.