About The Floo-Between Duel, Guidelines and FAQ Options

[evlpez]

We don't know how it happened. Honestly! But somehow a portal has opened between our network's server and the Floo-between!

What's the Floo-between? It's a sort of wizard version of the internet which they call the Floo Sharing Network. It connects users the Floo Network and allows them to share the contents of scrolls, book, paintings, photographs, etc. with other connected users.

Imagine our suprise to find that the Floo-between has a site similar to ours, where magical folk who have read the Harry Potter books are writing collaborative fan fiction! It's true! And - somehow - a gateway has opened between our beloved www.projectferret.org and the Floo-between's fsn.projectferret.wiz.

Suddenly we're finding that personalities from the Magical World are visiting our site and participating in our projects and chats!

The Challenge:

Registered members of Project Ferret will adopt characters from the Harry Potter books and write in a series of Harry Potter fan fiction challenges as their chosen characters would. They'll choose screen names and avatars for their characters (what would Professor Snape's screen name be, or Luna Lovegood's avatar?) and participate in chat with each other.

Members will rate each others performances and the top scoring participants will win prizes.

Here are the guidelines:

1. Eligibility:

Participants must register as members at Project Ferret and validate their e-mail addresses. (Member groups admitted: Future Ferret, Ferret Fan, Ferret Fuzz and Formidible Ferrets) At Project Ferret, new members are usually required to submit to a "Future Ferret" fiction challenge before they're permitted access to post in other projects around the site (to uphold a standard of writing quality in our collaborative work). For this duel, any and all registered members will be allowed to participate. Future Ferrets' access will still be restricted to the Floo-Between Duel forum and the So You Want To Be A Ferret forum until they are promoted to Ferret Fan status by an administrator.


2. Content and audience rating:

Participants must be familiar with Project Ferret's Site Guidelines and may only post material which is suitable for a general audience. Any inappropriate material (violence, sex, profane language etc..) will be deleted and the poster will be banned from the site.


3. Choose a character:

Participants may choose characters from list provided below for each round of the contest. You will preface each post by your characters using a form we've provided below in Guideline #8. A copy of the form's code will be provided with each round mission, as well. You may choose as many characters as you want (there will be more than one Snape, Harry, Ron.. etc…) and each character may write as many submissions as you want for any round.

When you choose a character, you must choose a screen name and provide an avatar for him/her. Every character you use in the duel must have a profile submitted in the Profiles topic, and every post by the character must be prefaced by the Character Form provided in every reply window in the Floo-Between Cross-over Forum. You may also submit/use a signature (also provided in the form), but it isn't mandatory. There will be a prize awarded to the favorite signature, so you may wish to.

A note about Avatars:

If you would like to use one of the avatars already available on Project Ferret for this duel, you can. Just click here and choose one.

If you want to use an original avatar, you'll have to find a place to host it. If you don't have your own web space, see this list of places that will host images for you:
Free Image Hosting

Although we'd love to see some more obscure characters participating, it would be very difficult to rate them on characterization accuracy. Characters whom we know to be dead (and not ghosts) or who are portraits may not participate (you may not choose James or Lily Potter, Sirius Black or his mother, etc…). Please choose from the following list:




4. Write in character:

Participants will write fiction and chat as their characters would. (For example, if Hermione Granger writes Harry Potter fan fiction, you can bet her grammar is impeccable and she never uses slang unless the dialogue requires it. She might even provide bibliographical information to support magi-scientific or historical facts.) In the Floo-Between, the interactions are as anonymous as they are on the Muggle Internet; remember that when your character interacts with another in The Floo-Between Chat topic. (No characters will bicker with each other overtly, though they might drop little jibs and jabs which are "technically" annonymous. For example, though Hermione will know who Harry and Ron are (as do we all) in spite of their screen names, she can't openly bother them about getting their homework done. She might make a pointed comment or two to "High Flyer" or "Dispizes Maroon" about how limited time is before Binn's parchment is due though.)

In summary; for Round One (Profile and Chat) your chosen Floo-Between user(s) will create a profile for themselves and chat with other visitors fom the Floo Between. The chat is informal and in character. If you've chosen Professor Snape as your Floo-Between user, you will post chatter as Snape, using his language and wit.

Rounds 2-4 are fan fiction writing challenges. Your chosen Floo-Between user(s) will write fan fiction about Potterverse characters as known from the books by JKR. If you've chosen Professor Snape as your Floo-Between user, you will write fan fiction as though Snape is writing fan fiction; as an outsider, not as the main character of his submissions. Snape, unable to really ignore his personal feelings for the actual person-Harry, would probably like to write about him as though he is a sneaky, arrogant twit.


5. Posting:

All posts in the duel forum are anonymous. By and large, unless you're good at divination, you won't know who is posting on behalf of which character.

• Don't forget to preface every post with the provided Character Form. (This includes posts in the Floo-Between Chat) All posts which aren't prefaced by the Character Form will be deleted by a moderator.
  
  
• Make sure you're posting in the correct topic
  
  
• Please, the fiction challenge topics are for In-Character submissions only; not comments or chatter. The mission for each topic will be in the first post of each topic. If you, the writer, have any questions about a mission, post them here by clicking "Ink a response" at the bottom of this page.
  
  
• The Floo-Between Chat topic is for characters only. Please do not make any out-of-character comments in that topic. (All posts in the topic which aren't prefaced by the Character Form will be deleted by a moderator.)
  
  
• This topic ("The Floo-Between Duel Guidelines") is for questions about the Duel. The "OOC Chat topic" is for general discussion by the writers, not HP Characters. These are the only topics in this forum in which you may post out-of-character. You won't need to use the Character Form in them, either.

6. Voting:

Round 1 (Characters and Chat):

Five Polls will appear in the Floo-Between Cross-over Forum on Wednesday November 24th. These polls will determine ferrets' favorite Character Screen Name, Character Avatar, Character Signature, Character Profile and Character Chat Performance.

Each poll will list the screen names of all participants in a category. You will only be able to choose one screen name as your favorite choice for each. The top three screen names will earn Ferret Points for their creators.

• The top placing choices in each poll will earn 10 Ferret Points
• The second placing choices in each poll will earn 8 Ferret Points
• The third placing choices in each poll will earn 6 Ferret Points

Rounds 2-4 (Fiction):

Voting booths for the fiction rounds (rounds 2-4) will be opened at separate times during the contest (see the schedule below for dates; all booths open at noon Central time). You will find them here. (A link will be provided in the mission post of each submission topic.) Once a booth opens, it will remain open until noon Central time, Sunday December 5th. All booths will close on that day and the winners will be announced.

Project Ferret members will rate all fiction submissions based on the score card provided below (a copy of this will be in the mission post of each fiction round as well). Copy and use this score card to help you decide what rating each submission deserves. Please give fair and honest ratings according to the fullfillment of the following elements:


Score Card

__ Ferret Points for following the mission
__ Ferret Points for technical (grammar, spelling are consistent with the author's character)
__ Ferret Points for overall creativity
__ Ferret Points for characterization
__ Ferret Points for adherence to canon
_________________
Total out of 10 maximum Ferret Points

0 = Poor, 1 = Okay/good, 2 = Great


The submission with the highest Ferret Point rating wins the round and a prize. Writers will accumulate the Ferret Points from their highest rated submission per round. (For example, if I write 3 submissions for round 2 and their final ratings are 7, 6 and 5, I will receive 7 Ferret Points for the round.) You don't need to win the round to earn your points. Even if your highest rated submission places lower than others, those points will be added to your total.

At the end of the contest, the three writers with the highest number of accumulated Ferret Points each win one of the Grand Prizes.


7. Duel Schedule:




8. CHARACTER FORM

When you post in the Floo-Between Cross-Over Forum, you'll see a button (up by the "code" and "list" buttons) that says "blank character form." If you press that button, the form will appear in your post. Just edit in your character's details and put the body of your text in the middle. The top part is mandatory for Floo-Between CHat and Fiction submissions, but the bottom part (the signature) is optional. If you've chosen not to use a signature for your character, delete that part of the form. Here's what it will look like:

CODE

<!--edit this part with your character's info-->
[IMG]http://www.houseofhagen.net/pfimages/divider.gif[/IMG]
[B]Screen Name[/B]
[IMG]http://www.yoursite.com/your-avatar-image.jpg[/IMG]
Rank (you can make this up)
Floo Ferret
[IMG]http://www.houseofhagen.net/pfimages/divider.gif[/IMG]

(There are a few lines of space here; this is where the body of your post goes.)

<!--edit this part with your character's signature-->
[IMG]http://www.houseofhagen.net/pfimages/divider.gif[/IMG]
Your signature (either text or images)
[IMG]http://www.houseofhagen.net/pfimages/divider.gif[/IMG]

Here's an example of what it looks like after posting:


Erin_Go_Bragh

Clever Leprechaun
Floo Ferret


***Here's the body of Erin_Go_Bragh's post.***


Kenmare for the Cup!


A tip about using the Character Form:

When you've chosen a character and filled out his/her profile, you may wish to save the form with your details somewhere. At the top of every page here at Project Ferret you'll see a link to My Controls. The main page of your controls has a personal notepad where you can store snippets of code or any other text you'd like to save and keep handy. Just paste your completed form(s) into that field and click 'Update'. Now, whenever your character posts, all you need to do is paste your completed form into the reply field and add the body of the post in the middle.

[evlpez]

~PRIZES~





Five Round One winners will win a 2005 Harry Potter wall calendar.


*Bookmarks not included.



The top-rated submissions from Rounds Two, Three and Four will win Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on DVD or a gift certificate for Amazon.com, plus a little something chosen from the Department of Mysteries' bag of tricks that relates to the winning submissions in some way.





Grand Prize:

The three members with the most Ferret Points will win the Prisoner of Azkaban on DVD or an Amazon.com gift certificate plus his/her choice of the wands pictured below.





The first place Ferret will choose his/her wand first, second place will chose second from the two wands left, and the third place ferret will receive the wand that remains.

All prizes are official Warner Brothers Harry Potter merchandise.

[evlpez]

Questions & Answers

Any time someone asks a question, the question and its answer will be added to this post for easy reference.



Q: I'm having some problems adding my avatar (using the Character Form). I keep getting a message that says dynamic pages aren't allowed in tags. Any ideas?

A: Yes. More often than not, this error message comes up when you've used the image code incorrectly. It's one of two things:

• Photobucket (if that's what you use) provides the board code to insert an image into invision boards like ours. (It already has the [img] tags around the picture's URL). The Character Form also has tags ready to use for your avatar, so you'll need to make sure there is only one set of tags around the URL.
• The [img] tags do not allow spaces inside them. Your [img] code should look like this, with no spaces whatsoever:

CODE

[IMG]http://www.yoursite.com/your-avatar-image.jpg[/IMG]

____________________________

Q: So, when writing for the second challenge, the guidelines say we have to write as our characters would. I'm wondering a bit what that means. I mean, who can the characters' writing differ if they are writing for someone else? ex. Ginny, Colin etc.

A: I keep picking Snape to use as an example because he's so powerful (so this in no way reflects on whoever is writing him right now).

Let's say Snape writes in the "Snoopy Ginny" challenge. He might see her efforts as admirable and Slytherin, but will also have conflicts about saying something nice about a Gryffindor who is also a Weasley. Thus, the story would reflect those ideas while also taking us through whatever Ginny does to get in and what she finds.

It means that you write as if your were whatever character you've chosen. So, if you were Draco writing about Colin Creevey, it might be different than if you were Dennis writing about Colin.

____________________________

Q: Question for Round Two subs. Are we completely barred from mentioning our own character in the story completely?

A: Not at all. You are free to mention your own character in the round 2 submissions, but you might want to do it in third person to give it the "feel of objectivity." This applies to ALL fiction rounds.

____________________________

Q: Only one person to each character, right?

A: No, we can have eighty people write for the same character if we want. We're all so brilliant that each would be unique and interesting!

____________________________

Q: Might I ask another question regarding round two? Like in the Quibbler challenge, one must have a piece of dialogue between 2 or more characters after the piece of news. Is it possible to have a character speaking, whom we don't know a lot about? Say if you have Neville(whom we know of) and Professor Sinistra(whom we don't know very much).

A: The fiction challenges are up to your Floo-Between character's interpretation. They may use whatever characters they like in their stories. The only rules are that they must be characters we are likely to see in the Potterverse and that your Floo-Between character is writing the piece from an outsider's point of view (Not first person).

____________________________

Q: You play more than one person right?
Well if you post with one of your characters and then right afterwards with another, would that be double posting?

A: It most definitely is not double-posting if two different characters by the same ferret are posting one after another. In the Floo-Between Duel, some of the usual internet forum rules don't exactly apply; these folks have never heard of 'double-posting', and in their minds, they're not typing on a keyboard and clicking the 'submit' button, they're writing on scrolls that get sent around the floo-network to subscribed users.

____________________________

Q: While voting, we cannot vote for ourselves right?

A: Correct, the Booth won't let you vote for yourself. Besides, Ferrets are all honourable and wouldn't be tempted to vote on their own submissions anyway.

____________________________

Q: Regarding Round Three - The Magic Box: What happens if you're posting your submission based on the last location and someone posts a split second before you and you end up picking the Magic Box up from the wrong location?

A: It's your responsibility to double check the most recent replies before you post to ensure continuity.
If you're in the middle of writing a submission and you find that someone else has posted, it shouldn't be too difficult to change the location in your draft, since the meat of the thing should be about the character's dreams, wishes and attempts to open the box.
In the event that two people post within seconds of each other, the post that shows up latest (beginning with the wrong location of the Magic Box) may be edited to reflect the new location. Do your editing as soon as possible, please.

____________________________

Q: I have a question about Round Three in the challenge. My question is: When writing as our character, can we have them write about another character discovering the box or do they have to write as if they found the box?

A: Your Floo-Between Character is writing fan fiction and he/she may write about whichever character he/she chooses. He/she may write about him/herself, but it would be from a third person P.O.V. For example, if you're writing for Snape, he wouldn't write "I picked up the box...", he'd write "The Potions Professor picked up the box..."

____________________________

Q: Question about Round 4: Can it be as long or short as we would like? Or do you have a recommendation?

A: It can be as long as you need it to be to resolve the story and end the match. Considering the Future Ferret Challenges require around 500 words each, I think it's safe to say your submissions for the Quidditch Match Challenge will probably be much more than 500 words.

____________________________

Q: Can you create a character for fun in the Character profiles and not use them in each round?

A: You're not required to participate in all rounds, though you may want to. Remember; if you have more characters who write in the fiction rounds, you will earn more Ferret Points from their top-rated submissions for each round. That means more Points toward your bid for a Grand Prize, as the three Ferrets with the most Points will win those cool replica wands and DVDs or Gift Certificates.

____________________________

Q: If I might ask yet another question...in the Quidditch Match submission, must the outcome of the match be decided, that is, one must say if either Slytherin on Gryffindor won?

A: No, though one may. It's pretty open; you only need to show what a character (or characters) experiences from his/her location and what they plan or do to help either team. If you want to write straight through to the conclusion of the match, you may, but it's not required.

____________________________

This post has been edited by evlpez: Nov 24 2004, 11:05 AM

[evlpez]

Attention, Fellow Ferrets:

To make things a little easier, we've removed the automatic Character Form feature from the Floo Between Cross-Over Forum.

Now, when you post, you'll see a button (up by the "code" and "list" buttons) that says "blank character form." If you press that button, the form will appear in your post. Just edit in your character's details and put the body of your text in the middle. If you've chosen not to use a signature for your character, delete that part of the form.

[cherabela]

I guess I can ask questions here no? Says so earlier in this page.


So, when writing for the second challenge, the guidelines say we have to write as our characters would. I'm wondering a bit what that means. I mean, who can the characters' writing differ if they are writing for someone else? ex. Ginny, Colin etc.

Also, while chatting, is it bad to comment on something, (say if you take Trelawney, and she says she sees bad things in your future) because it would reveal to much away?

[timeturner]

Question for Round Two subs. Are we completely barred from mentioning our own character in the story completely? For example: If we were writing as Draco can we have the subjects of the story mention Draco. For instance-

"Draco's right, that Granger is nothing but a know-it-all," Crabbe said to Goyle as they lumbered down the stairs.

(Not the best sentence, but its just an example )

[McGonagall's Cat]

I mean, who can the characters' writing differ if they are writing for someone else? ex. Ginny, Colin etc.

Also, while chatting, is it bad to comment on something, (say if you take Trelawney, and she says she sees bad things in your future) because it would reveal to much away? 

I keep picking Snape to use as an example because he's so powerful (so this in no way reflects on whoever is writing him right now).

Let's say Snape writes in the "Snoopy Ginny" challenge. He might see her efforts as admirable and Slytherin, but will also have conflicts about saying something nice about a Gryffindor who is also a Weasley. Thus, the story would reflect those ideas while also taking us through whatever Ginny does to get in and what she finds.

Did that help?

Are we completely barred from mentioning our own character in the story completely?

Not at all.

[agrippa]

Cherabela - It means that you write as if your were whatever character you've chosen. So, if you were Draco writing about Colin Creevey, it might be different than if you were Dennis writing about Colin.

Timeturner - you are free to mention your own character in the round 2 submissions, but you might want to do it in third person to give it the "feel of objectivity."

[anhaire]

Only one person to each character, right?

[McGonagall's Cat]

No, Anhaire. We can have eighty people write for the same character if we want. We're all so brilliant that each would be unique and interesting!

[cherabela]

Might I ask another question regarding round two?

Like in the Quibbler challenge, one must have a piece of dialogue between 2 or more characters after the piece of news. Is it possible to have a character speaking, whom we don't know a lot about? Say if you have Neville(whom we know of) and Professor Sinistra(whom we don't know very much)

I know that for the first round, we had to choose characters from a specific list, so I'm asking this just to be sure.

[evlpez]

The fiction challenges are up to your Floo-Between character's interpretation. They may use whatever characters they like in their stories. The only rules are that they must be characters we are likely to see in the Potterverse and that your Floo-Between character is writing the piece from an outsider's point of view (Not first person).

[Merman]

I have a question!
You play more than one person right?
Well if you post with one of you’re characters and then right afterwards with another, would that be a double posting?

[evlpez]

It most definitely is not double-posting if two different characters by the same ferret are posting one after another.

We don't have any real hard rules about double posting here at Project Ferret though, either. We don't allow spamming (which is double or more posts of the same message, particularly if it's off topic), but no one minds too much if you post another message in a topic if some time has passed since your last post.

In the Floo-Between Duel, some of the usual internet forum rules don't exactly apply; these folks have never heard of 'double-posting', and in their minds, they're not typing on a keyboard and clicking the 'submit' button, they're writing on scrolls that get sent around the floo-network to subscribed users.

[McGonagall's Cat]

If you are writing more than one character, there will probably be places where you will want to answer or comment upon what another of your characters have said. It would only be a bad thing if your characters didn't interact with others at all and only spoke between themselves.
Besides, if you write it well enough, no one should have any idea that the same person posted a couple in a row.

[Merman]

Ok got it!
Thank you very much!

[evlpez]

Attention Ferrets,

It's November 7th, and that means it's time to open up the Voting booth for Round Two - Future Ferret Challenges!

All Round Two submissions so far have been entered into the booth and are ready for rating. Remember, submissions will be accepted for this round until December 1st. Just because the booth is open doesn't mean you're too late to enter! All future submissions will be manually entered into the voting booth as soon as they're spotted by an administrator. You may rate submissions for this round until December 5th, when the booth will close and the Round Two prize winner will be announced.

When rating submissions, please use this score card as a guideline:
Score Card

__ Ferret Points for following the mission
__ Ferret Points for technical (grammar, spelling are consistent with the author's character)
__ Ferret Points for overall creativity
__ Ferret Points for characterization
__ Ferret Points for adherence to canon*
_________________
Total out of 10 maximum Ferret Points

0 = Poor, 1 = Okay/good, 2 = Great

* The canon element is up to you. You may rate this element according to the story's adherence to canon or according to the characterization of the author (for example: the story by Snape is as you believe a Canon-Snape would write it).

• You may not see a submission's comments until you've rated it yourself.
• You may not rate your own submissions.
• Your comments are not anonymous.

Be honest folks, and kindly leave constructive feedback for the writers about their submissions.



:paweast: Click here to go to the Project Ferret Voting Booth! :paweast:



Profiles and Chat posts will continue
to be accepted until November 24th.
It's not too late to get in on the fun!!

Good Luck, fellow ferrets!

[Amunet]

I have a question ...

While voting, we cannot vote for ourselves right?

[McGonagall's Cat]

Correct, the Booth won't let you vote for yourself.

Besides, Ferrets are all honourable and wouldn't be tempted to vote on their own submissions anyway.

[evlpez]

It's November 10th, fellow ferrets!!!!

That means it's time for Round Three to begin.



Submissions will be accepted until December 1st. The Voting Booth for Round 3 will open on Sunday, November 14th and close on December 5th.

Have fun , and good luck to all!

[timeturner]

Yay!! Round 3!

Can we post more than once for each character?

(edit: nevermind the above question, I didn't read the rules very carefully the first time I guess. The answer is yes.)

Also, say we were working on adding a post and someone else was doing the same. At times in the forum you think you are adding a reply after a certain post but someone else gets there one second sooner. Because we are not allowed to edit our post in this round once it is up, what should we do if the above situation were to happen? Because the wizards box is getting left in a different spot each time. The person may be picking it up from the wrong spot.

(Ok did that 2nd question make any sense? It sounded more sensible in my head, but I am not sure how to phrase what I want to say.) :/

[evlpez]

Also, say we were working on adding a post and someone else was doing the same. At times in the forum you think you are adding a reply after a certain post but someone else gets there one second sooner. Because we are not allowed to edit our post in this round once it is up, what should we do if the above situation were to happen? Because the wizards box is getting left in a different spot each time. The person may be picking it up from the wrong spot.

We don't want to slow anyone down by relying on "dibbs" posts (like we use in the Ferret Wheel), so you're going to have to take your chances. It's your responsibility to double check the most recent replies before you post to ensure continuity.

If you're in the middle of writing a submission and you find that someone else has posted, it shouldn't be too difficult to change the location in your draft, since the meat of the thing should be about the character's dreams, wishes and attempts to open the box.

In the event that two people post within seconds of each other, the post that shows up latest (beginning with the wrong location of the Magic Box) may be edited to reflect the new location. Do your editing as soon as possible, please.

[timeturner]

Thanks!

[evlpez]

Attention, fellow ferrets:

Round Four is now open!!! Sorry for the delay!



Submissions will be accepted until December 1st. The Voting Booth for Round 4 will open on Sunday, November 21st and close on December 5th.

Have fun , and good luck to all!

[cherabela]

Woohhoo!!! All the round are up!!!! :flower:

[timeturner]

Great ideas for Round 4! I've been trying to guess what it would be and I never came close. Love it!

Can it be as long or short as we would like? Or do you have a recommendation?

Great Job again on all of the rounds to the administration and the writers!

[evlpez]

Question about Round 4: Can it be as long or short as we would like? Or do you have a recommendation?

It can be as long as you need it to be to resolve the story and end the match. Considering the Future Ferret Challenges require around 500 words each, I think it's safe to say your submissions for the Quidditch Match Challenge will probably be much more than 500 words.

[evlpez]

Just a few reminders, fellow ferrets...

The voting booths are now open for all fiction rounds. Please rate the stories in them using the provided score card as a guide.

The Profiles and Chat topics will close on Wednesday November 24 at noon Central time. Once they are closed, no new characters will be accepted into the contest. All Floo-Between Characters must have a profile submitted in order to be eligible to participate in the FB Chat and Fiction Challenges.

Five polls will appear in the FBD Cross-Over forum on Wednesday for Round One. You will chose your favorite Screen Name, Avatar, Signature, Profile and Chat Performance.

If you haven't allowed your Floo-Between Character to chat a bit in the FB Chat, be sure to post before it closes to be eligible to win the "Favorite Chatter" category of Round One. Characters who have not participated in the Chat topic will be excluded from the "Favorite Chatter" poll.

[timeturner]

Out of curiousity. Can you create a character for fun in the Character profiles and not use them in each round?

[evlpez]

You're not required to participate in all rounds, though you may want to. Remember; if you have more characters who write in the fiction rounds, you will earn more Ferret Points from their top-rated submissions for each round. That means more Points toward your bid for a Grand Prize, as the three Ferrets with the most Points will win those cool replica wands and DVDs or Gift Certificates.

If one of your characters has a profile but doesn't write fiction or chat, your Profiles post would make you eligible in the Favorite Profile, Favorite Screen Name, Favorite Avatar and Favorite Signature polls only, and earn you extra Ferret Points if they place in the top three.

[timeturner]

Thanks! How many points do you get for placing in the top three in Round One?

[evlpez]

Each poll will list the screen names of all participants in a category. You will only be able to choose one screen name as your favorite choice for each. The top three screen names will earn Ferret Points for their creators.

• The top placing choices in each poll will earn 10 Ferret Points
  
• The second placing choices in each poll will earn 8 Ferret Points
  
• The third placing choices in each poll will earn 6 Ferret Points

[cherabela]

So, if one wins ferret points in the Characters voting, those will count for the final amount of points a person has no? Also, if I recall well, it was stated that even though you might have multiple characters, only the character which has got the highest mark will "give" you points, isn't that right?

[McGonagall's Cat]

If you've posted more than one submission for your character(s), the highest ranking submission is the one counted... BUT, the advantage of writing for more than one character is that you get the points from the highest sub of each of your characters.

Let's say you are writing for Hippogriff_rider and Tower_Dweller. Each of them posted three subs in all the rounds. Your total points are the highest scoring sub in each round, added together.
Round One has 5 categories to score points in
In Rounds Two, Three, and Four you get your one top score in each toward your total.

[cherabela]

Oh, I get it now! Thanks! :flower:

[cherabela]

If I might ask yet another question...in the Quidditch Match submission, must the outcome of the match be decided, that is, one must say if either Slytherin on Gryffindor won?

[evlpez]

No, though one may. It's pretty open; you only need to show what a character (or characters) experiences from his/her location and what they plan or do to help either team. If you want to write straight through to the conclusion of the match, you may, but it's not required.

[evlpez]

The Floo-Between Chat and Character Profiles topics will be closed in about an hour.

[evlpez]

The Floo-Between Character Profiles and Floo-Between Chat topics are now closed.

Five polls have been put up in the Floo Between Cross-Over Forum.
You may select only one of the listed choices as your favorite for each poll.
Please review the Chat and Profiles topics to choose your favorite chat performance, screen name, avatar, signature and overall profile.

The polls will close at noon Central, December 5th (11 days from now).

In each poll, the three names with the most votes will earn Ferret Points as follows:

• The top placing choices in each poll will earn 10 Ferret Points
• The second placing choices in each poll will earn 8 Ferret Points
• The third placing choices in each poll will earn 6 Ferret Points

The top placing choices in each poll will win a 2005 Harry Potter wall calendar!

No new participating characters will be accepted. Only those writers who have already submitted characters to the Profiles Topic may continue to participate in the Fiction Challenges (Rounds 2, 3 & 4).

Submissions for Rounds 2, 3, and 4 will be accepted until noon Central time, December 1st (one week from now), and the voting booths will remain open until noon Central, December 5th.

Good luck, fellow Ferrets!

[zymurgy]

I'm still suprized that nobody chose Peter Pettigrew as a character. I would have, but then I'd have ended up talking to myself at an extraordinarily unhealthy rate. Ah, well. It would have been an interesting character to see done. ... Unless it WAS and I just didn't 'get' it.
Vote Early. Vote often.

[cherabela]

It has been great seeing how amazingly the characters interacted together. Well done everyone!!!! :flower:

[evlpez]

Reminder:

There are only three days left for submissions in rounds 2, 3 and 4 of the Floo-Between Duel!

[evlpez]

The Fiction Rounds will close to submissions in 24 hours.

If you have works in progress for The Future Ferret Challenge, The Magic Box or The Quidditch Match, be sure to finish them up and post before noon Central time tomorrow.

These rounds have submissions awaiting votes! Please go to the Voting Booth and rate your fellow ferrets' stories. The link is in my signature.

[evlpez]

Pardon my last post.

The Project Ferret Administrative Team have elected to extend the Floo Between submissions deadline to midnight Wednesday night. You have twelve whole extra hours to polish those submissions, fellow ferrets!!!

Are we cool, or what?!

[cherabela]

If I might ask, how many hours are there left till midnight of your time? See 'cause my time zone is one hour after the GMT(or before I always get them confused!) and I tried changing the time zone, but they're GMT + or -.

[evlpez]

If your time zone is one hour after GMT, then you are GMT +1.

The board (and our duel) uses Central time, which is GMT -6 (6 hours earlier than GMT), so Midnight Central time is 7:00 am your time, Cherabela.

[cherabela]

Oh, thanks a lot!!! And thank you VERY much for extending the deadline. Yup, you guys are totally cool.

[evlpez]

The Admin Team have been deliberating over a confusing point regarding the awarding of Ferret Points.

The Duel Guidelines say:

The submission with the highest Ferret Point rating wins the round and a prize. Writers will accumulate the Ferret Points from their highest rated submission per round. (For example, if I write 3 submissions for round 2 and their final ratings are 7, 6 and 5, I will receive 7 Ferret Points for the round.)

But the F.A.Q. says:

the advantage of writing for more than one character is that you get the points from the highest sub of each of your characters.

After a lot of discussion, we've concluded that the original rule stands.

Ferrets will earn the points from their single, highest-rated submission per round, regardless of how many characters they used. This means that even if you wrote on behalf of 3 characters for a round, only the highest rated submission will earn you points for that round.

We apologize for any confusion.

[evlpez]

Well, it is done.

The topics for rounds 2, 3 and 4 are now closed to submissions (and only 5 minutes past the deadline, too).

Congratulations to everyone on such an incredible showing of style and creativity! This has been such a fun duel, and we're all so proud and excited that so many ferrets participated!

Here's a little run down on the stats:

• We had 24 ferrets writing 70 fan fiction submissions for 42 characters.
  
  • Round 2 (Future Ferret Challenge) has 30 submissions.
  • Round 3 (The Magic Box) has 26 submissions.
  • Round 4 (The Quidditch Match) has 14 submissions.

Now is the time to go into the voting booth and rate the submissions.
Many of them (33, to be exact) have been rated by three ferrets or fewer.

Good luck, everyone!

[evlpez]

Dear Ferrets,

The Administration is currently taking care of a cheating incident with regards to the voting for this duel. Please continue to rate submissions while we deal with this problem, and do not be dismayed by the average ratings you're seeing in the voting booths.

Thanks,
The Admin Team.

[cherabela]

Thanks for informing us. So, I think it would be best not to vote for now right?

[agrippa]

Oh, no - please go ahead an vote. Just don't pay too much attention to the current rankings.

[timeturner]

Thanks alot for the heads-up. Those rankings are rather depressing for everyone. :/

[evlpez]

Dear Ferrets,

Two of our members have been disqualified from the Floo-Between Duel and banned from Project Ferret for unfairly manipulating scores in the PF Voting Booths.

We've deleted the banned members' submissions and their votes in the voting booths. The average ratings of submissions have automatically recalculated to reflect the changes.

This is the first time Project Ferret has experienced cheating from its members. It's something we never thought we'd have to deal with, since we strive to be a helpful and nurturing community based on encouragement and support. We hope it never happens again.

Your PF Admin. Team

[timeturner]

Great Job Admin Team!

[chad13]

Thanx admins! This improves project ferret for everybody! good work

[McGonagall's Cat]

It will soon be time to send out the prizes for the Anniversary Contest :hooray: and with the Holidays upon us, :santa: all of the Post Owls are already over-taxed and exhausted. In order to comply with the various animal protection regulations we will therefore use the Muggle post system.

Unfortunately, this means I need RW addresses PM-ed to me from everyone who entered.

Thanks!

[cherabela]

Thank you admins for fixing everything! It is sad though to see people cheating.

[evlpez]

The Project Ferret Voting Booths are now closed! Thanks to everyone who voted and rated!! It was a very good turn out. (We'll provide some statistical data when everything is sorted out and announced. )

It will take a little while to calculate final scores for writers.

We'll be opening a couple of tie-breaker polls in the Floo-Between Crossover, so stay tuned.

[McGonagall's Cat]

Congratulations to all the ferrets who participated in our Anniversary Duel. It was a huge success and so much fun!!!

Now here's some of what you've been waiting for...



In Round Four: The Quidditch Match Challenge, our winning submission was a little different from the others. Remus Lupin, aka Friar's Cap wrote about a thought-provoking match from his school days. It earned his writer an average rating of 9 out of 10 Ferret Points!

Congratulations Friar's Cap, our Round Four winner!



In Round Three: The Magic Box, the winning submission was a piece about our favorite caretaker, Argus Filch. Too bad he didn't find what he was looking for. Dean Thomas, aka WestHamFan earned his writer an average rating of 8.43 out of 10 Ferret Points!

Congratulations WestHamFan, our Round Three Winner!



In Round Two: Future Ferret Challenges, we were priviledged with the participation of a professional best-selling author. The winning submission included a Quibbler article about his miraculous recovery, and showed us all just how loved he is in the wizarding world. *snort!* Gilderoy Lockhart, aka IncrediblyHandsome earned his writer an average rating of 8.5 out of 10 Ferret Points!

Congratulations to IncrediblyHandsome, our Round Two Winner!



Each of our Fiction Round winners have won Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on DVD or a gift certificate for Amazon.com, plus a little something chosen from the Department of Mysteries' bag of tricks that relates to the winning submissions in some way.





We've saved Round One for last, as we're not quite finished with it. All Round One winners and point earners will be announced tomorrow afternoon after the tie-breaker polls close, at which time we'll also announce the Grand Prize winners!

Stay Tuned!

[StarWalker]

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--"

And so it ends a wonderful contest from the creative minds of the Project Ferret Admin team, not with a whimper, but a bigga, badda BOOM!!

Congratulations to their evil, inventive minds; for providing the rest of us with both a fun place to play, and a home conducive to the creation of such gems as A Mission of Mercy, The Unexpected Photo, A Potions Master, a Box, and and Enigmatic Old Codger, and As It Was Destined To Be, as well as the winners of the specific areas.

We all are winners in this contest. So many wonderful stories, the food for the mind created in this marvelous kitchen, have provided all of us with an opportunity to hone our writing skills; to read with a critical eye; and to just enjoy that second piece of decadent, double fudge, starlight delite mint cake, while reading another submission from Draco, Harry, Ron, or Hermione.

Thank you all, those who created the setting, the graphics, and concept; the writers who gave us more of the world we love to visit; and those who rated the stories, especially those who provided feedback. Your hard work is definitely appreciated.

If any of you happen to pass by my home in Wisconsin, stop and say howdy. The coffee is always on, and sodas abound; if you're old enough, and of a mind, there's always a beer or two in the fridge, next to a bottle of wine; and if you're really old, and crusty enough, there's even a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky sitting on a shelf!

R/
Clyde

[agrippa]

Thanks, Clyde. I know all of us in the Admin/Mod team had a great time coming up with this duel. I also want to express my gratitude to my team: Evlpez, McG's Cat, and Zymurgy did so much work in creating the contest rules, missions, and getting the prizes that it's hard to explain how wonderful they are. To give you an idea, there is a forum in the "Admin/Mods only" section that has every post the four of us made in the planning of this duel from beginning to end. It now contains over 400 posts.

Of all the contests we've done so far, this was by far my favorite from a programming and graphics end. I really enjoyed making the graphics - especially the advertisments - for the duel pages, and had a great time hacking the software to get rid of every trace I could of who the real authors was. It was also the biggest test yet for our voting software, and I think it held up nicely.

Thanks to everyone who wrote, played, and participated. Great writing, everyone!

[zymurgy]

Thanks, StarWalker. And if you're ever in my neck of the woods, feel free to step in for some Java and chocolate. Or something stronger if you've a mind.
Perhaps a fireside chat and an indepth discussion of all things Canon.
Or, we can haul you to the tops of every tree in our yard, and give you the greatest view of the drabbest New England town available.
Ferrets comradship at its finest.

[evlpez]

Speaking of Ferrets at their finest.....

The Tie-Breaker Polls have now closed, and it's time to announce our five Round One winners!



For Favorite Signature, ferrets have cast their votes loud and clear! The inclusion of Luna's own Floo-Between Scroll catalogue of unique jewelery was brilliant, and has won LoonyRavenclaw's writer this category prize and 10 Ferret Points!

Scroll: Tap your wand to take yourself to my Jewelry Scroll: http://www.freewebs.com/narglesjewelry/
Signature:

Congratulations, LoonyRavenclaw!

Other points awarded for this category:
8 Ferret Points to 2nd favorite place holder: IncrediblyHandsome.
6 Ferret Points to 3rd favorite place holders: num1chudleyfan, Canary_Cream, Apothecary's~Bane, WalksInDarkness and Dozorce Drak

Congratulations, all!



For Favorite Chat Performance, again the ferrets have spoken! Frequent memory lapses and mentions of his mundane and simple life at St. Mungos were apparently enough to overshadow the fact that he's a pompous, selfish and condescending git. He's won IncrediblyHandsome's writer this category prize and 10 Ferret Points!

Congratulations, IncrediblyHandsome!

Other points awarded for this category:
8 Ferret Points to 2nd favorite place holders: Rok and Ekletricity
6 Ferret Points to 3rd favorite place holders: JustBeMimble, Wisteria&Cabbage, Veritaserum_Boy, Sockless_Person, EnCRYPTion and sadnlonely1

Congratulations, all!



The next three categories were tough!


For Favorite Avatar, the tie-breaker poll saw Myrtle's trademark toilet leak ahead of Draco's Potter-bashing and Voldemort's goblet of bloo-- er... wine.
Way to go, Myrtle! Sadnlonely earned her writer the category prize and 10 Ferret Points!



Congratulations, Sadnlonely!

Other points awarded for this category:
9 Ferret Points to original 1st place tie-holders: Proud_Pureblood and WalksInDarkness
8 Ferret Points to 2nd favorite place holders: Arithmancy_Girl, violentlypurple, Fortuna, WestHamFan and Ekletricity

Congratulations, all!



For Favorite Screen Name, the tie-breaker poll saw our favorite squib shuffling her merry way into the Floo Sharing Network with style and humor! Fabulous work, Mrs. Figg! Wisteria&Cabbage has elegantly and gaily earned her writer the category prize and 10 Ferret Points!

Congratulations, Wisteria&Cabbage!

Other points awarded for this category:
9 Ferret Points to original 1st place tie-holders: IncrediblyHandsome and EnCRYPTion
8 Ferret Points to 2nd favorite place holders: JustBeMimble, Arithmancy_Girl, Veritaserum_Boy, num1chudleyfan, Sockless_Person, violentlypurple and Ekletricity

Congratulations, all!



The Favorite Profile category was a little tougher to break. Lockhart's colorful and silly profile tied for a second time with our favorite little giant, Grawp, who really showed his humanity, simple joy in the little things and love for his big brother Hagrid. IncrediblyHandsome and Rok both earned their writers 10 Ferret Points and prizes for this category.

Congratulations to both IncrediblyHandsome and Rok!

Other points awarded for this category:
8 Ferret Points to 2nd favorite place holders: WalksInDarkness and Dementor'sLunch
6 Ferret Points to 3rd favorite place holders: Veritaserum_Boy, violentlypurple, potthead and sadnlonely1

Congratulations, all!




Full Point standings and Grand Prize winners coming up.

[Merman]

YAY!
Congrats to all you all did a great job!
*Sits staring at the screen waiting for the last winners!*
:evilgrin:

[cherabela]

Congrats everyone!!! Voting in these polls was hard as everyone was so great!!

*joins Merman in staring, humming to herself, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming" until she realises she's supposed to be staring, not swimming*

[Merman]

Actually cherabela swimming wouldn’t be too bad, but swimming and staring at the screen are hard since I don’t want to get the computer wet.
*Keeps staring!*
:evilgrin:

[Amunet]

Joins the both of them at staring at the screen

I know I'm not a big winner, but it's still exciting to see who it is! *continues staring*

[evlpez]

Congratulations again to everyone for such fantastic writing and performances!

Here now are your Grand Prize winners:

In Third Place, with a total of 44.31 Ferret Points, Cherabela!

In Second Place, with a total of 67.97 Ferret Points, Zymurgy!

In First Place, with a total of 70.03 Ferret Points: Evlpez!

Congratulations again!

[Amunet]

Whooh! :hooray: Congratulations! You three totally deserved it!

[Merman]

:hooray: :hbpf: :hbpf:

Great job to everyone this was the best dule ever!
Can't wait for the next !

:evilgrin:

[evlpez]

Now that I've heard from the winners about the disclosure of their identities, here we go:

Here is the list of all Ferret Point Earnings. Since you all would like to guess the ferrets behind the characters, we've blocked out their identities. These are listed in order of participation, sorted by Ferret Name (which of course you can't see ).

blue = ferret, green = FB Character, dark pink = total ferret points

agrippa 28.57 fp
JustBeMimble - R1: 6 fp (Chat) + 8 fp (Screen Name)
R2: 7.9 fp JustBeMimble: A mission of mercy -
R3: 6.67 fp JustBeMimble: Awakening
SlytherinRulz!!!

McGonagall's Cat 38.19 fp
Wisteria&Cabbage - R1: 6 fp (Chat) + 10 fp (Screen Name Winner)
R2: 8.22 fp Wisteria&Cabbage: The Daughter I Never Had
Crystal_Gazer -
R3: 6.4 fp Crystal_Gazer: Food? -
R4: 7.57 fp Crystal_Gazer: As It Was Destined To Be

Timeturner Round 3 (Magic Box Challenge) Winner! 40.2 fp
Arithmancy_Girl - R1: 8 fp (Screen Name)
R4: 7.57 fp Arithmancy_Girl: THE VOICE
WestHamFan - R1: 8 fp (Screen Name)
R2 - 8.2 fp WestHamFan: The Unexpected Photo
R3: 8.43 fp WestHamFan: DEVIANTS & DUNGBOMBS - (Winning submission)
Mother_Hen

Cherabela 44.31 fp
Veritaserum_Boy - R1: 6 fp (Chat) + 8 fp (Screen Name)
R3: 7.5 fp Veritaserum_Boy: An Elf In The Night
Sockless_Person - R1: 8 fp (Screen Name)
Got_Your_Konk! -
R2: 7.67 Got_Your_Konk!: Weird or Feared? -
R4: 7.14 Got_Your_Konk!: Queer-ditch fun at a run!

chad13 34.44 fp
num1chudleyfan - R1: 6 fp (Signature) + 8 fp (Screen Name)
R2: 6.58 fp num1chudleyfan: Clabbert Saves Village From Dementor Attack -
R3: 7 fp num1chudleyfan: SECRETS AND SNEAKING -
R4: 6.86 fp num1chudleyfan: CRABBE'S WAND WORK

Riley 13.64 fp
Catch_The_Snitch -
R2 6.64 fp Catch_The_Snitch: Creevey's Chase -
R3: 7 fp Catch_The_Snitch: Dumb Draco Malfoy -
R4: submission disqualified for lack of title

Aglaope 22 fp
violentlypurple - R1: 8 fp (Avatar) + 8 fp (Screen Name) + 6 fp (Profile)

Anhaire 6 fp
cannonz_keeper
canary_Cream R1: 6 fp (Signature)

StarWalker Round 4 (Quidditch Match Challenge) Winner! 25 fp
Friar's Cap
R2: 8 fp Friar's Cap: Anticipation
R4: 9 fp Friar's Cap: Greater Love - (Winning submission)
Rohan Darshan
R3: 8 fp Rohan Darshan: Box of the All Gifted

Ugahill 0 fp
Creature Lover

Joya 6 fp
potthead - R1: 6 fp (Profile)

evlpez Round 2 (Future Ferret Challenge) Winner! 70.03 fp
IncrediblyHandsome - R1: 10 fp (Chat Winner) + 8 fp (Signature) + 9 fp (Screen Name) + 10 fp (Profile Tied winner)
R4: 7.86 fp IncrediblyHandsome: Caught Under Glass
Proud_Pureblood - R1: 9 fp (Avatar)
R2: 8.5 fp Proud_Pureblood: Harry Potter Blows his Nose - (Winning submission)
R3: 7.67 fp Proud_Pureblood: Stupid Gryffindors

Azkabella 38.38 fp
LadyLioness -
R3: 8.38 fop LadyLioness: "Hello! Is Anyone in there?"
sadnlonely1 - R1: 10 fp (Avatar winner) + 6 fp (Profile)
R2: 8 fp sadnlonely1: THE HAPPIEST DAY OF EVERYONE'S LIVES
Dozorce Drak - R1: 6 fp (Signature)
labellefille

Zymurgy 67.97 fp
Tattered Robe
Apothecary's~Bane - R1: 6 fp (Signature)
R3: 8.4 fp Apothecary's~Bane: A Potions Master, a Box, and an Enigmatic Old Codger
R4: 7.67 fp Apothecary's~Bane: Accio- a Practical Application
WalksInDarkness - R1: 6 fp (Signature) + 9 fp (Avatar) + 8 fp (Profile)
Buzzin'Beetle
EnCRYPTion - R1: 6 fp (Chat) + 9 fp (Screen Name)
R2: 7.9 fp EnCRYPTion: A Crate of Christmas Cheer

Aixla 6 fp
Fortuna - R1: 6 fp (Avatar)

Shina Laris 0 fp
S.P.E.W.

ronsmyman 34.33 + fp
Rok - R1: 8 fp (Chat) + 10 fp (Profile Tied winner)
R2: 8.33 fp Rok: BIG NOT MEEN GIANT
Dementor'sLunch - R1: 8 fp (Profile)

Merman 34.94 fp
Ekletricity - R1: 8 fp (Chat) + 6 fp (Avatar) + 6 fp (Screen Name)
R2: 7.14 fp Ekeltricity: Naughty, Naughty
R3: 7.8 fp Ekeltricity: Ronald’s Sword Skills

Phoenixfeather4 0 fp
fiery_fairy_girl

Ashlienl 0 fp
BumblingWand

Woodsgurl 0 fp
Chasing Lady
Ferrety Furball

AnimeEyeshime 8.1 fp
I_still_remember
R2: 8.1 fp I_still_remember: Smile! You’re on Candid Camera!

Amunet 31.51 fp
LoonyRavenclaw - R1: 10 fp (Signature Winner)
R2: 7.38 fp LoonyRavenclaw: Mistletoe Discovery
R3: 7.5 fp LoonyRavenclaw: A Doxy Venom Reunion
R4: 6.63 fp LoonyRavenclaw: Freckled Spells

This post has been edited by evlpez: Dec 13 2004, 08:15 PM

[evlpez]

^^ Sorry if it looks complicated.

The Admin Team agreed that ferrets would only get Ferret Points from their highest rated piece of fiction per round, regardless of how many characters they wrote for. This was to make a little more even playing field for those who couldn't afford the time to write for more than one or two characters.

As for round one, ferrets received points in all five categories for all of their characters which earned them. In other words, if you had 2 characters and each of them earned 10, 9, 8 or 6 Ferret Points in the polls, you got all of those points.

[Merman]

Congrats to all! (and did I mentione that youre all great?) Well you are!
Great job Evlpez!
And yet again!
:hbpf:

:evilgrin:

[Amunet]

You don't have to block my name for my character anymore, they already guessed that I'm Luna

Congratulations to everyone! :hooray:

[Merman]

Well you did a good job!^
So did EVERYBODY!

:evilgrin:

[Azkabella]

Yay everyone! This was so much fun.

You can reveal my characters if you want.


evlpez's edit: Done. Thanks! You were awesome, A'bella!

This post has been edited by evlpez: Dec 7 2004, 10:18 AM

[StarWalker]

And a hearty BRAVO ZULU to the three at the top of the trees. We bow at your feet - er - roots - or whatever!

To Cherabela, whose Dumbledore had me guessing, and Peeves had me roaring - well done!

To Zymurgy, whose choices left me stunned - I think a worthwhile project would be to find a psychiatrist somewhere who likes Harry Potter, and have the character choices of all participants analyzed. (I'll bet we could even get a government grant!) You were great!

Finally, to evlpez, whose channeling of Lockhart had me worried, until I realized she was just practicing to take over development of him in J2H! Judging from her simultaneous bonding with Draco though, I may have to revisit that idea - perhaps Lockhart isn't the only one with problems! Thanks for some great reads, and a good reason to purge my house of purple.

And to all who participated, again I thank you, and say well done! And remember, while they're at the top of the trees, we're standing down here with the axes! :evilgrin:

I don't think there's much of a secret as to whom I wrote as; whenever you get a chance evlpez, just put it out there please. And to the three of you whom I owe some answers, I guess it's time to get busy.

R/
Clyde

Evlpez's edit: Done! Thanks, StarWalker, you were brilliant!

[agrippa]

Hey, ferrets! I finally wrote a program that extracts the comments from the voting booth and puts them into the board for posterity. If you go to any of the three duels from the Floo-Between, you'll find all comments posted. (First you'll see the stories, and then the comments.)

Since all the comments are out of the booth, I've closed the booths.

[evlpez]

It looks like the guessing is over, so I've revealed the Ferrets behind all the Floo-Between characters.

You can now view them HERE.

Congratulations again, everyone!