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.