Pruned Management/Judges from Defcon Short Story Contest thread

[TheCotMan]

I've decided that the Short story contest will return this year, but it will be my last year of running it. If this contest will continue, I want to turn it over to a new leader, perhaps one of this years volunteer judges will be interested. I don't want to just Kill it by quitting, I want to see it grow into a bigger and better thing every year and I have a lot of other DEF CON responsibility that prevent me from investing in making this "cooler".

If you are interested in judging for the contest please contact me at nikita at defcon dot org.
...

Will the same judges from last year be around this year? Add them all as "Forum Leader(s)/Organizer(s)" again?
(Any people that were not forum leaders/organizers before would need to be passed to mods for comment before being added.)

You can follow me on twitter at Niki7a if you want to, If this seems an exciting method of communication then maybe I will make a short story contest twitter account...do people want that?

I really encourage people to setup twitter accounts for contests, events or social gatherings when there is any kind of risk for last-minute changes in venue, schedule, requests for resources, etc. If this will be concluded before Defcon, then the value of a twitter account to inform people at Defcon of last minute changes is diminished. Maybe you or someone else has another reason for a dedicated twitter account... generate interest? notifications on deadlines?

[Nikita]

Re: Short Story Contest

Will the same judges from last year be around this year? Add them all as "Forum Leader(s)/Organizer(s)" again?
(Any people that were not forum leaders/organizers before would need to be passed to mods for comment before being added.)

I don't want to presume that those same volunteers want to dedicate their time again. I don't mind if they do, but It's up to them.

[HighWiz]

Re: Short Story Contest

I've been asked if this is an award ceremony worthy contest, In my opinion no. The award ceremony is TOO DAMN LONG and Since this happens BEFORE DEF CON, this will not be mentioned at the awards ceremony, and the winners will instead get recognition in the printed program.

Excellent! I think you are spot on about the length of the awards ceremony.

I will (tentatively) do a slide at 101 with the winners name though, and title of their story. No calling anyone up or that jazz, but at least putting their name in lights for their 30 seconds of fame.

[eris]

Re: Short Story Contest

I don't want to presume that those same volunteers want to dedicate their time again. I don't mind if they do, but It's up to them.

I am fine with volunteering my time again this year, Nikita. I got nothing but time still and love to read.

[Nikita]

Re: Short Story Contest

I am fine with volunteering my time again this year, Nikita. I got nothing but time still and love to read.

Excellent.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Short Story Contest

I have NO IDEA what is going on. Grammar, punctuation, and even to a degree spelling, are my WORST qualities. So If I did mess up, I have no idea and I would appreciate clarification so I can learn from my mistakes, otherwise I will never learn.

As for "taking a shot at me" Ziplock will be a judge this year too and he happens to be one of the kindest and coolest guys I know. I love him and think he's amazing, I happen to know he wouldn't call me out in a negative manner and would probably politely tell me my wrong doings before dragging me into the fire. :-) Seriously, he is a really cool person.

I mess up all time, I am NOT perfect, which is why I have said before if *I* can point out your issues, you are seriously screwed.
I agree with the other points you both have made tho.

As for judges, to make an official announcement:


Eris
Highwiz
Ziplock
Bbox
*Possibly one more person*
Dark Tangent
And Myself

All of these people have previously been vetted as leader/organizers except Ziplock (and maybe *one more person*). If any of the mods know Ziplock and can vouch for him (and *one more person*), we can start an open mod comment period for Ziplock, which takes about 2 weeks. Neil? Do you know Ziplock (or one more person), and are you willing to vouch for him (or them)? any other mods willing to start this process?

I'll add the others as leaders/organizers to this forum like last year; it lets people know comments from these people are official.
(As before, Forum leaders/organizers are NOT moderators; they get extra forum controls in a single contest/event/social-gatherings/parties to organize threads, posts, set/unset stickies, close/open threads, and inform people they are officially associated with it. Forum Leaders/Organizers do not enforce forum rules, do not ban/unban users, etc.)

Thanks!

[ziplock]

Re: Short Story Contest

As an initial intro to those of you who don't know me yet, I've known Nikita in real life for many years, Neil not quite so long. I've met Jeff a couple of times but I don't expect that he'll remember me. I'm recognized in many circles (offensive-security, backtrack, corelan.be, derbycon, social-engineer, and yes, Defcon, having been an admin and/or trainer in some of those and a contributor to others) I'm also co-founder of one of the most popular privacy news sites currently online. I travel the world for security conventions, and have decades of writing and proofreading experience. When I volunteered I wanted to bring this experience to the table, so pointing out my pet peeves about writing was intended as a guide, not a rule. And certainly not an attack against Nikita. If I have something negative to say about her, it'll first be said privately and directly :) And she knows that! Some of the security goons also know me in real life away from Defcon; Dcode, SkyDog, and others from years past who have left the goon squad, so vetting me shouldn't be a problem. I'm looking forward to getting to know the other judges and to a mutual understanding of the contest judging procedure, and to many great submissions! This contest is for fun and street creds, it's not a final edit on a for publication book, so of course the judges will act accordingly. But "writing" includes more than the tale, it's also presentation. 2c.

[jjarmoc]

Re: Short Story Contest

For as much as my vouching means anything (I've been a goon for the past few years now helping out in swag sales, and was also a speaker at 19), I can say that Ziplock's a good guy and would be an asset as a judge.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Short Story Contest

For as much as my vouching means anything (I've been a goon for the past few years now helping out in swag sales, and was also a speaker at 19), I can say that Ziplock's a good guy and would be an asset as a judge.

Thanks for the information and feedback.

I put this out for the mods and admin to vouch for people and review them, because they are the volunteers that work on the forums, and it is good to include approval of volunteers doing work, so they continue to be volunteers. :-)

Good news? Once a person has been vetted as a "Forum Leader/Organizer" there is no further review for being added to other forums in future years. This worked in favor of people like HighWiz (Defcon 101) and Eris (Scavenger Hunt) because their previous vetting for their event or contest as "Forum Leader/Organizer" meant there was no need for any more review when they volunteered to help Nikita with this, or if they become volunteers to help in other contests, events or social gatherings.

I mentioned Neil, specifically, because he is mod on the forums, and if Nikita knows and vouches for Ziplock, there is fair chance that Neil knows or has met Ziplock and maybe even worked with Ziplock, in the past.

One more thing, I'm not singling Ziplock out for this... All of the present "Forum Leaders/Organizer" have been mod-reviewed. The review for "A" to be forum leader/organizer was started on March 5, 2012 and then "A" was setup as a leader/organizer today. (I would have done this for "A" 2-3 weeks ago, but I was busy working on other things until today.)

[ziplock]

Re: Short Story Contest

Understandable, understood, and agreed :) The forum permissions must be tightly protected.

[neil]

Re: Short Story Contest

All of these people have previously been vetted as leader/organizers except Ziplock (and maybe *one more person*). If any of the mods know Ziplock and can vouch for him (and *one more person*), we can start an open mod comment period for Ziplock, which takes about 2 weeks. Neil? Do you know Ziplock (or one more person), and are you willing to vouch for him (or them)? any other mods willing to start this process?

I do. in fact, know and think well of Ziplock. Consider him vouched for.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Short Story Contest

I do. in fact, know and think well of Ziplock. Consider him vouched for.

Thanks man for saying this in this public thread, here.

Timer is running. 2 Week for mod comment. If I don't come back with an announcement by April 17, 2012, please (anyone) feel free to remind me.

Also, if/when the "other person" is selected or decided, if they are not a former "forum leader/organizer" a similar process will be needed with them. It would be good for them to know this and talk to the mods that knows them well enough to vouch for them. If they were ever a "forum leader/organizer" then no review is needed; they can just be added.

[DaKahuna]

Re: Short Story Contest

Nikita - if you are still looking for one other, I'll be happy to be a judge again this year.

[Nikita]

Re: Short Story Contest

Nikita - if you are still looking for one other, I'll be happy to be a judge again this year.

You'd be the *Possibly one more person* I was speaking of. :-)

There you go, Cot can you add DaKahuna to the list? Thanks.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Short Story Contest

You'd be the *Possibly one more person* I was speaking of. :-)

There you go, Cot can you add DaKahuna to the list? Thanks.

DaKahuna was added at the end of last year for Wireless Village as a "Forum Leader/Organizer" so, no review process before adding him now.

Added!
-Cot

P.S. Feel free to prune out all this administratrivia/maintenance discussion from your thread and dump it into another thread in this same forum. You all get these controls because we trust you to not be jerks when using them, and I am not offended if you move posts by me like this one out of your productive discussion threads. (The tools you have are there to help you organize your discussions and threads, as HighWiz has done in previous years with the DC101 forum. These maintenance tangents have nothing to do with your contests, events or social gatherings. You can even name the new thread things like, "unrelated crap pruned from thread.")