Submission Contest: Vote Now!

I think that Faking It (O’God!) is the most original piece. The content was unlike anything I’ve seen before, and the writing style is, well, her usual.
Good work, Tzippy!

Yippy!
I VOTED for Tzippi

She is the best
Ignore the rest

She says it like it is
Her writting is a bliss!

Its a shame this came on such short notice otherwise I would have had ‘VOTE FOR TZIPPI’ T-Shirts printed. I dont think PEDRO would have minded…

It’s our duty to vote and of course, to kvech, so slicha — not meant to undermine the project.

Why the hell primaries, exactly? My preferred debutantes didn’t make it, and I thought their quality of writing warranted them a chance. It seems affirmative action governed the selections more than creative supremacy.

Shpitz, lol!

There were strict guidelines, and plenty of back and forths. Some entries posted later were submitted earlier, and some were excluded upon request of the writers.

However, after voting for your favorite drop a comment saying whom you would have liked to see win. I’m sure they’d appreciate your input.

I voted for x, but would have voted for The Great Glass Elevator by Pen Tivokeish.

Shpitz,
Debutante or debutant? Shit, I’m out.

Yippy

I would have recruited the Obama chick to campaign for my favorite piece. I heard she has been unemployed since the elections.

Im fast at work forging this elections. Hopefullly there wont be recounts. Well even if there will be recounts as long as Jeb Bush is not the Governor of this site, my candidate is safe.

Yippy, are you Tzippy by the way?

Can you take the “Color War” ceremony back to your camp? into your bunk? you’ll be able to add firecrackers and glitter and balloons and stuuuuuunning crayons as well.

Yoish! stuuunashious!! Yoish!

I have to agree with Shpitzel. They say that the Rebbes today reflect on their chasidims caliber.
In this case, (some of) your choices are indicative of your reader’s critical thinking and reading skills, among some other things.

I just logged on and am kind of surprised by this odd campaign going on here. Trust me, I don’t want it, and I don’t think it’s standing me in good stead; but there is little that I can do about how others behave, and I’ve learnt to make peace with that some time ago.

Personally I would have voted for Yonadab’s ‘Nafkeh Mineh L’kedushin’ and The Quadratic Equation, but we weren’t given that option.

And I also quite adored Eli’s A Steady Mourning – just for the record.

Miss Yavni, wasn’t it you I saw doing the curtsy after that Closed Door presentation?

I think Pen’s work is not getting its due credit for ingenuity, originality and style because his writing isn’t new to the blogsphere. This is more about debuting new talent than it is about evaluating the talent pool as a whole. HR and Shtreimel don’t get an Obama Girl either, and I’m sure they’re deserving too

Thanks Tzippi.

LOL @ Obama Girl, nice one! Truth be told, I didn’t really see my posts as entries.

Ta for the kind words both you and Missy, who I definitely would have put in the top 5. Who knows what went on behind Closed Doors to put.

I voted for A Steady Mourning by Eli Szenderowitz. That story just touched my heart and it’s very well written, I think. But in altogether, Pen Tivokeish has written the best posts, and is very clear in getting his message across. Go on Unpious.com, keep on your good work we appreciate it!

Great choices TP , I voted for Eli too. His piece reminds me of the wonderful French movie Amélie.

Hmmm. The number of votes has suddenly doubled, yet there is no change whatsoever in the order of *Most Viewed*. Curious, curious… For readers of this blog interested in the outcome of this contest,three notions come to mind: A.The admin decided to double the votes to make it look as if the blog has more readers. B. A clever IT guy who knows how to fudge IP addresses decided to play a little prank here. C. One of the finalists (or two?) is so anxious to win that she emailed all her friends to sign on and click without bothering to read the posts.

Personally, I highly doubt that it’s A, as I have too much respect for the administrators of this blog to believe them capable of something so conspicuously infantile. If it’s B, I won’t deem to criticize, as I’m always a fan of a clever prank. If, however, it’s C, there’s something really messed up (and unjust) about the situation. The people who submitted to this contest worked to send in good work, hoping it would be acknowledged. Once the work was acknowledged as a finalist, they expected–rightfully so–that the readers of this blog would make their opinions known. Instead, it appears as if winning this contest hinges on popularity, or more specifically, having the most friends who are not readers of this blog. (Obviously, the loyal readers have mostly sent in their vote within the first day and a half.)

correction: their votes. Plural.

Laura, if you expect contests (or life) to be just, you’re going to be a very lonely, unhappy woman. But of course, you’re absolutey right. The sudden increase does look awfully suspicious. How courageous of you to write what some of us are thinking.

For the record (in case this really needs to be said), site admins haven’t touched the vote count in any way.

I never suspected that to be the case. I merely included it in the list of possibilities because that is what it was: a possibility.

You gotta admit that the sudden jump in numbers is a bit curious. I’d've thunk that all readers voted early on.

But perhaps it truly has finally happened and the site just became more popular. The timing is bit curious though.

Laura,
Option #4: It is possible for people to vote more than once (thus upping the vote count) but the votes will be counted based on the IP addresses, so their votes don’t really count.

Chana, option #4 was as likely, if not more so, at the beginning of the voting period.

“C. One of the finalists (or two?) is so anxious to win that she emailed all her friends to sign on and click without bothering to read the posts.”

Laura, why so blatantly insinuate you’re targeting a SHE? Tzippy? are you jealous she’s more talented than you? are you officially at war?

Yeah, why the ’she’ Laura. Truth be said, the rules let any contestant campaign for his or her piece to win. So long as the IP address is unique anyone could cast a vote. Quite frankly, this website would only benefit from expanded readership, and possible contributors, so why not spread the word?

Laura, go ahead, campaign for your favorite!

Fair is fair, and this contest it fair.

Option #5, the obvious one: Our Yippy is huffing and puffing and drooling as he’s eagerly rushing from one library computer to the next, from one library to the next, pounding in his loyal, never-wavering vote….(s) on each one.

Many people have access to more than one computer/IP address.

Yeah, why the ’she’ Laura.
I’m a feminist.

Shtreimel, I hardly think people coming in and clicking “expands the readership.” If anything, you risk alienating actual readers with blatant injustice. (Sorry, Eli. I guess I’ll be an unhappy, lonely woman.)Of course, if these people who were solicited for votes really read the pieces and voted on merit (and subsequently began to read this blog), I’d be quite thrilled for the administrators of this site.
Ruchele, I hope you won’t feel utterly deflated if I tell you I seriously doubt it was Tzippy who solicited these last 80 or so votes.

Please Laura, the entries are so great that most of the people will be coming back for more. Even if only half of the voters will return it is a good thing for the site and its readership.

BTW, most readers didn’t vote. We have more readers than voters. I don’t know why.

Striemel, you don’t know why? I will enlighten you. My friends and I made the decision not to vote as a sign of protest. Quite frankly we were dismayed, disappointed and most of all disillusioned by some of your final choices. You should take your readerships intelligence more seriously.

Thank you, TP and PT, for your kind words. PT,Amelie is one of my favorite movies, so it’s gratifying to hear that my essay reminds you of it.

Maybe I shouldn’t say that, but, hey! It’s a free county.
There is plenty of freeware available on the W that masks your IP address. Let the party begin!
For the record, I didn’t do anything of the sort.

Misyavi, shush.

וואיזוי רעדסטי? זעסט נישט סאיז דא ‘בחרים’ דא, די? זיי פארשטיין יעדע ווארט. וואס איז מיט דיר! נעם דיר א וו.פ.נ. און מאך א שווייג!”