CCC X MOC critiques thread
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 3:17 am
Hi all,
As a judge, I never make comments on entries while the contest is ongoing so as to avoid any appearance of favoritism. However, I really enjoy discussing MOCs, and am always itching to give feedback. So in the past I have several times made 'contest thoughts' threads: CCC II, CCC II vig category, CCC III, CCC IV, LEGO Castle Contest, CCC V, CCC VIII where I pointed out cool things and discussed some favorites. There has been some discussion on whether or not it was good to have feedback threads - here and here. One issue for me has been that the style of feedback thread I've done in the past takes a ton of time. A few years back Tony introduced an alternative - rather than highlighting the best MOCs, he let people know where their MOCs could have been improved, what he facetiously called the 'why did my entry suck?' thread, but more seriously a constructive criticism thread: CCCV, CCC VI. In these threads he offered constructive critiques to those who requested it. That's what I propose to do this year. A few ground rules:
1. I will only offer feedback to those who ask for it. Post your request in this thread.
2. You can only ask for feedback for one entry every two weeks. This is to prevent me from getting overwhelmed when Mark asks for feedback on his six thousand entries.
3. In your request, be sure to give a link to your entry. This will help save time of me having to do several clicks to find the entry for each one.
4. If you ask for a critique, you have to be prepared that that critique might be negative. I want to try to highlight how a MOC could be improved, rather than just praise the good things.
5. Just a note, if you have a MOC that did very well (e.g. any of the honorable mentions), it's probably not that there's anything particularly wrong with it. Among the top scoring entries in a category it becomes a game of inches. Often my favorite is not necessarily Josh's or Ben's, or vice versa, and the winner is declared out of the balance of all the judges. So it might just be that the winning one did a little better in one judge's eyes versus another.
That said, let the thread begin. Ask away!
Edit - Hey guys, Josh is also going to be joining in with his feedback as well. Double your pleasure, double your fun, with double fresh, double good, double critique gum!
Bruce
As a judge, I never make comments on entries while the contest is ongoing so as to avoid any appearance of favoritism. However, I really enjoy discussing MOCs, and am always itching to give feedback. So in the past I have several times made 'contest thoughts' threads: CCC II, CCC II vig category, CCC III, CCC IV, LEGO Castle Contest, CCC V, CCC VIII where I pointed out cool things and discussed some favorites. There has been some discussion on whether or not it was good to have feedback threads - here and here. One issue for me has been that the style of feedback thread I've done in the past takes a ton of time. A few years back Tony introduced an alternative - rather than highlighting the best MOCs, he let people know where their MOCs could have been improved, what he facetiously called the 'why did my entry suck?' thread, but more seriously a constructive criticism thread: CCCV, CCC VI. In these threads he offered constructive critiques to those who requested it. That's what I propose to do this year. A few ground rules:
1. I will only offer feedback to those who ask for it. Post your request in this thread.
2. You can only ask for feedback for one entry every two weeks. This is to prevent me from getting overwhelmed when Mark asks for feedback on his six thousand entries.
3. In your request, be sure to give a link to your entry. This will help save time of me having to do several clicks to find the entry for each one.
4. If you ask for a critique, you have to be prepared that that critique might be negative. I want to try to highlight how a MOC could be improved, rather than just praise the good things.
5. Just a note, if you have a MOC that did very well (e.g. any of the honorable mentions), it's probably not that there's anything particularly wrong with it. Among the top scoring entries in a category it becomes a game of inches. Often my favorite is not necessarily Josh's or Ben's, or vice versa, and the winner is declared out of the balance of all the judges. So it might just be that the winning one did a little better in one judge's eyes versus another.
That said, let the thread begin. Ask away!
Edit - Hey guys, Josh is also going to be joining in with his feedback as well. Double your pleasure, double your fun, with double fresh, double good, double critique gum!
Bruce