Re: 256 byte contest

[nparker@cie-2.uoregon.edu (Neil Parker)]

In article <D7q71v.5n2@IRO.UMontreal.CA> guertinp@IRO.UMontreal.CA (Paul
Guertin) writes:
>Well, the contest is over now, and I must say I'm disappointed with
>the result: I've received a grand total of --> ONE <-- entry, by
>Christer Ericson <christer@cs.umu.se>.
>
>I wonder what was the problem. Was the 20-day period too short? Probably.
>There's also the question of timing: I hadn't realized it, but we're now 
>in the middle of final exams (at least here in Canada). This means less 
>time to code.

A couple of possible problems occur to me.

     * Forgetfullness.  Once the contest was started, there were no further
       notices about it until the end.  I had a couple of things I was
       interested in submitting, but the original contest notice disappeared
       from my site, so I didn't know the due date, and I didn't know the
       submission address, and there was nothing to remind me that I had
       better submit NOW or be left out in the cold.  Next time, some posts
       to the effect of "You only have xxx weeks/days left to submit your
       contest entries!" would probably be wise.

     * Limited audience.  There are probably a lot more BASIC programmers
       than machine-language programmers.  A two-liner contest, ala Beagle
       Brothers or Nibble, would probably be more popular.  (I can program
       in both BASIC and machine language, but I have a lot more potential
       BASIC two-liner submissions than 0.25K machine language submissions
       lying around.)

               - Neil Parker
--
Neil Parker, nparker@{cie-2,cie}.uoregon.edu, http://cie-2.uoregon.edu/~nparker

                     "Bad move, Neil!"  -- The Tick