Well, it's the 15th and I can't find the page counter. Can someone tell me where it is, please?

Ooops. Never mind. Didn't know the validator would be put up on the 15th.

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Screnzy '08: Dark Messiah

When it's up and ready to go, which traditionally takes place on the 25th, it will be widely announced, I'm sure. No need to go searching for it, directions will parade loud and proud on the homepage.

Criss, la Reina
www.crisswrites.com
www.xanga.com/reinacristina

Help me find a cure for cancer! www.active.com/donate/tntntx/Criss4shay

I was only asking because 'The Management' (in the form of Heather, I think) said it would be available on the 15th.

I see no reason why it shouldn't have been available right from the start. People like to know what their official count is. They like to know whether they are on target or not. They don't want to get to the thirtieth only to find out that they are 30 or 40 pages short. And they don't want to have to write 30 or 40 extra pages just to be on the safe side.

The chances are that the counter won't work properly when it is first put up on the site. Script Frenzy have no way of knowing all the ways that people are formatting their scripts, and so there are bound to be problems. Therefore I believe it should have been available before the first of April in a form that lets you check, but not update, your page count so that any problems could have been ironed out.

Personally, I don't really mind. As long as I have a hundred pages that print out as a hundred pages I don't care if Script Frenzy officially sanction it or not. I have said this elsewhere, but other people like to have the stamp of approval.

I have offered twice to help with the website and neither time was my offer accepted. I would have written a counter had they asked, but here we are on the promised date, and people still can't find out what their page count is.

Ian

I'm not sure who told you the 15th, but it certainly wasn't me! As no date has been given to me by the folks who write such things, I wouldn't have been able to give you such a date. In general, the validator is released at the end of the month... we do it that way because we always have with NaNoWriMo.

Could you give me a source for that date?

Heather
Forums Moderator

Hi Heather,

Sorry, must have been someone else then. Definitely someone with the 'staff' tag.

I can't find the actual message, it seems to have disappeared! If I come across it, I'll let you know, but your search doesn't work for '15th' and searching for '15' produces too many results.

I did come across another couple of posts from people who must have seen it too, because they also think the 15th was mentioned.

http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/eng/node/2005847

and

http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/eng/node/2006425

both were posted before this thread, so they didn't get the idea from me, and I know I didn't get the idea from them.

But even if all three of us had a communal hallucination, what's the reasoning behind it not being available until right at the end? I can't see any disadvantages to people knowing how SF reckons they are doing.

Sorry again for the false accusation, but if not you, then who? There aren't many staffers who I see in the forums as much as you.

Ian

A big Alan Partridge "Ah-ha!"

Found it - in your FAQ page

"Staring(sic) on the 15th, you'll be able to upload a version of your script to our site for official robotic counting"

in the answer to

"I've written a 100 page script. How do I become an official winner?"

Ian

I have no clue where anyone would have gotten the 15th; on NaNo it has been the 25th for the four years I've participated, and whenever Heather or another actual staffperson (perhaps you read speculation from an ML? Because we are definitely not "staff") has addressed the issue, the answer has made no promises, and pointed to the end of the month.

If you don't care, then why are you ranting about it? Just write your script, when you get to 100 pages, however you are formatting it, then be happy and bask in the knowledge that you accomplished your goal. That's what it's about, whether you have a little purple bar or not.

This has been addressed in other posts asking the same question - the page counter is not up yet because they are still working on it. They aren't hiding it from you to be mean, they're working as hard and fast as they can to get it ready. This is only the second year for Script Frenzy, and the very first year we are validating by page count (as opposed to word count, like they did last year, using NaNo's system). The Powers That Be has less than a year to get things ready for SF, since the event was moved from June to April. Cut them a little slack; go write something in the meantime.

If you want to help speed up the process, it would be nice if you made a donation to SF. that way they can have the resources to get these things done faster. I know you offered to help write a program, which is very kind of you - but seriously? Is that even feasible? Do you even live in San Francisco? (That info isn't in your profile; maybe you do, and can drive down to headquarters and pow-wow with Russ, who knows.) The people working on this have been working with it since '99, in the form of NaNo. Is it really going to make things easier to bring in a new person, once April has alreadey started, to work on something from scratch? (Even if all the above were not a problem - have you sent a personal message to Heather or someone else in charge, submitting your resume for the position? Or did you just throw in the offhanded, "I can write the program for you" comment at the end of a post and expect that to be taken seriously?)

The page counter will be up as soon as it's ready - probably at the end of the month, as Heather and other staff have mentioned before. I'm sorry if that's an inconvenience for you; if you'd like to drop out due to this issue, I'm sure you can talk to the management and ask them to refund the hefty entry fee. Oh, wait...

Criss, la Reina
www.crisswrites.com
www.xanga.com/reinacristina

Help me find a cure for cancer! www.active.com/donate/tntntx/Criss4shay

Hi Criss,

Sorry you feel I'm ranting. I only asked where the counter was. It was promised for yesterday (the day before yesterday if you live in Nuku'alofa) and I couldn't find it.

As per my last message, it says in the FAQ that a page-counter would be available on the 15th.

Computer programming is perfectly feasable outside of San Fransisco in the same way that you writing an article for a magazine doesn't actually require you to sit at a desk in their offices while you do it.

To clarify, I did not offer to help write a program, I offered my services for free. I did let them know directly that I was willing to help, and I did tell them what my skills are.

Writing a counter would take in the region of 2 days and given that it has been promised in the FAQ page, maybe it should have been scheduled for completion a tad earlier. I also realise that the management had less than a year to get things ready - I have been involved in helping with annual events myself, and for some reason, this always seems to be the case.

Since you brought up the subject of donations, had they asked me to write it, then at the current exchange rate, that would be the equivalent of $1,778.58 worth of my time at my current contract rate, and I would have gladly done more. That would have been my donation to Script Frenzy, and it is $1733.81 more than the average of $44.77 that 270 people who have donated at this time (out of the 7746 total registrations). A donation of cash to SF so "they can have the resources to get these things done faster" seems a bit pointless when I *am* a resource and I am not being used.

And BTW, I believe that it really does make things easier if someone else does some of your work for you, even in April. I presume you are not a programmer, but to use an analagy: if you have to gift-wrap fifty parcels and you are running late, then if a professional gift-wrapper offers to help wrap them up with you for free, then it means things get done more quickly.

I'm not sure what an ML is, and you don't have the staff tag, and you say you are definitely not staff, but you seem to try to write as if from an official position within Script Frenzy, so exactly what authority do you have, if any?

Ian

Gzornenplat is right. It says the 15th right here in the FAQ. Now I had an inkling it might not happen by the 15th because mods kept talking about the 25th but it undeniably does say the 15th in the FAQ.

Becky
ps as to donating - some of us don't get paid until the 22nd and will be donating then. :p

I have no authority. I've volunteered to be the Municipal Liaison for my region; there are lots of us running around on the forums, many have added "ML" or some sort of "official" tag to their signatures, but we are mere volunteers who offer to organize write-ins and other events. We have been doing this for a while, so many of us go around answering questions for newbies, and know the lingo to make it sound "official." I have experience as a participant (NaNo and Script Frenzy), if that gives me any authority, but probably not.

I am not a programmer, not in the least. I have no earthly idea what would go into writing a page-counting program, or setting up forums, or anything of the like. This is one of the many reasons I trust the folks who have been doing this, pretty successfully in my opinion, for the past 7 years.

I have been in many predicaments where I've had to wrap 50 parcels in a short period of time. However, as swamped as I may be, I'm still not going to feel comfortable handing 30 of those packages to the dude I met at the bus stop, who told me he was a professional parcel-wrapper. Especially when he lives so far away, and I can't keep my eye on him as he's wrapping, and I won't get to see what kind of wrapping paper he's going to use, or what kind of bows he's going to use. I'm not saying the dude from the bus stop is not the most amazing professional parcel-wrapper in the world, who happens to adore pink bunny rabbit wrapping paper as much as I do; I'm just saying I'd be hesitant to hire him, so I'd either do it myself, or ask my sister to come over and help me - because I can keep my eye on her, and she knows my system.

As for the counter date, I hadn't seen the FAQs, just the posts on this and the Site Feedback forums. From my authority-less experience, the 15th seems too early; perhaps, given that the answer already has one uncorrected typo, that date was also an overlooked clerical mistake? Either way, the most updated and recent information (Heather's multiple answers on multiple posts) says it will be later in the month. More posts about it will not make the page-counter appear any sooner, neither will arguing with the moderators about who said what when.

I'm sorry if I jumped at you, it just gets old to see the same post over and over again. When the page-counter is ready, it will be announced and unveiled with much fanfare, and it will be hard to miss.

Patience, young padawan.

Criss, la Reina
www.crisswrites.com
www.xanga.com/reinacristina

Help me find a cure for cancer! www.active.com/donate/tntntx/Criss4shay