Share your thoughts about the process and follow along with the conversation to gain the winning edge with your upcoming Word of the Week contest posts.

The complete framework for the WOTW merit system will be built here.

_{image courtesy - Randy Fath}

With the clickbait out of the way, here is where my thought process is at.

In the last WOTW post, I mentioned that I was working on a merit system for judging the weekly entries. There are multiple benefits to doing this, some are the following;

"Fair" judging across the board*
Feedback for all, not just winners
Strategy and gamification reasons

_{*Some elements are always going to be subjective, but I have ideas for how this can be addressed.}

I did a little bit of brainstorming with @fireguardian, @pialejoana, and @penderis, which has resulted in a basic selection of categories being developed and an idea for how they will be scored.

Rather than keeping this process off the chain and sticking with only a few minds to grow the idea, I've decided to make a post that will act as the building block to creating the whole system.

Before I dive right into it, please note that any suggestions are welcomed. This is a working project.

POINTS

I believe that it'll be more labour intensive and tedious doing marks out of ten for each category.

There is a level of detail that comes with more numbers but for what it's worth, I think we can restrict the scores to three at the most. Higher scores may be necessary for other categories to balance the subjective/objective elements.

The subjective nature of the judging can be tackled by having multiple non-biased people allocating points and then averages can be determined. I can't really be fucked to do this so early in the game, but if it keeps people happy we'll make it happen.

CATEGORIES

The aim is to get a mixture of subjective and objective categories so that the system has a solid basis for creating high-quality, yet flexibly appreciated, content. If you don't like something, point it out.

I've left some categories blank until further ideas are brought to the table.

A: Title/Clickworthiness
1pt - Relevant feature image and title
2pts - + Intriguing tagline
3pts - +Eye catching title + image

_{Subjective in some regards. We may need some guidelines for what would be deemed "eye-catching".}

B: Grammar/Writing Style
1pt - Average
2pts - Excellent
3pts - Flawless

_{Objective, although I'm pretty sure I'll not be able to tell what flawless grammar is.}

C: Formatting
1pt - Well spaced content
2pts - +Presented well with no inconsistencies
3pts - +Creative use

_{Objective until it comes to creative use.}

D: Imagery

1pt - Relavent to the post
2pts - +Relavent to the text, following/timing/position
3pts - +Emotive

_{Mixture of both. Potential opportunity for point deductions for using the same image as someone else, although points could be gained for using it in a better position/context.}

E: Informative
1pt - Definitive information
2pts - Sourced information
3pts - Independently sourced

_{Objective, yet independently sourced information may be looked at subjectively.}

F: Creative
1pt - Creative expression relevant to the word (artwork/music/video etc)
2pts -
3pts -

_{Not sure how to approach creative content when it comes to art, music, etc. This post from @nickyhavey during the Atmosphere week may inspire some ideas.}

G: Perspective

1pt - Unique perspective

_{This category is the main one for strategy. Posting earlier may land you the unique perspective points but it may sacrifice points in other categories. Timing will be important.}

_{^{Thanks go to @charcoalbuffet for the suggestion.}}

H & I: Personality and Affinity

1pt - Personal opinions shared that link to the word, human touch evident
1pts - Personal story/ties to the word, links to real life, expression of character
1pts - Boldness, humour, emotional _{(no idea, just spitballing here)}

_{I've linked these together because they have similarities but could be separated into two categories depending on how points are allocated. High on the subjective scale in some ways.}

J: Engagement
1pt - Consistent engagement with other entries
2pts - + Involvement with other replies/discussions
3pts - + High-quality comments further expanding the post

_{One of the most important, imo. Any sense of insincere interaction will result in zero points, empty comments are not worth rewards. Quality over quantity.}

K: Point Deductions

_{As mentioned in some of the footnotes of other categories, point deductions could be introduced to help}

Try to keep an open mind and if you have any feedback for anything that is currently shared, quote it in your reply using the ">" character before the content, and send it over.

I'm available on Discord as well if you want to send over any feedback that way, but I'll likely tag you and say you made a good suggestion regardless so I see no point.

Thanks for the help with this, it is greatly appreciated.

I believe this will pave the way for high-quality content across the whole platform, not just for WOTW.

Visit the Ongoing POB Discussion Thread to find recent posts about important POB-related topics. _{I know, we need an update.}

Don't forget to write your post for this week's POB Word of the Week!

There is 525 POB (liquid) up for grabs. That's about 735 HIVE at today's current price.