Critters^TM Workshop

Extra Credits

A Critter member suggested that, to increase participation in the new workshops, it would be helpful if some of the credit counted from one workshop to another.

Now, bear in mind that my goal with the credit system is to get people to do critiques, since that's a large part of what helps you improve your craft. So I'm a bit hesitant to allow credit sharing, on general principle. For example, if someone does a bunch of Mystery writing critiques, that doesn't help them improve the singing in the Music workshop. But I see the point, that when the workshops are new, it would help get submissions in the Music workshop if Mystery writing critiques were allowed, and it might thus encourage members to try — and thus do critiques in — other workshops they're interested in. So, I'll give this a try.

This is an idea on a one year trial basis, until the end of 2011.

Here's how Extra Credits work:

If you are above par in one workshop (i.e. > 75% ratio or 25% for pros), then a fraction of the critique credits above your requirement may be counted as credit in other workshops.

Credits between writing workshops count as 2/3 of a credit. Credits where one or both workshops are not writing related, the extra credits count as 1/2 of a credit. (Not a full credit, to encourage you to critique in the workshop, not borrow credits, since critiques from other workshops aren't teaching you as much about the topic at hand. And 1/2 for non-writing workshops since writing-related credits are even less useful, craft-wise — which is to say, there's more benefit to your writing from other writing-related critiques than from, say, photography critiques; and vice versa).

These extra credits only count in another workshop if you've done at least one critique within six weeks in the workshop you're submitting to; unless you have 10 or more extra credits, in which there's no such requirement. (Though it's still a good idea... if you want to improve your music, you should want to do critiques in the Music workshop. Just sayin'...) :)

Extra credits are calculated when you check your ratio. (Note that if you're above par already in that workshop it won't bother checking for extras.)

They get added into your credit count to compute your effective ratio for that workshop.

Example... Suppose you've been a member of the Mystery writing workshop for 12 weeks, and you have 15 critique credits in it. (So you have a respectable 125% ratio in the Mystery workshop.) Suppose you want to submit a song you wrote to the Music workshop, but you've only done one critique there, and been a member for four weeks. (A 25% ratio — not high enough to have your submission sent out.)

So, the system checks for extra credit: It finds your minimum threshold in Mystery would be 9 credits (9 credits / 12 weeks = 75%), so you have (15-9) six extra credits. Those are worth 1/2 value in the Music workshop, or three credits. (Though they'd be worth 2/3, or four credits, in another writing workshop.) So the system says, you've earned one credit in Music, plus 3 EC, that's four credits, divided by four weeks of Music workshop membership = 100% ratio, and your song can go out.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Let me know here.

Enjoy! (And: Critique!)