I Thought The Home of PeterSkan's Contest

[middaystar]

was ESPN.

It started there long before, TAT was even born.

[Foxykhat]

Well obviously PeterSkan felt the need to branch out.

Is it necessary for a you versus us, scuffle?

Foxy

[dryrunguy]

Well obviously PeterSkan felt the need to branch out.

Is it necessary for a you versus us, scuffle?

Foxy

Thank you, Foxy.

Except that the "us" part isn't TAT. Peter's contest is hosted by another site. Peter kindly posts a thread for his contest here and at the aforementioned board as a courtesy to the players from respective forums. But his contest is not a TAT contest. His contest has a home on another forum.

We appreciate the other site's willingness to afford TAT's members the opportunity to participate.

There's a major going on. Let's enjoy the tennis.

[middaystar]

Well obviously PeterSkan felt the need to branch out.

Is it necessary for a you versus us, scuffle?

Foxy

Hey ms Foxy !!!

I'm wasn't trying to start an "you versus us" scuffle. I just merely asked a question.

I also just pointed out that PC's contest started on ESPN....thats all.

[middaystar]

Thank you, Foxy.

Except that the "us" part isn't TAT. Peter's contest is hosted by another site. Peter kindly posts a thread for his contest here and at the aforementioned board as a courtesy to the players from respective forums. But his contest is not a TAT contest. His contest has a home on another forum.

We appreciate the other site's willingness to afford TAT's members the opportunity to participate.

There's a major going on. Let's enjoy the tennis.

Yes that was nice of Peter, as he had always tried to encourge other to participate in his contests.

But why would you consider my question adversarial (as pointed out by what you yourself highlighted from foxy's post).

[Foxykhat]

Hey ms Foxy !!!

I'm wasn't trying to start an "you versus us" scuffle. I just merely asked a question.

I also just pointed out that PC's contest started on ESPN....thats all.

My dear friend Star, your post may have been meant to ask a simple question but it sounded attacking (for lack of a better word) to me.

You and I are both aware that this is not the first year PeterSkan has ran his contest here, and as well as on ESPN, and as Dry pointed on another site. IMHO it seems a little to late to now raise the "WHERE IS THE HOME OF THIS CONTEST" question. And as you mentioned it's Peterskan's contest, therefore he made his decision and he is the one who rightfully felt the need to branch out and move beyond ESPN. I didn't see the need to question his decision. If someone else had done this without PeterSkan then I could see the issue.

Anyway the new Tennis seaon has started, so lets just enjoy it.

Foxy

[middaystar]

My dear friend Star, your post may have been meant to ask a simple question but it sounded attacking (for lack of a better word) to me.

You and I are both aware that this is not the first year PeterSkan has ran his contest here, and as well as on ESPN, and as Dry pointed on another site. IMHO it seems a little to late to now raise the "WHERE IS THE HOME OF THIS CONTEST" question. And as you mentioned it's Peterskan's contest, therefore he made his decision and who rightfully felt the need to branch out and move beyond ESPN. I didn't see the need to question his decision. If someone else had done this without PeterSkan then I could see the issue.

Anyway the new Tennis seaon has started, so lets just enjoy it.

Foxy

Foxy, the only reason, that I questioned it now is because this is the first time that I had noticed. And it was merely a simply question.

Yes, I could have asked PC himself. But where the title that I question is not that of a thread but a subject folder....I did not know that Peter created these on TAT.

In that most of the original members of TAT came from ESPN. And that a good many people on the wtapredictiongame game site came from ESPN too (or atleast I think that they do), pretty much all involve already knew of PeterSkan and his contests. I did not really see any "of vs them" when I posed my question.

Yes, I am enjoy the tennis as I type.....thank you.

[Kirkus]

Yes that was nice of Peter, as he had always tried to encourge other to participate in his contests.

But why would you consider my question adversarial (as pointed out by what you yourself highlighted from foxy's post).

It sure sounded adversarial to me.

Peter's always made his contest available to many tennis fans, from different websites. I think he started it while at ESPN, but when the character limit of posts over there made it difficult for him to post standings, he asked me about using space over here. It was also at a time when ESPN's forum was arbitrarily removing posts, and Peter wanted a history of his contest. So, I upped our character limit specifically to give him the space in a single post to record his standings, and we archive old contests rather than delete them.

Peter's contest has been welcome here since 2007.

I'm with Foxy... with his contest being available on both sites for well over a year now, your post seemed a little, shall we say, "out of the blue".

[middaystar]

It sure sounded adversarial to me.

Peter's always made his contest available to many tennis fans, from different websites. I think he started it while at ESPN, but when the character limit of posts over there made it difficult for him to post standings, he asked me about using space over here. It was also at a time when ESPN's forum was arbitrarily removing posts, and Peter wanted a history of his contest. So, I upped our character limit specifically to give him the space in a single post to record his standings, and we archive old contests rather than delete them.

Peter's contest has been welcome here since 2007.

I'm with Foxy... with his contest being available on both sites for well over a year now, your post seemed a little, shall we say, "out of the blue".

Well, it was out of the blue....because it was the first time that I had noticed it. If I had noticed it back in 2007, I sure I would have asked the same question then aswell.

I'm sorry, that you found it "adversarial". But that was not my intent. To me, if anything, it would look like TAT taking owner ship of PC contest that had been open to both ESPN and TAT....and now those on the wtapredictiongame site. And that was not even my intent. It was merely a question of the title of the folder that I had noticed for the first time today.

[shtexas]

Hi Star! I haven't been to espn in ages. Is Madd still posting about the Justine era? Lol!

[middaystar]

Hi Star! I haven't been to espn in ages. Is Madd still posting about the Justine era? Lol!

LOL

Hey shtexas !!

ESPN is like a soap opera, in that you can not watch it for a year and come back and still be update on what is happening.

Nothing has changed with Madd, except the Jusint era becomes greating and greating.

[PeterSkan]

As funny as this may sound, in fact you are all correct. Well, except in raising an eyebrow at Star's comment. I say this because it's not conceivable that my friend Star - who has participated in 18 of the 20 contests I've run and who stands 4th in all-time points and who is an avid supporter of it - would use it to take a cheap shot. That doesn't ring true to me. No - I'm quite convinced that Star popped in here ... maybe having seen my links to TAT posted at ESPN ... and saw the subtitle to this thread:

"This is TAT's home for PeterSkan's 2009 AO Contest!"

Just to be clear on that point, TAT administration set up this corner of TAT to allow me to include TAT members in the contest. TAT Admin set this up and described it in this way. And it's quite true ... within the TAT neighbourhood, this is where PeterSkan's contest resides. This is it's "home" in TatVille.

To be honest, I was flattered when I saw the description. because I took it as a TAT endorsement for what is a non-TAT event. I am very appreciative of TAT's ongoing willingness to accommodate me in this little venture, since it is an anomaly and stands a bit outside conventional TAT contest policy. I am honoured that TAT has shown such good faith in this regard for one of its members.

That is very much in the spirit of the contest. As Star has attested, the contest started at ESPN, going through various modifications before settling on the current format. It was a modest attempt to quell some of the discord at ESPN by establishing a common ground where everybody could join in and have some fun together, despite their differences.

What Kirkus recounts is also right on. I branched to TAT because the site construction affords a much better means to archive results. ESPN is in-the-moment stream-of-consciousness interaction, which while valuable for that purpose is otherwise quite limited. It is a poor library. The fact that a number of posters archived various posts into their personal "vaults", to retrieve with various objectives in mind, testifies to that. It conjures up images of posters sitting on the steps of the ESPN edifice looking askance at a handwritten notice on the locked doors saying: "We've thrown out all the books we had before last month and we've burned half of your library cards".

TAT appeals to me as an artist and arts advocate. In the arts, the boundaries of what is imaginable are often best charted through artist-run centres and enterprises. As a member-run site, TAT has some of those qualities.

Last summer, Ace2Ace approached me privately, offering to automate the contest. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. Even though I had always taken great pride in "going it alone", and had declined hosting offers previously, a promotion in my employment and increases in responsibilities meant that the die was cast on the future of the contest. For me it's the best of possibilities: I retain final say on matters involving the game while the burden of administrating it has been lessened a thousand-fold.

If that means that the contest is "hosted" at that site, I guess it is. I had not thought about it in that way - in my mind it's branched out to another site and therefore is in an even better position to unite posters without disturbing their site allegiances. The way I see it, posters will gravitate to different sites for different reasons. There's so much going on at TAT content-wise, people who enjoy what it has to offer will continue on doing so. Count me among that growing throng.

Maybe that's why I like to group contestants and results based on the different sites: ESPN, TAT, WPG - I feel it reinforces poster identity and allegiances. Posters may be on different teams, but we're all in the same league. So I try to capture a little of that spirit. If anything, I think the diffusion of the contest reinforces site loyalties rather than poses a threat to them, and I will continue to emphasize this.

In the end, it's all in the interests of fun and enjoyment. There are so many difficulties in our world and all of us face personal challenges. And our personal identies are shaped by or informed by realities and constructs that divide us in so many ways, all too often with horrific outcomes. Even in more benign pursuits, such as our recreational preferences, this human dynamic molds discourse in ways that too often do not portray us to best advantage. I've always thought of the contest as a way of engagng a better portraiture artist.

Anyway - just thought that, as the originator of the contest, I would use this fine Monday morning to share these thoughts with you all. Now back to your regularly scheduled match!

YHS,


Peter

[dryrunguy]

Peter, I'm glad you accepted the description in the spirit in which it was intended. :)