A couple of not so burning questions - Roy Jerden's Blog

First, does anyone know how PoetrySoup sorts the order of the winners in a contest when the placement is the same? I know that the placement, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and so on comes first, but then when there are multiple ties within a placement, (like first), how does it sort? I think it must be related to the poet's ID somehow, as it seems that Andrea Dietrich is always listed first whenever there are ties, for example. (not picking on Andrea, but that's the pattern I noticed that triggered my curiosity) I know for sure it's not the order in which they are picked, because I have seen the order change when judging.

Second, whatever happened to the last PoetrySoup sponsored contest? When I joined in Summer 2012, there was a current PoetrySoup sponsored contest which I entered a poem into. That contest seems to have gone into limbo or something. PoetrySoup said they were not going to sponsor any more contests, but the last one was never judged either. The poem I entered always shows up at the top of the "My Poems" list, even though it is one of the oldest poems I posted here.

As a follow-up question, was the reason PoetrySoup decided not to sponsor contests ever communicated? I don't remember.

Cyndi Macmillan Date: 3/23/2014 7:56:00 PM I am 99.98% sure that it is based on "the chronological order of entries received" i.e. the sooner you enter a contest, the higher up on the list you will place if you tie with another contest entry. Andrea is quickly inspired by the contests, so therefore often is seen on the top. To see this, Roy, I "think" (not sure) check the all poems list.. I think THAT is in chronological order ... the winners may follow suit. AAAAh, just read below. Andrea agrees.... exact-a-mundo! Login to Reply Roy Jerden Date: 3/23/2014 8:39:00 PM Makes sense. I just remembered that PS assigns a number to each poem in the contest. That number is not the same as the number that is assigned to the poem itself, so if they are sorted by that contest poem number, which I presume is assigned sequentially, then it makes sense.

Andrea Dietrich Date: 3/23/2014 7:18:00 PM 'Roy, that is a very good question. But I am not always on the top when there are ties, so that kind of gets rid of your theory. I was thinking maybe it had to do with who had entered the contest first. In certain contests, I am often one of the first to enter. If it goes by who has entered first, that might indicate who will show first in the ties. Do you think?? I hope someone can answer this one. sometimes I have been totally surprised how it works. I should go to my old contest lists and try to find the pattern!! As for Soup contests, they had told us they were discontinuing them about a year or two ago. Then they came back and made us believe that were going to do it after all, and then some time passed.... and NOTHING!!! Login to Reply