I guess I need some information or insight here. Twice now I have used the "contact us" feature to request this sticky thread for the HF forum. Twice I have received a notice that my feedback was received and that I would get a response in 24-48 hours. No response at all - ever. Am I not going about this in the right way? Does someone else have any other suggestions as to how I should go about this? I've gathered that all those of you who take part in this would like a Sticky Thread for it -right? I am at a loss at this point. Some response from TPTB would be nice.......

Perhaps Jeanne it is because of this Gold Key Launch, they must have been doing a lot of work on this for gosh knows how long.  Perhaps they will allow one for next years challenge. I don't think it will hurt to do a follow up, the squeeky wheel and all.

So.....this is what I received from TPTB yesterday. Check it over - it's been turned down. I guess that if any of you have any comments you can send them to TPTB. I tried to explain that this is not a "game" but a reading challenge!

Dear Jeanne,

Thanks for writing in about this.  We don't generally sticky such topics in the Discussion Forums - games are not considered permanent in any way, which is the main criterion for a sticky topic.  We find that in a topic like this one, a combination of (1) the participants' keeping the topics on their "watched" lists and (2) the participants posting in the topic will keep the topic accessible to the members who want to use it.  You can make a habit of posting in the topic once each day to bring the topic to the top of the list, if you like - as long as this "bumping" is not done excessively, it is OK.

We hope this information is helpful. Have a great day!

The PaperBackSwap Team

www.PaperBackSwap.com

I say we declare Cheryl the winner of the biggest book loser thread, abandon that challenge, and use that sticky for our mystery challenge.  We'll all know what we're doing, and I'm sure Valli wouldn't mind.

Grrr...on the game business!!

Ack.  I type faster than I think.

I mean...we will all know it's not the biggest loser challenge anymore, but the mystery challenge (since Valli isn't here to edit the title of the topic.)

So, keep the title of that sticky the way it is but use it for keeping track of our HF mystery challenge lists - right? Well, that would work for me if we can get the word out. I did point out to TPTB that the biggest book loser thread was a one time only challenge, but haven't heard back anything yet. So......what do the rest of you think?

Sounds good to me!

Ok -- I'll be the voice of dissent. First, I think sticking a mystery challenge into the biggest loser challenge sticky is very confusing! Second, I agree with TPTB -- sticky topics should be reserved for topics that are permanent. I actually don't think that challenges should be "sticky" -- presently, we (the HF forum) have two challenge topics that are "stuck". But what happens next year when those topics are no longer relevant? If those topics can simply be unstuck and replaced with current challenges, then I have no objection. But if instead we just keep adding sticky topics for each yearly challenge, eventually sticky topics will take up much of the first page.

I realize that it is often a pain in the butt to find the challenge threads if they are not on top. Possibly instead of a sticky topic for each challenge, we could have a sticky topic for HF challenges in general -- and then in that thread, simply post links to the relevant challenges. For example, if one went to the (theoretically) sticky HF Challenges topic, one of the posts might be titled HF Challenge 2012 and within that post, links would be provided to the Lists Only thread and each Discussion thread; another post would provide a link to the HF Mystery Challenge thread; another post to the Most Lovable Challenge thread, etc. Whoever devised a challenge could just go to the sticky thread and post the challenge and links -- and everyone else just goes to that sticky, finds the specific challenge of interest, and clicks on the link to go directly to that challenge's list or discussion threads. Voila!

(So, I'm also willing to declare Cheryl winner of the BBL challenge -- since Genie took herself out of the running. I'm sure that I get the booby prize. But to be fair to all other contestants, we should wait until the end of the year. But then, what do we do with this thread?? Which conveniently emphasizes my point that yearly challenges shouldn't be stickies, unless they're easy to unstick.)

I like Deb's idea.  And since I am conveniently the owner of the 2011 HF Challenge Lists thread that is conveniently stickied, I will be glad to change the title of the thread to something like "HF Challenge Central Station" and edit the first post to have links to all of the challenges...or anything else that we want stickied up there.  We could put links to the current or recent read-along, the challenge discussions and list threads, the Essential HF Book List, or anything else that we think is important....almost like a table of contents for the forum. 

And did you know that all you need to edit a topic created by someone else is the url link to the edit screen?  A handly little trick we learned in hosting games.  I could give the url to a couple of other people so if I'm away or fall off the face of the earth, you guys will still have access to it if needed.  The rest of the thread would still be the 2011 HF Challenge Lists...just the first post would change to the table of contents.  What do you think?

Ooh, I like that idea much better!  HF Challenge Central.  Excellent!

Not being one to wait around for permission, I went head and changed my sticky thread. Take a look and see what you think. If you want to add anything to the table of contents, let me know.

Who else wants to hold on to the url in case you need it?  I nominate Jeanne and Letty.

Well, this is a wonderful solution! Deb and Christa - you gals are geniuses!!!!! Now if only I was sufficiently knowledgeable about technology to be able to understand all of the above brilliant comments. (scratches head).........

Let me see if I have any of this understood: 1.) By giving Letty and me e.g., the URL , we could change things in the original post if necessary.

2.) This is a sticky that can be updated from year to year (and, in the case of monthly available books, from month to month).

3.) what else??? Am I still missing a lot here?

I agree wholeheartedly with not having a page full of stickies. When I requested one for the Mystery challenge, I figured that it could be changed from year to year. Actually, I've always been surprised with the Biggest Book Loser sticky unless TPTB figured that it was an ongoing thing. By the way, are any of us using the Tagging HF sticky? I don't see anything going on there lately (just curious).....

See my comments in red!

1.) By giving Letty and me e.g., the URL , we could change things in the original post if necessary. Yes.  You would just need to save the url someplace safe in case you ever needed to use it.  You would just copy it from your safe place, paste it in your brower address bar and viola!  The edit screen will come up and you can edit it.  No security issues....you can't, for example, get to any other parts of my account or edit my other posts.  We do it fairly often in the games forum if the game hostess has an emergency or something.

2.) This is a sticky that can be updated from year to year (and, in the case of monthly available books, from month to month).  Yes.  It can be updated as long as it is there.  It will always have the 2011 List posts as part of the thread, so you really wouldn't want people adding on to the end of it.  If we were brave, we could ask TPTB to give us a new clean sticky to use for this purpose then promise to never ask them for a sticky again.  Or we could just do our own thing this way and get great satisfaction from having found a way to beat The Man.

3.) what else??? Am I still missing a lot here?  I don't think so!

I agree wholeheartedly with not having a page full of stickies. When I requested one for the Mystery challenge, I figured that it could be changed from year to year. Actually, I've always been surprised with the Biggest Book Loser sticky unless TPTB figured that it was an ongoing thing. I'm not sure how it ever happened, if Valli asked for it or what...we could ask them to unstick it now that we have a link to it in our ToC. Or just leave it there to remind us to think about/pray for/send positive universe vibes to our long-lost and much-missed Valli.  By the way, are any of us using the Tagging HF sticky? I don't think I have ever used it.  I don't see anything going on there lately (just curious).....

Got it now, Christa! Thanks so much, you smart, smart woman! Yes, I think leaving Valli's challenge up there is a kind of tribute as well as a reminder. (I found myself googling her name again this morning, looking for anything new. A couple of weeks ago I PM'd her account just in the hope that there might be a reply, but sadly - nothing.) The Tagging HF is something I never have used so, I don't know what we want to do with that - any suggestions/comments?

One more thing! Christa, I looked at your changes in the ToC thread and I love what you said about The Biggest Book Loser - hilarious!

The way you set the whole thing up is just brilliant! And you did that in no time at all! What an organized person engineer you are!!!!!!

Organizing is my thing....getting things organized....keeping them that way, not quite as good.  But I'll do my best to stay on top of this.  Just let me know if there are other threads that you frequently go looking for and I will put a link to it.  Oooo....I need to go add the Bernard Cornwell Rampage thread.  Maybe I'll make a "Just for Fun" section for threads that we just like for whatever reason.

Wow -- I leave for a few hours -- and, voila -- Christa the organizer steps in -- but I want credit for the idea! Actually, Christa -- it's amazing how you did exactly what I envisioned (with the exception that I was going to try to unsticky the 2011 Lists but c'est la vie) -- and added a few extras -- great job!

Oh, and I also love how you characterized the BBL Challenge -- LOL! Now, if someone is brave enough to ask TPTB to unsticky that thread -- who's willing to step up to the plate??

Absolutely, Deb!  It was 100% your idea!

I also cannot take full credit for the characterization of the BBL thread.  I adapted the saying "The Most Ill-Conceived Nonsense...." from another website where we frequently undertake nonsense.

I have no problem with un-sticky-ing the 2011 List's thread.  If they will give us a new, clean thread, I can just copy the ToC info over.  The only thing I'm afraid of is that if we ask, they will not only say no to the new thread, but they will un-sticky the 2011 thread at the end of the year. I am a scaredy cat.

Let's just let sleeping dogs lie, Christa. You did a great job -" if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

And yes Deb, the brilliant idea was yours to begin with. How great it is that we have such smart, talented people on this forum!

And yes Deb, the brilliant idea was yours to begin with.

But I lied a little -- I said that Christa did exactly what I envisioned -- she actually did it much better!!

Well, Deb, at least you're an honest liar! WAIT! - did I actually say that? lol!

Thanks for steering us onto the right track, Deb!

Christa, your brilliant!  I will definitely be one of the URL keepers. 

You guys are too kind!

Letty and Jeanne both have the edit url now.  If anybody needs something added to the Table of Contents, just let me know!