The contest is to send an email? How's that for lame?

That's how it always is, do you have a better idea?

Of course I do: How about making it an actual contest, where you have to do something, ANYTHING. Write a little story, paint a little picture, dance a little dance. Writing an email is no challenge in this day and age, you know.

Somedays you just can't win. Can't please everyone all the time. Personally I like these contests where I can just send an email because this way I actually have a shot.

Karl, thanks for keeping the contest entry requirement simple.

Hey Korinthian, Never heard of someone wanting to make something more difficult than it needs to be. If we made this an actual "contest", we would have to get legal documentation every time we did one which would mean we would never have them because that is too costly for us and also would prevent a lot of our international users from participating. Give Karl credit for doing this stuff and making it simple.

Should I give him credit for a contest that isn't? I'll save my praise to more deserving endeavors. I did not say the contest had to be hard and cumbersome to those that spend their precious work hours surfing the internet. If you make the contest a... well, a contest, you have something to show once the results are in. A 7 word rhyme (and the runners up) praising the sponsor of the contest (in this case the author?) would probably be appreciated by the winner, the participants and the author himself. Let's face it, the current contest is boring as hell, and after the move, this site needs some content that shows that it's alive.

Again, a comment that needs to be addressed. "after the move, this site needs some content that shows it's alive". Give me some specifics rather than just spouting off, the content on the site is no different than it was in October when it was the old site look. IN FACT, the site has even more content than before. If you don't like the new look, that I can live with because there are people who don't like change, but don't tell me the content is any different from the the old site unless you have specific examples.

Wonderful, I penned a virtual essay. (with big words an everything - Ed) Go Away Ed. ..containing both my opine on Korinthians comment and my view of the new Mania design and it disappeared into the !@#$! ether. (after I submitted it, Mania reported I wasn't logged in, though obviously I was when I -began- penning the comment - consequently it took me to a Mania Member sign-in page, then decided not to recognize my login and to keep doing that, until I gave up trying. Consequently my post's-contents were lost) (and we're glad of it - Ed) *cough* (Yes, I tried back-paging with Firefox but the comment-box was empty) ergo., The Quick Version. 1. (my reading) I get the feeling the subtext behind what Korinthian is saying is oft largely: he wants to see more adult/professional content. Don't agree with this particular example, since there's nothing inherently unprofessional about a toss-nomen-into-virtual-hat random-draw contest. but maybe he has a larger point, if it's to consciously gear Mania towards an older audience? (unless of course that directly clashes with Mania's intended target demographic) 2. I LOVE the Mania (((Web 3.0))) design structure. I think it's brilliant. FORCE FIELD and Member-BANGing is my idea of where major media magazine web-design is headed. ergo - where one day - the major media webzines will eventually go. Penned the original msg focusing on why I think it's brilliant; won't repeat it, and doubt it was an design accident; it is very well conceived and executed, all this to say, KUDOS to the Mania designer! It's nothing short of revolutionary and ahead of its time. Specifically, the revolutionary move of placing joe-member-netizen's articles & reviews _en-high-profile-front-page-par_ with staff writers. That is utterly brilliant. (and as I say, I will wager that the major media web-magazines will one day follow Manias design suit, but first they'll have to get over the since-Gutenberg Author-elitism that demands/believes that the proletariat never really be on equal footing with the writer) Anyway, MAJOR Kudos for the Mania design structure. --michaelmaelstrom.