On the first floor above the ground floor.

@Gwylifar: Makes sense, I suppose. We'll see.

Brits start numbering their floors from 0 (which they call "ground") where Americans start from 1, that's all. I don't think you can make a solid case for which one makes more sense. Driving on the left or right is a little less arbitrary, but not much. But while Americans whine about changing to metric being too hard because we're too set in our ways and the British, of all people, have managed it, they win, hands down, particularly since the benefits there are entirely the opposite of arbitrary. So let's not poke them too much about continuing to insist on spelling things with unnecessary and irrelevant letters. By comparison, we're the ones mired in the Dark Ages, and they're the nimble embracers of changing times. A few Ss pronounced like Zs but still spelled like Ss are nothing compared to how many ounces are in a gallon.

Or the Canadians, we know both!

My last word on the Beauty Challenge:

I couldn't give a fig what people think of the admin. However, I do care about those who won last year's challenge. I will always strongly advocate that they deserved the win and won it fairly. (I also maintain that the winning works would have been accepted by the Charites.) There was no "mistake" that they won. As apparent by last year's thread, I indeed saw red whenever I felt anyone was complaining about who won. Some of the comments were nasty, small, meanspirited and plain cruel. I think it is the height of poor sportsmanship to cast doubt on the winners and attack their creative work. Right now, just writing this, I'm gritting my teeth as I remember what set me off.

Should this current Beauty Challenge more strictly follow the "Charites" process? It's a fair enough comment and we have definitely taken note. However, in the end, the judges (most of whom don't work with the Charites) are free to choose as they see fit what represents the most creative and well written work. So, yes, we've heard your comments and are not deaf. In the end, I hope you will honour last year's winners or at least have the grace to accept the process. Isn't it time to turn the page?

Yes, it should. These are meant to be the height of the creative process, the 'Best of the Best,' and should be subject to the same review / cleaning that every other design is before it gets judged. And I am saying this as, primarily, a bystander (just like I did in that thread). I'm not attacking any of the entries, nor do I care to. I just think that it's a good idea to subject special designs to the Charite process and ensure that they are up to Lusternian standards first in execution, and then after that you can have the uninvolved parties judge on beauty and merit. Then everyone wins, assuming there's enough time given for the Charites to request redesigns and people to follow through.

And let King George all back up in our business? I think not. What do we look like, a bunch of limey redcoat loyalists?

You know, if I'd won last year, I think this thread, and the other, if it were as bad, would prolly've sucked the joy of winning away.

Enough of the joy suck!

I'm really looking forward to the events this year. Especially the Nature event! I'm totally psyched about that one - not so much cause I think I'll win (I suck at riddles! ) But because you get to keep the lil gizmo that gives you the riddles! Yay free stuff!

Let a friendly Canadian check it, then? We still use the same British ideocincracies!

Canadians speak US English, British English and French. They're tri-lingual!

We SPEAK US English and Write in British

That's EXACTLY the process that was used last year and will be used this year. (Charites sift through the entries and pulls the ones for judging.) Thus, why I am so adamantly confident in the process and results last year.

BAGGED MILK!!!!!!!!

Works for me.

Just to make sure I understand, the Beauty seal entries aren't actually checked by the Charites?

That...sort of makes sense, in reference to last years entries. Alright, I'm cool with that, I suppose.

The charites endeavour to stay on top of designs, however, the ascension is a very busy period for everyone on Admin and the beauty seal ensures that the number of submitted designs by far exceeds the normal amounts as well as being a lot more complicated than regular designs. This means that it is very possible for the Charites to not be capable of handling the amount (which is exactly what happened last year). To make sure that no designs were excluded simply because they couldn't be revised in time, the on-the-fly decision was made that designs didn't have to be approved to be entered.

You can help too: proofread your designs those same ten times that you would like the charites to proofread them and make sure there are no typos, americanisms, grammar errors or faulty comm requirements. Just cutting out a large amount of those would cut down on the number of designs that have to be returned and then have to be completely rechecked which will increase the chances of the charites to stay on top.

Thank you for the honesty and non confrontational-ness.

*insert plug for trademaster promotions to assistants to check and comment on designs with a second stage for approval power*

You mean require assistant approval in addition to trademaster? Or let assistants edit designs in progress? It'd be cool if trademasters could CARTEL GRANT ACCESS to allow that person to edit the pattern# and submit when ready, subject to final approval by the trademaster.

Actually... That'd be freaking awesome.

Well that could be cool too.

I was thinking someone along the lines of allow other trade masters to take a peek and leave comments on a pending design. If they run through the list looking for errors they can let the submitter know of issues that might cause a rejection so in times when designs are really backed up trademasters could help each other out this way...

:shrug: