I have a dilemma. One of the contest entrants created a great layout plan and looks to win best N Scale and possibly best overall. However, the plan is drawn with a room size of 12 x 12. I looked at the plan and tried to rationalize that it could be cut down, but it can’t without without radically altering the plan. It is not fair to the other entrants. The extra space makes a lot of difference. But I don’t think it was done intentionally.
To make matters worse, several other entrants also, missed some of the rules. So to be fair, if we disqualified one, we should disqualify all that did not follow the rules.
And the truth is, all the layouts entered have merit. When you take the time to study the layout concepts, there are some really good designs.
To complicate matters more, if the layout is disqualified, my layout stands to win N scale. The fact that I bring this up is uncomfortable.
I see three options:
Let the contest stand.
Let the contest stand and disqualify only those that stand to win something.
Disqualify all those layouts that didn’t follow the rules now before the votes are counted.
None of the options are good. What do you guys think?
Speaking as a neutral party interested in the outcome but not himself competing – how about a special prize for “best submission that nonetheless violated the rules and was disqualified” – with all disqualified entrants competing against each other rather than try to separate them into catagories or degrees of violation?
Sort of the model railroad equivalent of Miss Congeniality at the Miss America contest …
See that’s why I didn’t enter the contest. My room is 12 X 10 not 10 X 12! I knew there would be issues with the rules.
One way out of the dilemma would be to adopt an Olympic attitude and just pick your own layout as the winner…[(-D]
J/K All foolishness aside. If you have rules you either have to enforce them or they become a farce and the contest becomes a farce and by association…well you get the point. If some entrants missed or did not follow the rules what choice do you have? At least there is no grand prize or worldwide recognition at stake.
Anyone who is in violation of the rules must be disqualified before the votes are counted. You don’t want this to turn into another Florida do you? [;)]
The room is 10x12. If the layout can be built in 10x12 or less, it qualifies. Otherwise, not.
The door is where it is, must open and has limited space behind it. If the door has been removed or cannot be opened due to benchwork interference, that’s a deal buster.
Seemingly [#offtopic], but pertinent - there is an on-line article comparing battleships. Some were built in compliance with the Washington Naval Limitation treaties, some weren’t. The ‘judge’ therefore rated them, first all together and then all that complied (Leaving out the three that didn’t.) You might consider that idea.
Since most of these layouts were drawn on CAD, changes on CAD can be made fairly fast, so give them a chance to revise their layouts to meet the criteria, if they can demonstrate that revised layouts fit the rules as posted them let them stand, but if they refuse or cannot ( I dont see how) then they should be considered for disqualification, I mean Jeez guys, the limits and restraints on this competition were microscopic, room size and a door. How hard is that?
Just let it stand for now. After all, this is only a contest for bragging rights, and as you say most of the layouts have some issue or other. A certain nameless person mirror-flopped his room, some don’t allow space for the door swing. Besides, a lot of this stuff might have been caught if the contest wasn’t around Christmas (hectic for lots of us) and computer meltdowns hadn’t occurred. [:(]
The S & PF is a great layout anyway, and I’d hate to see any of them dq’d this time. We can get a little more strict with the rules next time - maybe remind the submitters of the rules if they happen to miss some, so they can make corrections.
Do you want to extol the virtues of a non-compliant entry, or encourage participation and recognition for those who managed to stay within bounds…as they were meant to?
Edit- add…apart from your own assessment given to this one entry, is it not conceivable that its stature in your mind was afforded by its inclusion of space that it was not to have?
For whatever it is worth, my opinion is : just leave ut in.
I voted for it, fully aware of the fact that it was 12x12 instead of 10x12. Voter ahead of me commented that it was 12x12, too. It is a nice bedroom layout, even though it is for a bigger bedroom (24 square foot bigger than the contest).
After all - it doesn’t cost actually anyone anything to “lose” (as in “not get the most votes”) in this contest.
Next time, if we want to avoid such controversies, just enforce whatever rules are agreed upon when receiving submissions, before they are posted.
And maybe simplify voting instructions - seems like people are voting in all kinds of ways.
What I am looking forward to is not so much the voting as the discussion/analysis of layouts after the voting is over.
I say leave it be at this point. It is one thing to notice it before it was posted for the general public to vote. But at this point I would leave it alone. Plus then we can have an excuse when we don’t win.
I would have won if it wasn’t for the @@#$ layout that was too big/door in the wrong place/ etc.
But is it fair to those who made the effort to stay within the confines of the contest to leave entries that clearly defied even the most minimal criteria?
This is why I asked Chip for a post voting deconstruction of the various esigns.
I would like to hear from the designers why they did what they did, was it an oversite or a direct blowoff to the rules? Did they have a 12x12 room at home and this was a design tool for planning for it? If so I might be more inclined to let it slide, but I think that is important to determine the root cause.
I personally didn’t consider the 12 x 12 for voting because it was clearly oversized, nor the ones that I could not determine where the access door was.
It’s not a simple solution like Autobus’s layout where a simple mirroring of the plan resolves the issue or the layout that clearly states in its description that the door has been simply removed from its hinges, the opening itself remains in the correct place leaving a rather long duckunder, but thats the designers choice. These layouts are still within the assigned footprint and its clear where the door is.
As someone in the design/construcion biz, to go outside of that footprint the designer had pretty darn well have a good reason for doing. If I have a bedroom I want to remodel and a $10K budget and the designer comes back with a proposal to add 24 sq.ft. and add $20K to the budget, it had better be a really really darn good plan he’s pitching. Otherwise it’s take a walk. Sorry but thats the real world.
Right now I’m leaning toward tomikawaTT’s battleship idea. Two tallies. One for with the dqed layouts and one without. Since there’s no $$ involved, it will just allow us to see how the chips fell.
A lot of the responsibility is mine as well. If I had not been so far behind, I wouldn’t have let the layouts slide by. As it was, I was in so much of a hurry, I just wanted to get it done before another titmouse appeared.
Rules are rules. Without them, it’s not much of a contest. Since you are also a contestant and would feel uncomfortable if you won, I would turn the decision over to a well respected person or, even better, panel of forum members and let them make the decision. Their decision would be final.
Chip - since this was just for some ‘serious’ fun, I would agree with your thoughts here: one tally for overall regardless and one for just those that complied with room specs,etc. There are lots of good ideas in the entire collection of entries no matter if the author followed the ‘rules’ or not.
Leave em be. There was a great deal of ballast weighting these plans, labor put in and the contest should stand.
Let us weigh the plans based on thier offerings and leave off the battleship size and weight. Some are heavier, others fatter and a couple have glass jaws.