November is here, and with it inexorably comes...

THE IRON NODER CHALLENGE

Do you have what it takes to join the ranks of the IRON?

Really, it's simple: Write 30 things worth reading in 30 days.

The mines are ferrous, dark, and deep. You have nothing but your wits and your keyboard to guide you, but should you survive the journey you will earn...

The Rewards

The pursuit of ferrousness is glorious unto itself, but our garrulous gaggle of ironnoders demands that we sweeten the deal.

  • Every noder will receive 30 GP per writeup remaining at the end of the month.
  • Every noder who attains IRON NODER status will receive an additional 3000 GP.
  • NanceMuse has generously agreed to give a $20 Amazon Gift Card to the best food writeup in any category (whether story, recipe, poetry, factual, or what-have-you)
  • jessicaj will award one random, non-monetary prize if she finds a writeup that she feels has really gone above and beyond.
  • briggs will donate a free copy of his company's game, Shepherd Slaughter to anyone who achieves IRON NODER status. Winners should contact briggs directly to have the game unlocked for them.
  • moeyz will mail a small reward to all noders who participate, including Iron Voters!
  • If anyone wishes to sponsor additional rewards and prizes in specific categories, just let me know!


But lest ye be tempted to count your gold before the IRON is forged, be sure to heed...

The Rules

  • The Iron Noder Challenge begins at 00:00 (server time) on November 1, 2012, and ends at 00:00 (server time) on December 1, 2012. Writeups submitted outside that timeframe will not be considered part of the quest.
  • To join the hallowed ranks of the IRON, you must submit 30 new writeups in 30 days. The IRON NODER IDEAL is 1 per day, but we must be flexible about that to allow for normal life circumstances, days away, illness, etc. Flooding New Writeups with 30 writeups in 1 day, while legal, would be frowned upon, and the E2 userbase would probably not react well.
  • Any topic, any form, anything goes.
  • There is no minimum or maximum length for writeups. They must simply survive. Nuked nodes will not count towards your total. For this reason, final rewards will not be dispensed until a couple of days after the 30 November deadline, to allow last-minute writeups to be voted on and pass muster with the editors.
  • Thou mayest write a maximum of 5 daylogs.
  • Thou mayest prepare material in advance. However if this stops you noding for the remainder of October, this would also go against the IRON NODER IDEAL.
  • Yes, you can also do NaNoWriMo. Yes, this makes you completely insane. No, you can't have any more goodies for completing both.


If you would like to join, let me know via /msg, and I'll add you to the roster. There is nothing wrong with joining late; just don't forget to let me know!

We'll be utilizing the ironnoders usergroup for any major communications; if you're in the group now and are not on my confirmed IRON NODER list as of November 1st, you'll automatically be dropped from the group.

If you'd like to see more accurate updates than I have posted here, check out iron noder progress. It even shows which ones you've voted on!

Whether or not you're attempting the challenge, you may volunteer to read and vote on every write-up submitted in the quest. This year's panel of Iron Voters will consist of myself, NanceMuse, Tem42, jessicaj, Aerobe, raincomplex, and whoever else wants to join! (msg me!).

Good luck and remember, rust is for the weak!

Need inspiration? Try Everything's Most Wanted, Random Nodeshells, the nodeshells on jessicapierce's scratch pad, The Custodian's Nodeshells I'd Like Filled, and wertperch's nodeshell challenge. There is also a Quest for Local Knowledge running. Double points!


Iron Node(r)s

Number of participants:
24
Number of writeups:
551
Average number of writeups:
22.96
Number of IRON NODERS:
13


Below are this year's participants. For up-to-the-minute standings, check out Iron Noder Progress!

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