Three of the most common questions that we get asked during the Blogging for Progress Scholarship contests are: "How many points do I have?," "Where do I stand?," and "Who is winning?" Well, here are some partial answers to your questions.
We are just under one month into the contest, and things are still very close; nobody is way out in front, and at least two dozen of you are within striking distance of the lead. Here are the top ten scorers as of October 30, in alphabetical order: amithystblade, Colin Gerber, goosebusterfan, JDZakarin, jenna tynan, nasrink, nolies32fouettes, pennjoe, Rachel Setzer, and redneck hunter2022.
As you can tell if you have read posts or comments from these members, they represent a huge range of perspectives. We recognize that it can be challenging reading opinions that are vastly different from your own and receiving critiques of your writing. But we hope that you came to ProgressiveU for more than just a chance to shout into an echo chamber.
About a week ago one of our members, who was a leader in the Fall BfP competition at the time, decided to withdraw from the competition and have us delete all of her posts. This despite the fact that she had received thousands of reads on her blog and she had posted more than 75 comments herself. Her reason? She felt that some people who were commenting and posting weren't progressive. She was so stressed out that she felt she needed to quit.
Don't let this happen to you! If you find a post or comment truly objectionable, flag it. If you get too wrapped up in what others are saying, take a break. Don't let this consume you to the point where you want to run away and never come back. Blogging can be challenging, but it also opens up possibilities that you may not ordinarily get in everyday school life.
Back to the points questions. We don't post point totals for the leaders during the semester. This is because we need to do a thorough review at the end of the contest, and every semester there are cases where posts are disqualified due to violations of the rules. Also, bonus points are awarded at the end of the contest for certain bonus opportunities, and this is a manual process performed by the ProgressiveU team. Don't forget that one great bonus opportunity is the Paper Fight!
However, there is some other good news. Many have been asking for a way to see your own point total, even if you cannot see how many points others have. We will be rolling out a feature that allows you to see your points. Look for it in the next week.
In the meantime, happy blogging!
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