Ulla
I know the feeling. I started in the middle, then moved to number one position for one day, then slammed back to the middle, only to rise to fith place again, then slammed back to the middle for contest conclusion. There was one point when I reached out, asking people if they would read my essay. Bad idea. They punished me for it.
Its not a pure contest. There is plenty of strategising beyond merely writing of a good essay.
The FQXi system wouldnt let me rate other peoples essays in the final days of the contest. This also happened to me last year. it became clear to me this year, that if I was unable to give people what they prospectively wanted, that is to say "a reciprocal read and rate of each others essays" then they were much less likely to read my essay. I was handicapped in my ability to engage with others in a fashion that could draw traffic and votes to my essay. Frustrating to go to all that work, then be disadvantaged by FQXi's system failure in the final days.
I sent them a letter about it both years, but havent had a response to date.
Steve
