Critique thread should be interesting this month.
EDIT:
Yeah the novelty value will disappear, but little of the enjoyment comes from sheer novelty. Most of it comes from the suspense, and from the shared speculation and analysis which everyone has been enjoying. None of that would go away, even if it was a regular thing.
The only thing it restricts is people who want others to discuss their work (and are grumpy at having to wait a month while the rest of us enjoy ourselves before they can bask in people's attention
), and even that will still be able to happen after the reveal. If that's really such a deal-breaker for some, Bradley's suggestion would be a decent compromise imo. Not sure that an option to opt out would make sense, though I guess it wouldn't be a big deal.
I like
@Bradley Darewood 's suggestion also. That narrows the 30 day wait down to around 14 days. (Lets be honest, maybe its a 60 day wait for those who read submissions as they are posted!) Although, I am sure
@Anonymous would not mind to do a few edits if needed. There is a full month to write and submit changes, which is why it can be dangerous to read them before the submissions are over.
I can go either way on this, but definitely would like to see Anon subs more often. I like seeing the stories judged by the words on the page, instead of the name attached to it. Especially for the new members to the
contest club this month because it puts them on equal footing with old timers. Who wrote what? Who knows! Will will find out soon!