AOWL Rules & Regulations

[Split Eight]

**Rules and Regulations**


Official AOWL Rules

Moderators: Frank, Split Eight (Dr. Dog), Adonis


Basic Competition Rules


AOWL:The Art of Writing League. The best competitive creative writing league in both talent and activity on the site for the past four years.


Rundown

• Sixteen Week Schedule
• First Champ Match will be Week 4
• Fourteen Participants make playoff (Subject to change, Highly Unlikely.)
• Any member who does not drop a single vote will be signed out for the following week.
• In general, a minimum of three votes are expected of league members. Three votes are required for sign-ins, links will be required for you to get a match.
• If you are unsure whether or not a competitor will show, and wish not to waste a verse, you may PM your verse to me BEFORE the deadline, in which case I will alert your opponent and withhold the verse until they post OR I receive their verse, at which point the verses will be posted and the matches will open for voting.
  

Deadlines:

• Verses will be due Monday at 11:59 p.m. Western / or Tuesday 2:59 Am Eastern / 7:59AM UK . There are no Extensions. No exceptions.
• Verses must be a minimum of 10 Lines and maximum of 48 Lines or 650 words unless agreed upon by both competitors.
• Votes will be due Thursday at 11:59 p.m. Western / or Friday 2:59 Am Eastern / 7:59AM UK.
  
• Shutout battles will be closed when voting reaches 6-0, or at 5-0 on Monday, under moderators discretion
• In the event of a tie at the voting deadline, battles will be left open in a "next vote wins format".

Voting:

• Each competitor must vote on at least three battles and post either links or reference in designated thread. In the event there are less than three battles a competitor can vote on, the competitor MUST vote on all open battles or give feed for the no-show artists. (a no-show feed counts as a half vote, only left open if necessary.)
• Anyone who wins but does not meet three vote criteria will be docked the same amount of votes going into the following round. (meaning you would start off with negative votes), However, they will be given the opportunity to give make-up votes the following week.
• Votes must be explained with common competitor courtesy. If a competitor flags a vote and MOD agrees, the vote must be expanded in more depth or it will not count, both towards said battle and competitors voting requirements.

Disqualifications:

• Direct plagiarism or, using another authors words is an immediate loss and possible site ban.
• Recycling, use of previous works will not be allowed, you will be given a loss and signed-out for the next week. Recycling during playoffs= immediate forfeiture
• Editing verse, after deadline or after the first vote = a loss.
• Swaying, in excess will not be tolerated. You will be warned once, if you continue to sway you will be disqualified immediately.
• Exceeding line length, (unless competitors agree). If the agreement is not public the thread will be closed until the competitors are contacted by the MODs.

Playoffs: Following Sixteen Week Regular Season



Seeding

• End of Season Champion will receive #1 overall seed
• Seeding will be record based beyond that. We are trying to promote activity, so given that statement
• Wins will be accounted for as first tie breaker meaning 6-0 is better then 5-3. However, 6-0 is not better then 6-1 as amount of weeks participated weigh higher then strength of schedule.
  
  
  Tie Breakers - Regarding seeding
  
• Head to Head Competition
• Similar Opponents
• Overall Vote Differential
• Strength of Wins. (Better wins over higher seeds)

Automatic Playoff Bids

• Anyone who has twelve verses and voted each week.
• Any Regular Season Title Holder

It is your duty as a league competitor to be familiar with these rules, as henceforth they shall serve as the basis for all moderator decisions. It is our duty as moderators to enforce rules to the letter of the law. These are locked & stickied for the benefit of all involved


**Anything not covered by these rules will be decided by Split, Adonis, and Innovator, and Frank Please contact one of us if you wish for us to elaborate on the rules, if you believe that a rule should be changed, or if you have a suggestion for an additional rule.**