The Song Fight Bulletin Board

dear songfight, so our name is ecnalubmA, we sent you a song on saturday(stayed up too late trying to make it tight, and sunday was very tired), properlly titled, as was the email, followed the instructions on the site to the letter, and then no song posted, kinda hard to fight with no fists, anyway just wondering whats up? do you not like us or our song or are we just too darn ugly, mabey you can addd it late or something id hate to do all that work for nothing our email is--- ecnalubmAmusic@hotmail.com ---

um, what fight?

Please check your email for the following response from FightMaster, sent earlier this afternoon. FightMaster is a hard ass, I'll grant you. I'll let Spud explain your error. I have television to watch.

<b>Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 13:20:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: FightMaster <fightmaster@songfight.org>
To: shawn <baleeted for your protection>
Subject: Re: spinal tap

Please read the Song Fight FAQ.

FightMaster

On Sun, 5 Jun 2005, shawn wrote:

> Band name "ecnalubmA", song title "Lumbar Puncture"
</b>

This link may be helpful as well:

http://www.songfight.org/tips.html

Note that the subject of the email should be the name of the fight.

jb wrote:
... song title "Lumbar Puncture"

</b>

That looks like the problem. It's picky but the title should be "Spinal Tap" if that's the song submission.

Picky? That's the entire point of songfight.

john m wrote:Picky? That's the entire point of songfight.

Oh john, you silly goose. The entire point of songfight is like reviews and carebears and stuff.

...and sidetracking threads. Don't forget, sidetracking threads...

It's kinda nice to see that we got some top order rules enforcement actually.

Not that I, of all people, didn't know that already.

bortwein wrote:

jb wrote:
... song title "Lumbar Puncture"

</b>

That looks like the problem. It's picky but the title should be "Spinal Tap" if that's the song submission.

It may seem picky, but at deadline time, the fightmaster goes through all the email that comes in to his mailbox looking for the song titles for the week, and dividing up the attached songs into three piles. Almost everything else is spam. He tries to be careful, in case someone screws up, but can't catch every error or joke.

To be clear, the subject of the email WAS "spinal tap".

However, the body of the email indicated that the song was titled "Lumbar Puncture". When someone does this it's typically an indication that they don't quite get the point of Song Fight, and so they're instructed to visit the FAQ and their song is disqualified from participation.

Had this gentleman not said "Title: Lumbar Puncture" then he would have been in the fight-- at least until enough people piped up saying "this doesn't sound like it's titled Spinal Tap, sounds like it's Lumbar Puncture." But then we would've been like "But a Lumbar Puncture is a Spinal Tap shut up".

So he got DQ'ed on a technicality, but I just ran this all by FightMaster and he said, verbatim, "Fuck 'im, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Get the goddamn title right."

JB

Well, in that case, fightmaster really IS a hard ass!

That's kinda dumb. People submit songs all the time that don't use the title or are instrumentals or are speeded up versions of "Take on Me." And then there's the whole Azwel "Open Breeze" thing. At least "Lumbar Puncture" has <i>something</i> to do with a spinal tap. Let the boy play.

frankie big face wrote:That's kinda dumb. People submit songs all the time that don't use the title or are instrumentals or are speeded up versions of "Take on Me." And then there's the whole Azwel "Open Breeze" thing. At least "Lumbar Puncture" has <i>something</i> to do with a spinal tap. Let the boy play.

Yeah it only has to do with how the updates happen. If FightMaster sees something in the email message that looks like the song isn't made for the title, it trips a switch in his head, he replies quickly "Read the FAQ", deletes the message, and moves on. When people submit appropriately, but their songs are inappropriate, then it takes longer to discover and remove. It's a flaw, but a small one I think.

These dudes have responded to FM with a "see ya next week", so FightMaster will be on the lookout.

frankie big face wrote:That's kinda dumb.

No, actually it makes perfect sense. The guy was obviously just having a tiny bit of fun by using a synonym that still identifies the song but might also turn one corner of your mouth. Kind of like how I'm [still] going to write "Janjaweed (Not Ganjaweed!)" in my submission email this week. In doing so he broke some unspoken rule that cannot be gathered from the FAQ, so his song was pulled and FightMaster told him to fuck off.

Now think back through the mists of time to when FightMaster was young, wide-eyed and innocent. I recall a certain run-in with some dick from Wikipedia. FM had submitted a modification to the Wiki article on SongFight, and his tone was conversational and fun. In doing so he broke some unspoken rule that cannot be gathered from the FAQ, so his submission was pulled and a Wiki editor told him to fuck off.

What goes around comes around. I wouldn’t be surprised if ecnalubmA’s opinion of SF matches FM’s opinion of Wikipedia (although it sounds more like he has un-crushable enthusiasm. We’ll see if he keeps that after reviews next week).

hey ecnalubmA, if you're still around, why don't you upload your song somewhere and post a link in the review thread for that fight? Some people will review it, even if you're not eligible for the voting. And we'd like to hear it, if it was written for the fight!
-bill

The unwritten rule is this: The fightmaster is human.

Don't make it hard for him to recognize that you are submitting a valid entry. He is not going to personally listen to every one of them at deadline time to make a determination. He has to go on what he sees in the email, and in this case made an honest mistake, based on somewhat ambiguous information.

it's just SO hard to follow directions, especially when they are linked and plastered all over this site.

when you try to be funny, you have to understand that some people might not get it. and if you assume they will get it, well....you know what they say about people that assume.....

jack wrote:when you try to be funny, you have to understand that some people might not get it. and if you assume they will get it, well....you know what they say about people that assume.....

Exactly. And there are some jokes that you simply don't tell when on a line to board a plane.

Puce wrote:

frankie big face wrote:That's kinda dumb.

No, actually it makes perfect sense. The guy was obviously just having a tiny bit of fun by using a synonym that still identifies the song but might also turn one corner of your mouth. Kind of like how I'm [still] going to write "Janjaweed (Not Ganjaweed!)" in my submission email this week. In doing so he broke some unspoken rule that cannot be gathered from the FAQ, so his song was pulled and FightMaster told him to fuck off.

Now think back through the mists of time to when FightMaster was young, wide-eyed and innocent. I recall a certain run-in with some dick from Wikipedia. FM had submitted a modification to the Wiki article on SongFight, and his tone was conversational and fun. In doing so he broke some unspoken rule that cannot be gathered from the FAQ, so his submission was pulled and a Wiki editor told him to fuck off.

What goes around comes around. I wouldn’t be surprised if ecnalubmA’s opinion of SF matches FM’s opinion of Wikipedia (although it sounds more like he has un-crushable enthusiasm. We’ll see if he keeps that after reviews next week).

To be fair, FightMaster (yes that's ME) was polite to these dudes at all times, and never once did the term "fuck" enter an email. If you've received email from FightMaster, I'm sure you can corroborate this tendency. If these dudes had wanted to submit their song again, FightMaster would have most likely still added the song to the fight.

How many times have we entered a song late for people, fixed a problem on the site, changed things to make them cooler/better, encouraged people to participate in various ways from art to music to interviews to school papers?

<b>DO NOT FUCKING COMPARE ME TO THE MOTHERFUCKING WIKIPEDIA ASSHOLE.</b>

JB

jb wrote:(yes that's ME)

I have dreaded this day for over two years.

jb wrote:...never once did the term "fuck" enter an email. If you've received email from FightMaster, I'm sure you can corroborate this tendency.

Like ecnalubmA, after I sent in my first submission, I eagerly awaited the site update only to find that my song was not posted. I sent a polite email to see what was up and received this response: "Fuck off, you fucking fuckhead!" The note went on to say, "If I ever see you again on the street in front of my building, I'm calling the police!"

Oh, wait. Wrong email. Never mind.

jb wrote:

How many times have we entered a song late for people, fixed a problem on the site, changed things to make them cooler/better, encouraged people to participate in various ways from art to music to interviews to school papers?



JB

14,317.

Please.... please edit your post so that we don't know who the fightmaster is... the mystique...the x-files factor.. its ....fa...d...i....n........g......


I feel like Micheal J Fox in BTF. My photo is changing.

(nobody who hangs around here with 25% of a brain would ever think you guys weren't flexible...yet human. So...maybe the frequency of thanks and acknowledgement and understanding is substandard...but as much as the FM's are human, the other participants are MUSICIANS. Good lord... is that a mirror? hhhmmmm....gotta go... )