CookingBites Recipe Challenge Rules Revision

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

It has been brought to my attention that the success of the challenge is starting to cause problems for the judge with the large number of entries for each ingredient. As such, I am planning a revision to the rules restricting the number of entries to the challenge that an individual can make to either 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 recipes per challenge.
Given that each challenge is now roughly 3 weeks long and that most members do now make each of their recipes, What would you as a member consider a sensible limit?

 

[caseydog]

I personally have not found a large number of recipes to be a burden to me, as a judge. But, a side benefit of a limit could be that that, having to be more selective, the quality of entries would go up. I can't imagine myself ever entering more than a small number of recipes, but if I did, I would be forced to be choosy about what I entered.

CD

 

[Yorky]

I personally have not found a large number of recipes to be a burden to me, as a judge. But, a side benefit of a limit could be that that, having to be more selective, the quality of entries would go up. I can't imagine myself ever entering more than a small number of recipes, but if I did, I would be forced to be choosy about what I entered.

CD

I cannot imagine that I would ever have more than two or three entries so all the numbers appear high to me.

The challenge is unlikely to be chips!

 

[Morning Glory]

Yeah - there are currently 40 entries and still 4 days to go! A few years ago we were lucky to get ten entries. Plus, as SatNavSaysStraightOn says almost all entries are now cooked and photographed by the entrants. Its a great success story and I reckon putting a reasonable limit is sensible.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Yeah - there are currently 40 entries and still 4 days to go! A few years ago we were lucky to get ten entries. Plus, as SatNavSaysStraightOn says almost all entries are now cooked and photographed by the entrants. Its a great success story and I reckon putting a reasonable limit is sensible.

I'm hoping to get 2 in... if I can get then written up and photographed in time. Physio and a few other things are getting in the way (like rehoming a server ). It will be close to the deadline I think.

 

[caseydog]

I'm hoping to get 2 in... if I can get then written up and photographed in time. Physio and a few other things are getting in the way (like rehoming a server ). It will be close to the deadline I think.

I may get one more in, which would make two for me. I go to Houston in Wednesday, so I'll need to get my a$$ in gear.

CD

 

[Hemulen]

I voted for a smaller number (6) of challenge recipes per participant, although the original plan, I understand, was to get numerous new recipes. An increase in commands and rules may lead to the wilt of the challenge chain. The focus, I think, should not be on the judging or its complexity, but on free fun, cooking, ingenuity and stimuli. CB cooking challenges aren’t exactly Bocuse d’Or competitions and a judge can always make a draw from several self-pleasing recipes while keeping his/her/their judging reasonably fair and square. Maybe the main thing should not be culinary evaluation or victory, but new challenges and the joy of cooking.

 

[flyinglentris]

I would think that if the competition is 3 weeks long, the judge can start rating entries from the start, giving them a preferred ordering. If there should be any difficulty for a judge, it would be for a rush of entries in the last two or three days. That would happen for the people who prepare their photos and recipes just in time to get them entered. Perhaps, it is more important to get people to enter their creative cooking recipes on an on-time basis, so the judge can exercise their choices as the recipes come in, instead of capping the number.

 

[flyinglentris]

If you really want to present an argument for limiting entries, it ought to be one of the following ...

1) Providing motivation to post only a member's idea of their best recipes.
2) Eliminating the possibilities of multiple recipes by one member eclipsing what another member might have posted as a same or similar recipe and discouraging the other member from posting.

I would be foolish to say that multiple entries by members increases their odds. That's just foolish as the judge should be quite capable of recognizing a best recipe and it has always worked in the past.

Of course reducing the number of recipes able to be entered would save me some money in my budget.

 

[TastyReuben]

I like the idea of a limit and voted the high end (10), which feels like a happy medium to me. 10 is enough to really participate, but not so many that it overloads the challenge.

I wasn't here when CB first started, but my understanding is that it was a real struggle to get recipes posted to the site at all, which is what brought about the various challenges and cookalongs - a mechanism to get some recipes posted.

Well, I just did five minutes of research and went back and looked at the first challenge after I joined in 2019. Interesting how it works out for comparison, because it was for honey, and we just had a honey challenge recently.

Then, right around 20 entries. Now, well over 40, in less than two years. I'd say we reached the goal of the challenges and shattered it, and wouldn't mind a bit of a limit established. I like the idea of encouraging participants (namely, me ) to perhaps sit down and consider not just every recipe they could make, but their cream of the crop, so to speak (Hey, maybe cream for the next ingredient, I've got a good hundred recipes that use cream...no, stop it! ).

That makes my vote for a limit of 10. I'll be kissing hands and shaking babies out on the campaign trail shortly.

 

[Morning Glory]

I would think that if the competition is 3 weeks long, the judge can start rating entries from the start, giving them a preferred ordering

Trouble is, not everyone has the time to log in every day and read recipes as they get posted. Some folk are working full-time and/or have family commitments. Recently I haven't had a huge amount of time due to personal circumstances and I currently have about 15 recipes which I'm yet to read. I will catch up eventually!

 

[Morning Glory]

If you really want to present an argument for limiting entries, it ought to be one of the following ...

1) Providing motivation to post only a member's idea of their best recipes.
2) Eliminating the possibilities of multiple recipes by one member eclipsing what another member might have posted as a same or similar recipe and discouraging the other member from posting.

I agree with both these points.

 

[flyinglentris]

Trouble is, not everyone has the time to log in every day and read recipes as they get posted. Some folk are working full-time and/or have family commitments. Recently I haven't had a huge amount of time due to personal circumstances and I currently have about 15 recipes which I'm yet to read. I will catch up eventually!

What would happen, I have to ask, if 50 members all posted just one recipe? What would happen if 75 members all posted just one recipe?

How many members are actually participants in the current challenge? There are 11. They typically seem to be the same members, with the exception of maybe one or two new members.

A judge could almost ask, OK, member x posted n recipes and this is the best one they posted, thus reducing their workload.

At the same time, members find time to weed through all sorts of "What did you eat today?", chat, and so forth posts.

 

[TastyReuben]

What would happen, I have to ask, if 50 members all posted just one recipe? What would happen if 75 members all posted just one recipe?

Realistically, this hasn't happened yet and it's unlikely to happen any time soon. We're trying to address a concern that exists today.

A judge could almost ask, OK, member x posted n recipes and this is the best one they posted, thus reducing their workload.

It still requires some effort for a judge to reach that conclusion, to figure out which recipe of the n that member x posted is their best one.

At the same time, members find time to weed through all sorts of "What did you eat today?", chat, and so forth posts.

Flipping through "What Did You Eat Today?" doesn't really compare to evaluating a group of recipes for a winner; even though it's just a friendly competition, it does still require a certain amount of weighing one recipe's qualities against other recipes, and some consideration to arrive at a winner. Going through the daily cook/eat thread can be as simple as, "That looks good, I'll give them a like," and moving on to the next one. A reader can even choose to skip over dishes in that topic, so to me, those aren't the same scenarios.

 

[JAS_OH1]

I chose 8 because there have been times when I used several recipes to build an eventual final recipe, like the almond challenge where I made almond milk, almond butter, vegan chocolate pudding using the almond milk, an almond meal pie crust using the remnants from making the almond milk, an almond butter mousse, and then combining them all to make a vegan layered pie (I would have used an almond milk whipped cream across the top but that one was a fail, LOL). So that was 6 different recipes to make a final entry. I can't imagine anyone would make a final recipe using more so 8 seems like a sensible number to me. If the number of entries were to be limited to 6 or less, some entries that were being used to build something could combine two recipes into one to make it easier to sort through, so I will respectfully adhere to any changes in the challenge rules.

I do realize that many people have busier lives than I do, so maybe I would have time to judge more entries with no problems given the timeframe, but I am semi-retired and there are other forum members with full-time jobs (some that require travel), families, or are in care-giving situations where they just don't have that much time on their hands. I visit the forum every day, several times a day, and I practically live here, LOL, but some people have lives outside of this forum!