For newbies: Rules, and an example

[Jed Hartman]

I'd add two notes regarding voting:

o  Voters may use any criteria they like in determining which defs to 
award points to.  My usual approach is to award 2 points to my 
favorite def (often the funniest or most entertaining), and 1 point 
to the def that I consider most likely to be real (I'm usually wrong 
anyway).  I think most people give 2 points to the one they think is 
most likely to be real, though.

o  You can vote even if you don't submit a definition.  I, for 
instance, have not submitted a definition since the Great Flood 
(that's the Great Flood of Elbowville, Indiana, in 19 aught and 23), 
but I vote reasonably often.  Of course, if you don't submit a 
definition it's impossible for you to win, but you can still 
contribute to determining the winner.

Oh, also: though it's true that the word-chooser may decide on any 
voting method, people generally stick to standard methods.  (Either 
the 2/1 system, or the traditional one-player-one-vote single-point 
system.)  I don't think anyone's run a round with a nonstandard 
voting system anytime in the past year or so -- which, I should note, 
suits me just fine.  (This is far better than certain *other* games, 
in which people feel obliged to come up with newer and stranger 
voting systems on every round, because it focuses more on rewarding 
good definitions (for some definition of "good") and less on hurting 
your brain trying to figure out what effect, if any, your vote will 
have.)

--jed