[MAG] The Tribune Vol.3 : DF Issue 5

[Lucifa]

..The Tribune : Vol. 3 : DF Issue 5..


I. Introduction
II. Weekly Poll
III. Welcome To Worth
IV. Got Life? Breaks Down DF:WK5
V. Loose Cypher
VI. Got Life? Speaks His Mind
VII. Divisional Ranks & Match-Ups
VIII. Got Life? Predicts DF:WK6
IX. Mod Balls
X. … Of The Week
XI. Competitor Profile
XII. Outroduction
Bonus. Interview With Jimmy Eles

I. Introduction

Well hello there strangers. Yes, it’s Lucifa back at the helm of The Tribune.

First things first, I would like to thank both Quriosity and Got Life? for keeping this shit together whilst TheReturn and myself have had to deal with life issues that meant we were unable to stick to our commitments by way of little net time. Q stepped in with short notice and very little knowledge of how the Divisional Format worked fully, but he did a fine job and delivered 2 good magazines for you guys. He was helped by Got Life? who is pretty much always there to lend a hand when needed and that is appreciated.

Secondly, congratulations to .:Pain:. who is our first Champion of the Divisional Format and the proud owner of the very first Champ Gauge for WK5-6.

Good luck with your first defence, unlucky to have it as a 3-way.


II. Weekly Poll

Last week’s poll of “Should the standard for new sign-ups be lowered?” was won by “No”: 10-4

Personal Opinion: I was in 2 minds over whether an opinion should be put forward from ‘us’, and didn’t do so before, but Q did in his issues and it adds to the read I guess. So, I voted “No” in this poll as I feel it really shouldn’t, as there are exceptions to the rulings given our moderator discretion anyway (vouches etc.). A reg date and post count far from guarantees the account holder will show, and we introduced the ALTERNATE system to combat the no-show problem. We still need to maintain a good look though and I will never agree that letting any and everyone sign-up is a good idea.

This week’s poll asks: “Are you feeling the Divisional Format?”


A: Yes
B: No

[Lucifa]

III. Welcome To Worth

Let’s take a look at how you guys are doing.

Here is The Worth SpreadSheet for the end of DF:WK5:

Names in black are signed out

Translated to the table format we have:

Championship:
.:Pain:. ~ The first and current Champion of the Divisional Format has been on a streak of wins that include taking down TheReturn and Scatterboxx, 2 of the favourites to take that first Champ Gauge, on route to this week’s defence of the title.
Vern Acular ~ Sitting pretty on 16pts and enters the Championship match-up with his opponent from last week, Atheist, after a tie result. Vern has always been a respected writer and is possibly the favourite to win the 3-way.
Atheist ~ Put up a good fight in last week’s Contendership match against Vern Acular and has shown plenty of promise to claim a Champ Gauge at some point soon. Maybe this could be that week?

Contendership:
Got Life? ~ What is there to say about Got Life? that people don’t already know? He’s a mainstay of the league and is eager to get his name emblazoned on that Champ Gauge, but faces a tough opponent (who has KO’d him before) in his chase for that title.
nom de plume. ~ The poetics are fire, just a shame that the fire is not there in regards to motivation and inspiration at a consistent level. I think the motivation of screwing GL? out of a Champ Match could well see him bring some heat, we shall see.

[Lucifa]

IV. Got Life? Breaks Down DF:WK5

Week 5 saw the 5th straight week of 11+ matches in the RSTL and though I came away from just about every battle with a slight tinge of disappointment the league continues to move steadily forward with our first champ declared and more great match-ups in the mix.

TeKneeK vs BaySick

This battle was horrendous and though I don’t really care to dwell on it any further than I already did when I wasted 10 minutes of my life reading it, I will say this, compared to baysick Tek looked like a monster. Tek wrote an emo teenage love story and tarnished the name of Slick Rick by saying it was written in his style. If word ever gets to Slick Rick I suspect him paying someone to bludgeon Tek for such crimes against his name. Bay wrote (if you can call that writing, more like he butchered the English language manipulating it into a pile of shit) about a guy abusing his dog. Both competitor’s (if they’re worthy of even being called that) also pretty much didn’t vote or might as well have not as Tek’s breakdowns were sketchy at best and BaySick just avoided the process all together (probably due to a faulty reading comprehension level). Dare I say RICO would have KO’d BaySick.

basic|s|kill vs 3-Planes

Thought it didn’t change the outcome of this match Q decided that oneiric’s only vote which was for 3-pa counted though it should never have been the case…Q stop being a lazy bitch…this match was a joke from 3-pa’s end who has turned into quite the amusing character of late while spewing complete bullshit in his own verses, but being a pretty good and pretty consistent voter. His verse had something to do with religion and then he turned it into a comedic/homo-erotic piece where Catholicism was fondling his ass after he became a born again Christian. Basic wrote from two perspectives of “the most popular girl in school” about how the in crowd hated her and about how she hated the pressure of having to stay little miss perfect. Had he actually expanded upon the piece it could have been a pretty cool concept. Though basic won, he didn’t have the decency to return the favor of giving people feedback by voting, I think if this continues stricter punishment should be considered for people that continue to not vote, this being basic’s second week in a row of doing this.

Saga vs Lucifa

This was probably one of the battles that really disappointed me the most this past week. Saga wrote about a guy who was a drug addict and naturally by default a piss poor father. While being forced into a jam he ends up killing his mother in order to somehow profit and keep things moving along. This would be almost a shoe-in for worst verse of the week had BaySick not been competing this past week. Lucy swept Saga however his verse was pretty bad as well. It was a vendetta piece in regards to the people that threatened his son and his ploy for vengeance. It wasn’t really delivered well and the back story was not developed at all so for those that didn’t pay attention to what’s been going on in Lucy’s life this was almost a shot in the dark. The piece followed a broken up progression that probably seemed clear in Lucy’s head, but alas in this we find the problem of doing pieces based on personal life without building them properly. One last comment, Saga is an asshole for not even bothering to vote when at least 5 others forced themselves through reading the slop that he produced.

Lotus vs _KDP_

No matter what I say about this Lotus will bitch and moan, though it’s funny he finds time to make threads in the hook-ups and sit there all weekend trying to save face for writing a suicide verse, but he doesn’t find the time to vote on any of the matches. You sir are a piece of shit, mmk…thanks! While this match resulted in a tie that was only because KDP decided to mock Calibre aka rhyminghood in his verse which is a topic that only some of us can relate to/appreciate being that it’s not really RSTL related. At the end of the day I think he’ll stick to shitting on people like BaySick and Lotus from now on rather than heads outside of the RSTL.

Bonnie vs Got Life?

Bonnie and I met again, except this time instead of only me disappointing, we both did. Bonnie wrote a verse about a girl seeing a guy in despair at a bus stop. As she tries to find out what it is that causes all these woes in his life he slits his wrists. The girl gets on the bus and watches as she rides off leaving the dying boy there on the side of the road only to then awake realizing it was all just a dream. Honestly I read it and knew I didn’t have to do too much to win, with that said I let a lot of people down with my verse. I wrote of a father who thinks that killing his wife will somehow better the life of his daughter. He feels that if he also kills himself and the daughter inherits a trust fund she’ll be better off with the money rather than two parents. (I didn’t really establish the money concept, guess that would have made things clearer for you) As he has the gun in his mouth with his wife already dead he realizes that his daughter is better off with parents than with money though it is a little to late with his wife already dead, though they still walk away from the scene. We all realize it is inevitable that none of this can end well though for the moment things were fine. With loss in hand Bonnie failed to vote though I saw that she was in fact around during the weekend, shame on you.

[Lucifa]

IV. Got Life? Breaks Down DF:WK5 cont..

Cormier vs Nomsy

In what was probably the biggest clash of styles we saw PR's champ Corm go up against non other than Nomsy de plume and the pen name turned out the victor in a rather good, but overlooked match up. One thing this demonstrated was that matches requiring extensions tend to get overlooked by most voters, in this case I was so busy this weekend that I did not get around to it, but those that did saw the following. Corm wrote a rather creative piece about aliens capturing dinosaurs and running tests on them in search of intelligence on earth. With no conclusive evidence of intelligence they cause a big bang which wipes away the dinosaurs. The piece further hints that the aliens returned to build the pyramids as well. It was a very creative piece and probably one of the better ones that Corm had written. On the other hand you have Nomsy who wrote a piece that was based around Poyais and MacGregor, the problem with this being that I think he was the only one that actually knew anything on the subject. I felt that voters were quite generous in voting for nom even after having to actually look up what his piece was about. For me things have to be explained by the writer for me to merit a vote...regardless Nom went on to win in one of the better matches of the week.

Scatterboxx vs Pain

Most readers obviously found this match to be a lot closer than I did however in the end the first champ crowned this week was Pain. While Inf was buzzing around informing me that he was upset with the way that I voted, he ironically chose not to vote since he saw that he had lost. I find it funny how motherfuckers are quick to pull such bitch moves. Anyways, Inf wrote a verse about his troubled youth hinting that with this we now see how crazy it is and thus with this died the death of an illusion as to him being a normal straight edge guy. This to me just shows how many hard drugs Inf actually does because I don’t think anyone in their right mind has ever presumed that Inf is a normal guy that doesn’t sit around absolutely abusing the shit out of just about anything he could find. In fact, I’m almost sold on the fact that it’s people like Inf that have driven policy to get so crazy that I have to provide my drivers license when purchasing Nyquil from the local CVS. Pain strayed from his normal rep of topical writing this week and actually put together a nice little story for us. It started out with a teenage pregnancy tale that took a twist when both the mother and grandmother of the little girl tried to get her to hate her father. As a result the father catches onto their ploy killing both the grandmother and the mother, walking away with his daughter hoping to free her mind from the shackles put in place by the now deceased women that controlled her life. It wasn’t the most overwhelming champ match, but it was still definitely one of the better matches of the week.

Vern vs Atheist

In my eyes this stole the thunder from any other match and was the match of the week. Vern posted early and dropped a verse that while it had a few places here and there were wording wasn’t the best, his piece touched on the topic of Greek mythology (not something you see week-in/week-out) and it also had a great message at the end of the piece about how society evolved and became dark and dreary, obviously not the vision that Prometheus had intended. Beyond that though was the fact that we conveniently turned our back on this tale because it no longer suited our goals and thus nothing is sadder than the death of that illusion. Atheist was not to be outdone though; he wrote a piece that was a storyteller’s wet dream (in certain parts). The descriptions, emotions, and dialogue were so vivid that you were transported directly into the scene of a police officer who finds his daughter mangled and brutalized. We’re left on the edge of our seats waiting to find out the end result of what happened as Atheist hit us with a to be continued. From past experience I know he’s a man that delivers on his word so I hope to see the end result of this past week’s verse in this week to come.

Guttso vs Sound

Neither voted…neither deserves any further mention.

Q vs SacriFICE

Wow…I just saw the outcome of this…my opinion…HIGHWAY ROBBERY! Q’s verse was very mundane with the flow, I don’t know how people find it to be so smooth, to me it’s extremely robotic, all of his lines are so rigid it just becomes monotone. His verse started out in one direction and then went into a story of a boy obsessing over his mother so he kills his father and eats part of him while feeding the other part of him to birds in the park. While the gore element to this piece made for pretty cool imagery this piece presented exactly what I consider mindless gore in hopes to save a piece that otherwise had no direction. Sac on the other hand wrote one of the smoothest flowing top notch mechanical pieces I’ve seen in a while. Not only that, but his message was about being the change you want to see in the world. It was about not settling in for the mundane 9 to 5 and hoping that working for the bare minimum you’ll somehow climb the corporate ladder, instead you need to think outside the box and help yourself and the world evolve. Apparently the concept of thinking continues to be a little difficult for voters throughout the league. I know this came down to the wire, but yeah…I think this is a bit ridiculous.


And that concludes my breakdowns for the past week, if you don’t like how I write them, take the hour out of your day and write them instead.

Toodles motherfuckers.

[Lucifa]

V. Loose Cypher

A good week in general with yet again, 2 bonus points being made available to everyone willing to make the votes needed. It was a shame we did suffer the most no-shows the Divisional Format has seen, but it was bound to happen. However, even with that in mind we still had 11 matches open and 2 verses that didn’t face opponents due to not alternating and suffering no-shows. So this week sees fewer competitors than recent week but still a solid amount that shits all over our ‘rival’ (lol@that term) league.

Now on to my Top 5 of the week:

For DF:WK5

Top Match: [DF:WK5] Eye-Rime vs SacriFICE (Vote!)
A great battle of both Topical vs Story and Mechanics vs Substance. SacriFICE produced a wonderful piece of writing that just lacked cohesiveness for some voters (myself included) to really appreciate fully the content behind the great delivery. Whilst Eye-Rime gave us a warped story that had solid enough mechanics to make the read both enjoyable and understandable. A tight battle by all accounts and a pleasure to read.

Top Verse: SacriFICE : Link
How can I opt for the guy I voted against in his battle? Easy, cos I want to! I feel I voted for the verse I thought deserved it based on weighing up that match and don’t retract that vote. However, I can’t deny how hard a vote it was and how impressed I was with Sac’s actual writing. A highly entertaining read by way of the mechanics and after a couple of reads more things begin to click as far as the content goes. A real nice verse that lost in the match-up but takes my top spot.

Top Voter: Lucifa
I win again! Well, it was a flip between myself and Got Life? as not many people went beyond 5 votes last week. It isn’t about quantity as Jimmy Eles proved, and I feel I gave good breakdowns and reasoning behind my full quota of votes (and don’t think I voted for many losers either).

Top Competitor: SacriFICE
This guy talks knowledge and truth. His votes were solid and his verse proved he knows what he’s talking about when breaking down other people’s work. He may have lost his match last week but he took it like a man and moved on ready to snag another Early Bird point this week, showing an eagerness to simply write and compete whilst not letting the dramas of a league system enter his mind frame. Some of you can do with using this guy as a role model or some shit.

Top Dog: .:Pain:.
He’s the man to beat. 5-0 with all his match-ups going to votes and then capping it off by taking the first Champ Gauge of the Divisional Format. Beating respected writers in the process and proving that he’s a force to be reckoned with in the RSTL. Will have a tough job in holding this Top Dog spot with his 3-way defence of the title though.

[Lucifa]

VI. Got Life? Speaks His Mind

Cliché Much?

As the weeks keep moving forward I’ve really been drawn into thought about this. Can someone really sit there and just keep rehashing the same thing over and over and will the audience care. I guess it really all boils down to who it is that you are. Before I delve into that lets outline what some of the biggest clichés are throughout the league.

The suicide piece…this has been done, beaten, battered, and killed as far as how to do it and the emotional draw of these pieces is usually about as intriguing as playing musical chairs without taking away any chairs at a nursing home for crippled midgets…actually that would probably be a more interesting site, at least for the first 3 minutes until one of them crapped themselves, but seriously…who hasn’t written one of these and who isn’t sick of them? For special dumbass of the week Lotus who thinks he was original in “killing himself” many ways in his verse I’d like to point him in the direction of Cage – Suicidal Failure…something I’m sure he’s heard because he’s an angry white rapper. Anyway, moving on…if you disagree please let me know, but can we file this shit under DO NOT REHASH.

The rape verse…we all know I can’t get this rant put in the mag unless I bash myself a bit as well and lets face it, I’ve killed rape verses to shit…Whether it’s a clown raping little girls, a brother raping his sister, father his daughter, or just a random chance encounter rape…the latter being the more realistic and probably being the type least covered…why is it that to draw on human emotion/suffering or to show the emotions moreso of a woman do all of us have to have her as a rape victim. The only thing I can say in defense of this is it seems like every other girl I meet was raped one way or another, still this is a topic that I’d like to read less and less because it’s been done so many times over.

The love story…Romeo and Juliet anyone? Why is it that every pair of lovers that cross paths in the RSTL are fated towards one cliché or another…it’s either the Cinderella tale of happily ever after where everything seems to work out flawlessly and we’re carried upon the ooo’s and awww’s of the piece or they meet a tragic fate…No matter how beautifully done these pieces start to really run dry as time after time you see the exact same things develop…the only thing that changes is a few details in the plot line, a name here and there, and the character development that’s put into play.

Then there’s my favorite…the Gore verse…I’ve actually stayed away from these as of late because I catch shit every single time I throw one out there at you…it seems like everyone has an issue with me writing in my niche…anyways…this always ends in the same route…take your victim and torture them in the most vicious way that you can interpret…the more vomit gag inducing effects you can muster the better…while these pieces can offer some fresh imagery they seem to be beaten to death both by the fact that people are tired of all the blood and guts and by the fact that often time there seems to be very little motive and all the meaningless murder gets a little boring.

Here’s another one that founds it’s way back last week…”and then I woke up”…out of all the cookie cutter endings nothing leaves a more sour taste in the mouth of a veteran RSTL reader than a verse that builds and builds and builds and once you finally reach that moment of climax where everything is falling apart you’re hit in the end with “and then I woke up” or some rendition referring that the whole thing was a dream…this kind of piece is a cheap cop-out for someone that just can’t write a better ending and undermines the value of the entire piece up to that point. This is a major no-no in my book.

The emo piece…there’s nothing wrong with writing a piece that resonates with human emotion, but when you’re verse starts to remind readers of something from Taking Back Sunday or whatever other gay queer ass emo band you listen to then you need to stop before forcing me to regurgitate all over your shiny yellow shoes…these pieces tend to carry a very whiny tone to them and have very forced and cliché imagery which go great hand in hand with an already cliché approach to a given topic, usually a broken hope, a heartache, something to do with teenagers or lonely children.

Last but not least on my list is the personal reflection piece…this is something most writers will get crucified for when they decide to deliver something along these lines…if you don’t why it’s because no one cares to relate to your life the same way you do…people care about themselves, if you can’t develop a story that entertains others or creates elements that they can relate to, they will not care for this. Don’t bore us with how you played dungeons and dragons…I couldn’t give less of a fuck.

I’m sure there are more examples that just aren’t coming to my head right at the moment, but this list should suffice enough the fact that people need to tone down all the cliché pieces and try to approach something with more of an entertainment factor…I understand that originality is dead and no longer really exists, but that doesn’t mean that creativity is dead…there’s still plenty of topics out there that aren’t really approached much which could be flipped into something that’ll make for a more interesting read.

Push the envelope people.

This is a fucking writing league.

[Lucifa]

VII. Divisional Ranks & Match-Ups

You can find detailed information by Clicking Here.

This is how both divisions rank now:



DF:WK6 Match-Ups:


.:Pain:. (Champ) vs Vern Acular vs Atheist

Got Life? vs nom de plume.

1. Lucifa vs 2. Bonnie Bathory
3. Jimmy Eles vs 4. Saga
5. basic|s|kill vs 6. TeKneeK
7. DaAlmightyDolla vs 8. oNeiRiC
9. 3-Planes vs 10. -Atreyu- vs 11. BaySick


1. Cormier vs 2. Scatterboxx
3. _KDP_ vs 4. Eye-Rime
5. Sound vs 6. SacriFICE
7. Chin Kwon vs 9. Restproof
8. Khoi NguJin vs 10. MC M-16 vs 11. Lotus

[Lucifa]

VIII. Got Life? Predicts DF:WK6

I tend to be either deadly accurate or completely off the mark when it comes to things of this nature, but I’ll take my stab at the predictions none the less. I do have one absolute guarantee pick this week and I will hold to my word if that falls through however painful it may be for me.

.:Pain:. (Champ) vs Vern Acular vs Atheist

This will be a complete clash of styles and I’m really intrigued in seeing how it’ll go down. One thing I can tell you off the bat is that all 3 will write really good verses. How it will break down though is Pain’s style will be too much in between to where he won’t really draw any votes. Vern will be a bit off the wall and might draw in a little more intrigue, but it will actually be the storytelling of Atheist with his style of writing that will win this. It’s no secret that people have instantly taking a loving to his style and though I feel Tek’s vote was bullshit and Atheist landed in here by a little bit of luck, it won’t be luck that will put him as the proud owner of the 2nd champion gauge since the divisional format has been implemented. This match is Atheist’s to lose in my eyes.

Got Life? vs nom de plume.

I’ve long awaited the chance to rematch nomsy and while he got the better of me the first time around I don’t suspect the same problem this week. My idea is already in place and if I can get Lucy to vote for me then we know I’m in the clear. Nom has in his favor his unconventional style, but I think poetics will not edge out storytelling when both are delivered on a similar level.

1. Lucifa vs 2. Bonnie Bathory

In my eyes Bonnie got lucky two weeks in a row beating me then Lucy, both of us no where near the peaks that we normally write at. This past week I showed that it doesn’t take your A game to beat Bonnie and I expect Lucy to do enough things right to avenge a loss that he didn’t want to take, but was forced into by circumstance. The interesting question though is whether Bonnie will somehow remain in the red contendership match after losing to Lucy of will she continue to lurk atop the division remaining forever a bride’s maid, never a bride.

3. Jimmy Eles vs 4. Saga

I really don’t look forward to reading this match at all, I can’t see much good coming from it, both writers are very hit or miss and decent at best. I’ll give the edge to Saga because he seems to have a slight edge when he doesn’t delve into obscurity.

5. basic|s|kill vs 6. TeKneeK

The old man really should come away with this as Tek has made a career for himself beating up on C grade average writers, but if he produces the same crap that he did last week and calls it Slick Rick’s style then the God’s of hip hop will throw lightning bolts at him, smite him down, and force him to lose. Either way, this one is in Tek’s hands…basic is forced to be a bystander waiting to see which TeKneeK will emerge this week.

7. DaAlmightyDolla vs 8. oNeiRiC

The past few weeks when I read Dolla’s verses he seemed to be more at home with writing things that actually entertained readers. He strayed a bit from his desire to be the clown prince and from his obscure attempts at creativity, instead he delivered verses that actually built upon the characters, considering this and seeing oneiric’s last piece in the RSTL, this should be a clean sweep for Dolla.

9. 3-Planes vs 10. -Atreyu- vs 11. BaySick

3-PA predicted this to be the biggest shit show in the history of the RSTL. I am honestly very hard pressed to disagree with that in any way, shape, or form. 3-PA is hell bent on writing verses that are about his ass, I guess this week he puts peanut butter in his ass and has his trusty German Sheppard eat out his asshole (you’re welcome for the idea 3-pa)…Atreyu will write something that makes people think he’s either an alien or a robot and BaySick will enduce vomit and also conclude a decisive motion where the members of the RSTL will chip in to either get him hooked on phonics or pay a hacker to block his internet access from logging into rm. Out of the mess I think Atreyu might just prevail as the winner, though the peanut butter/dog act might just win over as a quality comedy.

1. Cormier vs 2. Scatterboxx

This could actually be an interesting match up…Corm has shown that he is more inclined to produce interesting stories, but his mechanics haven’t necessarily been up to par week-in/week-out…at the same time we know that Inf pretty much hides behind his mechanics, I think the popularity of Inf and the fact that he’d dread losing two weeks in a row will propel him to victory, but don’t be surprised if this back fires.

3. _KDP_ vs 4. Eye-Rime

Q hasn’t impressed me since his return and he seems out of focus. Also his latest comment in the topics thread suggests that he’s yet again struggling with an idea for a verse, considering this I see KDP pulling past Q in a match that a few months earlier Q would have in the bag. KDP is the wildcard in this one, but it’s his match to lose. You can expect a rectangle of 64 bars from Q, that much is for certain.

5. Sound vs 6. SacriFICE

This will be one of the bigger blowouts of the week, Sac already has his verse written according to his commentary in the topics thread and he’s mechanically one of the most flawless writers in the league, combine that with his exceptional rhyming and I think Sound would be better off trying to get a polished verse done for next week and just phoning this one in, this is my sure bet of the week. If Sac doesn’t win I won’t kill off a single person in any of my verses for a whole 10 weeks. Maybe that will spark some people ghosting for Sound, but regardless, my prediction stands.

7. Chin Kwon vs 9. Restproof

I have a strong inkling that Restproof is actually Baron, if that’s the case Chin goes down down baby like lesbian foreplay. In all other cases I think Chin does enough to win, though he needs to expand to become a better writer.

8. Khoi NguJin vs 10. MC M-16 vs 11. Lotus

Looking at this match up it’s pretty apparent that it will come down to Khoi vs Lotus, but based on what I’ve seen I think Lotus should finally pull away with a win this week. If he continues bitching and moaning every week when someone votes against him though he will very quickly earn himself the title of PMS’er of the month…he’s currently the front runner for the award.

With that kids…I conclude this week’s crystal ball. If you don’t like reading what I have to predict, by all means feel free to write this segment yourselves and I’ll indulge in the added free time.

[Lucifa]

IX. Mod Balls

This is going to be a bit of rambling in general as there a few things that need covering in this edition of Mod Balls. Before I start I want to point out that this will mention no names and some of you will know that this is either about or not about you. However, I hope you will ALL read it and make sure you’re playing by the rules and are clear on things. It’s minor problems that crop up too often and become annoying from a moderator point of view as we’re constantly having to repeat ourselves. So…

Time To Rant

First up ~ VOTING: The rules state 2 lines of feedback per writer/verse and then the vote. This is really not hard to understand and follow, so we really shouldn’t be having votes being disqualified for not meeting this simple rule stipulation. The points are there as an added incentive to cast votes, but they won’t be surrendered cheaply. Up your voting game guys!

Next ~ ALTERNATING: Why are people still not opting to alternate when they check in to match-ups? The only people void of alternating are those involved in the League Contendership and Championship matches. Whilst the Divisional Contenderships are only available to alternate with highly ranked opponents. These things should be pretty obvious to you guys, but just thought I’d make that clear. As for the rest of the ranks within the divisions, I see no reason why you wouldn’t be opting in to the alternate system to make sure your verse gets feedback and you have the chance to earn more points. This system should be embraced, not ignored.

Leading nicely to ~ POINTS: As it is right now, TheReturn is unable to give us the time he has been lately and Quriosity is adjusting to the Divisional Format himself, after leaving it to TR and myself to get it going. This leaves a lot on my doorstep and I’m only human, thus can make mistakes. However, I’m not too hot-headed to admit and correct any error that is bought to my attention and I see the mistake (agree something needs correcting). Sometimes I will miss something, other times it may be a simple ‘typo’ but as long as you come correct in drawing my (or another mods) attention to an error, it will be dealt with asap. Once the problem has been reviewed and a decision has been made on what becomes of it, that is the end of the matter. The error will be corrected or you will be told why it isn’t an error. Move on from that or risk becoming the victim of moderator discretion on suspending your participation within the league.

And finally ~ YOUR INPUT: I’ve discussed this in a previous Mod Balls segment, but it appears it needs to be said again. This league revolves around you guys. You make it work! Moderators come and go, but the league remains as long as there is interest from competitors. Moderators aren’t paid or given any special treatment for doing this ‘job’ and we would appreciate it if people remembered that. As far as I’m concerned I think TR and myself, and now Q, have done a good job of reviving this league. We’re getting numbers that no other topical text league is seeing and I often see us having more views than the RBL. That is not down to us mods, that is down to you lot. We’ll do what we can as good as we can, but 3 people do not make a ‘league’. With all that said, however, some of you aren’t giving as much as you’re taking from the RSTL. People are slapping up verses and receiving plenty of feedback but not going out and submitting votes/feedback themselves. People are quick to moan about topics yet won’t submit a single fucking image/title/quote/scenario for us to select from. Just as your level of input affects your point tallies, your level of input makes or breaks this league. It’s up to you.

All in all I think we’ve rocked the shit out this forum since the Divisional Format began and it makes me smile to see us breaking the 10 open battle thread mark, week in and week out. That shit is down to the mods and competitors working well together and having a vibrant forum pumped with activity. I’ve never had any doubt that this is the BEST text topical league on the net, and I think the last month or so has really shown that the RSTL kills it. Fuck a ‘rival’ league. We run this shit.
Keep it up guys.

[Lucifa]

X. Bonnie Bathory’s …. Of The Week

Honey Of The Week
Robyn Fly









Music Video Of The Week
El-P ~ Flyentology




Random Video Of The Week
Miss Hight Time 2008 Swimsuit Video




Joke Of The Week

There was a student who was desirous of taking admission for a study course.

He was smart enough to get through the written test, a GD and was to appear for the personal interview. Later, as the interview progressed, the interviewer found this boy to be bright since he could answer all the questions correctly. The interviewer got impatient and decided to corner the boy.

"Tell me your choice," said he to the boy, "What's your choice: I shall either ask you ten easy questions or ONE real difficult. Think well before you make up your mind."

The boy thought for a while and said, "My choice is ONE real difficult question."

"Well, good luck to you, you have made your own choice!" said the man on the opposite side. Tell me: What comes first, Day or Night?"

The boy was jolted first but he waited for a while and said: "It's the DAY, sir."

"How???????" the interviewer was smiling ("At last, I got you!" he said to himself.)

"Sorry sir, you promised me that you will not ask me a SECOND difficult question!"

Admission for the course was thus secured.

Boom!

[Lucifa]

XI. Competitor Profile

Profile of: Vern Acular aka vada aka Life_Support

Selected Image: [img]*Coming Soon*[/img]

Accumulated Worth: 017pts

Link To Self-Written Proudest RSTL Verse: I can’t find the link for the verse but heres the link to the actual song…
it’s called Let Me Tell You : MySpace.com - Eulogy - WILMINGTON, North Carolina - Hip Hop / R&B / Rap - www.myspace.com/eulogy46

Self Reflection:
Well I don’t self rate myself I leave that up to you guys. But my strong points are well…again I’ll leave that up for you all to decide. My weak points are definitely lack of motivation and laziness. I’m a huge procrastinator but, when I am actually motivated watch out. I’ve got 12 titles and atleast one with each of my alias. I’d say I’m the most active member considering my win/loss column….most of my losses came from no shows or lack of effort. I admit I lost my share due to worthy opponents, but when I’m motivated there’s no telling what I can come up with. I won the only Alias Tourney and tI feel that’s a big accomplishment. I was the first to defeat Peril-Eyes and I haven’t stopped since. Never really had any beefs although I don’t know why 3-Planes is hating on me, but whatever. Moving on….

League Reflection:
I compete in the RSTL because I love writing and getting m