Launch It! Contest on instructables.com

[paaiyan]

No, you should still enter Mr C. Just because they're idiots shouldn't keep you from entering.

[joannaardway]

Actually, having looked it over, I'm not sure I can bring myself to impart any of the knowledge I have to such people in the end.

The knowledge is a bit of a risk in my hands, but I have:
- 18 months of spudgun building experience
- A couple of months of research before that (and regularly since)
- 3 years of firearms experience with the Army Cadet Force
- A mind honed for engineering
- Large amounts of DIY expertise
- The IQ to figure it out for myself
- A shed load of common sense.

Who knows what someone who doesn't have those credentials could do with a step-by-step guide to a piston cannon?

I also skipped over the end date on that. Unfortunately, I'll be leaving on my backpacking gap year before then, so even if I did win, I couldn't receive any prizes. Ah well.

[fungus amungus]

Since the competition is already halfway way through, wouldn't all of us here be at a disadvantage for page views? I know that's what counts, as more traffic to your site the better but if it was a proper competition surely it would be judged on stuff like:

Originality
Over-all awesomeness
How creative it is

Etc

Since its quite a broad contest I can see it would be hard to judge.

This is one of our speed contests that ultimately got stretched out because of a lot of other contests ending in the next two weekends. Typically, the voting is done by a select group.

As for traffic, the contest ends on the 16th and the results are tabulated from the 20th. Typically, a project gets its big traffic hit in the first couple days it's up. If it gets picked up by other sites like gizmodo it will get a big fat bump.

Check out the list of recent projects and scroll to the bottom. You'll see one on laser-cutting meat that already has over 8,000 hits in the past day where most of the others haven't cracked 1,000. If you don't see it, click the 2nd page, it's hard to miss.

EDIT: That one was picked up by gizmodo and likely other sites who follow gizmodo, thus the traffic.

[paaiyan]

See, I'm building something, but it probably won't be done till next weekend, as I'm in college and I work. Will that really be enough time to make sure I get plenty of views?

[fungus amungus]

Edit: Just looked at some entries, im defiantly not entering now. People are making pneumatics that aren't glued together and use corks to attach a bike pump to the chamber, and people still don't get how to make it.

Which ones are you looking at? And besides, why do you think I came here to appeal for better-written projects?

Another thing is that even if you guys don't have time to enter this contest, we'll be having other contests in the future that should be well-suited to the building mindset even if not directly to the idea of launching things.

Our favorite holiday, Halloween, is coming up and we're pretty excited about that one.

[paaiyan]

Edit: Just looked at some entries, im defiantly not entering now. People are making pneumatics that aren't glued together and use corks to attach a bike pump to the chamber, and people still don't get how to make it.

Which ones are you looking at? And besides, why do you think I came here to appeal for better-written projects?

Another thing is that even if you guys don't have time to enter this contest, we'll be having other contests in the future that should be well-suited to the building mindset even if not directly to the idea of launching things.

Our favorite holiday, Halloween, is coming up and we're pretty excited about that one.

What kind of contests do you have for halloween?

[fungus amungus]

What kind of contests do you have for halloween?

I can't talk about any details yet, but we will be having one. Here's the list of winners from last year.

http://www.instructables.com/blog/E2CH7OUWRJEUKIKKXA/

[paaiyan]

If there was say, a punkin chunkin contest, would I be able to enter with the entry for this laungh-it contest, or is that against the rules?

[fungus amungus]

If there was say, a punkin chunkin contest, would I be able to enter with the entry for this laungh-it contest, or is that against the rules?

The date of publication would likely make it ineligible. Each contest has a range of dates.

Punkin chunkin, eh? Now if that was a jack-o-lantern lit with LEDs flying through the air that would be awesome.

[paaiyan]

Oh I see. I could always just fireproof it and give instructions on that...

[SpudBlaster15]

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[joannaardway]

Special needs, and sh*t for brains are entirely different. I am personally registered "disabled" - and several of my friends have special needs. But none of us are half-wits.
In fact, I don't like the word disabled. Different is fine, but I'm not less able than anyone else - far from it.

I think the members of Instructables would appreciate the power, but the complexity would probably reduce it's favour with them.

[paaiyan]

Perhaps we're only glimpsing a small part of their community. Mybe we're only seeing the stupid ones, because the smart ones get it, and don't have to post questions...

[fungus amungus]

Complex projects are fine. The most steps I've seen for a project is 45.

The audience at instructables is pretty broad, but most of the comments are done by the younger readers. When the topic is at a higher-level, many people ask more appropriate questions.

Here's a project that won a contest earlier this year.
http://www.instructables.com/id/EBZ3QQVF3HY3SL2/

[paaiyan]

Well joanna, you don't have to enter a hybrid. You could build one of those ballistas you seem to be so fond of.