Amplificathon (challenge)

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Challenge
Name: Amplificathon
Date(s): 2008-2016
Moderator(s):
Founder: general_jinjur
Type: Podfic
Fandom: multifandom
Associated Community: Amplificathon (community)
URL: http://audiofic.jinjurly.com
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Amplificathon was an iconic annual multifandom podfic challenge which ran from 2008 to 2016, in the Spring months. It aimed at increasing the diversity of available podfic. Podficcers competed over six weeks to two months to earn points by posting podfics, with an advantage given to stories in rare or previously-unpodficced fandoms and/or featuring rare or previously-unpodficced pairings.

All entries were archived at the Audiofic podfic archive.

A LiveJournal community, also called Amplificathon, was created to host the challenge. The community then became a general podfic community, active even when the challenge wasn't running. A Dreamwidth mirror community eventually became the main home of the challenge.

As a result of the Audiofic Archive's ongoing technical difficulties, no challenge was held in 2017[1], or indeed since. However, the challenge left an impression on early podfic fandom participants, and lives on in spirit through other podfic events.

Challenge Features

Rules

Unlike most ficathons, Amplificathon was set up as a competition, with extra points awarded for recording podfics from fandoms, or for pairings, not previously represented in the Audiofic Archive. Participants would post as many previously un-posted podfics as possible during the challenge.

Initial rules stated that each podfic would receive 5 points, plus extra points for new podficcers, plus fandom and pairing points according to whether or not they were "well-archived," "less-represented," or "unrepresented" (for calculating points, gen was counted as a pairing).

In 2009, a "length multiplier" was added based on podfic length. In 2010, a "non-English language bonus" for recording in languages other than English was added.

These rules led to a situation in whch many fandoms ended up only having one podfic -- a fan would make one podfic in one round just to get the extra points, but then nobody would ever record for that fandom again because it was "represented" on the archive[2]:

@hananobira: @parakapodfic @daugherty_misty Weird to think of a fandom so small it has ZERO podfic. The list on the Audiofic Archive is pretty extensive.

@parakapodfic: @hananobira There's over 1100 fandoms on @audioficarchive , but when you think of how many fandoms there are in the world... And, most of those fandoms have only 1 podfic, often crossovers due to amplificathon points.

hananobira and paraka, 2014[3]

To remedy this, in 2015, the new modding team brought new rules and the threshold for "represented" fandoms on the archive was changed from one podfic to 20. Points for being a new podficcer were also removed. These new rules were discussed on the sixth episode of Auralphonic.

Rules remained the same in the final edition in 2016.

Strategies

Amplificathon brought out the competitive side of many podficcers.

My plan for this Amplificathon is to record long stories in rare fandoms (where "long" = more than one hour). I'm aware that this is not a good strategy for winning--in fact, these are stories that I've wanted to record previous years, but didn't do because it was more profitable point-wise to record shorter fics. But I've done the mad-race-for-the-finish-line the two last years, and managed to end up in the top three both times, and I figure that's enough for me. I don't have the energy for it this year.

Luzula, 2011[4]

If you're not so new, then you probably remember that while I'm a mild-mannered and friendly podfic enthusiast nine times out of ten, Amplificathon (hereafter referred to as AMP13) tends to bring out my more competitive, hair-pulling, face-clawing side, as I strive for ALL THE POINTS. Which, fellow podfic enthusiasts, is great news for you! My personal goal for this year's competition is a minimum of one crossover podfic per day. Any other podfics posted per day, be they crossover or single fandom, is gravy from here on out. 47 crossover podfics is reasonable, right?

Right?

Shut up, of course it is.

reena_jenkins, 2013[5]

podfic fandom 95% of the year: <33333 :DDDDD *hugs for everybody*

podfic fandom during amplificathon: i would kill a bitch for points

anonymous podficcer, RTed by the audiofic archive, 2015[6]

Some strategic players would prepare bookmarks of suitable stories, or even "stock-pile" finished podfic all year round, ready to post as soon as the challenge opened. "Podfic robots" were simply able to record and post enormous amounts of podfic over a short period of time.

This level of strategic planning was not always loved by all, as this 2015 discussion between reena_jenkins and opalsong suggests:

MT @reenajenkins: @opalsong I keep a stockpile of raw GB files, so the podfic is ~finished during Amplificathon. It's not REALLY cheating

@podfic quoting @reenajenkins, 2015[7]

Prizes

Prize banners and podfics for the Grand Prize winner and two runner-ups were provided by volunteer podficcers and fan artists.

Other special prizes were awarded for remarkable achievements during Amplificathon, such as:

  • The "Intrepid Award" for the participant who posted the first podfic of the challenge
  • The "GMT-11 Award" for the participant who posted the last podfic of the challenge
    2014 Participant Banner by Kalarirya
  • The "Blipvert Award" for the shortest podfic
  • The "Lindworm Award" for the longest podfic
  • The "Ampliplanet Award" for the participant who posted the most non-English podfic
  • The "Supersampler Award" for the person who podficced the most new-to-the-archive fandoms
  • The "Whiskey and Lemon Award" for the person who posted the most total hours

The winnner(s) also got bragging rights, and years later, "X was an amplificathon winner" still gets mentioned with respect by those who were around to witness the feat:

@tinypinkmouse I don't think I've listened to any of your stuff, but I remember you won amplificathon last year, so you're "legit" for me ;)

Arioch, 2016[8]

There were also participant banners and icons.

In the earlier years, some podfic collections were also produced, gathering examples of podfics in the new fandoms that had been archived.[9]

Impact & Legacy

The competition format proved to be a resounding success. Participation varied from 34 to 81 participants (2011), generally hovering around 50, with a core group of podficcers who made it a point to return each year.

In 2008, the first edition added six hundred new podfics to the archive, as well as a hundred and five previously unrepresented fandoms and an uncountable number of new pairings.[10] Without fail, Amplificathon time resulted in a spike in podfic posting to the community, as well as cross-posting to podficcers' individual spaces.

  • Posting rates at the LiveJournal Amplificathon community

    Posting rates at the LiveJournal Amplificathon community

  • Podfic posting rates on AO3

    Podfic posting rates on AO3

The challenge resulted in the creation of many podfics featuring uncommon-to-outlandish crossovers, as many podficcers sought out short fic with as many small fandoms or rarepairs as possible in order to maximize their points. Crossover lovers were overjoyed:

All the pretty crossovers. Yep, it's amplificathon season.

@skyunivorn4257, 2016[11]

Others were less enthusiastic, as longer podfics and podfics in more popular fandoms took a backseat to less popular ones for more than a month at a time:

I had almost forgot about all those short podfics people do only for points during amplificathon. almost.

@jinxyreads, 2015[12]

Two 2012 tweets by fic writer thingswithwings also underline this ambivalence:

lol guys if you really want your stuff podficced, just write rarepair crossover femslash during amplificathon

@twwings, 2012[13]

amplificathon always makes me feel chagrin b/c ppl insist on recording not very good fic that I wrote in rare fandoms 800 years ago

@twwings, 2012[14]

The demise of Amplificathon left a void in many podficcers' hearts. Creating a new Amplificathon-like challenge was a frequent topic of discussion, eventually leading to the creation of Voiceteam in 2020, whose introductory post stated: "We wanted a point-based podfic event like Amplificathon used to be."[15]

Rounds

Amplificathon Rounds
Year Dates Mods Participants Winner(s) Comments
2008 April 7 to June 2 general jinjur, Raz0r.girl, anatsuno 42 twasadark, followed by leviticus lied and jadesfire2808[16] Points based on: number of podfics, rarity of fandom/pairing, status of reader. Added 105 new fandoms & 600 podfics to the archive.
2009 March 30 to June 1 general jinjur, Raz0r.girl, anatsuno 34 sly hostetter, followed by rhea314 and luzula[17] Length multiplier added; posting of podfic in languages other than English was specifically encouraged by general_jinjur (but did not grant extra points). 468 new podfics added to the archive.[18]
2010 March 30 to June 7 general jinjur, Raz0r.girl, anatsuno 75 2naonh3 cl2, luzula, and lunchy munchy (June 1); twilight angel, lunchy_munchy, and 2naonh3_cl2 (June 7)[19] Non-English language/unrepresented language bonuses added. 4 participants posted 25+ hours each; podfics in Norwegian, Swedish and Gaelic were added to the archive.[20]
2011 April 4 to June 20 general jinjur, Raz0r.girl, anatsuno 81 reena jenkins, followed by diane mckay and via ostiense.[21][22]
2012 March 15 to April 30 Aphelant, Were duck, Cybel[23] 57 tinypinkmouse, followed by reena jenkins and rhea314[24] For the first time, the challenge ran only from the Dreamwidth community.[25]
2013 March 15 to April 30 Aphelant, were duck, general jinjur[26] 55 reena jenkins, followed by kalakirya and exmanhater[27]
2014 March 15 to April 30 Aphelant, were duck, general jinjur 59 reena jenkins, followed by fresne and litra[28]
2015 March 15 to April 30 kalakirya, jesperanda 46 tinypinkmouse, followed byrscreighton and reena_jenkins 48 new fandoms and 570 podfic were added to the archive.[29]
2016 March 15 to April 30 kalakirya, idella, rscreighton[30] 50 blackglass, followed by kess and tinypinkmouse[31]

Popular Fandoms

The purpose of Amplificathon was to encourage fans to make podfics for fandoms and pairings that didn't already have a lot of podfic on the Audiofic Archive. Thus, podficcers would get more points for submitting podfics that weren't on the list of "popular" fandoms. How the popular fandoms were determined was adjusted several times since the first year of the challenge, and in the meantime several new fandoms started and became popular.

For the first four years, the three fandoms with the most podfics in the archive were identified as the "giant" fandoms.[note 1]

2008-2010

2011-2012

2013

In 2013, the number of "giant" fandoms was expanded to five[32]:

2014

In 2014, giant fandoms were defined as fandoms with over 500 podfics on the archive[33]:

2015

In 2015, giant fandoms were defined as fandoms with 250 podfics on the archive[34]:

2016

In 2016 the giant fandoms were the same but the order had shifted[35]:

  • Supernatural
  • Stargate Atlantis
  • Sherlock
  • Teen Wolf
  • Harry Potter
  • Supernatural RPF
  • The Avengers movie
  • Merlin
  • My Chemical Romance
  • due South
  • Doctor Who
  • Hockey RPF
  • American Idol
  • Panic! at the Disco

Note that the archive had an ongoing project to merge mp3 and podbook entries for the same podfic, so entry totals in some fandoms decreased although the true number of podfics increased.

Notes

  1. ^ The top fandoms on the archive each year can be an indicator of which fandoms are currently popular that year overall, but due to the small size of podfic fandom, results can be skewed by the interests of a few particularly prolific podficcers, who in turn may entice more people from that fandom into podficcing. Supernatural, SGA, and Merlin were all Fandoms That Ate Fandom and were still on the air. due South was a moderately large fandom whose show had ended in 1998, but when the archive opened in 2006, dS still had an active fandom on LiveJournal, possibly due to the mid-2000s DVD releases. Early podficcers like Zabira may also have had an impact, introducing dS fans to podfic and/or introducing podficcers to dS. Harry Potter was a huge fandom in the 2000s, but apparently not among podficcers, who didn't start making serious inroads on the back catalog of fic until more recently.

References

  1. ^ comment by kalakirya in a post by code_switch (archived), 14 March 2017.
  2. ^ "Auralphonic 006: Showcase of Amplificathon 2015". Archived from the original on 2021-01-23.
  3. ^ [https://twitter.com/Hananobira/status/461871016713531393 Twitter conversation between Hananobira and Paraka, May 1, 2014
  4. ^ Amplificathon, yay! by Luzula on the Amplificathon LJ comm, posted April 5, 2011
  5. ^ Here, Have The First Ten Days Of AMP13 on reena_jenkins's LJ, posted March 24, 2013
  6. ^ Audiofic Archive RT of an anonymous podficcer, March 7, 2015
  7. ^ @podfic quoting @reenajenkins, March 3, 2015
  8. ^ Arioch tweet to Tinypinkmouse, March 4, 2016
  9. ^ The New Fandom Collection - Amplificathon 2011 archived on the Audiofic Archive July 7, 2012
  10. ^ podmod, Amplificathon 2008 summary post Posted June 11, 2008. Last accessed November 19, 2008.
  11. ^ @skyunivorn4257 tweet, March 18, 2016
  12. ^ @jinxyreads tweet, March 18, 2015
  13. ^ thingwithwings tweet, March 22, 2012
  14. ^ thingwithwings tweet, April 4, 2012
  15. ^ Voiceteam 2020 Info Post on Tumblr, April 23 2020.
  16. ^ "points and standings (2008 challenge)". Archived from the original on 2021-07-25. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  17. ^ Podmod on March 28th 2009 (later edited to add standings): points & standings 2009. Accessed August 22nd 2009.
  18. ^ long-delayed but finally here: the final tally! \o/ posted to livejournal June 24, 2009
  19. ^ The initial June 1 deadline had to be extended by a week after the mods got swamped, resulting in two sets of winners. \o/ \o/ \o/ AMPLIFICATHON 2010 VICTORY DANCE!!! by podmod, posted 2010-06-18 on amplificathon.livejournal.com
  20. ^ amplificathon '10 update!, posted to the livejournal comm, May 4, 2010
  21. ^ "AND NOW, FOR THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL (MAYBE) BEEN WAITING FOR: FINAL! POINTS!! UPDATE!!!!". Archived from the original on 2015-10-04. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  22. ^ "2011 amplificathon: calculating points". Archived from the original on 2015-10-04. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  23. ^ "amplificathon 2012: faq". Archived from the original on 2013-03-27. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  24. ^ "Amplificathon: Final Standings!". Archived from the original on 2015-10-02. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  25. ^ "Amplificathon: the community and the challenge". Archived from the original on 2017-11-17. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  26. ^ "amplificathon 2013: faq". Archived from the original on 2014-01-11. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  27. ^ "amplificathon: Amplificathon Final Standings!". Archived from the original on 2015-10-02. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  28. ^ podmod to Dreamwidth 5 May 2014. "Amplificathon FINAL POINTS". Archived from the original on 2015-10-02. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  29. ^ podmod. 2015 Amplificathon Awards, posted to the dreamwidth comm 24 May 2015.
  30. ^ Amplificathon 2016 FAQ, posted to the dreamwidth comm, March 15, 2016
  31. ^ Amplificathon 2016 Prize Post, posted to the dreamwidth comm, May 17, 2016
  32. ^ amplificathon 2013: calculating points, archived, posted to the Dreamwidth community 8 March 2013. (Accessed 8 March 2013)
  33. ^ amplificathon 2014: fandom/pairing points, archived, posted to the Dreamwidth community 9 March 2014. (Accessed 11 May 2014)
  34. ^ amplificathon 2015: calculating points, archived, posted to the Amplificathon dreamwidth comm March 5, 2015.
  35. ^ Amplificathon 2016 Points Page, archived, posted to dreamwidth 5 March 2016.
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