Should a host be allowed to end a season on Saturday instead of Sunday?

There have been several discussions on this in the 2 years I joined the Seasons. As a host I find the second overlapping Sunday rather demoralising as everyone understandably turns their attention and their enthusiasm to the new theme. There’s often only a small trickle of entries and it’s time that could be better spent for the outgoing host to be judging entries and preparing the final wrap for their week. We need hosts and we need to make the experience as enjoyable and as convenient as possible for them. As it stands for me (and others), hosting a season is a very enjoyable experience that ends on a real downer.

Please vote - it’s anonymous, and the poll will run for two weeks.

Thank you!

Personally, while I enjoy hosting, I get burnt out a bit by the Saturday night and I find it takes me away from other stuff I should be doing in the real world. I like that entries slow down a bit over the last couple of days because it means they don't get on top of me and if possible, I can have a look at the new theme as well.

That being said, I do think a few people will be negatively affected by losing the overlap day as there are some people who either will spend all week rehearsing a song and absolutely smashing it, or simply don't have the time/ability to churn out two or three songs by Wednesday. Those people shouldn't really be left behind when the host knows that the exodus happens every Sunday morning and is nothing personal.

In terms of this poll and your discussion on the sign up thread, I don't think there has ever been anything stopping a host ending things a day early. In fact the OP states your house, your rules.

RAB11 said:

In terms of this poll and your discussion on the sign up thread, I don't think there has ever been anything stopping a host ending things a day early. In fact the OP states your house, your rules.

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Exactly this! I’m not suggesting wholesale change but I feel it should be up to a host to decide whether to finish their season on Saturday or Sunday. This could be announced prominently in their intro post announcing the theme with the rest of the rules.

Thanks for your input Ryan.

'allowed' by who?
there are no seasons police
no one is in control
there is just 'the seasons'
and the people who are willing to participate in them
i am perplexed by the fact that despite knowing that there are seasonistas who regularly use that 8th day to bring their vids we have people determined to get rid of that day
why not have one day seasons? three day seasons? etc etc
at some point they will no longer be the seasons

I dont know how to handle this vote thing.
I am pro keaping the sunday, but not pro policing it.

My thoughs on hosting sunday:
Watching perhaps the 5 last videos, which are often well prepared, while the next season has started, is no problem for me. But it is correct that it would be nice to be able to do the wrap up during the weekend.

My thoughs on POSTING sundays:
I have done so quite a few times. This is a bit more of a bummer, since it often leaves the video with something like 10 views, meaning that most seasonistas dont listen to the efford put into it. I have reoccuring plans thursday night, and dont like to postpone recording to the weekend and risk having to post sunday. So unless I feel very inclined to learn a particular song, I will sometimes skip a season if I can't find time to record by wednesday. Luckily I am often very inclined . And so having the option to record sunday is still a nice last resort.

When Pa asks "why not have 1 day season", it could work if you had 7 days preperation time and then just released the entire playlist at once. But I think most people here are too impatient for that.

Some people take all week to prepare & make their video - I suggest that the announcement for the new Season be made on a Sunday - & that the Season end on the following Sunday.

pabrizzer said:

'allowed' by who?
there are no seasons police
no one is in control

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But you weren't going to add me to the list

pabrizzer said:

I am perplexed by the fact that despite knowing that there are seasonistas who regularly use that 8th day to bring their vids we have people determined to get rid of that day

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Only on my hosting week for the reasons stated - other hosts can make their own decisions.

pabrizzer said:

at some point they will no longer be the seasons

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Only because hosts can be treated like this for wanting to have a little more control of their own season!!!

DelGriff said:

But you weren't going to add me to the list

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that is just not true Del

pabrizzer said:

that is just not true Del

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Then why the 9 hour delay from when you first posted about my 'offer'?

DelGriff said:

Then why the 9 hour delay from when you first posted about my 'offer'?

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are you kidding me Del?
how much time do you allow me?
i find editing the host list a tad tedious - i do try to do it promptly but sometimes i have things to do and get around to it when i can
i have been coordinating the seasons for a few years now
thankfully Steve will be taking over from season 454 if we make it that far

Ah, that bit of news has crept out. Yes, Pa asked if I want to take over the cat-herding role, and I have accepted the challenge, from the end of October.

As far as the eighth day debate goes, I can see that it is a bit of an anti-climax for the host, when entries dry up and most people go off to the next season. But not all do that...and I would say that it is more important to get the maximum number of people contributing. I can only see that trimming it from eight days to seven will reduce the entries.

But, as has been pointed out, it's up to the host to set the rules, and pretty much the only tradition is that traditions can be broken. After all, we have the Thornton Rule.

pabrizzer said:

are you kidding me Del?
how much time do you allow me?
i find editing the host list a tad tedious - i do try to do it promptly but sometimes i have things to do and get around to it when i can
i have been coordinating the seasons for a few years now
thankfully Steve will be taking over from season 454 if we make it that far

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Brian, as with Ralf before you, I can't thank you enough for your patience and grace herding us cats. If there's a way for nonbelievers to nominate ukulele people for sainthood, I nominate both of you for that status.

Oh. my. garsh. guys.



Personally I like the "eight days a week" format - that extra Sunday to get a track in is a nice cushion. I can understand your feelings, Del, but when I host I don't feel it as a let down if no one posts on Sunday, though you can pretty much count on Ralf getting one in before closing time.

I do think it is certainly your prerogative to set any time parameters for the Season you host, and I voted accordingly in your poll. As Brian said, no one is policing. I think your politeness in bringing it forward to the group blew up a bit unnecessarily in your face. We are family here (as well as a herd of cats)... everyone knows that.

Seems like thanks are in order - to Brian for having taken over control from Ralf, (who did a great job whilst in tenure), & kept the Seasons running smoothly - & now to Steve, for gallantly stepping forward, to continue to keep everyone abreast of what's going on - thanks fellas. :music::cheers:

Del, thanks so much for posting this thread and the poll; I feel that it’s a very good thing to do. Having said that, I’m going to chime in, but not from the perspective of being a host; I shall share my perspective of being a participant. Though I haven’t been a SOTU ‘regular’ since I started on the SOTU back in 2013, I feel that the same phenomenon that I experienced ‘back then’ on the SOTU is still true since I stared back up again on the SOTU in May of this year. That phenomenon - or my impression - is that videos posted after mid-week get less views/less or no comments. Why is this important to me? It’s because, I believe, for me, a huge part of being in the SOTU is about ‘being in community’ together. If my video doesn’t get views and that equates to less comments or no comments, it feels like you come to play a show, but no one comes to watch you sing/play. I have to say, it doesn’t feel so good when that happens. I think that people get excited about the new theme coming up and that’s great, but it does take away from those who post later in the current week of the SOTU. All of this is IMHO.

The reason for having the 8th day was so people could have the whole weekend to get a video done, if they needed to. There have been some recent Seasons where I couldn't find time to do a song until the second Sunday. I understand that a video I post then will get fewer views, and I'm okay with that. I think at this point, Ralf has taken part in more Seasons than anyone else, and his videos often come in that final Sunday night.

I'm for keeping the 8th day.

Back in the dawn of time when the seasons originally started they finished midnight Sunday (american time) with the new challenge being announced technically post 12am on a monday morning.
Some how overtime things have changed and people dont quite grasp it,but on the whole we should just br grateful itm has lasted so long,i personally have made some amazing friend's through the seasons.
In my opinion the old saying "if it aint broke dont fix it"

I think confusion is caused by all the different time zones evwryone is,that is why i think it originally was Hawaiian time but some people struggled doing the maths.
Anyway long live the seasons.

pabrizzer said:

'allowed' by who?
there are no seasons police
no one is in control
there is just 'the seasons'
and the people who are willing to participate in them
i am perplexed by the fact that despite knowing that there are seasonistas who regularly use that 8th day to bring their vids we have people determined to get rid of that day
why not have one day seasons? three day seasons? etc etc
at some point they will no longer be the seasons

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Nice bit of overreaction. We know there are no Seasons Police, no one has said there are, or are acting like they are. I don’t see anyone determined to get rid of that day, I just see a poll asking for people’s opinion. Maybe instead of whining you’d like to put your case across for keeping the Sunday. The fact that it’s always been this up to now is not a very convincing argument. FWIW I don’t mind either way.

First, Thank you Pa for all you have done to keep the seasons running for the past few years. You are the only manager I have known and you've been (at least in my perception) pretty damn good at it. And huge thanks to Steve for taking over the reigns at the end of September. I can't imagine that keeping this creaky old boat afloat is an easy task.

As for whether seasons should end on Saturday or Sunday - I guess I can throw in my 2c seeing as how I have been used to illustrate the point...

I think we've had a hard time rustling up hosts lately, and if ending a season on a Saturday at midnight instead of a Sunday at midnight entices more hosts then I think that would be ok.

For the folks who like to post Sunday, whether by want or need, perhaps they could still be added to the playlist?

There is also still the Island, which I have used a couple of times when I have been REALLY late getting something together.

I guess I slept through most of this So i'm late to opine here! I briefly considered going back to sleep, but since I didn't wake up until 5:30 pm, I am going to resist that urge.

Since I joined, Brian (Pa) has been the manager of the future hosts page, and he's done an exceptional job in what must seem like a very thankless effort. Thanks Brian! ! ! ! !

Though I have not perfected it by any means, I strive not to have any expectations, ever, about anything. But being human it still happens all the time, and it's no surprise I occasionally find myself feeling let down because something I expected to happen didn't happen

While I see a lot of personal feelings and opinions shared about what individuals like best based on their personal feelings, I'd like to see more folks opining about what is best for the group at large?

The simplest reason I can think of for keeping Sundays is that one of the longest participating (and one of my personal favorite) members, Ralf consistently brings his gold late on Sunday afternoon my time. I don't feel the need to ask why that is, I just accept that it is.

The primary reason I see being argued here for eliminating Sunday posting is to save the host from feeling a bit let down because people didn't post more videos on the last day. That to me, would be a small price to pay, if it means Ralf continues sharing his stuff here.

As others have said here, there is no one policing the seasons per se. The host ultimately is in charge of their season. So if that is the only way you'll consider hosting in the future Del, then I think you should give it a go. You strike me as a well intentioned member and I am sure you'll settle on what you think is best for the group ~