It has been decided that Edition 12 of the escChat.com Song Contest will be the final main contest until further notice.

This means, that after the results of Edition 12, neither the winner nor anybody else will be permitted to continue the contest on to its 13th Edition.

This decision was made in an effort to take escChat.com back to its roots and to encourage site participation that does not solely revolve around the contest.

A special Christmas edition, however, will still be taking place. More information on that will be released soon.

Since the Christmas edition was my idea I want to host it.

I am all for that Chris.

I find that pretty egotistical of the current adjudicators.. if they truly had a problem with the impact of the contest they would've called an end to things during the last switch rather than holding the 12th contest.

I go with the flow and always will do. But I can't just be a blind spectator when it comes to quite clear hypocracy. If you're somebody reading this and you don't understand what I'm talking about then don't worry about it OK?

hmm i like the idea caus the contest has become "something".it was just a fun thing that this site serves to its members but now i feel like everything turns around the contest.its killin the chat,friendship,fun,etc-omg words of drama,im becomin stewsheep -im curious how things will go without it but i believe the winners right to host the 13th edition should be kept.n yaaaaay for christmas edition!lets enjoy the last days of 2009 in chat!

hmm .. i'm not sure about this decision, as I don't think a vote on the issue would have hurt.

But i'll go with it and see it how it turns out anyway

Personally, I think that any decision of this nature should either have been made before 12 was started, or after 12 has happened.

I also feel that since the beginning of 12, most of the "drama" which led to so many people becoming upset or whatever, has waned and is no longer a real issue.

I can also understand that there would either have been just the Christmas edition or none at all over the festive period because people will be busy seeing family etc. so not having a main edition until next year was inevitable anyway.

All in all, it seems like postponing the main edition until it is seen to be viable, is just going to create more drama, which is clearly not what we need. If number 12 is unsuccessful, which I doubt, then by all means postpone it, but surely it is best to wait until after 12 to make that decision.

Maybe it's not the contest, per se, that is ruining the chat, maybe it is the significance that the chat has had in the past. I think, and hope, that now it has been toned down, and is just a basic scorewiz production, that less emphasis will be placed on the contest.

This might just be me, but recently, things have been better, I haven't witnessed any negativity from people, and I feel that things like this might hinder rather than help.