Beeb Short Story Competition - What A Mess!

[Quences]

1) The competition is announced. The rules are confusing, causing several
people to scratch their heads over the apparent ban on the use of the Doctor in
the story (which was wrong, of course). The competition is open to UK fans
only.

2) The rules change - the competition is now open to anybody, anywhere. This
is announced on the newsgroups. The specific story rules also change - several
of the previously allowed characters are now banned, leaving just the Doctor,
TARDIS, and, at a pinch, the Master. This is not announced anywhere but at the
site.

3) 25th January. The Beeb start posting stories. Several of the links are
wrong, pointing to stories other than those by the listed writer. Formatting is
also bad, some stories are one long paragraph. Several people confirm it was
not like that when it left their computer.

4) More stories appear over the next few days, seemingly chosen at random.
Formatting gets worse, the most common problem being that the authors name runs
straight into the first line of the story.

5) As yet more stories appear, it becomes clear that the Beeb are posting
*everything* they received, whether they obey the rules or not. Some feature
characters that were banned in both sets of rules, and many are overlength -
around double the 2,000 word limit in one case. Will these stories be judged
along with those who *did* stick to the rules?

Well, my story went up yesterday. Actually, it didn't - My name is up on the
site, but not my story. You get the following one twice. I e-mailed them
yesterday, but it's still the same as of now, nearly lunchtime the next day.
Last straw for me, personally.

What a mess!

It's a shame, as there have been some real corkers among the entries - plenty
of decent stories to choose the winner from. Best of luck to anyone who
entered.

http://www.twplus.beeb.com/html/doctorwho/shortstory/shortstory.html

Mark