FanStory

FanStory: Don't miss this contest sponsored by the FanStory School. The contest deadline is just around the corner and so is the class! And it's your chance not only for a cash prize but also for a free seat to an upcoming class!

FanStory: We are excited to offer you new font options when you post or edit your writing using the advanced editor. Over 40 new fonts have been added! Here are some of them:

Alfa Slab One

Caveat

Cookie

Dancing Script

Shadows Into Light

Rubik Moon

Roboto

Righteous

Passion One

Sacramento

Orbitron

Permanent Marker

Lobster Two

This is just a sample! We are looking forward to seeing writing that takes advantage of these unique fonts! And thank you to the site members that requested this update!

FanStory: Terry Broxson created the popular "Write A Rant" writing contest. It was so popular we created it again! This time with a cash prize! Check out the Write A Rant writing contest. Thanks Terry!

FanStory: We messed up! We didn't provide enough prose contests this month! Our mistake is your gain! We've got two writing contests with deadlines that are only days away! Enter the Dear God writing contest and the 250 Word Flash Fiction Contest. Cash prizes!

FanStory: Introducing milestones! All authors now have milestones that they can reach by posting new writing. The first milestones for a new author will be sharing their first post. The next one is the 50th post. Next, 100th post and so on. These special posts will be highlighted to reviewers bringing extra attention to the writing. Your post will always feature this accomplishment when it is viewed and from your portfolio. Check out your next milestone from your status page! So what's your next milestone? How far away?

FanStory:
This year we will be offering this beautiful plaque as an option to the top ranked writers. These plaques are framed in cherry wood with a high gloss finish and are perfect for mounting. We are excited to provide these to the top ten poets of 2022 and the top five writers in the other categories. Ranked winners can also choose our customized mugs if they would prefer something to hold. Or a member dollar prize.

FanStory:
This year we will be sending a new prize to the top five finishers in the rankings. Previously we sent trophies. This year we will send specially engraved "trophy mugs". They will be customized to include your name and rank. We are excited to give them out this year. Enjoy the rankings!

FanStory: Looking for the best writing contests of 2022! You've got them here. Reedsy has announced that a number of FanStory writing contests have been selected as the best writing contests of 2022. View some of them here.

FanStory: We updated your fan list. If you view your fan list for those you are following You will see two tabs. The first tab will show you authors that you are following with their most recent post. The second list will show you all your fans with the option to start/stop notifications and also the ability to remove them.

FanStory: The Fan List menu item has been removed. From your "Social" menu choose "Fan List" to access your fan listing. Sorry for any inconvenience.

FanStory: Introducing the "FAN LIST" menu feature! Use this new menu item to easily track new writing from authors that you are a fan of. This menu item automatically updates every time someone you are a fan of posts something new. This replaces the "Buddy" menu item which is available from your profile.

FanStory: So you like free form poetry? No rules! You just wanna' write. We just added three free verse contests for a total of four! The next one up is the No Rules Poetry (deadline approaching quickly on this one). Also check out the Free Verse Poem contest, the Free Form Poetry Contest and the Free Verse Poetry Contest. Best of luck and we hope you enjoy!

FanStory:
We are so happy to share this new video. These are the words of Sandra Stoner-Mitchell that she shared with us. You may know her as sandramitchell. If you enjoy the video please feel free to share that or perhaps your experience at FanStory in a comment on YouTube.

FanStory: We got the message! Thank you! We added more in depth writing contests. A First Book Chapter writing contest has been announced. Start your new book with this writing contest! We didn't stop there. You can enter the Fantasy Writing Contest, the Science Fiction Writing Contest and the Western Writing Contest. These are not flash fiction writing contests. Judges will be looking for in depth writing! Help support these contests. Tell your friends. Share the news on your social media account. And enjoy!

FanStory: The Christmas decorations are up! If you want the full experience and you have changed your colors from the default you can go to your settings page to choose "Edit Colors" and chose "Blue (default)".

FanStory: We've updated your promotion screen! When you promote your work or use Member Cent Pumps, it's easier to use other certificates. For example, you can quickly see if you have a banner active. If not, activate one. All certificates are now available and usable on this one screen.

FanStory: We just announced a Father's Day poetry contest. It's the first Father's Day contest we've ever hosted. And it's part of our 20 Year Anniversary Celebration. View it. Good luck!

FanStory: Our first Mother's Day contest was just announced! View it here. Thank you Mrs. KT for suggesting the contest.

FanStory:
The Contest Committee has brought back the "New Arrival" contests. They would like to give recognition to the newest FanStory writers. These contests are only for new members to FanStory. To qualify for the first two you must have joined FanStory after March 1st of this year. View the New Arrival Poetry and New Arrival Writing Contest.

FanStory: We are adding an additional writing prompt each day! We know that a lot of site members are looking for something to do at home and we hope that having additional contests will help. The second prompt will appear at 6pm EST each night. We'll keep this going for a few weeks. Enjoy and be safe!

FanStory: Miranda Langston created a 20 Syllable New Year contest! It got 18 reservations! As promised, we've created it again with a cash prize. But this time with a Valentines theme! View the new contest here. Thanks Miranda! And thank you to everyone that has created a themed contest for our special year!

FanStory: This year, as part of our celebration, you can choose the FanStory gift pack as a prize if you win a contest with a cash prize. Inside the pack will be this limited edition mug that celebrates our 20th year and other goodies!

FanStory:

FanStory: Welcome to 2020 and to our 20 year celebration! It's going to be fun! If you create a contest that has a "20 theme" we will check it out. If we place the 20 year logo on it and you get 18 reservations we will run it again with a cash prize! Just make it clear to us and everyone that it is a 20 year contest - the title is important too.

FanStory: Are you a teacher in a public or private school? Or do you know of a teacher that may benefit from FanStory for their students? If so, please contact us.

FanStory:
We are happy to announce the Dean & Michael Horror week! One week of spine tingling writing contests. We've flooded Halloween week with story and poetry contests that will thrill and terrify. That includes poetry and prose contests! Enjoy! View the contest listing.

FanStory: We updated your profile to include your membership status. Click on the new Membership option from your profile toolbar. You can quickly check your payment status. We've also included the number of posts that you have written! You can also easily upgrade to the Premier Shield if you don't already have it.

FanStory: We hope you are as excited as us about the new feature! What is the best ranked poem of 2019? The best ranked story? Now for the first time ever you can find out. To view the new listing click here.

FanStory: If your email address has changed be sure to change it here. Click here to check it and update it.

FanStory: Congratulations go out to Violet. It is our most popular color choice for profiles! In second place finished Alpha Green and Periwinkle. In third place finished Cherry.

FanStory: A new feature has been released. Customize the look of your FanStory pages! Choose from 30 different color schemes! Get started here.

FanStory: We've upgraded the site in many areas. Our goal was to focus on ease of use and better communication with others.

Key areas to look at are your feedback page and reply page.

Also from your "MY" menu (or profile) choose "Contests". That will bring you to your contests page. This page has been completely overhauled to make it easier to track contests and enter contests. It is now like your own private contest page as you make reservations.

The buddies feature has also been completely changed (yes it existed before but was limited) to allow members to easily stay in contact with others.

There are changes throughout the site in look and feel. But we went to great lengths to make this upgrade seamless. Hopefully nothing should seem unfamiliar just enhanced. If you have any questions please let me know.

Thanks,
Tom

FanStory: Writing a script is fun and challenging. It's also a great way into the business of making money with your writing. FanStory needs more script writers. Last year we only had 16 ranked script writers. Compare that to the 700 ranked poets. So this year we are going to do our best to encourage writers to get involved. We are starting off our campaign with a writing contest for script writers! It only takes four scripts to get ranked. So make this your first. We'll have more contests after this one. Check out our new script contest. Have fun!

FanStory: Our new trophies are custom designed. That includes names and ranking information engraved by laser (right onto the trophy itself). If you won a trophy you should receive it by Monday of next week.

FanStory: We've updated our club page! Now all clubs are shown ordered by the most recent events. The date the club event was added is also shown. Now it is easy to see which clubs have new events that you may want to enter. More active clubs are naturally listed first. View the club page. Also, check out the new Grammar Club!

Club owners if your club stops having events your club will automatically be removed from the club listing (roughly 90 days or more with no events).

FanStory: We had many requests for a 5-7-5 Poetry Contest for Valentines Day. So we made one available. You can view it here.

FanStory: What was the most popular poem to write in 2017? It was the 5-7-5. It's a three line poem with a set syllable count. It's fun to write and challenging. To celebrate the new year and the new 2018 rankings we've announced new 5-7-5 poetry contests. We have a 5-7-5 poetry contest in January (deadline is next week) and one in February, March, April and one in May! We promised more contests and we have already delivered! All have cash prizes. And look for new 5-7-5's in our daily writing prompts. Good luck!

FanStory:

Thank you for a wonderful 2017!

We had a record number of posts and reviews!

Reviews In 2017

Reviews Written: 474,301 or 1,303 per day
Replies: 570,749
Number of reviewers: 1,751

What We Posted

Poems Written: 27,990
Everything Else: 13,337

FanStory: To celebrate the New Year and to thank everyone for their support in 2017 we just announced a new 5-7-5 Poetry Contest with a cash prize. Deadline in less than two weeks! Good luck!

FanStory: Check out the new club called "Shout Outs to the Lord" for 5-7-5 writers. View the club listing.

FanStory: A new club is available for fiction writers. View the club listing here. Contact us if you are interested in hosting your own club.

FanStory: If you haven't already, check our our new writing clubs. Want to host your own club? Contact us with your club idea.

FanStory: Only 8 entries so far for our first screenplay writing contest. The deadline is only 6 days away. Terrific odds right now! A good chance to try something different and have a chance at the cash prize! Details.

FanStory: We've updated the welcome page to give you a quick look at contests that you can enter. In addition there is no longer a restriction to the number of daily writing prompts you can enter each week.

FanStory: The contest page has been updated. Now it should be easier to see the contests that have deadlines rapidly approaching. View the listing.

FanStory: April is National Poetry Month. So we invented a poetry type to celebrate. Enter the Napo poetry contest! A Napo is a poem with four stanzas. Each stanza has four lines. Each line has four syllables. Details.

FanStory: We have a new sponsor. Please consider this offer for any publishing needs.

FanStory: You asked for more writing contests. We've added more! Three new writing contests with cash prizes have been added to the contest listing. Two of them with deadlines just a few weeks away!

To decide what contests to add we looked at our 17 year history of hosting writing contests to find the ones created by site members that were the most popular. What were they?

The most popular were flash fiction contests. We recently added three flash fiction contests so we did not add more.

Next was a dialogue only prompt. So we are happy to announce the Dialogue Only Writing Contest.

Followed by that was romance. We have announced the Unexpected Romance Writing Contest.

Next was non-fiction. We have introduced the I Remember writing contest.

All have cash prizes. Good luck!

FanStory: Trophies won by the 2016 Top Ranked Authors were mailed today! Look for your trophy in the mail in the upcoming days.

FanStory: We've never seen script writing take off on FanStory like poetry, stories and novels have. Yet, it may be one of the more profitable ways to make money as a writer. So we will be featuring at least two contests this year with cash prizes for script writers. It's a fun writing style. The formatting rules are simple. Our first script contest has been announced and includes an original work by the "Tom's". You can use it as a guide to write your own script. Click here to find out more.

FanStory:

One Week Rankings Race

This year we are going to celebrate a new year of writing by having a rankings race! Starting Sunday you will be ranked when you post six posts of the same type (for example, six poems). The writer that is in first place after ten days on the Poetry, Short Story, Script and Novels rankings will win the contest and a 50 Member Dollar Prize. So the four authors that are first in the rankings on the morning of Wednesday, January 11th will win.

FanStory: I was working on a script to show what makes FanStory special to YouTubers. You know, those annoying ads that show up - that you are forced to watch - prior to a video being shown. Yes, FanStory is going to try this out. See if we can get some new members from a video ad. Well, I'm working on it and it occurs to me - what am I doing? This should be a writing contest! Surely anything I do will pale to what the writers on FanStory will come up with. So instead I'm going to judge my first contest! I hope you'll participate in Write a Script For FanStory. And for the first time ever, I'll judge a contest. - Tom

FanStory: Introducing winner take all contests! This is a new contest type where the entire prize pool goes to the first place finisher. To create a winner take all contest simply answer "Winner Take All" for the "Prize Type" question when creating it.

FanStory: The second phase of our upgrade went in today. For all contests with a member dollar prize pool we are rewarding second and third place finishes.

The contest winner will win half of the prize pool. The second and third place winners will evenly split the remaining prize pool.

So if you win first place in a contest with a 50 member dollar prize pool you will win 25. The second and third place finishers will evenly split the remaining 25 member dollar prize.

Also, as was reported yesterday, we will be updating your profile to reflect any contest wins including second and third place finishes.

These improvements were from our wish list. Please keep the suggestions coming! Thank you!

FanStory: We are now updating your profile when you win a Member Created Contest. We will also be updating profiles for second and third place finishes!

FanStory:

Did you know?

You can get detailed feedback on your entire book from the committee. Your book can be a collection of poems or a novel. You can also get feedback on a short story.

To get this feedback simply use the "Seal of Quality Request" certificate on the first chapter of your book. Details on your certificate page.

FanStory: The Seal of Quality review is an excellent way to get feedback for a book. Any book that is completed on FanStory. Read the Q&A for more information on the Seal of Quality review.

FanStory: New Feature
We have introduced a toolbar at the bottom of all pages. It shows you your rank as an author, novelist, script writer or poet. It shows you the next post you can review that will give you the best chance at winning a free member cent pump. It also provides you your reviewer rank and the number of votes you received in the reviewing contest so far this month. In addition, if you have not replied to the reviews you received (or cleared the count) you will be notified when you have new reviews here.

FanStory: The Poetry Dances newsletter is back. In this issue we discuss the Haiku type. Oh, that poetry type that is so... confrontational! If you don't have a subscription you can subscribe here. The newsletter will be emailed later today.

Besides a brief article on poetry it will also be used to list contests with cash prizes for the month the newsletter is issued.

In addition, FanStory was upgraded again. Your top toolbar (where your "MY" menu is) was updated to allow for a larger font.

In addition, we recently updated the "Notes" window shown when you are reviewing a post. It now acts more like the classic version.

Thanks,
Tom

FanStory: The reviewing note box is now available. When you are reviewing a longer story or book chapter click on the "Notes" tab that is available on the left hand side of the screen. That will open (click again to hide it) the reviewing note window. Here you can enter notes that you would like to share with the author as you read the post. When completed you can save these notes into your reviewing box where you will save the review.

FanStory: We've reduced the member dollars required to create a contest. Contests are only 3 member dollars to create. And if you are creating a challenge - just 1 member dollar. Challenges are an updated feature that allows you to create a contest with just two or three participants.

FanStory: Doing a little research with our 15 year anniversary approaching. Was a little stunned by this number: 9,2 million reviews have been written here since the year 2000. This year alone 782,287 reviews have been written.

FanStory: For those that prefer the interface of FanStory.com before the upgrade we will be offering "Classic" FanStory. The same interface as before. Look for it later today.

FanStory: Unfortunately we have seen the loss of several wonderful FanStory authors. They will be missed. Friends and family have contacted us asking for the ability to keep their writing available after they have passed. To address this we have introduced an account upgrade. The Eternal Flame upgrade gives authors the ability to purchase an account that will never expire. Writing will remain online even if an account is no longer paid for. If FanStory is contacted about the death of an author we will light the eternal flame for that account. You can see an example of this by viewing AlvinTEthington profile. Information.

FanStory: We are happy to announce a new contest. GWL Publishing and FanStory have teamed up to give FanStory authors a great chance at a publishing contract. This contest gives up to three authors the chance to win a publishing contract with GWL Publishing. To enter this contest you will submit a synopsis and three chapters to your book. As always, you will get feedback for every chapter by reviewers. Up to three winners will get a publishing contract! Find out more. If you have any questions ask on the contest details page. The publisher will be reading and responding to questions.

FanStory: Introducing a new way of running contests! We are happy to introduce a new feature for contests created by site members. When you create a contest you now have the option to request that the newly formed Contest Entry Compliance Committee (CEC) be responsible for monitoring your contest entries. The committee will read and ensure that all entries follow the rules specified when the contest was created. If not followed, the entries will be disqualified. This feature takes the responsibility off the contest creator (that can not create contests just for fun)and provides an improved means to run contests. Contest run by the CEC cost an additional 50 member cents to enter. This fee goes to the committee members that monitor the entries.

FanStory: The restriction which prevented authors from voting for their work work has been removed. Authors were complaining that voters were trying to strategically vote for the writing most likely not to win when they voted (so they could track the results) when what they really wanted to vote for was their own post.

FanStory: We released another upgrade. When select an image to be shown with your story or poem and share your FanStory post on Facebook, the selected image will be included with your Facebook post. In addition, images selected from FanArtReview are now shown with a much higher quality. Some images will show the FanArtReview watermark (if requested by artist on FanArtReview).

FanStory: Our apologies for the down time today. But it was necessary. We have implemented an upgrade to address the recent issues with the speed of FanStory. FanStory is again performing as designed. In addition, we do plan (after a shorter maintenance period next Wednesday) the elimination of the daily maintenance down times that run each night at 3am EST.

FanStory: Introducing a new look for posted writing here on FanStory.com. When you post your work you can now choose how you would like it displayed. You can choose either the "Full View" or "Traditional View". The traditional view is the original way of displaying stories and poems. The Full View is the new look that uses more of the screen. In addition, with the full view you can choose the size of any image displayed. Either have the site automatically size the image (based on the screen of the person that is viewing your work) or you can specify how large the image should be sized (from small to large). When you post or edit your new work this can all be specified using the new "Display" question.

FanStory: We've released a site upgrade to address those pesky "question marks" that appear where apostrophes were supposed to be when you pasted your story or poem. In fact, that is just one of the areas we addressed to make copying and pasting more supportive.

FanStory: The Spell Check feature is back with an update. Here are some of the major new features:

• The spell checker can learn words. If you have a word that you would like to remember you can click the "Learn" button.
  
• The spell checker now will check grammar.
  
• The spell checker will check words as you type them. Right click on a word to have the spell checker recommend a suggestion.
  
• You can setup the spell checker to make changes such as ignoring words with numbers.
  

Thank you for your patience while we updated this feature of the site.

FanStory: The "Views" count is smarter for the work you have posted. We now only count views from registered members of the site. So expect a smaller number of views but a more accurate count.

FanStory: A new feature has been released! Want to participate in the voting. Now you can receive a private message each time we open a new booth. Click here to receive a private message notification when a new booth is created.

FanStory: Introducing Highlighting. Now you can highlight posts in your portfolio. Have a post you are especially proud of? Click the new "Highlight" button and it will move to the top of your portfolio.

FanStory: Introducing Treasure Chest Revive. You have a post that has been catching cobwebs in your portfolio. Now you can revive it with this new certificate. Your fans will be notified of this revival by private message. And this certificate has all the benefits of the Treasure Chest but the promotion lasts longer. To revive a post simply click the "Promote This" button on any posts that has been posted two or more years ago.

FanStory: You gave us this suggestion that is now active. We doubled the amount of six stars you can reward an author. Now you can give an author up to four six stars every month. Coming soon a new certificate for members with older posts in their portfolio.

FanStory: Have a contest idea? Share it here. We are looking for poetry and writing contest topics and ideas.

FanStory: The editors have been enhanced!

Basic Editor
When typing the basic editor will now display a word count.

Advanced Editor
The advanced editor also has a word counter. Click the new "word count" button available in the toolbar to see the word count. In addition, more fonts are available to choose from using the drop down menu.

FanStory: Happy New Year
FanStory will be providing our new registered copyright free of charge in 2013 to all upgraded members. This feature, that gives you proof of copyright, can be used by clicking the "Register Copyright" button for the work in your portfolio - for any post, new or old.

FanStory: A couple of updates about the new Registered Copyright upgrade.

First, there is some confusion over what this feature is. The best analogy is with "poor mans copyright". Mailing yourself a letter and not opening is said to be a way to show that you are the copyright owner because the post office date and time stamps the envelope. Think of this new feature as a high tech version of this. We date and time stamp your post and "lock it in time" using modern technology. The difference is that you can not steam open this envelope. The date and time stamp can not be edited and the work that is registered can not be edited.

Keep in mind that this is a copy of your original. So the site features have not changed. You can still edit the original post that is shown to readers while still having that separate "online envelope" with the date and time stamp.

The second concern was on the member dollar price. Those with large books or many posts felt that it was too costly to register the copyright. To support writers that posted prior to the upgrade we have lowered the cost to only one member dollar for those posts. So if you posted work prior to the upgrade it will only cost one member dollar to register each post or chapter.

In addition, for all new posts we have lowered the cost from 9 member dollars to 5 member dollars.

Thanks,
Tom

FanStory: New Feature!
FanStory is happy to announce a new feature to help authors protect their copyright. When you view your portfolio or post or edit a work you will have the option to register your copyright. This gives you the option to create a copy of your work on our database that is "locked" in time. We date and time stamp it and create a separate copy that can not be touched. In addition, we provide a registered copyright web page that is always available to you. It contains the details of your copyright that you can print.

Here are the details from our help pages:

What is this?

In most countries, copyrights are "automatic", but you still need to establish timeline evidence of your ownership to properly defend your copyrights. No matter what, the most critical piece of evidence you can provide, is the simple fact that you "had it first".

When you use this service we will time and date stamp your post with your personal information. We will "lock" your post in place with that date and time stamp. So we retain a copy of your post that can not be edited. In addition we provide you with a registered copyright page with this information that you can print out and also view online at anytime.

What if I need to edit my work?

You can edit your work on FanStory (what reviewers see and what is shown in your portfolio) at anytime. Remember, your registered copyright version is a separate copy that is "locked" in time. So making edits to the version in your portfolio will not change the registered version.

What if I want to edit my registered copyright version?

While this is not recommended it is an option. You can repeat the registration process and we will overwrite the initial registration. This will change the date and time stamp as well. So this is not recommended. We recommend instead that you complete all edits prior to completing this process.

Where is my personal information being shown?

It only shown on your registered copyright page. And only if you are viewing it. Your registered copyright page is your proof. This page will be created when you complete this registration process. It is available for you to share as a web address as you choose. If you view it we will display all your personal information so that you can print it with your personal information shown. If you share this page with others they will be shown a different version with your FanStory account information (your user name). While only you can see your personal information this personal information will always be registered on our database with a time and date stamp for your posted work.

What does this cost me?

Only 9 member dollars for each post. This service is offered elsewhere for hundreds of dollars. We provide it as part of your upgraded membership and a small member dollar fee because we know that registering your copyright is important. By posting your work on FanStory and using this service you are helping to ensure that your writing will always be attributed to you and that your copyright is protected.

FanStory: A site upgrade went in today. You can now mute up to six people.

FanStory: Please take our survey. It only takes a couple of minutes. Please click here to get started.

FanStory: Have a contest you'd like to see run? Let us know. You asked for new contests with new topics. We heard you. We are responding. We are introducing FIVE new contests in FIVE days. All with cash prizes. These five contests are in addition to the contests that are already running. But these contests will not repeat. So our popular contests, such as the Acrostic Poetry contest, will continue to cycle (when one ends a new one will start). But these five contests will not repeat.

So we need to your contest ideas! Have you participated in a member created contest that you liked? Let us know. If you have a contest idea that you would like to see run - please let us know. Comment here.

FanStory: We just announced the first "Meet and Greet" online event for the FanStory.com school. Find out more

FanStory: Introducing the Seven Star Rating
The seven star rating is a new feature reserved to the Contest Committee. It is a special way of recognizing outstanding writing. When a post earns the seventh star it will impact the authors rank. The rankings will recognize this recognition by the committee. It will also impact the artists overall rating for the type of writing that won the contest. The Contest Committee will provide winning contest entries with seven star ratings. Contests that win Contest Committee decisions as well as the monthly recognition contests (such as Story of the Month) will earn the seven star review. The reviews offered though in each case will be different. A Seven Star rating for a Contest Committee decision will recognize (in the text of the review) that it is a Contest Committee win. Winning a monthly contest (such as Story of the Month) will still receive a Seven Star rating but the credit will go to the community that ultimately rewarded the recognition.

FanStory: Introducing FanStory Mobile. Now when you are on your mobile phone or other mobile device you can use FanStory mobile. Our mobile version is designed for small screens. All major features are included including responding to your reviews and even posting or editing your writing. To access the mobile version simply point your brower to FanStory.com while using your mobile device and it will automatically be detected. Or with a mobile device go to: mobile.fanstory.com

FanStory: You asked for it... Now reviewers can give six six stars each week instead of just four. This gives you more six stars each week.

FanStory: A site upgrade has been released. Now you can send a challenge to a friend. We introduced writing challenges this week. A writing challenge gives you the ability to create a contest that you and another writer can participate in.

You asked for the ability to create a challenge but specify that the challenge be made avaliable only to a person you choose.

Now this is a feature. Challenge a friend. When you create your challenge simply choose your friend when prompted for a challenger. Or specify "anyone" to create a challenge that anyone can accept.