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Possum Roadkill

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For the past three weeks I have tried a new method for entries where the entrants have been asked to send their entries to me via a private message. The entries have been labeled only as Entry 1, 2, 3 etc so that no one would know who made the image. The entrants have been asked to not post their entry in their gallery or anywhere else on this site until the competition is concluded. However, they have been free to post them on other websites and forums.

This week I have chosen to continue this method for the SAC and WOTW comps but discontinue it for the AOTW comp. I would like to hear from the people who enter these competitions (and those of you who are thinking about it ;) ) as to how you like this method. So please post your thoughts on this entry method, good, bad, or indifferent.

 

SAC, WOTW and Photo Manip Competition Host

To visit the Comps click HERE

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Also, keep in mind we really do listen to your feedback. Which method is better: the AVOTW method or Possum's method? Which do you prefer and why?

Edited by csm725
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Also, keep in mind we really do listen to your feedback. Which method is better: the AVOTW method or Possum's method? Which do you prefer and why?

What exactly is the method you use?

 

SAC, WOTW and Photo Manip Competition Host

To visit the Comps click HERE

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whatever method the host feels happy with is fine by me..however..the P.M. system is fun insofar as trying to pick up little tell-tale signs of which artist submitted which entry..(and getting it wrong so far :roll: )

it adds a little "intrigue to the comps. :mrgreen:

regards j.d.

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As j.d. said not knowing whose entry it is adds to the intrigue.

I prefer to PM my entry to the host & then have a poll. Polls are quick & easy & may encourage more voters.

CSM's idea of assigning points is also very good. I don't know how many people actually voted & I am wondering if having to PM the vote puts people off voting. With the mini tute on how to PM that CSM was so kind to put up, it should be really easy.

By having "blind" entries, the artworks stand alone rather than "loyalty" or other types of voting.

Welshblue is right too - at the moment there are so many different ways of entering & voting, that it has become confusing.

Suggestion: Hosts could highlight the fact that even people who have not entered are entitled to vote. Newcomers, in particular may not know this. Pointless in putting it in the rules because it's fairly evident that people either don't read them or don't understand them. My money is on the not reading the rules.

My preference is to PM the entry, as per Possum's method, PM the top 3 entries as per CSM's method & make this so for ALL of the comps or at least the weekly ones.

Thanks to all of our competition hosts for working so hard to make the comps great!

THiGVp.png

Knowledge is no burden to carry.

 

April Jones, 2012

 
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I like the PM method for entries too. It's fun trying to guess who did which piece (even if I did guess them all wrong). :|

I prefer not to PM my vote, because I don't like anyone knowing how I vote. But I'm funny that way.

 

 

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I will happily incorporate the method bbq stated next week. I will be running AVOTW2 from my ipod touch. I have no access to computer until the beginning of august, so I can't change it now. Possum my method is the top 3 voting method.

About not seeing your vote, I think that's too bad and we can't satisfy everyone.

This week I got eight PM votes. All from established members. I will make it clear that everyone can vote.

I think if all major comps incorporate the method BBQ stated that eeoikd be great. But I am only one of the three who decide.

Edited by csm725
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My original intent of this discussion was about the way the entries are submitted to the comps. I have had only had a couple of people complain about the PM method of entries, but I wanted to make sure that it wasn't putting off other people that just didn't say anything. But since the discussion is also involving the voting methods, I'll put my two cents worth into the discussion.

No offense to CSM, but I will not be using the PM voting method on my comps. We have already had that conversation. I agree with Welshblue that all the comps should be the same, however, I'm not sure that will happen because of the varied nature of the host's personalities. I'm like blackpenny, how I vote is my business and it's none of my business how any of you vote. With the blind entry method, there is no reason for a super secret PM method of voting. If you allow people to vote for the top three of their choice, you accomplish the same thing as CSM's method, but the computer does the work, and everyone can see the vote total the entire time instead of only at the end. It is also less work for the comp host and reduces the chance that a mistake could be made in counting the votes. Why add work and complexity to a process that the software does for you?

I had not thought of the intrigue angle on this Barbieq. I guess since I see all the entries, it did not dawn on me that it would add that element to the comps. I'm glad you brought that up. I do think it does tend to steer the voting toward the best artwork, so I think that part has been successful. It is rather time consuming and I'm always fearful that I might forget to get someone's art entered. So far, that has not happened. It has cut into the time I have to spend on my own artwork, so I have to decide which comps I have the time to enter based on when my comps begin and end. So far, using Google calendar and a separate photobucket account has made the process much easier.

 

SAC, WOTW and Photo Manip Competition Host

To visit the Comps click HERE

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I have no problem with entries submitted by PM, but I don't want people to see the results while the vote is being held. Anyways I am away from my computer until the beginning of August so I won't do something new for AVOTW2. I guess I could just run the poll in another website Votes tend to be influenced by the amount of vote that entry already has. I can make polls on polldaddy.com.

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Possum, j.d. mentioned the intrigue first :)

Blackpenny has made a valid point too - not everyone feels comfortable about showing others how they vote.

Possum too makes a good point with the time & possible errors in counting PMed votes.

CSM's point about votes attracting votes is very valid. That is more what I had in mind about the PMed votes.

Is Poll Daddy what Simon Brown used in his polls where you can vote but the results stay hidden? I like that.

I hope we get some agreeance on this because I feel it is most important (as Welshy mentioned) that we have uniformity. At the moment I have lost track of what I am meant to be doing with each one...

THiGVp.png

Knowledge is no burden to carry.

 

April Jones, 2012

 
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@ JD, Sorry about that, I was on my lunch hour and read through things pretty fast. :mrgreen:

I log on every morning and stay logged on all day most days at work. That way I can peek in on the comps and discussions from time to time throughout the day. I keep a close eye on the voting and I'm of the opinion that the best piece of art does indeed draw the most votes when I have used the blind entry method. I think it's too early to make a broad judgement, but I don't think the number of votes a piece has affects the voting nearly as much as the quality of the artwork.

As for the blind method of entries, there are ways that I believe people could get around it, but I think it's a good method. I would however, be open to any suggestions to improve it.

 

SAC, WOTW and Photo Manip Competition Host

To visit the Comps click HERE

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I'm not sure if this is what you do but I wouldn't allow submissions to posted anywhere until the end of voting. And BBQ yes, polldaddy is what Simon uses.

Yep - that is very important & I have stuck to that. So now as soon as I get PB back there will be a heap of new images in my gallery.

THiGVp.png

Knowledge is no burden to carry.

 

April Jones, 2012

 
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I'm not sure if this is what you do but I wouldn't allow submissions to posted anywhere until the end of voting. And BBQ yes, polldaddy is what Simon uses.

So you're saying that we should not allow someone to post an image on DA, or the Fan's Forum, or on their own website?

 

SAC, WOTW and Photo Manip Competition Host

To visit the Comps click HERE

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Possum, That is the general impression I got from CSM. Some of us watch each other on DA & the same applies on Fans too.

THiGVp.png

Knowledge is no burden to carry.

 

April Jones, 2012

 
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I agree with welshblue - too many 'rules' takes the fun out of it, and for me that's the most important part. I really don't care about winning, it's more about being involved. The competitions challenge me to think in a different way than I would normally, and try things I haven't done before.

About voting, it's a lot easier to click on an entry than type out a PM. I know it doesn't take long, but for the chronically lazy, it can seem like a huge effort. :mrred:

 

 

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You know what, this argument is no fun. I am going to do PM entries and a polldaddy poll. That IMO is the best solution. I don't mind if people post their images elsewhere but then that defeats the purpose of PMing the entries. Regardless, this is what I will do.

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I will do PM entries and a polldaddy poll. Maybe all the comp hosts can have one unified account so we can manage each other's polls just in case one of the hosts is absent. I threw my comp together without listening to your opinions and now it's backfiring. Chrisco and possum, what do you think about having a unified polldaddy account?

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You know what, this argument is no fun. I am going to do PM entries and a polldaddy poll. That IMO is the best solution. I don't mind if people post their images elsewhere but then that defeats the purpose of PMing the entries. Regardless, this is what I will do.

I don't think we are arguing with you about it, I think everyone is just stating their honest opinion. Free and open debate is a good thing for a community like this as long as things don't get personal. Like I have told you, several times, it's your comp to run as you see fit, just as mine are mine to run in a way that I'm comfortable with. As I told you when this issue came up, I thought you had a good idea in having a blind entry method and I put it in place on the very next comp. So far I think it's working about like we discussed and I think I'll leave it like it is for now. Hey, it's not perfect, but neither am I, and if someone has an idea that would improve it and make it easier for me, I'm all ears.

I will do PM entries and a polldaddy poll. Maybe all the comp hosts can have one unified account so we can manage each other's polls just in case one of the hosts is absent. I threw my comp together without listening to your opinions and now it's backfiring. Chrisco and possum, what do you think about having a unified polldaddy account?

Why don't you set something up and give it a try. I'll watch what happens and see what people think about it. If it works well, I might give it a try. I've been using these kind of forums for a really long time and I'm real comfortable with them. If things are set up right, and this one is, there is not a whole lot you can do to monkey around with things like polls and "game" the system. I trust the way they work, and now that Pyrochild has shown me where to find the advanced poll options, I like it even better. I'm not saying no to the polldaddy idea, just not now. You might also take a look at Survey Monkey. I don't know if it's any better or not, I just like the name.

As for unifying the comps, I think we should take things nice and slow and not change things too much too fast. Like I said, I'm comfortable with the way I'm doing things. In the event of my absence,(because you never know at my age), I have a couple of people in mind to step in for me should I come down with a bad case of stupidity. I'll drop them a line and see what they say. I'll copy Pyrochild on the PM so he's in the loop as to what's going on.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program......

I'd really like to hear from some of the others who have entered my comps to get their opinions and then I'll put everything down in my comp rules so that everyone is clear on what is what. That way, if you enter something in the WOTW, SAC or AOTW, everyone will know where to go and what to do. Thanks to everyone who have contributed to this discussion so far.

Oh and one more thing. I need a special favor from three people. (This is for those of you who like the intrigue) I'll send you a PM and when I have the answer, I'll post it here. :D I think everyone will like it.

Edited by Possum Roadkill
 

SAC, WOTW and Photo Manip Competition Host

To visit the Comps click HERE

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I think we should see how the PollDaddy poll goes for you, and if it goes well, I may give it a shot.

--

We need to agree on a method that all Comp. Hosts will use. So, as mentioned earlier, it isn't so confusing because everyone has different voting methods.

Edited by chrisco97
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Woah. This means no premades? Aw...the most special thing about the competitions on this forum is that we allow premades. Now we're just like any old siggy forum.

Well..I guess if everyone becomes anonymous we can start a "Guess the Piece" competition at the end of every week and let people guess who's work is who's lol.

deviantART

sigs n stuff

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Lol, I use premades all the time and I have seen a lot of other people do that.

I guess we've been breaking the rules all these years, sorry about that CSM.

deviantART

sigs n stuff

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Thats OK?...

I just checked out polldaddy and I am VERY HAPPY with it. You can change themes, add text and images for one entry, set results for private, choose how many options the user can choose, etc.

I will definitely use this in the voting process. Also I changed to Possum's method of submitting entries by PM.

BTW Possum, polldaddy is extremely easy to use. You can choose when the voting is over etc etc etc..

Edited by csm725
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