Femme Fatale: Sci-Fi Category

[Contest]

Sci-Fi (http://www.wyrd-games.net/gallery/browseimages.php?c=25&userid=)
Femme Fatale: Sci-Fi Category

You have three votes to cast in this category, the winners will be determined by the top three number of votes. The link above will take you directly to the gallery. When leaving comments or critique, please be constructive and considerate.

[dragonbane]

It's an interesting choice of voting methods. It does allow the unusual situation where 50 people might all think that #3 is clearly the best, #2 is a solid runner-up, and #1 is not nearly as good as 2 and 3 but far better than the rest of the contestants. Were they to make this determination and vote accordingly, you'd reflect a 3-way tie for first. Alternately, if 48 people felt that way, but 2 people for personal reasons voted for #1, #4, and #5 (ie not #2 or #3), then #1 would win the popular vote despite 48 people thinking that it was only 3rd-best.

Just something to consider for the future. Statistics are scary things, just ask a presidential candidate. :)

[Ritual]

That is of course a possibility, but as far as I can see it works pretty well. The votes are distributed over quite many entries in all categories so I don't think your scenario will be reality. It works better than last contest where you could only vote for one entry.

[Nathan Caroland]

True, but then again, until I find a better method this will have to do. The last contest I only allowed for one vote and it got to be one sided very quickly and some people felt somewhat slighted when out of thirty entries, only two would get consitent votes and one would get third place with a whopping two votes, one of them being from the person voting for themselves.

The request for being able to vote multiple (in this case three times) was requested and after a bit of thought, we decided to go with it.

That being said, nothing is perfect. I do find that sometimes folks try to pull slick ones by creating dummy accounts or having their spouses, children, friends vote for them and at times I have to go in an adjust voting counts, ban accounts and in general keep an eye on things (its really simple for me to track IP's and such folks, really).

For the most part I think this works out fairly well and overall is meant to be fun for everyone, and in the end, the polls and the galleries take a LOT of work off of me as in the past we did everything by e-mail. Until something else comes along to help the process or if someone can suggest something that we might honestly look into, and is realistic, we'll probably stick to this for the moment.

As with all contests though here on Wyrd, once it is over, I do ask for feedback and suggestions on how we can make things better for everyone. I welcome comments and critique at the time!

[Nathan Caroland]

SF Entry 11, Ordic Pistoleer, has been disqualified as a direct link and the painters identity was posted on a web journal and discussion about creating dummy accounts for voting was forwarded.

My apologies to the painter, as it was not her doing and she had requested that the link be removed, but the damage has already been done as the contest rules are meant to be followed.

A great entry, and there is now a large void in the votes as she certainly would have taken either 1st or 2nd place. My apologies to those whose votes were removed.

-
Nathan Caroland

[dragonbane]

Well, you do have to follow the rules as posted. It kind of sucks for the painter who did follow the rules and did nothing wrong herself, and who in fact went out of her way to correct the person who posted the link within an hour or two of the link going up. It's sad that anyone who can identify the painter of a mini can choose to DQ them from this contest, and that the painter (the only one involved who agreed to the rules) has no recourse to prevent it. :(
:argh:

As a friend of mine says,
breathe deep seek peace

[cdukino]

I'd vote for the her to become a not-quite-random smuck, te ease the pain ;) It was a beautifull entry, got my vote.

I don't expect this to be a danger in the future of people ruining chances for someone out of spite though (meaning deliberatly, not out of mistake or not knowing). The perons knowing the entry, as the paintjob has to be kept secret is most likley only known to friends. I don't expect them to ruin chances on purpose, for that's not really friendlike now is it.
So if a friend choses to disqualify a friend deliberatly it's not much of a friend to begin with.
If an enemy choses to do that, the identity has most likley already leaked, for you won't willingly show your enemy it as tool to disqualify you. And as long as there isn't proof (often meaning the painting aknowledging it)... you are not disqualified most likely.

[Althai]

I would like to second the "let the not-so-anonymous entry stay" sentiment. If the painter did follow the rules, and their identity became known by a means they had no control over, you are doing a much greater harm to the painter by removing the entry than you would do to the other painters by allowing a less than entirely anonymous entry stay in their midst.

This is especially since there are bound to be cases where it's obvious who painted a given entry, despite all of the rules being followed. For example, in the fantasy category there is a model that is quite obviously painted be a certain poster to manufacturer's forums. He paints all of the models to his army in a very unique color scheme, and his contest entry was no exception. So one entry stays, despite the fact that the identity of the painter is obvious, and another is removed, when both painters did nothing wrong.

Yes, rules are there for a reason, and should be followed. But when it comes to enforcing the rules, don't feel bound by the letter, but do whatever seems most fair and approprate to the situation and intent of the rules.

David

[cdukino]

I'm sorry. My intention was definatly not to start the discussion again for that was closed already (see other thread). Can only lead to endless discussions I fear which isn't gonna help. I did mean just giving one or 2 miniatures to an entry's painter (which is what you get by being a random smuck) that most likely had won something to reward honesty and make up for bad luck.
I did not mean keeping the mini in the competition as it broke the rules (even if the painter had not)... if you started that it would cloud the rules... where would you place the borderline then? Very unfortunate for her it went this way... but there are rules. I think most people have learned from it and it could be avoided next time. Clearly instruct friends/family who are gonna see your entry somehow before time. I even instructed my sister not to show anyone... and she's hardly ever online let alone on miniature sites... just to be on the save site. (I even went a step further telling her and a friend since they weren't members on here and might only sign up to boast my votes (don't think they would have in the first place, but you never know) I did not want them to do that for they would be biassed. I want people to vote on the miniature, not on me.)

[Althai]

Another option which might allow the rules to be followed but not punish the painter as severely would be to let the entry stay, but not allow any further votes to be made for it once the painters identity becomes public. I imagine most voters do so near the start of the contest, so if the miniature was doing well, it could still win, and it would guarantee that the people who voted for it (except, possibly, for a few who knew the painter personally) would be voting for the model, and not the painter.

David