Ideas for the Current SOTW & BOTM

[Alice]

Things have been pretty slow in the contest section, which saddens me.  There used to be so many amazing people who entered, who have since left.  We want to know what we can do to make it easier to enter.  So please give us suggestions on how we can liven it up and get more people to enter.  For example, maybe having the contest starting closer to the weekend for those who are really busy during the week which keeps them from entering.  Apollo and I are willing to take any reasonable suggestion into account.

 

Thank you,

 

Athena & Apollo

 

Edited February 14, 2015 by Athena

[† Apollo]

I think changing the day of the week might help. I can't speak for everyone, but I know I'm too busy with work during the week to really work on entries. But I'm off on the weekends. The way we have it now, the weekends are for voting. If we change the days and actually let people work on entries during the weekend, I think that would help some people out. But I want to see what others think about this.

Edited February 14, 2015 by Apollo

[Alice]

Minkseru (my hubby) works all week and is off on weekends, which is why he doesn't enter. I also agree on seeing what others think about it.

Edited February 14, 2015 by Athena

[Moodkiller]

• Having a poll for voting for SOTW (as there is for BOTM) may attract more people to vote and subsequently enter in the following week. Normal feedback can still be posted in the tread section. 

   

•  

 

• Only entries should be posted until voting begins. Anything besides entries and staff announcements will be treated as spam and will be deleted. Comments, criticism, and discussions should be saved for voting. Complaints about the theme will not be tolerated, as this is disrespectful to the previous winner. As such, these posts will be deleted.

 

I also think this rule has served this purpose. The individuals involved should be banned from posting/warning points given etc etc instead of everyone else having to suffer the consequences... though I do understand rather safe than sorry. Also no offence to the parties that were directly involved in this case. 

[Alice]

Polls are being brought back.  As for the other thing it will be taken into consideration.

[† Apollo]

 

I also think this rule has served this purpose. The individuals involved should be banned from posting/warning points given etc etc instead of everyone else having to suffer the consequences... though I do understand rather safe than sorry. Also no offence to the parties that were directly involved in this case. 

 

Well, no one is suffering any consequences. The rule was not created as punishment or anything like that. There has ALWAYS been an unwritten rule about not posting anything except entries until voting begins. But people started forgetting that and spamming up the contests. And got away with it for a long time. The fact of the matter is, it's much easier for Athena and me when we don't have to navigate through a sea of spam to get to the entries and set up the polls. And I mean, what is there to really discuss before voting begins anyway? I'm perfectly fine with people commenting, critiquing, and discussing to their heart's content, but surely it can wait until voting starts, right?

 

And while the "case" you are referring to did not directly create the rule, it did shed some light on the need to change the rule from unwritten to written. And so now it is indeed written there as a reminder for everyone. I can't think of a good reason to remove the rule from the list, as it has always been a rule. The only thing that has changed is that it is now listed in the rules, plain as day. As far as removing the "respecting the theme" rule, surely you aren't suggesting that we should start allowing the disrespect? I agree that it shouldn't even NEED to be listed, as it should be common knowledge, but the events of the not-so-distant past proved the necessity of such a rule.

 

I mean no disrespect myself. In fact, I appreciate that you took the time to reply to our thread and provide feedback. I was merely confused by it, and I was hoping you could elaborate.

Edited February 14, 2015 by Apollo

[Alice]

I also agree that this has always been a unwritten rule and it really had gotten completely out of control, which made it a written rule. It may be possible to bring back the discussion thread again. But I don't think it's a great idea to remove this rule...It's not necessary.

[† Apollo]

Separate discussion threads aren't necessary either. We tried that a long time ago but soon realized how superfluous it was.

 

I want to reiterate that discussions within the SOTW contest thread are totally okay and even encouraged, as long as it is after voting begins.

 

It should be a no-brainer that comments and criticism should wait for voting. I have actually seen, on more than a few occasions, people posting their entry, others suggesting ways to improve it BEFORE THE VOTING BEGINS, and then that person fixing their entry using the suggestions given. That is obviously cheating.

 

And that's only one example of the many ways these threads can be spammed. We've seen it all, and I don't think we should allow the contest threads to go back to being littered by the many variations of such useless posts as "I'll try to enter this week" or "I won't have time to enter this week" or "This theme sucks so I'm not entering this week". Or how about when people used to "reserve" a spot in the thread? I will never understand that.

 

Personally, I think the contests have been a lot more pleasant and organized since the addition to the list of rules. No spam or drama.

Edited February 14, 2015 by Apollo

[Moodkiller]

There has ALWAYS been an unwritten rule about not posting anything except entries until voting begins. But people started forgetting that and spamming up the contests. And got away with it for a long time. The fact of the matter is, it's much easier for Athena and me when we don't have to navigate through a sea of spam to get to the entries and set up the polls. And I mean, what is there to really discuss before voting begins anyway? I'm perfectly fine with people commenting, critiquing, and discussing to their heart's content, but surely it can wait until voting starts, right?

 

I was unaware of the rule about not posting anything but entries during entry time. The only time some discussion was/would be necessary was if an entrant wasn't sure about the topic and needed some clarification or if they weren't sure what they were going to submit would be acceptable/break any rules. You make a valid point about collecting all the entries and making it easier for you and Athena. 

 

 

As far as removing the "respecting the theme" rule, surely you aren't suggesting that we should start allowing the disrespect? I agree that it shouldn't even NEED to be listed, as it should be common knowledge, but the events of the not-so-distant past proved the necessity of such a rule.

 

Agreed, I did not intend to give the idea to remove the "respecting of the theme" rule, as you say, this should be common knowledge. Sorry about that. If someone thinks that their theme is better, they should submit an entry that will win and thus have their perfect theme chosen.

 

 

I mean no disrespect myself. In fact, I appreciate that you took the time to reply to our thread and provide feedback. I was merely confused by it, and I was hoping you could elaborate.

 

No problem, I wasn't offended in anyway and I appreciate the time taken to run these contests and ask for user feedback. In essence I was looking at this from a one sided point of view (the entrants/users), so having a different opinion and logics applied correctly rules out my last suggestion. 

[Alice]

Can't really argue with Apollo on this one. It always drove me nuts people getting criticisms before voting and then them changing their entries. I just couldn't help think that was cheating.

It's okay to ask about clarification. That is understandable and I don't punish for those kind of posts. I exempt clarification posts just because some theme are confusing.

[† poetictragedy]

I wish people left more constructive criticism. I kind of used the contests as practice, and if I don't get ideas on how to get better, I feel like I never really improve. And I've been guilty of it lately too. Though this isn't something that new rules or anything can change--more just wishful thinking.

Edited February 14, 2015 by poetictragedy

[Moodkiller]

 

It's okay to ask about clarification. That is understandable and I don't punish for those kind of posts. I exempt clarification posts just because some theme are confusing.

 

Fair enough, then I would suggest a word change in this section of the rule from "Comments, criticism, and discussions should be saved for voting" to "Comments and criticism and discussions should be saved for voting." 

The word "Discussion" in my opinion, relates to clarification posts and discussing the theme? 

 

 

I wish people left more constructive criticism. I kind of used the contests as practice, and if I don't get ideas on how to get better, I feel like I never really improve. And I've been guilty of it lately too. Though this isn't something that new rules or anything can change--more just wishful thinking.

 

Would you go as to suggest a rule that requires voters to leave CNC otherwise their votes won't count? Though I can see this discouraging a lot more voting and thus less constructive criticism... not to mention that the poll system is being brought back, so this point is null. Was just curious. 

 

[† Apollo]

 

The only time some discussion was/would be necessary was if an entrant wasn't sure about the topic and needed some clarification or if they weren't sure what they were going to submit would be acceptable/break any rules.

Oh yes, that is absolutely true! These types of posts would be perfectly fine. There will always be exceptions to the rule, and that will be left up to Athena and/or me to decide what is valid and what is not. But I'm really just asking that everyone please use their common sense, haha.

 

Anyway, thank you for bringing that up! I will add a statement behind that rule about exceptions being left to the discretion of the Graphics Team.

Edited February 14, 2015 by Apollo

[† poetictragedy]

Would you go as to suggest a rule that requires voters to leave CNC otherwise their votes won't count? Though I can see this discouraging a lot more voting and thus less constructive criticism... not to mention that the poll system is being brought back, so this point is null. Was just curious.

I definitely wouldn't suggest such a rule. As you say, I think it would discourage a lot of people from voting. I think we even used to get more votes with the polls than we did using the 'pick three' system.

Just in general, I wish more people left c&c. Even in the showcases, it's all, "great job, love it, etc."

And to be fair, I've kind of stopped giving c&c myself, because people get defensive so easily, when really we're just trying to help each other improve.

[Alice]

Maybe more C&C will happen with a simpler voting system. Hopefully we'll get more entrants soon. It's seriously being considered moving the voting time so people can enter on weekends.

[Moodkiller]

 

 

The only time some discussion was/would be necessary was if an entrant wasn't sure about the topic and needed some clarification or if they weren't sure what they were going to submit would be acceptable/break any rules.

Oh yes, that is absolutely true! These types of posts would be perfectly fine. There will always be exceptions to the rule, and that will be left up to Athena and/or me to decide what is valid and what is not. But I'm really just asking that everyone please use their common sense, haha.

 

Anyway, thank you for bringing that up! I will add a statement behind that rule about exceptions being left to the discretion of the Graphics Team.

 

 

"But I'm really just asking that everyone please use their common sense" haha, there is your rule right there, pitty everyones common sense is different. Nonetheless, Im glad to hear and happy to provide some input where I can. 

 

 

 

Would you go as to suggest a rule that requires voters to leave CNC otherwise their votes won't count? Though I can see this discouraging a lot more voting and thus less constructive criticism... not to mention that the poll system is being brought back, so this point is null. Was just curious.

I definitely wouldn't suggest such a rule. As you say, I think it would discourage a lot of people from voting. I think we even used to get more votes with the polls than we did using the 'pick three' system.

Just in general, I wish more people left c&c. Even in the showcases, it's all, "great job, love it, etc."

And to be fair, I've kind of stopped giving c&c myself, because people get defensive so easily, when really we're just trying to help each other improve.

 

 

I also notice it goes through stages, some weeks almost every voter will leave CNC/c&c, especially if someone starts it and then other weeks, just the simple 1,2,3 positions.

 

 

It's seriously being considered moving the voting time so people can enter on weekends.

 

I'd be in favour of this ~ could always run a trial period? 

[Alice]

It'll most likely at least have a trial run. I know a few who work all week and are of weekends but by then voting has started.

[† LimitLess]

I agree, The entries should be on weekends and voting should be on the weekdays

Not to sound like a dick, but most of us actually got things to do on the weekdays(except me whereas I'm also busy on weekends).

 

The weekday entries work for NEETs who got nothing better to do with their lives, and none of them even enter the contest

nor do I think they even come to vote.

 

Otherwise I'm fine with everything else, the poll is definitely easier and better

Edited February 14, 2015 by LimitLess

[† ParasiteEve]

The only problem with weekday voting (imo) is having a whole week to vote when half the time everyone that votes has cast their vote the first day it starts.

So what about having Monday to Wednesday for voting and Thursday to Sunday for entries, that way people won't feel rushed to make something and it gives others time during the weekend to work on things.

I'm glad we went back to the old way of voting though, it's much easier.  I always confused on why it was changed.

Also, what is the lifetime of a chosen theme before it can be picked again? 

 
 

[Alice]

I've already put it up to Apollo last night to have entries on Friday night thru Wednesday night.  Leaving Thursday and Friday open for voting.  Its the same system but different days.  That way the week and weekend day people have a chance to enter.