Contest Section

  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    ladyschrei:
    @ darkfallenangel
    I don't think taking down a contest or pulling out of one is "abusing" it though, no matter how many times it happens :/

    I agree.
    I don't either, and there is too much room for variation and personal discretion in moderating a section like that officially, which is why it's largely de-facto "moderated" by users. (IE, if someone cancels their contests all the time or never judges them, users avoid that person's contests)

    I don't think it's fair to put a number limit on contests, because that's almost all some users do on the site.

    I do like all the brainstorming and ideas flowing in this thread though! You guys are awesome for making so many suggestions.
    August 8th, 2012 at 04:19am
  • ladyschrei

    ladyschrei (550)

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    I think there should official contest moderators for the section, so that way they can go through and delete old contests or ones that seem inactive, or if a user sends them a message to take it down.

    Of course, before it's deletion, the owner of the contest should be contacted about it, and maybe told to contact all those who entered the contest that it's being taken down. Or something like that Mr. Green

    Also, there should be a report button to report any inactive or abandoned contests, or just for users that want them deleted (unless there will a way for the user to delete it themselves).

    Sorry if any of that was already suggested XD
    August 8th, 2012 at 04:25am
  • bellamy blake

    bellamy blake (3280)

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    Personally, I don't feel like people should be allowed to create multiple contests when they've forgotten about previous ones/failed to judge the entries they've received. There's a difference between not getting enough entries to judge/lack of participation and just not wanting to follow through, and even with personal problems, I feel like you should have to finish what you start before creating ten more contests. I don't think that's such an absurd or unrealistic requirement.

    It's incredibly easy to say "well, if you know someone doesn't judge their contests, just don't join them," but not everyone stalks the contest forum and some users completely change their usernames and themes frequently.

    If the contests get their own section, I definitely feel like they should be moderated more, much like the comment swap section has somewhat clear rules and guidelines now. If you abuse the comment swap feature, you don't get to use it anymore, and I don't feel like that's such a crazy method to somehow incorporate into contests since, as it stands now, the contest forum is pretty much chaos.
    August 8th, 2012 at 04:36am
  • folie a dru.

    folie a dru. (1270)

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    I think there's no point in "cleaning up" the contest section unless you create rules.
    August 8th, 2012 at 04:46am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    I'm going to keep the first post of this thread updated with a running list of ideas. If you suggest something and don't see it there, let me know.
    August 8th, 2012 at 04:47am
  • Jack Donaghy

    Jack Donaghy (450)

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    i saw sparks:
    Personally, I don't feel like people should be allowed to create multiple contests when they've forgotten about previous ones/failed to judge the entries they've received. There's a difference between not getting enough entries to judge/lack of participation and just not wanting to follow through, and even with personal problems, I feel like you should have to finish what you start before creating ten more contests. I don't think that's such an absurd or unrealistic requirement.
    I'm not sure how difficult it would be for Dujo to design the system to distinguish between contest makers/entrants who don't follow through and those who maybe have a run of bad circumstances and have to cancel/drop out of a bunch of contests at once / in a row. I think it'd probably lead to having staff decide, which leads to issues of discretion/fairness.

    Maybe you could rate hosts a la eBay? It'd only show up in the contest section, of course, but that might make it easier to keep track of who follows through and who doesn't. I dunno if there'd be an issue with people rating hosts low if they didn't win or something, though.

    Apart from all that, I just like the idea of the contest section automatizing everything, like generating entrant/entry lists, alerting people about deadlines and when judging is done, etc.
    August 8th, 2012 at 04:57am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    battalions:
    I'm not sure how difficult it would be for Dujo to design the system to distinguish between contest makers/entrants who don't follow through and those who maybe have a run of bad circumstances and have to cancel/drop out of a bunch of contests at once / in a row. I think it'd probably lead to having staff decide, which leads to issues of discretion/fairness.
    I think it would have to be manually input by staff (ie, how we have to manually ban people from comment swap).
    I know people keep using comment swap as an analogy for how we could moderate this, but I don't think that's the same at all. It's obvious if a comment is about the story or not; it's obvious if someone is copying and pasting the same comment on every story. Someone's reason for canceling a contest is not obvious, there is no obviously acceptable reason/ obviously unacceptable reason. Someone's reason for dropping out of a contest or not finishing a story is not obvious. Assuming a user is there to give a reason as to why they quit (which in a legitimate emergency, they may not be able to post any explantion), there is no way to determine if it's true. Someone could lie and say granny died and not be punished, and someone who is honest and just admits they lost interest would be punished, and I think it's silly to lose earned points over that. I think it's silly to punish people over a for-fun contest period.
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:04am
  • ladyschrei

    ladyschrei (550)

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    @ Kurtni
    That's what I'm saying XD
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:06am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    Maybe you could rate hosts a la eBay? It'd only show up in the contest section, of course, but that might make it easier to keep track of who follows through and who doesn't. I dunno if there'd be an issue with people rating hosts low if they didn't win or something, though.
    Maybe you should be required to rate the host before you can see the winner's list?
    I wonder if there would be a better way to address unfinished contests with judging deadlines. Like, when you create a contest and you input the entry deadline, you should also input a judging deadline, and if you fail to meet it, there is some sort of penalty (though I don't think it should be points or a site banning.) Perhaps you cannot post another contest for a week, or something like that.

    That way, we could distinguish between someone who abandons a contest and just lets the deadline run out, and someone who actually cancels a contest and notifies participants.
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:08am
  • ladyschrei

    ladyschrei (550)

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    @ Kurtni
    What would they be rated on though? Like, their consistancy with previous contests, or...?
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:09am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    @ ladyschrei
    I don't know, I'm don't like the idea of users rating other users personally, I was just adding on to a suggestion xD
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:14am
  • bellamy blake

    bellamy blake (3280)

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    @ battalions

    I'm just saying that I think, regardless of the situation, a user should have to complete a contest before they can host another. I understand personal issues, but even then, even if it's months later, someone should have to finish their previous contest before they create a new one.

    @ Kurtni

    Yeah, it's not obvious, but I don't think bringing specific reasons into why someone can't host or whatever is only making it more complicated, and personally, I don't feel like I should have to explain my situation and make it believable enough to someone I don't even know just to get a "free pass." In comment swap, people have to give a comment before they can move on to getting another comment. I'm saying that people should have to complete one contest before they're allowed to go on and create another one.

    I'm not saying bring in personal emergencies, people lying about personal emergencies, what have you. I'm saying treat everyone the same in that if you can't complete the contest you have going on, you can't make another one until you've finished what you started.

    Yeah, it's not obvious to tell the reasoning behind why someone didn't judge their contest, but I think it's fairly obvious which contests have been carried to completion and which ones have not.
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:16am
  • ladyschrei

    ladyschrei (550)

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    @ Kurtni
    Well that's not helpful XD Nah, just kidding.

    What if there was a way that whenever a contest is over, there's a button to click signifying it's ending, right? So then when a user goes to make a new contest, other users can see how many contests they've actually finished, and how many they've canceled and taken down.

    And then it would be the same for those dropping out. Like, if you wanted to drop out of a contest you've entered you'd have to click a button or something, so other users can see how many times you've actually completed a contest and how many times you've dropped out.

    If that makes sense XD
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:17am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    @ i saw sparks
    Oh, I misunderstood you. I see what you're saying. You mean you'd be incapable of creating another contest until the one you have up is judged and finished. I'll add that to the list.

    I think that might be the most fair way to do it honestly, because if you can create a new contest, there is nothing stopping you from judging the one you previously started. Though, all they'd have to do is pick random winners to avoid real judging. I'd personally rather someone cancel a contest than pick phony winners.
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:19am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    ladyschrei:
    @ Kurtni
    So then when a user goes to make a new contest, other users can see how many contests they've actually finished, and how many they've canceled and taken down.
    Me gusta
    Cool
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:21am
  • bellamy blake

    bellamy blake (3280)

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    Kurtni:
    Though, all they'd have to do is pick random winners to avoid real judging. I'd personally rather someone cancel a contest than pick phony winners.
    I feel like a lot of people do this now anyway, and I know that a lot of people just pick their friends/people who write in their fandom, but I don't think there will ever be a way to get rid of that bias, unless people have to give some sort of reasoning when they announce winners.

    I think a way to sort of monitor people just picking random people would be to check out the comments they leave on the entries. If someone suspects someone just did it randomly, they could check out the comments left on other entries. If they're all really vague/similar, then that's a red flag that the host didn't really judge their contest.
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:28am
  • Jack Donaghy

    Jack Donaghy (450)

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    Kurtni:
    Maybe you should be required to rate the host before you can see the winner's list?
    That would be better. Personally I'm not crazy about the idea of rating people either; I like ladyschrei's idea of visible stats better.

    @ i saw sparks
    That makes sense, but it's a bit of a different situation – you can't read/comment two stories simultaneously (literally, I mean), but you can have the entrance period of two contests running at once since it's a passive thing. So I can see people not liking the rule, and like Kurtni said you can still cheat the system on that, and it'd be hard tell the way you can tell a bad comment, because it's just a matter of the judge's taste, really. And it's not required that people give out comments on entries, so you couldn't always go on that. But I wouldn't really be against this and I think people would just get used to only having one contest at a time after a bit of complaining.
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:30am
  • bellamy blake

    bellamy blake (3280)

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    @ battalions

    Oh, I know. I've hosted multiple contests at the same time, but I don't think it would be a terrible cut to only be able to host one at a time if that meant that the system was more reliable and stable. If people only had one contest to focus on at a time, that keeps people from biting off more than they can chew and it could improve the quality of the contests themselves if someone knows that they can only run one at a time.

    Maybe people should have to leave a comment on the entries they receive? I think it's something that most people do anyway (considering they have to read the entries anyway to really judge them, it's not a stretch to just jot down a quick comment saying what they thought). I can tell when someone doesn't really judge a contest I've entered because there's been numerous times where I've caught them leaving the same "that's amazing!" comment on every entry.
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:37am
  • ladyschrei

    ladyschrei (550)

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    @ i saw sparks
    But couldn't forcing people to comment do that? They could leave "that's amazing!" comments on every story and still pick a winner.

    I don't like the idea of forcing comments, though. Although I see why some would want it, I personally don't like it :/
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:50am
  • wx12

    wx12 (10125)

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    i think we need to leave things like comments and prizes up to the discretion of the host, and I don't think we can moderate that very well. A lot of users promise "detailed comments" on x number of stories for their winner, but a "detailed comment" to me may mean something else to another host.

    If we over regulate this section, people won't like it.
    August 8th, 2012 at 05:55am