Featured Suggestion: Contest Improvements

Since its introduction, the Writing Contest Forum on Mibba has been a user favorite and very active. Over the years, our user base has grown substantially, and the contest section has outgrown the little forum it started out in. To help sustain the growing popularity of contests, Dujo plans to move the contest section off the forums, where contests can have their own section with better functionality and organization.

This is a big change, and user feedback is vital to successfully designing a contest section on Mibba. Discussed below are some of the most popular contest related suggestions from our users.

Points Integration

A common suggestion among users is the idea of incorporating the point system into contests, though different users had different ideas on how to do this. Dru’s hammer.suggested using points as a motivational tool to encourage contest completion. She said, “I think it would be a good idea if people had to 'pay' points to start a contest, which they got back upon the completion of their contest… It would be a good way to ensure contests get finished. And since points are returned upon completion of responsibilities, then no one is really paying anything to create a contest.”

The goal of this suggestion, according to Dru and others who support it, is to encourage accountability and respect in the contest section. Many users know how irritating it is to enter a contest, only to have the judge or host abandon it.

Some users found point penalties to be unfair, because users may have emergencies preventing contest completion, or lose interest in a contest. Other users suggested that points be used to reward hosts and participants for completing contests. KatieMosing said, “ A small reward could be given for hosting a completed contest and submitting an entry…maybe 5 points for hosting a finished contest and 3 points for submitting an entry.”

Section Design and Functionality

Users had many suggestions on how the section should be designed and how it should function. When creating a contest, users suggested that hosts select from the following basic options:

• Contest Summary
• Rating limits
• Word limits
• Type (fan fiction, original fiction, true story, poem, article, etc.)
• Genre
• Entry/Submission Deadline
• Prizes
• Contest Rules

Users discussed the design of photo and prompt contests, and suggested that contest hosts needed a way to assign prompts to entrants, for organization’s sake. Battalions stated, “It’d be cool if you could choose an option to have prompts and then list them, and then users could claim them and it'd show up automatically on the entrants list. The contest creator could choose how many people were allowed to select a prompt (or have no limit at all), so for contests with one prompt per person the prompt would be removed from the list once someone claimed it.”

Users also want the contest section to be easier to search through, so that entrants can find contests that appeal to them. Some suggested sorting contests into categories such as photo contests, song contests, quote contests, multi-round contests and arranging contests by deadline dates.

Functionality wise, users suggested that hosts should be able to send messages to all entrants in a contest, without the tedious task of sending individual private messages. Additionally, daisyfairy suggested that contest entrants should receive auto generated messages, perhaps a couple days before the deadline or to announce a new round has been posted in a contest.

Contest Rules

Currently, the contest section is mostly self-regulated by users. However, some users would like to see more involvement from site administration in the contest section, and formal rules. I saw sparks. stated,“ I think a lot more regulation wouldn't be a terrible thing... obviously, that section of the site needs something because right now, it's just a free-for-all.”

Some rule suggestions included:

• A host may only host one contest at a time
• Temporary banning for abandoning contests
• Deadline to withdrawal from or cancel a contest
• Moderators for contest section

Rating system

When joining a contest, many users feel like they’re taking a shot in the dark. Contest participants have no idea if the host typically judges contests or gives out prizes as promised. Users suggested a host rating system might be an option to help give entrants an idea of how serious a contest host is. Several alternative ways of rating hosts were suggested, but the overview of the idea is that contest entrants rate their host on if they judge contest fairly, on the timeline they set for the contest, and if they deliver prizes to the contest winners as promised.

Not all users were fans of directly rating another user, and ladyschrei suggested an alternative. She stated, “Users should be allowed to see a host's stats and see how many contests they've completed, and how many they’ve taken down.” In this model, a contest entrant would be able to see a host’s statistics regarding completed and cancelled contests, and potentially be linked to the host’s past contests.

Join the Discussion!

This article provides an overview of an evolving discussion, and all Mibbians are encouraged to participate in this thread to share their ideas about improving the contest section. Additionally, you can take our poll regarding contests and point integration here, and let us know how you feel! The poll results will be announced in the next installment of the Featured Suggestion column.

*Please note that all suggestions mentioned in this article are the product of user brainstorming, and have not been approved or implemented by Mibba’s administration.