A voting reminder

[Scott]

I just want to remind some of the new faces...

If you enter a contest you are expected to vote fairly on all the other entries.
If you fail to vote you will receive 1 warning. JUST ONE. After that point, your image may be disqualified for failing to vote. And it will definitely be disqualified if you do not vote and you're in the top 3 of the contest.

If you know before hand that you will be unable to vote for some 'real life' reason. Then let an admin know before voting ends on a contest. Sometimes other things come up, but unless we're aware we'll stick strictly to the rules.

[Silky]

DEFINITELY! Please vote if you enter! It's not fair to the other entrants who do vote and it gives you an unfair advantage if you don't vote!

Also remember...if you vote in ANY contest PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote for ALL the entries! It IS in our Site Guidelines and we can and will remove your votes if you don't vote for all the entries. We want PA to be fair for everyone, and the voters are the absolute KEY to this!

PLAY FAIR...VOTE!

[Dave]

Now why wont this post de-color? (mark itself read)

Silky, do you want to mention poor/inconsistent voting patterns and what you do about them ..... that's if you can remember because of course nobody does that here :)

[Silky]

[QUOTE=Dave]Now why wont this post de-color? (mark itself read)

Silky, do you want to mention poor/inconsistent voting patterns and what you do about them ..... that's if you can remember because of course nobody does that here :)[/QUOTE]

Oh, you mean ripping out their fingernails one by one? :)

We do indeed watch the voting VERY closely. If we see someone enter a contest and then vote extremely low in that contest, we tend to get a little pissy. We ask that EVERYONE use the Voting Scale that we have posted at the top of the General Forum as well as in the Site Guidelines. We also ask that everyone familiarize themselves with the Voting Tutorial we have, which sets out some of the good/bad things that you should be looking for in a particular image.

We are very lucky, for the most part. We have some great voters here at PA, and the problems with voters are few and far between. Normally, if I have to email or PM a voter it's because they are fairly new to the site and unaware of all the things that go into voting and participating in the contests.

Keep up the good work, everyone...you make my job so much easier! :)

[Optikal]

[QUOTE=Silky]We do indeed watch the voting VERY closely. If we see someone enter a contest and then vote extremely low in that contest, we tend to get a little pissy. :)[/QUOTE]

But Silky, isn't this a case of user perspective?

I think that by an admin making the statement about getting 'pissy' with the way some people vote, could also be construed as almost a threat in some way: "Vote the way we would or you'll be sorry!".

I mean everyone looks at images in a different light; what the admin see as a good image, may not be the same from the voters point of view, and vice versa.

I think that by telling voters to use your voting guidelines, you are more-or-less trying to enforce members to vote in the same manner as you would; and where is the fairness in that?

I think that with members being at differing levels with regards to Photoshop, they are going to be inclined to vote accordingly: ie, a member with little or moderate Photoshop experience might see a particular image, and not knowing how little or how much has been done to the image, see it as extroadinary, and therefore reflect that in their voting; whilst a more experienced Photoshop user may see the same image as lacking in detail etc, and in return offer a lower vote ... do you see my point here guys?

[down2earth2]

You have a good point Optikal in saying that a newbie may undervalue a submission because they didn't appreciate the work that was done. What I believe Silky was refering to was a person entering a contest, and then giving all the other entries really low scores just so they would have a better chance of winning.

[PDG]

[QUOTE=down2earth2]You have a good point Optikal in saying that a newbie may undervalue a submission because they didn't appreciate the work that was done. What I believe Silky was refering to was a person entering a contest, and then giving all the other entries really low scores just so they would have a better chance of winning.[/QUOTE]

That is exactly the same interpretation I walked away with. Thanks, D2E2.

[Optikal]

Yup, I see that point also D2E2, and it would be a sad day for all if someone feels the need to have to vote others minimally in order to have their own work pushed up the ladder.

The point that I am trying to make though, is that everyone views images differently: what you might vote an 8, I may very well vote a 3, and vice versa.
It all depends on what one looks for in an image: is it solely the concept-the idea; is it the amount of colour; is it quality; is it shading; attention to detail; or is it the overall image etc etc.

[Silky]

You were exactly right in your interpretation, d2e2. And yes, Optikal, it is indeed a sad day when someone has to undervalue another person's work simply to advance their own...but trust me when I say it DOES happen...probably more than you would believe.

And yes, everyone views an image differently. BUT...there are certain parts of an image...certain aspects of an image, that must be taken into consideration when voting. It's THESE things that we want people to pay attention to. I'm talking about shadowing, blending, color matching, etc. You can't vote an image on concept alone...you MUST take into consideration all the aspects that go into creating an image. If you take a look at the Voting Tutorial you'll see that it's these things that we stress. We have voters who look at an image, find it amusing, and vote high on it simply because it made them laugh. They don't take the technical aspects of the image into consideration at all. Thus, we end up with amusing images at the top, and quality images at the bottom. That's NOT what we want. We want the cream to rise to the top...the technically sound...the conceptually good images that are so prevalent. It's always nice to have an image that makes you chuckle...but we absolutely ask that if you vote high on an image that you also consider all other aspects of the image...not humor alone.

[Optikal]

Even though one is expected to vote according to the different aspects of an image ... people will always view those aspects differently, it's human nature.

For what its worth, I vote according to the way 'I' see an image, not the way someone else wishes me to ... afterall, I am the one voting. ;)

[Scott]

Optikal,

We don't worry so much about how one user votes on any particular given image. We concern ourselves more with the overall voting in a contest by that user. If we see a user giving all 2s and 3s, yes we'll ask and try to guide them. Same holds true if we see them handing out all 9s and 10s. And if we see a user only voting on a couple entries we'll ask them about it. What any particular image receives is not really an admin concern although we may STRONGLY disagree with a single vote. If a user is voting in a contest and we can tell they are using their head and not simply casting votes wildly, we let them be. And we don't penalize them in any way.

[Silky]

And we do NOT threaten our voters...EVER! I can be pissy from now till doomsday, but so what? Don't you get pissy sometimes? We work our butts off to make sure the playing field is level for ALL who participate here at PA. We want EVERYONE to feel comfortable with the way things are run, which is why we are so concerned with people voting on ALL entries, and why we insist if you enter you vote fairly for all the other entries. That is our primary concern...to give every person who enters a contest her at PA an equal chance to win the trophies...that's it.