[CONTEST] The Infamous Steve

[Mister Phes]

8 hours ago, Horation said:

@Mister Phes, I don't where else to post this, but I think you miscounted, since you gave MyFirstMOC bonus points, but he mostly voted for his own entries...

Good catch!

Yes, this is the right place.

My brain is obviously wearing out after 3 months of managing this contest

So thank you for double checking!

[YellowFrog]

On 8/19/2024 at 11:08 PM, GabKremo said:

 

Small category

• Steve Boat by MyFirstMOC
• The Child by MyFirstMOC
• Steve’s Arrival in Port Royal by Captain Braunsfeld

 

Large category

• Steve’s Hideout by MyFirstMOC
• Steve’s Doom by MyFirstMOC
• The Final Task by Math Wizard

Apologies if I'm mistaken, but this seems to be a pretty-much exact copy of MyFirstMOC's post after he was told that he couldn't vote for himself.

I would recommend that you change this simply because it looks as though MyFirstMOC has set up an alternate account in order to boost votes, especially since that account has the bare minimum of 10 posts, plus 1 more being the one you posted on this page.

Even if you just changed the order of the entries or didn't vote for every single MyFirstMOC entry, it would alleviate the concerns of suspicious voters.

However, this is simply my opinion, concerned for your best interests. Vote for whoever you feel has the best MOCs, and if it happens to be the same, so be it.

[Yperio_Bricks]

8 minutes ago, YellowFrog said:

Apologies if I'm mistaken, but this seems to be a pretty-much exact copy of MyFirstMOC's post after he was told that he couldn't vote for himself.

I would recommend that you change this simply because it looks as though MyFirstMOC has set up an alternate account in order to boost votes, especially since that account has the bare minimum of 10 posts, plus 1 more being the one you posted on this page.

Even if you just changed the order of the entries or didn't vote for every single MyFirstMOC entry, it would alleviate the concerns of suspicious voters.

However, this is simply my opinion, concerned for your best interests. Vote for whoever you feel has the best MOCs, and if it happens to be the same, so be it.

Hehe yeah, look how that account voted last time... It's funny that this happens again after the shenanigans that happend around MyFirstMOC-Hun last year...

[Mister Phes]

50 minutes ago, YellowFrog said:

Apologies if I'm mistaken, but this seems to be a pretty-much exact copy of MyFirstMOC's post after he was told that he couldn't vote for himself.

Nobody told MyFirstMOC that.

Building Entrants can Vote for their own Entries, but they don't receive any Bonus Points - just 1 Point for each of the Entries they Vote on.

 

52 minutes ago, YellowFrog said:

I would recommend that you change this simply because it looks as though MyFirstMOC has set up an alternate account in order to boost votes, especially since that account has the bare minimum of 10 posts, plus 1 more being the one you posted on this page.

He's one of the few entrants who promotes his entries via social media so naturally his friends will support him.

As far as fraud is concerned:

GabKremo registered his account on August 25, 2020 while MyFirstMOC registered his on June 22, 2023, almost 3 years later.

Both members have logged in from the same location for the entire history of their accounts; Germany and Hungary respectively, also these are the same countries stated on their Eurobricks profiles.

If they were using VPNs, their IP addresses and countries would be bouncing around all over the place in the Admin logs.

 

[MyFirstMOC-Hun]

I would reply to Yellowfrog's post but I can only see what he wrote by email, not here.
First of all, I did not create the account. A friend in Germany voted for it. Secondly. I do not speak English well, but the reply was that I can vote for myself. So I don't understand your problem. But as soon as an admin sees that you are right, I withdraw from the contest with all entries. I've never cheated in a contest or challenge in my life and it wouldn't make sense here after seeing who dominates the field. I wouldn't win by that much even if it was what you wrote. 

[Mister Phes]

33 minutes ago, MyFirstMOC-Hun said:

But as soon as an admin sees that you are right

The concern has already been addressed here - everything is fine.

 

But everyone: PLEASE NOT NOT DISCUSS IN THE VOTING TOPICS!!!

As per the first post of each Voting Topic:

On 8/10/2024 at 4:19 PM, Mister Phes said:

 

Got a question or feedback? 

The Voting Topics will close on August 31.

• If you want to discuss a particular Building Entry please do so in the appropriate Entry Topic.
• Have a question, feedback or a concern regarding the Building Entry Voting process, please share what's on your mind in the Building Entries Overview topic...

 

[MyFirstMOC-Hun]

1 hour ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Hehe yeah, look how that account voted last time... It's funny that this happens again after the shenanigans that happend around MyFirstMOC-Hun last year...

What kind of trouble have I been in?Sorry, but now I'd like to know what the hell is going on. 

[Mister Phes]

32 minutes ago, MyFirstMOC-Hun said:

What kind of trouble have I been in?Sorry, but now I'd like to know what the hell is going on. 

During the Return of the Classic Pirates Contest last year, you posted an update via social media encouraging your followers to vote.

This prompted some people to register Eurobricks account especially to vote for your entries.

Consequentially some forum members believed they were fraudulent accounts.

I personally investigated and contacted those people to verify this wasn't the case.

This is my fault as I should have enforced stricter voting rules during the previous contest.

[MyFirstMOC-Hun]

34 minutes ago, Mister Phes said:

During the Return of the Classic Pirates Contest last year, you posted an update via social media encouraging your followers to vote.

This prompted some people to register Eurobricks account especially to vote for your entries.

Consequentially some forum members believed they were fraudulent accounts.

I personally investigated and contacted those people to verify this wasn't the case.

This is my fault as I should have enforced stricter voting rules during the previous contest.

Uh-huh. I see. That was the last challenge I took part in. At 45, I don't want to be a preschooler and a pretzel, I just like playing Lego and building things. I'm not as addicted to these challenges as people who have so many problems. 

[Mister Phes]

5 hours ago, MyFirstMOC-Hun said:

I'm not as addicted to these challenges as people who have so many problems. 

It's unfortunate that some have chosen to jump to conclusions and make accusations publicly, rather than express their concerns in a Private Message.

But the issue should be resolved now so we can leave this behind us.

Thank you for taking the time to enter the contest!

[NOD]

Bonus Points is a good idea and should be maintained for future contests!

 

 

Without Bonus Points:

The participant who has built something don't vote, then the other participants get one vote less. 

Bonus Points:

The participant who has built something can vote for other participants, then he receives Bonus Points for doing so.  

[Mister Phes]

On 8/24/2024 at 3:50 AM, NOD said:

Bonus Points is a good idea and should be maintained for future contests!

On paper it seems like a good idea!

In polling people are in favour of it.

But in practice...  we have not yet received that many voters.

So far only 26 people have Voted for the Building Entries.

At the timing of writing there's still a week left so let's hope that number increases.

[Horation]

Honestly, next time I'd do a public poll for creative critique, it seems to me that having to write a sentence is considered too much work for most people.

As for the voting incentives, I'll check if we have more votes than at this point last year, but I think we're behind (we had over 60 last year vs 26 here at the half-way point), but I think people are simply busy and haven't yet voted, but that they'll do so soon.

And speaking from my eBay experiences, most of the time, even when I have a lot of watchers, there's no bid until the last few days, because they want to see how it'll go. Hopefully that's what is happening here.

[Mister Phes]

19 hours ago, Horation said:

Honestly, next time I'd do a public poll for creative critique, it seems to me that having to write a sentence is considered too much work for most people. 

It would appear so.

Not even the prospect of winning a $25 LEGO set or 5 bonus points towards their vote scores is enough to motivate some building entrants to take action.

[Horation]

On 8/26/2024 at 4:47 AM, Mister Phes said:

It would appear so.

Not even the prospect of [bonuses and prizes] is enough to motivate some building entrants to take action.

"Some" is an understatement, most entrants still haven't voted in the critique category, and barely above 50% have done so in the building category.

I know this might seem rough, but I'd make voting mandatory in the future, might avoid some trouble...

[Mister Phes]

18 hours ago, Horation said:

I know this might seem rough, but I'd make voting mandatory in the future, might avoid some trouble...

But how could this be enforced?

It's one thing to say voting is mandatory and then entrants still don't vote anyway.

[Horation]

6 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

But how could this be enforced?

It's one thing to say voting is mandatory and then entrants still don't vote anyway.

Mandatory = must be done, I'd disqualify an entrant who didn't vote (I'd obviously give them ample warning, like a reminder 7 days before the end, and another one a few days before the end, and if someone was unable to vote for external reasons, ex : they were away for the time of the voting period and they informed me beforehand, I'd let them vote early/vote late by private message).

As I said, a little rough, but we clearly tried the "good cop" method with bonus points, maybe the "bad cop" method would work better.

[Horation]

Also, captain Braunsfeld voted for his own entry, but you gave him bonus points, it does appear like fatigue is settling in...

[Mister Phes]

14 hours ago, Horation said:

As I said, a little rough, but we clearly tried the "good cop" method with bonus points, maybe the "bad cop" method would work better.

Indeed. But be too stringent and then people won't enter in the first place.

 

7 hours ago, Horation said:

Also, captain Braunsfeld voted for his own entry, but you gave him bonus points, it does appear like fatigue is settling in...

Fatigue set in 3 weeks ago!

But as you may observe from this example; it's very well to state something, even in multiple places, and participants still seemingly miss the notice.

So perhaps @Captain Braunsfeld could take a moment to revise his vote and consider another entry other than his own.

 

[SpacePolice89]

21 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

But how could this be enforced?

By keelhauling!

[Captain Braunsfeld]

1 hour ago, Mister Phes said:

So perhaps @Captain Braunsfeld could take a moment to revise his vote and consider another entry other than his own.

 

The captain has reconsidered (and probably not fully read the rules) and changed his vote 

[Mister Phes]

2 hours ago, Captain Braunsfeld said:

The captain has reconsidered (and probably not fully read the rules) and changed his vote 

A wise choice!

@Horation and this is the challenge with contests.

The rules have been stated in a dozen different places from the forum to Classic-Pirates.com to social media; and even someone who frequents all those mediums regularly still doesn't read them thoroughly.

[Horation]

10 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

Indeed. But be too stringent and then people won't enter in the first place.

Fatigue set in 3 weeks ago!

But as you may observe from this example; it's very well to state something, even in multiple places, and participants still seemingly miss the notice.

That's a fair point you about stringentness, so I'll drop my proposal.

But I do have another point about the rules ; they felt really spread, it took me a good 10-15 minutes to find them all in the megathread with all its links and subsections.

So the next time I'd do one simple rules page, something like this :

[2-3 sentences to explain the contest theme, with a picture or two to clarify certain rules, ex : you don't need a Steve minifig to enter, here's an example without]

[1 sentence to explain the deadline rules/rules about entries made before the start of the contest]

[1 sentence per category to explain each section's requirement]

[3-4 sentences for the voting mechanism and restrictions]

[1 ALL CAPS-BOLDED SENTENCE ABOUT VOTING FOR YOUR OWN ENTRIES!!!]

[1-2 sentences about prize-claiming procedures]

[1 ALL CAPS-BOLDED SENTENCE ABOUT VOTING FOR YOUR OWN ENTRIES!!!]

And then I'd add a few sentences per challenge if needed, but remember the KISS principle (keep-it-stupid-simple), fewer threads and rules actually makes it more likely people will read them all/understand them, since they'll have to focus on fewer things.

[Mister Phes]

1 hour ago, Horation said:

So the next time I'd do one simple rules page, something like this :

There's one of those in the first post of this topic.

And the voting mechanics are including in the first post of each Voting topic.

Those first posts contain all the necessary information entering and voting, there's no need to read megathread - that's intended to be the rule book to settle disputes.

 

1 hour ago, Horation said:

but remember the KISS principle (keep-it-stupid-simple), fewer threads and rules actually makes it more likely people will read them all/understand them, since they'll have to focus on fewer things. 

Maybe to extent, but some people won't read the rules anyway.

The solution is to downsize the contests and not have all the side challenges which is ultimately what over complicates things.

[Horation]

2 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

 but some people won't read the rules anyway.

I think that's the main problem

2 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

The solution is to downsize the contests and not have all the side challenges which is ultimately what over complicates things.

I think that's the best solution, plus it'll allow you to avoid overunning the budget due to exchange rates.