Mister Phes

The point is this is the topic for congratulating the winners and you're taking it off topic. You make it sound like a winner was chosen at random, when in actuality, some feedback was given and even a graphical visualization was provided to indicate performance. But perhaps my previous post wasn't direct enough, so I'll be less eloquent; you ran like a coward at the first sign of trouble while other critics stayed for the long haul, regardless of the unpleasant situation. Of the 80 days the Creative Critic was open, you only posted on 4 of those days, whereas some critics were active for almost 2 months. So that lack of commitment and poor character was what eliminated you as a contender for the prize. And on top of that you're whining about wasting your time, despite demonstrating considerably less engagement than the highest performing critics. Does that elaboration provide sufficient feedback for future improvement? Or are you going to run away again? As stated, there is another topic, How can we make future contests BIGGER and BETTER and MORE EXCITING?? so we can have greater capacity to complete a more thorough analysis AND report on it for future contests. So if you have anymore to say on the matter, please do so in that topic. Yes, assassinate the governor in 21 shots

Obviously the winner wasn't selected based on that statement - are being serious when you ask that? Or are you trolling? Come on! The winner was based on the overall performance of each critic as indicated in the chart and the accompanying notes. Compared to the top ranking critics your participation wasn't consistent throughout the contest and you had a large period of absence. At your own admission: You left, while others stayed. So that's not demonstrating the high level of dedication others contributed. The biggest limiting factor is time - I just didn't get the opportunity to provide that feedback earlier as was the intention. When it's one person managing 95% of the contest in their spare time, sometimes things don't get done as thoroughly as one would like. But fear not! I've created a topic How can we make future contests BIGGER and BETTER and MORE EXCITING?? So maybe for next time we'll have more volunteers and greater capacity to improve this aspect of the contest.

By all means, go ahead and compile the report. That's all I had time for. But it seemed unnecessary to update because the leaderboard didn't change much after that point.

Did you miss the Creative Critic Leaderboard? Furthermore, there was an opportunity for builder's to provide feedback to critics.

With a million dollars I could invest it wisely for the future procure the largest prize pool ever seen in an AFOL building contest!

The votes have been counted so now it's time to announce the winners and discover who 10320 WON Eldorado Fortress! Sail over to the LEGO Pirates Forum for full details...

The votes have been counted so now it's time to announce the winners! Mini Set Building Category The winner of a set to the value of 35€ is... “King Kahuka’s Outrigger Boat” by @kritch with 29 votes Main Building Category Third Place The winner of a set to the value of 35€ is... “6267 Lagoon Lock-Up/Soldiers Tavern” by @Aanchir with 19 votes Second Place The winner of a set to the value of 35€ is... “Saber Island 2023” by @TomSkippy with 22 votes First Place The winner of 10320 Eldorado Fortress is... “6278/6292 Enchanted Island” by @Danny_Boy4 with 24 votes Creative Critic The winner of 10320 Eldorado Fortress is... @Mazin It was an extremely difficult decision and throughout the analysis various critics were considered for the prize, however Mazin’s personable demeanor and ability to provide articulate responses well after his initial feedback set him slightly ahead of the competition. Now What? Winners haves until September 30* to contact @Mister Phes and submit the postal address they'd like their prize delivered. * failure to provide postal address by this date will result in forfeit of prize Everyone else... let's give the winners a round of applause and extend our congratulations to everyone who submitted their wonderful entries!

This may come as a surprise but the Return of the Classic Pirates was a success by Eurobricks standards and attracted more than 117 entries - almost three times the Eurobrick contest average of 40 entries. But certain aspects of the contest could have be managed better, ultimately, the largest shortcoming was insufficient personnel to organise and manage the contest. So the two question posed: How can we make future contests better? Who would like to join the Classic Pirates Crew to make it happen? @Rogue Redcoat and @Brickshipyard have already volunteered but is anyone else interested in embarking on this exciting journey? We have positions* ranging from temporary contest assistants to ongoing Moderators, so we can tailor a position to suit the amount of time you're able to contribute. * Regulators, Moderators, graphic designers, bloggers, news scouts, indexers, etc. But if you'd just like to provide feedback or ideas, feel free to share in this topic... How can we make future contests better? More crew on deck would be an immense help! So who is interested in joining so we have greater capacity to manage future contests? And how do we allow people to fairly assist while also participating in contest? What can we do to make future contests better? How could contests be run differently or more efficiently? How can contests better engage the forum, blog and Classic Pirates social media network? Much to the chagrin of the dedicated forum users, this is not the 2000s when social media was an emerging phenomena, and thus, we don't have the luxury of forum exclusive contests and forgetting about everything else. We need a cohesive strategy that encompasses everything. The Formalities of The Return Classic Pirates Contest For those who like details, here are some underlying factors which influenced the contest: The current Classic Pirates crew lacks seasoned contest veterans, and while they contributed ideas, most of the organisation and execution was left up to me. It was the worst time possible for me to arrange a contest! I was already in the process of organising a voyage spanning seven countries across three continents. That was time consuming enough, so there wasn't sufficient time to arrange a contest properly. I did what was necessary to get it launched and hoped I could pick things up when I got back. The contest couldn't be announced until Eldorado Fortress was officially announced as we have 100% certainty that the set would be released. I was absent for the first month of the contest, so 4 weeks of promotion and management wasn't possible. There was an incident during my absence but fortunately the staff and crew performed admirably to ensure it didn't escalate out of control. So I thank them immensely for handling that! The biggest shortcoming was I spread myself too finely across too many different fronts, which resulted often carrying out tasks late night while half asleep. But I've had some wonderful assistance from participants in the later stage of the contest, so thank you to everyone who's stepped up and contributed. And thank you for participating in the Creative Critic - your contributions were quite strong towards the end! ---------------------------------------------- UPDATE 2 October, 2023 It appears the "I spread myself too finely across too many different fronts" descriptive failed to convey the monumental amount of time I spent managing this contest. So cue the violins because here are yet more details: After spending around 10 hours providing commercial services to clients, I'd then be up until 3-5 in the morning overseeing the contest. Every weekend I'd spend all day and evening, both Saturday and Sunday preparing everything for that weekend and the following week. Subjecting yourself to these hours for a prolonged period is not healthy - the contest wrecked me and towards the end I was severely burnt out. Furthermore, due to the vast amount of time it consumed, I've had to postpone other important aspects of my life. So when F1stzz states"You've stated that final report is on its way — so let's finally bring it in, make the right conclusions out of the whole situation"; aside from mental exhaustion, I now must catch up on everything I've postponed because they have deadlines, and those deadlines are now looming. Not submitting your tax return by the due date time has unpleasant legal consequences for where I am! But I'm still not finished finalising the administrative aspect of the contest. I'm currently in the process of compiling the analytics report the LEGO Group requires so they can be assured their sponsorship is justified. I could go on, but I'm hoping that is sufficient supporting information to provide greater context to the situation as I do not feel obliged to divulge into every detail of my personal situation. ---------------------------------------------- UPDATE 21 October, 2023 Pressing life commitments have been fulfilled so let the final reporting begin! How can we make future contests better? More crew on deck would be an immense help! So who is interested in joining so we have greater capacity to manage future contests? And how do we allow people to fairly assist while also participating in contest? What can we do to make future contests better? How could contests be run differently or more efficiently? How can contests better engage the forum, blog and Classic Pirates social media network? Much to the chagrin of the dedicated forum users, this is not the 2000s when social media was an emerging phenomena, and thus, we don't have the luxury of forum exclusive contests and forgetting about everything else. We need a cohesive strategy that encompasses everything.

Yeah, but specifically what light, sound and moving parts? Do the pirates start busting a move on the dance floor or something?

Aye, it's such a hard choice! (Except Horation had to withdraw due to personal reasons) If only there were more prizes to give, because more than one critic certainly deserves to win!

What's that little white button do?

I've never purchased from LEGO.com so all GWP I've acquired via eBay. I thought it looked more like a shark with jaws wide open...

Good work, Jack! Hopefully I'll have time to double check the vote counts before the end of the week.

And Ahoy to Olaf too! For those not current with the German news, according to The Guardian , "The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has posted a photo of himself wearing an eyepatch after injuring his face while jogging." But the timing of this injury could not be more fitting for the occassion!

This has also been corrected.

No offense taken! Thank ye - this error has been corrected.

The builders' names have been included in my spreadsheet. The error was caused by: I counted a vote for the wrong entry because of the similarity names It was 3 in the morning when I was tallying the votes

Just to confirm; which spreadsheet are you referring to? There are various people who've created spreadsheets and various version of my onw. My latest count can be found via this Google Drive link. That's not hard to do! But it's probably the tedium of going through all the votes that caused the error relating to two entries with similar names.

Do you know whose vote was missing?

Depends what you mean by "first" @Yoggington created the initial spreadsheet which only tallied votes for the Main Building entries. I later expanded it to count the Mini Set entries and have been updating it until Voting Closed.

Return of the Classic Pirates Contest Determine the Creative Critic WINNERS! The Creative Critic Leaderboard narrowed down the top performing critics... But here is the opportunity for the Building Entrants or anyone who interacted with critics to provide feedback on which Creative Critics were the most helpful. Did any critics provide advice which helped to improve your entry? Were any critics too harsh in their feedback? Did any critics encourage discussion on your entry? Do you have feedback for any of the critics? Do you have any thoughts on your interactions with critics?

VOTE COUNTING Based on @Yoggington's earlier spreadsheet, I've continued to count votes and my tally can be found via this Google Drive link. Feel free to double check and challenge these counts - you've got one week.

VOTING CLOSED!!! Click Here for Voting Tallies

@Glowboy - you've only voted for one Mini Set entry. The requirement is a minimum of 3 votes in each category for your vote to be valid. Please correct this before voting closes or your vote won't be counted.

@TomSkippy - you've only voted for two Mini Set entries. The requirement is a minimum of 3 votes in each category for your vote to be valid. Please correct this before voting closes or your vote won't be counted.