Contest Boards

[Sarah36 Islay]

With so many cheating alts  at contests I have experienced over the years in my club. I just wish there was a contest board that showed the owner who voted for who. This would certainly help to iron out  the alts/

[Rolig Loon]

You could certainly script a contest board to give you that information, or hire a scripter to do it.  I'm not sure why you think that it would make any difference, though.  It wouldn't tell you who was behind any of the voters in RL.  If you really want to level the playing field, script a rule into your contest that says nobody can vote more than once a day.  Most people can't come up with an army of alts large enough to mess with the odds in a contest like that.

 

[KarenMichelle Lane]

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Sarah36 Islay wrote:

With so many cheating alts  at contests I have experienced over the years in my club. I just wish there was a contest board that showed the owner who voted for who. This would certainly help to iron out  the alts/

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Seriously?

Why police this yourself. You already have a spot-on but sad POV regarding contests in general. Yes, they are popularity contests. Don't you love the events you had where the winner didn't even participate in the named theme but won anyway? Don't blame the boards, blame human nature. 

So if you had this board and got to review the actual votes cast.....then what? You now know who voted for who. That population is made up of the friends of the person being voted for, the others in the venue who are upright solid citizens and if they are cheating scum of the earth, that same said person's ALTs. Can you tell the difference between the reveler, the sycophant friend and the MPD Alt?

What next? You have too many people voting for you?  I'm going to adjust the vote....

You see where this is going.

Modern boards use some great algorithms to weed out some last minute vote stuffing. Look for those that factor in the length of time the contestant has been in the venue for the contest and factors that time into the final results to break ties.  Even smarter boards will also factor in the case of a tie the length of time the person voting has been at the venue as well.

The bottom line is that you as a venue owner got what you wanted, a big jump in attendees to up your traffic numbers. But you have to ask yourself this as well, did the venue entertainment suffer as a result? Were the tips shallow? Was there any participation by the crowd in the local chat and activities. Does the contest add to the event's success? Do the crowds return when there are no contests?

Contests can be fun when done to facilitate a particular event. But if your venue is known for contests and no other thing, then the crowd will be fickle to be sure.

 

EDIT:

@ KennyChidorie - The point is no one knows who the ALTs are. Tampering with the voting results by the owner is also cheating of sorts. Regardless of the reasons, disqualifying a final tally makes the venue look bad!

 

 

[Madelaine McMasters]

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Rolig Loon wrote:

You could certainly script a contest board to give you that information, or hire a scripter to do it.  I'm not sure why you think that it would make any difference, though.  It wouldn't tell you who was behind any of the voters in RL.  If you really want to level the playing field, script a rule into your contest that says nobody can vote more than once a day. 

Most people can't come up with an army of alts large enough to mess with the odds in a contest like that.

 

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I am not most people!

[Lindal Kidd]

Why not have a contest without a board?  You and your staff pick the winner.

[Rolig Loon]

I know. You're speshul.

[Madelaine McMasters]

...beams

[KennyChidorie]

Just give to their alts disqualification.