Voting in a Photo Contests....

There are TONS of them... I know, but I was looking for suggestions for another way of establishing a winner besides SL'er votes. I was thinking a panel of judges to pick a winner. I know people are getting tired of having the BEST photo in the contest and losing to someone JUST because they have more friends/alt what ever vote for them... Pay for votes worked for a little bit but then you just pay your friends to vote for you which takes us back to the beginning.

But I can't think of any other way of getting a winner besides me just picking one... and then would that be fair.

Does anyone have any suggestions I can use?

if its your contest why would your picking the winner of what you think is the best be unfair?

and i think a panel of judges can help with it looking less like maybe picking a friend but the fact is no matter which route you get someone is always going to claim its not right.


honestly i see nothing wrong with you picking your favorite of the lot especially if thats all spelled out at the beginning

if people dont like that they dont have to enter right?

I really dislike voting contests and I don't enter them because of the reasons you described. I don't have a lot of rich friends (or alts) nor am I the type of person to network people into voting for me.

I like entering store contests where the owner chooses the winner either on their own or with a group of their friends. To me that seems a much fairer way than entering a contest where people are so competitive they go all out to effectively "buy" the win. I have seen people spending thousands of lindens to win a couple. Just seems silly to me. I have also seen contests where the previous winners pick the next ones.

But at the end of the day, its your contest and no matter how you choose to run it, there'll always be someone not happy about it.

=)

If the contest's being used as advertising or increasing traffic to your business, go for it. But, make voting and entry free of charge. When you start charging L$, most people will think "scam".

Also, why not use both voting and a panel of judges? Pick the top 5 or 10 voted entrants, then let the judges chat to them, before picking the winner. If someone has entered their family of alts, to increase their chances of winning, the judges could easily detect it.

why not use random to pick the winner
just use llFrand(number of pics)

I have been considering having a pinup photo contest for a while now. The obvious reason is to draw traffic to my store and attention to my products. But I do not want people to think I am scamming them so if I ever do it there will be no charge to vote. But I also don't want the most popular person to win, I want the best pinup photo to win.

So it seems to me the two methods, either by voting, or by judging are mutually exclusive for my purposes.

I cannot decide how I want to do it, so I have done nothing.

How about each contestant provides 5 votes, but no votes for themselves. I've never heard of such a thing. It only occurred to me.

Well, that is the way one of the Speed Builds does it. That might work.

hmmmmm.....

Adding to that: "must vote to be able to win" so they MUST give 5 votes.

u can consider having a third party panel of judges like if u are part of any fashion, business, or club consorseum u can invite some1 from there to judge or have the voting sytem exclusively for previous members only and restrain those newly joined members to vote who just joined within the period of competition. and lastly, if u gonna personally pick your own choice why not thats yours just to make them feel you are fair make a criteria (%) and show them the result...hope i could help u and good luck!

I have found from personal experience that the best way to have any competition that involves, fashion, beauty and/or photography is to have a contest in stages. You narrow people down instead of having one single vote that can be easily compromised by friends voting, alts voting, etc...

Two years ago I ran the Second Life Top Model contest for Allure Models. We started with general submissions that I personally narrowed down to 20 (from about 100). Then those 20 had to go through photography sessions and be narrowed down to the top 5 by a panel of judges that did not include me. The final competition was a runway show. Some of those who lost whined but the winner was chosen for effort, talent and looks and not because of her friends, alts, etc...

This approach can be fashioned into any area. Get input from the masses, thin out the herd and you'll see the cream rises to the top. The trade-off is that if you are going to drag people through what could be a months long process your prizes better make it worth their while.

I never vote on these for the reason as stated here.. It's a popularity contest and never judged fairly.. I have a friend that I swear is the best looking avie I know.. She never spammed her friends list begging for votes etc.. Well needless to say she didn't win and was beat out by an avie that didn't even come close..

I'm not sure there will ever be a fair voting system in SL unless you do have something in the way of a panel of judges... and if you accept multiple votes it says it even more to the un-fair side.

I'd love to see someone come up with something that works... Till then just don't have them, Don't enter them, Don't vote in them etc.. I have friends that spam asking for votes and I tell them NO.. What will happen if two of your friends are in the same contest? Set yourself up for drama?? No thanks!

straight up so obvious that voting contest=popularity contest and its kinda frustrating when u see that one winning is actually hmmmm (pouts my lips)...I currently joined a one-week-voting photo contest and 10 contestants with the most votes will be invited to do a fashion show infront of panel of judges. But i still dont find it fair to narrow down contestants thru voting system. I know i wouldnt even make it to the top ten cuz i have only 10 lazy buds on my list lol would that make me stoopid for joining or was I am hoping for a miracle to happen?...I WISH lol! Why they cant just narrow down thru screening like in rl contest.

WOW I thought this was a dead thread kind of gave up on it.

Thank you for your suggestions.

I was thinking of doing it where people pay to vote but limit it to a total of like 100L for the contest.

Then having that pick like the top 5 plus me as the owner of the contest can give an alternate pass. So if someone didn't get a lot of votes they can still have a chance to win. Kind of like in American Idol ala Clay Aikens.

Then open it again to public voting but the avi's who voted the first time can't vote the second time...to pick TOP 3

Then a panel of judges will pick 1st 2nd & 3rd.

It would all be done in 3 week give or take a day.

What do you think?

Thanks again for your help... if nothing I learn is not to give up on a thread

lol u can learn different things in sl almost everyday anyway good luck to u...till next time