Hi...will you please vo....NO! NO NO NO!

So, here am i in my newly refurbished photostudio messing around with the settings for the glamour studio at the back putting in new textures and basically being busy and content with my work in Second Life...

"PING" (thats the SL IM sound btw)

Person on my friends list i hardly talk to: Hi
Me: ello
Person on my friends list i hardly talk to: *insert name/partner/friend here* has just entered a photo contest, can you please pop over and vote?
Me: Yeah sure, drop me a landmark and i'll pop over once im finished bulding
Person on my friends list i hardly talk to: cool thanks

Now dont get me wrong, i like a good "who's a member of the biggest clique, but we'll call this a photo/model contest" cause some of the photographers who took the pictures of those money gra....sorry..."contestants" do some REALLY nice work on the photography side, gives me a few ideas as well but latley the above IM conversation has been getting more and more frequent...but now its turning into something like this...

"PING"

Person on my friends list i hardly talk to: hi vic can you come over and vote for *insert family/partner/friend here*
Me: uhhhhhhhhh yeah ok....pop over a landmark
Person on my friends list i hardly talk to: Cool! ohhhhhh btw you will need to pay to vote
Me: *typing while spitting out coffee all over keyboard* I need to PAY to VOTE?!

W...T...F? As if it aint bad enough that these contests are getting more annoying than random biters from bloodlines now the contest makers are getting the voters to PAY to vote?

In one of these "lets suck all the money we possibly can from the voters" photo/member of biggest clique contests there was about 50 entered into it, there was 20,000l up for grabs but i counted it all up and the organiser has up to the time of this posting netted in a total of 52,917 lindens from all the poor saps paying 1l to 1000l to vote for their favourtire person.

Now these "hi someone i never talk to, can you vote for me/my partner/my friend" messages are becoming a daily occourence, I wouldnt mind if the voting was free byut sorry...i aint gonna PAY to vote for someone i hardly know....

Anyone else been getting flooded with messages from people wanting you to vote but at the same time you have to PAY to vote?

There, i've ranted now...

...thats better

Easy, if it costs a Linden to vote, tell your aquaintance that you'll be glad to drop everything and go over there for the special friends-only voting fee of L50.

You'll either get rich or people will stop asking.

B.

Well, since voting in contests is always gamed by those who have the most friends you can hardly blame contest runners from getting in on the action

SL money making scam number #423: charge for votes.

I don't keep a whole lot of friends on my friend list but first who get deleted
are those who never seem to instant message me and when they do it is
usually something involving their hosting roles, something they are promoting or
spam.
I would just delete and mute.
I have muted people who never talk to me who spam me in past, I would probably do it
again if I had too.

It actually takes a lot to get off my friends list. But this would do it.

If this was the only thing this person ever IM'd me about.. not only would they be yanked off my friends list, they'd receive a roll of prim duct-tape and a clue stick.

Hmmm I don't think you can say it is a scam, a scam is something where you think you are getting something you are not. You are getting exactly what you pay for - a vote. It is clear that you are to pay and you have ample choice to decide that you want to or not. I fail to see where scam comes into it.

Definition of Scam:

It is more like a tip jar in some contests as the amount is optionally set at L$1 minimum (you cannot make the "Pay" option take zero L$).

I wonder myself at the people who will pay more but then people tip dancers, hosts and all manner of other things for a similar amount and possibly do not think that the money at that amount matters that much in order to help a friend.

I do see how being hassled by your friends would be extremely annoying though and hassling and/or harassing people for votes is definitely not a thing that is supported by any of the contest owners I know. People should not make a nusiance of themselves to anyone.

Disclaimer: I make a contest system that can be run in a way where you pay for voting. I do not run any contests myself however.
I try to encourage contest owners (when they ask for assistance) to set things up in an ethical and honest fashion.
I would not build a contest system that had dishonesty or fraudulence built in nor knowingly participate in scamming.
Like all things once the customer has made a purchase, the way they choose to use it is their business and I cannot force them to be honest.

EDIT: I just wanted to add that whilst I get reports of contestants and voters trying to cheat, I have yet to receive any word that any of the contest owners are scamming anyone or being in any other way deceptive or dishonest.
My contest system has some things built in that can be used as protections against contestant/voter cheating. More will be coming in a soon to be released update (if SL/mono bugs and world borkage allow).

One great way contestants can get votes ethically is by doing things for others in return for their voting. If I write a friend a script or help them out in some way they are grateful for and they say to me "ask me a favour in return", I think it would be OK to say please go vote for me under those circumstances, even if it cost a nominal amount. Then they are in fact being tipped for something they have done for another.
The problem is that there are so many dishonest people who only care about winning at all costs that it hurts contests for everyone.
However is that a reason to dislike contests necessarily?

Originally the idea was that contestants would not solicit votes, but voters would vote because the picture was well done or they found the picture compelling and thought that the picture deserved to win.
The contest owner might solicit people to come and vote for their favourite picture (many SL contests are run like pageants). It was never intended that contestants hassle others for votes though.

I personally hate any kind of cheating or deception and try to fight it as much as I can, I would hope that contest owners are able to identify and willing to disqualify people found to be cheating as it seems to be bringing yet another fun SL pastime into disrepute sadly.

just say sure and go vote for someone else

Hmm - well... I recently posted my stuff on a website where u can vote for for folks efforts and then other people also posted theirs- I saw their stuff, believed it good and voted for it- Sadly, I came back and told them I had voted for theirs and please vote for me-not a good idea.... It was construed as tit for tat- and I caught undeserved hell- you can well imagine I will not be participating in these things again for fear I may set off some unbalanced reactionary repercussions.

It reminds me of those contests in RL where you call a 900 number to vote.

Also, the ones where you call an 800 number can be profitable if the company or person promoting it is gathering phone numbers to sell to telemarketers (800, 866, etc. record the calling phone number, even if caller ID is blocked).

Mary

Ummm Amara, the contests that are being discussed here are inworld ones, not ones on a website or did I misunderstand your post?

Yes I suppose it does work a little like that.

Remember though that most contests that give out prizes of significant worth need to accrue the money to pay for the prizes. Nobody runs a prize-giving contest as a loss maker unless the prizes are being donated by sponsors who use it as an advertising medium.
It is interesting that more than a few inworld contests are now gaining sponsors afaik, though I think they are still taking money too. It would be nice to see some use the contests in a free to vote way and have sponsorship donate the prizes. The advertising angle would be a compelling way to attract sponsors if the venue was well known or had consistently good (honest) occupancy numbers.

No- that was right - it just reminded me of recent developments and was similar - point being don't ask for votes in any context - saner for all.

oh OK just checking. I have to agree too (though I stick by my tipping example above as an exception).
Especially as some contests have grand pagaent like titles like "Miss SL", "Best Female" etc... I feel the voting should be done on the merits of the pictures and not who can pester enough people.

Human nature being what it is though I doubt that it would be possible to keep it on those terms.

exactly.... and sadly it seems to be ppl love to pester for the votes
I get at least 4 or 5 ppl a day iming me asking me to go vote, I just do not reply

I find it just as annoying as the unasked for teleport requests
no hi, no how are you, just wham... here is a TP..
GRR

gabriel, do you have your system up for sale? and can it be set to not take money for the vote, or is that 1L thing what you were talking about... that it can not be set to 0L

I was trying to remember who mentioned that they make those things.. it was you I think...

I am considering having some kind of contest like that at my store... but do not want to have to force folks to pay when they vote...

Hi Rha, I agree.

Nobody should be hassling people for votes. It is not how I envisage my contest being played by the contestants. If people are hassling then they should be muted and possibly even reporting them to the contest owner might be in order. You can always AR them too.

To answer your question though, yes I have my contest for sale (check my classified in my profile) and there are 2 free to vote (FreePlay) variants on sale. Those are actually much cheaper than the pay to vote ones and so it is an incentive to run free ones. I actually include the free vote ones with the pay to vote systems too also as an encouragement to run a freeplay contest.

The reason why they are seperate is not just because of the L$1 Pay thing but also because the displays all show the L$ totals too, though the much awaited and hopefully soon to be released v2.00 will merge all variants into one edition and licenses will be bought and installed according to what a customer needs (FreePlay, number of contestants etc.) It will be a free upgrade for existing customers too.

It was me who was was in the other thread and said I made them.

As an interesting item of note I have as many people who have bought the free to vote as ones who have bought the pay to vote variants.

I apologise to all for this post being like an advert, really I just wanted to make it clear the ways I encourage free to vote settings and felt a full answer would also be best to answer Rha's questions.

ty the free to vote sounds like what I would want (the only reason I was against those systems is because of the pay to vote and the ppl pestering for votes LOL)

I will check out the prices and see if it is in my price range... ty

yvwm, feel free to send me a PM or IM too if you have any questions about them.

Fair enough about the other thread, I probably overreacted too.

Hah, I've done that. When I got to the voting place there was a sign that said to vote for the "best". So I did.

sent you an im in world (gonna back out of this thread before we take it over too much LOL)

as for the other thread, water under the bridge

I get heated up quick, say things in the heat of the moment, but soon forgive and forget...

I hate when folks hold grudges... I say live and let live

OK, thanks. I agree live and let live

BU BU BU BU BU BUSY SIGNAL!!!!
i don't answer those IM's
same with omg come sit on this chair cause you are my letter C friend..we are chair hunting!!!

once in awhile I will hop on a chair
I do not get ppl im'ing me for the chairs though, I see the letters in group chats

being I have chairs at my store, I know how it feels when they go unused.

sometimes they have really cool stuff in them