"Love it" for a while and then "No thank you"

Have had it happen a milion times.It especially is tough when you are trending all by yourself with the only high score and think you are “In like Flynn”…then suddenly your name gets demoted or rejected. This is a capricious business at best!

Just an fyi…I don’t think you are allowed to ever question or comment to the CH why they rated your name what they did…so I would be careful about asking…as frustrating as it is!

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Thanks for that Hollygirl.

It is very frustrating to be downgraded more than one level. “You loved it, but now you think it’s much worse than entries you previously didn’t like as much?” The CH just mustn’t be thinking in these terms.

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Don’t give too much attention to individual ratings or contests, just focus on the big picture and your overall progress. If you are going to obsess over the minutiae, you may go mad (I used to)

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@rareworthy. Definitely think improvement in the rating system is required. As I say if CH’s were given voluntary guidance to all the ups and downs of ratings. Also what is critical is that Creatives are informed as much as possible.
Can someone explain why we don’t know what the CH is told/advised? Does it need to be that secret?

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@Hawkeye well I have constantly seen the word ‘transparency’ tossed around here and there and yet there are a lot of times, as a creative that I feel like I am in the dark about what goes on, on the other side. I know I am not alone either because there are constantly questions or comments saying ‘I don’t know what they see’ ‘we don’t know what’s going on’ ‘can you explain how this is laid out for a CH’ ‘what do you show a CH’ and five million other ways to say such things. Yet, as I said, the word ‘transparency’ is used that SH tries to maintain a high degree of it and/or complete ‘transparency’. Again, terminology around here seems to need better evaluation. ‘Full member’, ‘transparency’, ‘love it’, ‘like it’ ‘entry has been seen’ ‘on right track’, ‘no, thank you’ ‘best entry’ etc. I know SH is doing their best, and I am thankful for them doing such, but the confusion and misinterpretation combined with changes and lack of a complete knowledge base, etc just makes the broken things or the things that could be better fine-tuned, more out-of-whack.

Update:

I went back looking through topics because I know that this has been asked clearly before and it was in a question asked by @hollygirl in the thread “What does a CH see?” and @ChristyMay referred that it would be nice to see a screen shot or something at least of what the CH sees. @Dan replied to this thread ‘describing’ how the CH ‘sees’ entries and then also had one other reply to @ChristyMay.

On how the CH ‘sees’ entries it was said “The entries are visible in a list view (20 or 40 per page, based on CH preference). They can see the creative’s name next to each entry, and they can click the creative’s name to see their profile page. They have the rating options next to each entry, and if there are comments for an entry, they see an icon in a different color, along with the count of comments. There are also several other options for Checking Availability, Trademark etc.

As to seeing a screenshot, it was said “We prefer to not share the actual example of a contest holder dashboard in a public forum however I would be happy to answer any additional questions you might have.

So, I don’t know, all I know is I try to keep a flashlight or at least a candle handy (meaning, I just try to take a grain of salt and realize that some things come with the territory I guess and I know SH does what they can – it’s just evident that some things may need a bit more grease to get all the squeaks out).

@rareworthy. “am in the dark about what goes on, on the other side.” Made me laugh and think of the “dark side” lol.
Anyway I’m going to proceed without thinking to deep about the “this” and the “that”. SH read the forum so maybe there will be some change. As I say, maybe a short guidance speech to CH re- obtaining a fantastic outcome for themselves and some frustrations experienced by creatives.Nothing hard and fast- just a nudge. Best of luck going forward.

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@Hawkeye Yep keep your flashlight, your hand at the level of your eyes, and all of the other euphemisms that can be offered out. :slight_smile: Wish you luck as well, we’ll blaze our trails soon, hopefully, and I am sure there will be plenty more headaches along the way. Best to just pick and choose which are the ones are the ones that maybe could use some brainstorm sessions on what would be best.

@Hawkeye

I think I was in that same contest. I had a love it, then downgraded to like, and then tossed into the no thank you bin. At the beginning, I use to have hysterics over something like, but I found that wasn’t productive. I subscribe to @lightless’ version of sanity. I’ve saved my keyboard many a time because of it :slight_smile:

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Yep…me too! I was giving myself ulcers over all of this, then realized it is what it is, and it does no good to try to MacGyver it.You just take your lumps and move on to the next contest, where hopefully your submissions will have a friendly home.

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@hollygirl, yes and amen!

Just lost another love it, was trending for many days, it goes into finalizing and goes to a like. Pulls hair out How can you love it from submission to the end of the contest and then feel you have to re-rate it, the contest is over. Oh well, onto the next.

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You are better than most of us, it goes from Love to Nah with most of ours.

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Happens all the time,I hate to say.I can’t tell you how many contests many of us have lost because of the same thing.And as Jackie says…it’s worse when it goes from a love it to a nope.I think those are harder to take.

All I can suggest is don’t put too much expectation into ratings or trending and get too excited about a possible win.Until or unless they send you the “you have won” email,it’s anyone’s game.

I have been a single trender all by myself before and still lost. I have had only an “on the right track” in a contest that had like it’s and love its…and somehow won. So you just never know.Ratings are just a barometer of what they like at the moment.Sometimes it sticks, but often it doesn’t.

It’s a fickle wind that blows here, as everyone’s taste is different, and can change many times in the course of a contest.It’s best just to be glad if you are on the seemingly right track,and getting good ratings. Have hope but not expectations.Then if the rug is pulled out from under you,you can still keep your feet instead of taking a hurtful fall.

There’s always tomorrow and another contest…and one of these days, all the planets will align.

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I think both ‘No, Thank you’ and 'Love It rating should get locked, because both is an extreme situation. When one is really loving an entry they are rating it as ‘Love it’ and they absolutely don’t like it they rate it ‘No, Thank you’. Both the ratings require a conscious decision. And when CH will come to know that these ratings are going to be locked they will definitely think twice before rating them and not just out of any instant excitement. :smile:

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@Brandshai you and I are definitely riding the same brainwave, surfs up! You’re thinking exactly how I have been for awhile now on both this thread and the other. As I have stated, CHs may be paying with money, but we are paying with time, intellect, creativity, and brain power; also just as if there were no CHs there would be no SH, there would be no SH if there were no creatives. So if there are small requirements for us, and small processes we must do, I think it would help SH, CHs, and creatives if minute things such as this were implemented. Rating entries allows for more creativity to not only be generated but allowed to be used by creatives and most CHs don’t know that most creatives are limited on how many entries they can give and in order to give more, there has to be ratings. It would also help in the process if CHs are locked into the extreme choices because this psychologically conditions them to process the entries more carefully and thereby unquestionably make a better decision for themselves and it also helps with the not destroying of the spirits of those you are relying on for the help. If you’re going to make a pivotal decision that is this important for your brand, logo, website, tagline or product – you need to really process the suggestions or entries supplied to you, read the comments as to why they were supplied and rate and review so that you get more suggestions supplied to you that meet what you are seeking, and then stick to it. Simple process. If you’re wanting quality, you’ll devote time and effort to the process just as those that are making suggestions for you.

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@Brandshai, @rareworthy:

Unfortunately we can not make the platform rigid such that the CH is not allowed to make changes to their ratings. A “No Thank you” doesn’t necessarily mean that they no longer like the name - it just means that the name is no longer in their consideration set. This can happen for many reasons. Many times, the person running the contest is not the only decision maker, and they have to get feedback from their peer group or partners about the names. So they might like some names initially, but after some additional research or brainstorming, they might decide the name doesn’t work for their business. In some cases, the name may not work because of potential Trademark checks, in other cases the name may not test well with their target audience. It is also possible that when they reflect on the name a bit more, they decide that the name is not a good fit for their business. Switching to “No Thank you” is simply an indication that they are no longer considering that name - and it is absolutely ok for them to do so.

We are not intending to change the rating system, but we will continue to explore additional means to allow the shortlisting of names an easy process for the CH. We will also continue to explore additional ways in which the CH can provide more feedback for their choice of rating to the creatives - however we have to be careful about adding extra steps, because that can lead to contest abandonment.

@rareworthy, we absolutely agree that our creatives are the main reason that makes this platform successful. This is why about 70% of our platform improvements are directly based on feedback from creatives.

Absolutely and for sure I don’t want to make this platform rigid. It’s like we all are coming up with our opinion, on how to improve this platform and then maybe a collective decision can help to solve this issue. I still feel these two extreme ratings should get locked, but not to make it a rigid platform we can introduce an “On hold” with a feedback or not. And then they can rate accordingly to their choice. Usually when we get a ‘No thank you’, we don’t get any feedback, so most of the time we all withdraw that entry thinking the CH didn’t liked it and I really don’t analyse on what could be the probable reason for getting such ratings and moreover we are not allowed to do so. I mean we are not allowed to question CH and I do agree with that.
What I feel, we don’t question CH and respect his/her decision, so in turn I think we all expect little or maybe very little respect from CH in terms of by rating our entries in a fair manner. We not only get a ‘Love it’ rating, most of us also also get a lovable comment with it and then suddenly goes to ‘No, thank you’, without any reason… that truly hurts!! So, I feel a conscious decision is very much required while rating. :smile:
I suggest an ‘On hold’ option can solve this problem to some extent. So, that CH gets some space to think and then rate, specially in cases where they need to discuss with his / her peer group. Hope that make sense…

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@Brandshai you know, this idea is actually a bit genius, I really like it and it’s along the lines of things I have been thinking for awhile now. See, I am not only wanting something like this for my benefit or even just creatives benefits. I seriously feel and have noticed that there is a big opportunity being missed here when it comes to whats expected and how far expectations are taken here. I understand that if pushed too far there is a risk of abandonment, but instead of being worried about just abandonment by CHs, we should be worried about abandonment by creatives as well (in two very important ways).

The first way that a creative can abandon is by withdrawing all entries that had previously been submitted and by leaving the contest, the second way a creative can abandon is by things like this happening so much that they end up leaving the site. Now, I know, everyone is not cut out for this process and yaddah yah but at some point we have to realize that while there is a smooth combination of science, creativity, and luck involved in this it is not rocket science – a majority of creatives at some point should be able to hit a groove. So if this happens but then the process causes the creative to lose faith, feel like they aren’t being heard, aren’t understanding everything, and aren’t getting enough feedback to understand why certain things are the way they are or why certain things happen and also not even being able to count on their hard work even being noticed – thats going to make a heck of a turnover rate.

And this doesn’t just apply to one or two creatives, this is something that even the vets around here are saying they have experienced and have had small issues with. They’ve been here for years and built a reputation – knock on wood – what would happen if tomorrow those same creatives had a spur of luck on 5 contests where they entered an average of 3 names per contest and each of those entries received a high rating and then those entries went for days with that same rating then all of a sudden every single one became a no thank you with no feedback and no answer as to why. They then decided that enough was enough and with lack of feedback, lack of understanding, and knowledge that this can and most likely will happen again and again with lack of feedback – they decided to leave SH – that wouldn’t be as bad as a contest being abandoned? Here is someone that is a vet and has more than likely built a reputation of providing quality names and they choose to leave because this process is frustrating and there doesn’t seem to be anything on the horizon to keep this from happening or at least to know why.

In my opinion, this is something that is possible right now and can happen at any time, and may have already happened several times. Shouldn’t this signify that something at least a little bit of a bone should be given? As @Brandshai has said, it’s not only a respect issue but its something that can maximize efficiency all around. No, we don’t want a rigid platform, and no we don’t want to raise the probability of abandonment by too much … but abandonment by CHs is going to happen even if you required no steps from them to do to get what they want. To me, it’s important to not only worry about abandonment from them but worry about the lack of feedback and understanding and even ability to have faith in things to a certain extent around here making our creatives have second thoughts as well.

Creatives are spending hours and days ‘working’ to find a balance and meet the impossible notion of being mind readers 99.9% of the time to each CH and putting hours of effort behind the quality work they supply with no guarantee that they are going to be compensated for their hard work both monetarily and rating/feedback wise. One of these things will never be guaranteed but the other can be at least worked on to at least raise the probability of at least a pat on the back for all the work they do put into this via a rating that will stick, feedback, or something.

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I had suggested a while back there be a discount or some sort of incentive for the CH to stay engaged.

For example maybe offer a 10% discount to CHs who rate 90% of entries before the contest closes or something…

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