Non-rated Entries

I don’t know about you all, but I am getting a bit tired of 98% (and yes, that’s probably fairly accurate) of my entries either not being seen at all or being seen and not being rated. I don’t know what I am supposed to do in either of these cases nor do I understand what it means. Is it really that hard for people to rate the entries? Do they get tired of the process or only see like 100 names and already have their favorite and decide to not check any others? I don’t get it. If we have rules and guidelines that we have to meet in order to be able to participate, wouldn’t it make sense that we at least be thrown a little bit of a bone and make it so that a CH has to give a rating and/or feedback of some type to ensure that the process works to the best of its abilities for all involved. Otherwise, how do we know that our hard work is being seen, that our comments detailing why we thing the entry fits their business is being read, and not only for our benefit but theirs as well because wouldn’t we like to ensure that they are getting their money’s worth and actually being shown all of their suggestions in a clear, concise, and easy manner that enables them to have the best selection process available?

I just don’t know what to do here, I am being told by SH that I am not able nor allowed to post questions to the CH until I have 400 points or I win a contest and yet I am getting pretty high ranks just not accumulating many points because I may submit one name per contest because usually that name is a work for it, test the waters, give my best possible and my rating shows for it. But because of this I am not accumulating points, those I do accumulate I am having to occasionally spend for best entry, and I am going against creatives that have been here for years and submitting up to 12 or more entries (seen this QUITE a few times) and I am still getting high-ranked with my one where they may have 1-2 out of their twelve and sometimes lower ranked. But I’m not winning yet to be able to get the public message access and I am not accumulating points that fast to get it either. It’s not like I want to flood the contest and the CH with dozens of options and entries when it took me only one or two to get a like or love. But then in the other contests my entries are going days of not being seen, or not being ranked at all and only a low level of people having been ranked at all in those contests. So what am I supposed to do? I cant ask if my entries sucked (not that I would say that), or if they are burned out (again not going to say that either, come on I have more sense than that), but I cannot do anything. Should I just always take the seennotranked as trash and withdraw, or wait indefinitely for someone to ask what we should do, praying that someone does?

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It is challenging at the start, I haven’t been here too long either and there are so many talented creatives here. I might suggest that on a contest where you do get a high rating to use that as a guide to enter more in that particular contest, even if it is “on the right track”. I also find it frustrating when entries aren’t getting rated. I have had times when entires haven’t been rated and then right at the end they get rated (more so on the longer contests). I know this might not be much help but keep trying !!!

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@rareworthy, i understand your frustration. But let me share with you what others have said about going down the “Best Entry” option. A good many of us have deemed the “Best Entry” as a waste of points. In the past, I’ve submitted ‘best entries’ only to have the name rejected. It felt like I flushed 50 points down the drain. That’s one of the experiences. If you save your points with the idea that you can communicate with the CH to find out more information of what they want, would that be worth it for you? This is just a point of view. You must decide what’s best for yourself

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Yeah I agree, using “best entry” is just throwing points away! In regards to entries not being seen and rated, if you’re not already, start trying to enter contests ASAP. Try to get your ideas in before they get burnt out! It made a difference for me and could for you too!

Hang in there! I think you’ll hit 400 pretty quick without using best entries!!

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I wonder if SH could describe the “not rated” issue as part of holding a contest. Also nothing being rated until late in the contest, if at all. I know the customer is always right but if they were persuaded at start of contest that; not rating entries may affect the opportunity to obtain a quality name in good time.I understand SH does not want to jeopardize custom but after all these things do affect the contest.

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I personally would prefer the no rating at all to the ‘No, Thank You’.

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Thank you all for your responses. @ChristyMay, the not getting rated is a big enough issue as is, but there are multiple times that my entries just have not been seen at all, and I wonder – without being able to see the other side and going off of what @Dan has described on how CHs are shown the names that if the CH truly ‘sees’ all entries as it is. As a web developer and someone that has had many hats (many different things I have done) over the years, I see that there may be a problem with how CHs are shown entries. If you get an email or a message with a list of things inside it, oryou click on a sit and a list of things and information appears, are you going to be able to process each one and evaluate it significantly in comparison to the others time and time again? It’s unlikely. Sadly, 90% of people would just ‘skim’ until or unless they see something that jumps out at them. If you have to hover or click to see the comment, it’s probably not going to get viewed at all. This is just how ‘users’ ‘customers’ ‘clients’ or ‘chs’ operate websites that are not their own and in which they are just trying to yield a service or outcome from. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that paying an amount of money may make the CH focus a bit more in the beginning, but that attention can be easily drawn away after just a few days, if not before. We don’t know what the process is though, but anyone understanding of human behavior would know that most of the time, the shortest/easiest path possible is the one chosen by the majority.Which means 'Oh look, here is a list of all these names, I like this one, love this one, think this one is okay, this one is okay too, love this one -click, click, click, click- Ugh, do I have to click anymore when I can just skim these and select someone at the end or oh wait I love this one the most -abandon-" <— Seems like what happens in a lot of the cases. Not all, but it can explain some.

@LauraE, @Chasity2ku You both are right, it’s probably a waste and probably makes little to no effect as-is, so then I wonder why SH maintains it’s availability if it has no practicality. Eithr way, thank you both for being encouraging and understaning the frustration. I hate seeing the things that could be causing some issues, and seeing where potential problems lie and not being able to voice it accurately or not knowing what the other side sees in comparison to what we see. That makes the frustration even harder. In any case, I honestly question if there could not be a better process and route for things that would be more beneficial for the CH at the same time as being more fair for the creatives without labeling anyone or seeming to do so in many cases where it is probably most likely not favoritism but where the system /process makes it such inadvertently. However, I am doing my best to hang in there, at least I was made ‘full member’ (not a very good term to use when I still don’t have COMPLETE access to everything, but then again terminology on some things have caused several confusions so it seems to be part of the aspect) I just now have to work on getting to 400 points and/or winning a contest.

@Hawkeye First of all I have to say I love your username. Secondly, we’re thinking along the same page here. I have often thought of that, because it seems that a lot of the broken process seems to be broken because of misunderstanding, confusion, user error, or misinterpretation which could be altered a bit if things were explained a bit more concisely and it be leveled that ‘to have the best experience possible, we recommend this or this to be done’ or even making small requirements. I say this because EVERYONE is paying something here to get something – CHs pay with actual money, and creatives pay with time, intelligence, creativity, frustration and being compared to people that are supposedly ‘peers’ but that term can be very loose and quite abstract to get said money. If we have rules and requirements and certain things we must or must not do, requiring a bit of feedback or rating or such would not necessarily be too much of an overstep. But, that is just my opinion, because as you said, I believe that these things DO affect the outcome and the quality of services being offered (CH) and the quality of treatment being received to encourage returned desire to do this (Creative).

@Arnet, I don’t know, I have seen several people offer up the conclusion on the forums that no rating could potentially mean that the submission was so low in quality in comparison to ‘ALL OTHERS’ that it couldn’t even be rated -Insert facepalm here-. I find that a bit hard to believe though, because there are times in which I know for a fact that the name I have submitted is at least decent in terms of what they are looking for and yet I still don’t get at least a no thank you, if my entries are even seen. I think the system just marks a ‘scroll past’ (which is not SEEING and processing at all) as an actual ‘seen’ and therefore would mean that there is an opportunity being missed to fix this by at least requiring some type of actual feedback done by the user/ch to prove they have seen it and would therefore diminish the worry over ‘not rated’ entries AND ensure that they are getting their service/money’s worth of submissions to fit their needs.

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In several of the latest abandoned contests… ALL of my entries were not only not rated…but not even seen.I think that’s the more frustrating of the two,as you feel your hard work wasn’t even considered.

I do think as others have said, it’s a combination of many things…the CH finds a name they like early on, they are overwhelmed by the sheer number of entries,they just choose to rate the names that resonate with them at first go around,they decide to go with a name outside of SH…and maybe many other possibilities.

So I agree if you can…try to get your entries in soon,as many of the contests where my entries weren’t even seen I didn’t enter til the midway or end point of the contest,and I guess the CH had already given up.

Also, you may want to concentrate harder on contests that are guaranteed, because to me it seems like non guaranteed contests have a bigger chance of abandonment.

And I agree with not wasting points with best entries also.Not only do they not really have alot of advantage now…but if I were you ,I would concentrate more on getting the magic amount of points where you can submit more entries. Best of luck!

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Why not without rating CH can’t approach the next entry… just a thought!!

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@Brandshai I’ve thought of this and said a few times that it should be a process in which the CH rates and/or reviews and then confirms before going to the next, instead of showing just a list of words to them and taking a ‘scroll past’ as a ‘seen’. At least if there was a bit more clicking or something of the like – a process (albeit short) – then it will minimize ‘unseen’ submissions, it will maximize potential for best outcome for the CH, maximize best outcome for all of the creatives (whereby they get ratings and or feedback), and ‘unseen’ and ‘unrated’ entries will no longer be as confusing or as much of a headache.

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True. I agree to it. If CH is not willing to give a feedback, its absolutely fine but rating should be provided. At least , I think we all expect a fair rating!! If CH is direct decision maker then they can choose how they want to rate, else if there is a panel to choose or someone else to choose they might go with a ‘right track’ and put a feedback, so that we don’t withdraw that entry. Else a ‘On Hold’ category, if required can be added. So that they get the space to decide and rate the entry properly. What do you all think??

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@Brandshai I think these are great ideas

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I was about to ask for some community input on “seen but not rated entries”, when I found these posts starting in 2016. So this has been a question/issue since at least then. The non-rating of seen entries is the one I find most difficult to interpret. At least a straight “No Thank You” is clear, and I know which direction not to continue in. With a “seen but not rated” situation, I’m stopped in my tracks. Did you like it, or not? Am I heading down the wrong path, or not? I rarely enter another submission in these circumstances, so this is not good contest management on the part of the CH. How do you other creatives interpret your “seen but not rated” entries?

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I am puzzled like you. I’d rather have a clear idea whether or not I’m on the right track.
Usually I think maybe they’re considering, but sometimes they never get rated.
Very frustrating.

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I think maybe they scan the entries. Ones they like immediately, they rate.
Then maybe they get an entry with a certain word they don’t want, so they rate it no thank you.
Then as more entries come in using variations of the same word, they just skip over it.
I’ve have been here for years and my personal opinion is…they get overwhelmed with the amount of submissions.
Maybe…SH could show us an example contest from the CH’s point of view. Then maybe we could give suggestions to improve on the system.
Then again, there is no rule stating that they must rate entries, although it is encouraged.

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With the No Thank You, at least you know your entry has been seen… but with the no rating, you don’t know whether it’s been seen or not.

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You can actually tell whether the entry has been seen or not, it’s just a bit of a hike to get there. It obviously doesn’t show up on the Activity Feed as there’s no rating. But if you go the entry page on that contest, open it up and scroll down your entries you’ll see there if it’s been read or not. It’s at that point I decide whether to Withdraw the entry or not. I tend now to assume that a “seen but not rated” entry is one the CH is not interested in. I don’t want to leave (what I consider) a good (unregistered) name in limbo.

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