Abandoned Contests, Messaging Policy & Winner Selection

We are noticing that some creatives are engaging in directly or indirectly ridiculing some Contest Holders about choice of ratings, or their engagement with the contest. Even though these types of messages are prohibited as per our messaging policy, it is unfortunate that some creatives are ignoring the policy and still posting these comments.

We’ve now seen few instances where the CH has asked for a refund, or decided to no longer participate in the contest directly as a result of unprofessional comments that make fun of the CH. We do not believe it is fair to other creatives who work hard in contests, only to find that the contest was abandoned or cancelled directly as a result of inappropriate comments made by few creatives.

Please consider this a reminder that if we find any violation of messaging policy, we will take action including removal of messaging privileges or suspension of user account.

In addition, we are now going to make changes to our Winner Selection algorithm for abandoned contests to take into account any violations of messaging policy by a creative. Specifically, if your account is flagged for messaging policy violation, the system will automatically reduce your probability to win an abandoned contest, and will likely pick other creatives who do not have such violation (in case of a tie breaker scenario). Any such flags will remain in effect for a period of 60 days.

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Thank you, Dan. I just posted about this. I’m simply stunned by some of the messages I’ve seen lately in one contest in particular. These people are PAYING MONEY for our HELP, not for judgment and hostility.

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@Dan I have one violation, probably in the last 60 days from a contest where I said far less than than the contestants ganged up on the CH today. In fact, I’ve seen comments go by that have been worse than mine. But I took it seriously and haven’t mentioned the CHs ratings ever again and have not had any other violations and won’t.

In my particular instance, I disagreed with SH on my comment to the CH but never said anything to you about it.

SO, does this now mean that due to the actions of other contestants, I am penalized?

@Commulinks, the new rules about taking violations into account for winner selection are effective as of today. In other words, only violations from today onwards will be factored into the winner selection algorithm for abandoned contests. So if you had a past violation, they will not be factored into the winner selection.

Thank you, Dan. I am sorry this happened today. It was super out of control.

@Dan You should probably also send these announcements as pop up updates. I’m presuming that not all creatives visit the forum and everybody should be aware of the way they’re supposed to behave. Too bad about that contest. It’s an incredible brand and it was especially fun to brainstorm names for it.

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Well, for obvious reasons, I’m pretty bummed about how this turned out. :fearful:

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@AlwriteyThen , Is the CH gone for good? I was hoping he would come back. Those watches were absolutely stunning, I’ve never seen anything quite like them. It looked like you were able to tap into his vision for his collection when no one else could. Hopefully, he won’t abandon the contest altogether…

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So far, I haven’t heard anything from him since yesterday afternoon. :disappointed:

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Maybe giving the CH the option to disable creatives. If they feel a creative is being disrespectful they can disable them from any further involvement from the contest. This could also work for people submitting volumes of entries.

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Great Idea, @Skevans

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That seems almost obvious… why isn’t that in place already??

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I like the idea too but I wonder what headaches that might cause SH? I mean it’s in the rules you can’t question a win yet creatives have contacted them to express how they think it’s not fair they didn’t win to the point SH has changed the entire winning selection process and made a public statement about it.

Imagine what angry mobs they’d face when people are being banned from contests when they feel their names were worthy. Not to mention the all to common vague brief and unengaged CH. I’d be really angry to get banned by someone who gave me little insight to what they’re after in the first place. I can see a mass of problems that come with this fix. However, I have no doubt it would infact serve its purpose of weeding out thoughtless entries!

Are abandoned contest wins included in the setting to get notification of contest winners? If not, I think it would make more sense to have that rather than an email when you’re ABOUT to select a winner for abandoned contests. What is the point of those? There is nothing for us to do since we don’t select best entries anymore. Might as well notify us afterwards instead.

Thoughts?

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Kind of thought the same thing…

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I like the notification because it gives you time to check for a registered domain, …

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I also like it to check for registered domains BEFORE anyone is selected so there is time to report if necessary.

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Oh. Okay. (20 characters)

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I believe SH algorithm shouldn’t be involved, should be set amount of winners 2 or 4 depending on the amount and then winners should be determined by the top entries as so:

Only 1 Love obviously wins it, but 16 Loves should be awarded to the 2 Creators who have the most entries in the Love rating, if 1 Creator has 4 entries and the next highest is 2 then the Creator with 4 Love entries should be an automatic winner and if 2 or more Creators tie for the next highest only then should a second winner be automatically selected.

I thought this was why Top Trending is displayed… to show who has the most points and best entries? I just think that this is the best way to select a winner fairly, not randomly. A lot of Creators only submit less than 5 entries in a contest but if 1 is a Love and its out of 26 Loves and it goes into Abandoned Contests then they shouldn’t have the same chance as a Creator who submitted 50 entries and has 5 Loves.

Just my thoughts! Thanks!

So in essence if I sub 2 names and get 2 love its and you sub 50 names and get 3 loves you should win ?

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