Should Contest Voting Be Anonymous or Transparent?

[Justin Goody]

Hey, just my $.02
First it’s good that you’re asking and you see flaws that could use some input.
I feel like what’s been said here is pretty accurate. For me it would be great to just have no idea who was winning or who won until the contest ends.
I’m sure you’ll do the right things.

On a contest side note- Bud of the Month allowing dispensary bought weed is kind of silly. Maybe consider changing that to “something grown by you or a friend” to make the contest not only more fair but more inclusive of possible would-be members?

Thanks for having contests at all!

 

[420]

Hey, just my $.02
First it’s good that you’re asking and you see flaws that could use some input.
I feel like what’s been said here is pretty accurate. For me it would be great to just have no idea who was winning or who won until the contest ends.
I’m sure you’ll do the right things.

On a contest side note- Bud of the Month allowing dispensary bought weed is kind of silly. Maybe consider changing that to “something grown by you or a friend” to make the contest not only more fair but more inclusive of possible would-be members?

Thanks for having contests at all!

Thank you for your feedback, it’s much appreciated.

Let’s please focus on one thing at a time, or we’ll lose track of the topic

Anonymous or transparent voting, what does everyone think and why?

 

[Sparkey224]

Man, I would think it would be more transparent instead of Anonymous, but according to the polls I'm in the minority. All good but why hide behind your vote?

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Man, I would think it would be more transparent instead of Anonymous, but according to the polls I'm in the minority. All good but why hide behind your vote?

I don't see it as hiding. I see it as a way to avoid the conflicts and drama that it seems to bring out.
I think about how voting is done in most everything else outside of this site . The names of the voters and who they voted for aren't announced. Only the results of who won or lost.

 

[Roy Growin]

Has to be transparent
Otherwise it's a 'computer says...' without evidence and you're left thinking, 'Why'
We like seeing who has voted for what, anyway

 

[Regrowth]

I kind of like Justin's idea as well.

it avoids any possible 'everyone is voting for this entry, so I guess I'll just vote for it too' situations.

 

[2Water]

Some of the contests are hard to vote for because there's so many worthy entries.

The of the year ones especially. Maybe allowing multiple votes would help. Like pick your top three.

There would still be a winner at the end and any ties would be settled the same way they are now.

But maybe it would also have a way of making things more fair and less bias. Just some thoughts.

Rank and file (think that what it's called), fairest way in my opinion

 

[420]

Man, I would think it would be more transparent instead of Anonymous, but according to the polls I'm in the minority. All good but why hide behind your vote?

There are 100 different reasons why people do what they do in a situation like this, but the first thing that comes to mind from my experience of managing 1000 of these contests with 1000 dramatic episodes associated with them.

A majority of it comes from people, not wanting other people to know who they voted for. Just one of many examples, let’s say you thought a photo from one member was the winning photo but that person might be out casted from your clique so you might feel that your friends would outcast you too if they saw that you voted for someone outside of your group. This type of thing goes hand-in-hand with when people call it a popularity contest.

Or if someone has been helping you with your grow but you think another entry is better, and you don’t want that person seeing you vote for someone else. You would be doing the right thing voting for the better photo, but your mentor might take it personally and never speak to you again.

I’ve seen countless people leave the site forever for stuff like this, even leaving behind a profile with ten thousand posts over a decade, all because someone voted for someone other than them.

 

[DeltaDubie]

One more thought,
Having the votes private removes the "obligation" factor. I'm sure there are many members who feel obligated to vote for a particular person, because they know that person and their friends will see the vote.

no people should vote for what they think is the best bud, plant etc..

private or public votes, i still wouldn't get any!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so whats the difference, public is best..

transparent open markets are the best markets in the world like the cme nyme cbot nyse

open votes are great unless you think your donald and can send out seal team 6

 

[420]

no people should vote for what they think is the best bud, plant etc..

private or public votes, i still wouldn't get any!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so whats the difference, public is best..

transparent open markets are the best markets in the world like the cme nyme cbot nyse

open votes are great unless you think your donald and can send out seal team 6

Maybe if you stopped yelling at everyone, you'd get some votes.

 

[KingJohnC]

standard

 

[Lady Cannafan]

no people should vote for what they think is the best bud, plant etc..

private or public votes, i still wouldn't get any!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so whats the difference, public is best..

transparent open markets are the best markets in the world like the cme nyme cbot nyse

open votes are great unless you think your donald and can send out seal team 6

In regard to the first line in your post, we are trying to help people to be more comfortable with doing just that. I believe participation would increase greatly.

I see you that you have received votes in contests.
Entering more contests, increases your chance of winning great prizes. Think positive.

 

[SmokingWings]

Anonymous or transparent voting, what does everyone think and why?

I voted anonymous. My reasoning is that the vote is the voter's opinion and that they have their reasons.

I have looked at the list of who voted for a member, photo or whatever a few times but soon realized it really is not something that interests me so I stopped.

Sounds like the staff has it set up to catch those who try to double or triple vote or otherwise game the system so that is under control.

Since it came up, under a transparent vote the transparency is only available to registered members who have logged in. As far as I can tell the general public or even registered members who have not logged in for a session can see who did what.

 

[420]

Since it came up, under a transparent vote the transparency is only available to registered members who have logged in. As far as I can tell the general public or even registered members who have not logged in for a session can see who did what.

Some unregistered members probably see the poor turnouts and move on to more exciting waters. While registered members are the only ones who get upset and leave, because they are invested in the contest with hopes and dreams of winning. Everyone acts tough, but at the end of the day many of us are weak when it comes to losing, and some of us are more mentally stable than others. There are so many reasons people get upset, especially when we're dealing with mental disorders, anger issues, drugs, alcohol, PTSD, egos, social skills, self esteem or things like relationship problems, dying family member, financial stress, health diagnosis, the list in endless.

I myself have Aspergers (autism), which probably played a part in making this decision to go with transparent voting. As most people know, we struggle with social skills, and see everything literally and logically. In my mind we were limiting the workload and loss of members, but after analysing it for the last few years, we can see it results in less participation. We feel that the new fifty post minimum to enter contests weeds out most of the cheaters and we have many other methods of catching the more creative ones. So it might be time to try reverting back to anonymous voting, like everyone else in our industry.

It took a long time to come to this revelation, and I really appreciate everyone sharing their thoughts and feedback to help us resolve the issue. For me it's pretty clear at this point, that the best way to encourage more participation and positive energy with minimal casualties, is to make voting anonymous again.

Please keep the conversation going, we want to hear from everyone before making a final decision

 

[Bill284]

Some unregistered members probably see the poor turnouts and move on to more exciting waters. While registered members are the only ones who get upset and leave, because they are invested in the contest with hopes and dreams of winning. Everyone acts tough, but at the end of the day many of us are weak when it comes to losing, and some of us are more mentally stable than others. There are so many reasons people get upset, especially when we're dealing with mental disorders, anger issues, drugs, alcohol, PTSD, egos, social skills, self esteem or things like relationship problems, dying family member, financial stress, health diagnosis, the list in endless.

I myself have Aspergers (autism), which probably played a part in making this decision to go with transparent voting. As most people know, we struggle with social skills, and see everything literally and logically. In my mind we were limiting the workload and loss of members, but after analysing it for the last few years, we can see it results in less participation. We feel that the new fifty post minimum to enter contests weeds out most of the cheaters and we have many other methods of catching the more creative ones.

It took a long time to come to this revelation, and I really appreciate everyone sharing their thoughts and feedback to help us resolve the issue. For me it's pretty clear at this point, that the only way to encourage more participation and positive energy with minimal casualties, is to make voting anonymous again.

Please keep the conversation going, we want to hear from everyone

You could try anonymous voting and then poll everyone directly after to see their thoughts.
Just to make sure everyone is still happy with the decision.
As long as you see what's going on behind the scenes it seems like a easy way to eliminate some of these issues.
Thanks for taking time to address this Rob & Team.
I know your already busy.


Stay safe
Bill284

 

[420]

You could try anonymous voting and then poll everyone directly after to see their thoughts.
Just to make sure everyone is still happy with the decision.
As long as you see what's going on behind the scenes it seems like a easy way to eliminate some of these issues.
Thanks for taking time to address this Rob & Team.
I know your already busy.


Stay safe
Bill284

Thank you for your support Bill, I really appreciate you brother.

This thread can be a test run too, how does everyone feel about having the ability to make an anonymous vote?

For me personally, it was a huge relief that nobody would get upset for what I voted for.

 

[Hash Hound]

We stopped staff voting this month actually. You can check the contest guidelines, all have been updated.

Nobody ever had a problem with it until last month. Many even encouraged it and said it made them feel good to get a vote from staff. At the end of the day we just want you all happy, so we listened and acted.

I personally think the staff should have been the ones to vote to break the tie in the recent POTY contest instead of next vote wins, or maybe a week long two member runoff

I like the vote for top three idea.

Another thing I would like to see in voting is no one can vote for themselves unless they receive at least one other vote.
There are sometimes 4 or 5 people that vote for themselves and that's the only vote they get. I mentioned this once to a staff member but they responded no one likes "0" votes but I think most of us are mature enough to handle a "0"

I agree with most of the plus and minuses expressed on this thread and will have to lean toward the undecided

 

[420]

I personally think the staff should have been the ones to vote to break the tie in the recent POTY contest instead of next vote wins, or maybe a week long two member runoff

I like the vote for top three idea.

Another thing I would like to see in voting is no one can vote for themselves unless they receive at least one other vote.
There are sometimes 4 or 5 people that vote for themselves and that's the only vote they get. I mentioned this once to a staff member but they responded no one likes "0" votes but I think most of us are mature enough to handle a "0"

I agree with most of the plus and minuses expressed on this thread and will have to lean toward the undecided

Thank you for your feedback Hash Hound. If you come to a decision, you can change your vote at any time.

 

[CaptainLucky]

Thank you for your support Bill, I really appreciate you brother.

This thread can be a test run too, how does everyone feel about having the ability to make an anonymous vote?

For me personally, it was a huge relief that nobody would get upset for what I voted for.

I’m cool with whatever as long as it’s members only voting. CL

 

[bluter]

only make mine transparent.

all my losses are rigged anyway and once my followers and lawyers and judges take over we'll drain the swa... oooh sorry wrong forum ... and where's my caps dammit