Voting In The Challenges

[mosaix]

So why, as Pyan says, Do people not vote when they've entered the so**ing contest.

Is it some weird theory that if they vote, they have to vote for someone else so they have less chance of winning.

It boggles my mind I tell you , boggles it, boggles it 'ard.

Tein posted the above in the October 75 word discussion thread and I was tempted to reply to it then but didn't get round to it and now the thread's locked.

I hope I'm not just reflecting my own feelings here, because if I am I'm going to be severely embarrased.

I know the challenges are supposed to be just that - a challenge and not a competition as such - but me being what I am (competetive) I don't think I'd be entirely human if I didn't want to win and, having done so in the past, I can report that having a story judged as good by friends here on Chrons is a very enjoyable experience and one that I long to repeat.

I like to think that I judge each story on its merits and vote soley on that basis. But how can I be sure I am doing that and not subconciously down-playing a story in my mind because it and a story of my own have similar votes? I'm quite sure I did that in the early days of the Challenges and for that I apologise. But, having recognised that I did it, I promised myself it wouldn't happen again.

I have evolved two avoidance strategies:

1) Try not to look at the 'voting results' before voting myself. O.K. so I continually fail at this. It's so difficult to avoid wanting to see if people that you respect actually think your work is good.

2) Decide and vote early before a voting pattern emerges. That way the only thing on my mind is the story itself.

 

[alchemist]

1) Try not to look at the 'voting results' before voting myself. O.K. so I continually fail at this. It's so difficult to avoid wanting to see if people that you respect actually think your work is good.

2) Decide and vote early before a voting pattern emerges. That way the only thing on my mind is the story itself.

I feel pretty much the exact same. No. 1 never works for me so I've been actively attempting No 2 since my second month and it's the only way to go for me. Lately I've toyed with the idea of selecting my vote early but only casting it on the last day for dramatic effect.

In general, though, I think people are very honest here and any voting patterns are largely due to people liking another's style.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I've tried not to read them too much as they came in, because I think that skewed me a little last month towards the earlier entries. Then, I sit and read them out loud and vote early before I can be swayed by others; possibly I am fickle, who knows.

 

[Moonbat]

I must confess that on the month I won, I was very reluctant to vote the story I thought best because it was challenging me for first place.
In the end I did vote for it, as I thought it wouldn't be a proper win if I held back, but I did think about it a fair bit. At the end there was 1 vote in it, and my GF said I was nuts to have voted for my closest rival, but it was, for me, the best story and so deserved the vote. Had it gone to a tie break I think I would have been very upset if I lost, but just to get voted for or even mentioned is a delight so a win, whilst deliriously enjoyable, isn't the be all and end all of the comp.

 

[HareBrain]

I thought it wouldn't be a proper win if I held back

I can't remember if I've been in the exact same position (certainly not in the last year, *sob*) but this same thought would prevent me not voting for a close rival if I thought that story the best one. A win you secretly knew you didn't deserve would be hollow.

 

[StormFeather]

The only time I've failed to vote is when I've lost track of my days - something that seems to be happening with increasing frequency these days.

Recently, many participants are only putting up the person that they voted for - which is lovely, but . . .

For me, just getting a mention gives me a thrill. I know there is only one vote per person, but if someone takes the time to say that something I've written has touched them in some way, I get such a buzz. Of course it's lovely to get any votes at all, but the mentions are just as important to me. Hence, why I agonise over shortlists as I'm sure others get a lift from it too.

Re whether to look at the votes or not before casting your own, I look before. Mainly for the desperate hope to see if anyone has voted for me, but also, if there are loads of people voting for one story that's not my favourite I'll go back and read it to see whether I'm missing something. As yet though, I haven't changed who I'm going to vote for because of it

Anyway, I waffle - off to bake chocolate cake and cook daughters favourite tea of sausages, chips, ketchup and carrots

 

[Boneman]

Anyway, I waffle - off to bake chocolate cake and cook daughters favourite tea of sausages, chips, ketchup and carrots

What time can I come round?

Funnily enough, I always see stories that are better than mine, so it's not a problem voting for others. And I tend to vote early, unless I'm out of the country. What was it that American Football chappie said - "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing"? How wrong could he be? If anyone here wanted to win that badly, getting friends to register on the Chrons would be the simplest way. Since it's evident from the voting that nobody has done that, I guess the system is pretty good, although I do understand the concerns. Hide the voting results until the poll closes? That would be a way around it...

 

[The Judge]

I've never been in that position, but I know I would have exactly the same reluctance to vote for a rival, mosaix.

I always vote late, mainly because I can never seem to get my act together, but I also enjoy looking at the shortlist I've drawn up and then checking that against the votes to see how many "my" choices have got. Once or twice, when I've genuinely been torn between two stories and almost reduced to tossing a coin, I have been swayed by the votes already cast, in that I've voted for the one with the least votes, on the basis that he/she deserved more.

 

[Mouse]

I've voted in every challenge, though I've now missed three (four?!) of them, and only participated in one three hundred word challenge but voted in all of them. So no, I don't understand anyone who takes part but doesn't vote. Unless they have a good reason!

I'm like Boneman, I vote early and I tend to think most of the stories are better than mine so I find it easy.

 

[Ökuþórr]

I've only entered two challenges, but I voted in both.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I find myself a little reluctant to vote in the 300 word challenge as I don't feel I have the time to devote to studying them all carefully enough, particularly after the amount of time some have put in to writing them.

I remember (on the one occasion I got a number of votes) voting for my main rival and thinking I'd really be kicking myself if they only won by 1 vote! But (discounting my own entry) it was the best entry and deserved to win. Fortunately they won by a considerable margin, so had no need to feel the wrath of my own appendage!

 

[AnyaKimlin]

In my case so far I've spent about 15 minutes on a piece of writing then forgotten about it - well at least until prodded. Doing NaNo so ignoring it this month.

 

[Ursa major]

I've never seen this as a problem when I come to vote (and it isn't just because I've rarely been in a position to scupper my own chances of winning).


When the voting was hidden, you could vote for your own story. The trouble with doing this (as I think I pointed out when the challenges first began) is that the main benefit of winning is knowing that your story has really won. If I had voted for myself and won, I would know that I'd cheated; even if my story had won by a large margin, the victory would have been forever tainted for me.

It's same issue here: no-one knows why anyone else votes the way they do, but the voter does and if they've won by not voting for the best story, they have to live with that. I couldn't. (I know it sounds silly, but losing one's integrity over a small matter is, for my conscience at least, worse than where there was a real temptation: one has debased one's own good name in one's own eyes - the ones that really matter - for something comparatively trifling.)


As to how one places oneself above temptation.... I seem almost incapable of doing something way ahead of a deadline - it does happen, but not often - so this tactic wouldn't work for me. And neither does avoiding the way the vote has gone so far.

Luckily, once I'm reading through the stories, I'm able to ignore anything else. I go down the list, putting stories into categories -, HM, and RU (never W for winner), adding + and - signs to help when I've got too many stories on my short list (which always ends up with more entries on it than the eight I post when I come to vote). I then see which RU (or RU+) should be promoted to W, and work through the categories until I have 1 winner, 3 runners up and four honourable mentions. I do all this in one go, neither setting the task aside part way through nor taking a break.

That does all seem a bit long winded, but, up until now, it has always driven the current state of the poll from my mind.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

(I know it sounds silly, but losing one's integrity over a small matter is, for my conscience at least, worse than where there was a real temptation: one has debased one's own good name in one's own eyes - the ones that really matter - for something comparatively trifling.)

I wonder if this is why I've ended up taking up residence here; I'm so not into internet forums etc, often because I find them a way of hiding ourselves/ allow our inner nastiness out.

I'm, for want of a better term, an existentialist and the sense of fair play, not only in the challenges, the sense that what I put out I have to stand over (I apologise if anyone has nightmares about Margaret Beckett and Jeremy Clarkson, but I stand over it: Inter REALLY wanted the car) runs through the site and makes me very comfy here.

Means you're stuck with me. Tee hee

 

[hopewrites]

I didnt know we could look at the results and still vote. the only other forum i've been on if you looked at the results of a poll open or secret it locked you out of voting. so the only way i would know who has voted for what would be to read in the thread.
I try to put up my praises as the stories come out, but dont always manage it. mostly because i'm more interested in why someone liked my writing then if it wins. I get so excited about the challenges, writing my piece, reading everyone else's, if i ever dont vote it will because i'm held captive by life and unable to get to my computer.

as for my process, i cant look at how the votes are being cast, because for some strange reason it feels like cheating to me. i say strange not only because i think it is in my self but because i never hold anyone else to this idea. i dont feel i would be tempted to vote back, or to play the favorite, but just knowing i didnt look before i voted gives me a sense of fair play because no one could accuse me of it.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I've entered every single challenge so far, and voted in them all, as well. I don't quite understand how someone can enter and not vote, unless something drastic happens.

In the early challenges, I must admit that I voted for a couple of stories that were not necessarily my top choice, because my top choice was already so far ahead and my next choice didn't have a vote at all -- I felt that the voteless one deserved a vote and the other one was going to win anyway. That almost backfired on me once when my (nonvoted) top choice went into a tie-breaker, but then I got to vote for it anyway. At that time I was not comfortable making shortlists and mentioning my other favorites, for reasons I cannot even explain to myself now. I got over it.

Having more experience with the whole process now, I make my lists and give the mentions where they are due (although sometimes there is a great story that I just can't include because of egregious spelling or punctuation errors), and the vote goes where it goes.

I was not sure that I could cast a vote that would tie someone else with me, or put them ahead of me, until I saw Perp do just that a couple of challenges back, and I was so impressed with that that I made up my mind to do it if it became necessary. It wouldn't be a good win if you had to sluff off your own vote to get it.

 

[Culhwch]

Wait, are we supposed to be voting for the best story each month? Jeez, I've been doing this totally wrong...

I'm an habitually late voter, and I do look at the votes numerous times before I cast mine (to keep track of thank yous if required, but also out of curiosity as to who's leading) but when I do my final read through I tend to dissassociate the names from the entries. (Incidentally I do this in the general forum as well - for some reason my brain isn't wired to look to the left side of the screen, and I'll often need to backtrack to work out just who is saying what...) As such I usually pick my story without even realising who wrote it until it comes time to check the box - although that said, I can usually pick certain people by their style and habits. I very rarely seem to pick the front-runner in any case - although my horses often run worthy races, they tend to finish in the middle of the pack.

As to witholding a vote from a rival - last month was the first time this applied to me, and Perp's story was in fact amongst my top three, which made for plenty of teeth-gnashing. There was actually a point when I seriously thought it would look dodgy if I didn't vote for him. In the end it came down to a number of re-reads and some cold deliberation, and what I still think was the right decision, at least as far as I was concerned.

I won't lie, though. Sometimes I wake up screaming, and I don't know why.

 

[Parson]

As I am next to never in the running for a winning story I can't say this has applied to me. But I will say this: I am pleased by the level of integrity which the forum displays. It makes this place very attractive to me. My guiding moral principle is quite simple (to say hard to live) "What would Jesus do?" Added to that I am completely convinced that there can be joy in winning if there is no honor in the competition.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I was not sure that I could cast a vote that would tie someone else with me, or put them ahead of me, until I saw Perp do just that a couple of challenges back, and I was so impressed with that that I made up my mind to do it if it became necessary. It wouldn't be a good win if you had to sluff off your own vote to get it.

Thankee TDZ - but I'll put my hand up and admit it was not easy. In the end I had all my choices in front of me and I just knew it would be wrong not to go with the one that was on top. Besides it's voting for the best one in the readers mind. And in that instance it was - and I still won on one level because the one I voted for, my favourite won.. uhhh

I always vote (unless something huge stops me and it hasn't yet - let's wait to April and see what happens?), and make a list, cogitate for a while and try to go with my favourite (which is always hard to decide on because of the overall quality) no matter what.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Don't worry, Perp, just make sure you find a maternity ward with wi=fi