2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

[minifig]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

this contest illustrates why we need to set these up for voting for the top 2. there is always a runaway favorite.

I kind of agree.
This would have been fine if there was only one prize on offer but I think it's going to get tricky to seperate the rest of the field... who will get to choose a prize first out of, lets say, 5 people with 4 votes?

 

[richoli]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

I kind of agree.
This would have been fine if there was only one prize on offer but I think it's going to get tricky to seperate the rest of the field... who will get to choose a prize first out of, lets say, 5 people with 4 votes?

What I'm struggling to understand is that if u can see the results and there are a few that are taking the lead by a long way! Why not cast your votes to your second choice to help differentiate between the others rather than fuel the clear leaders? Maybe it's just me lol! Please dont take this the wrong way don't want to cause a fight! Lol

 

[jason1976]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

What I'm struggling to understand is that if u can see the results and there are a few that are taking the lead by a long way! Why not cast your votes to your second choice to help differentiate between the others rather than fuel the clear leaders? Maybe it's just me lol! Please dont take this the wrong way don't want to cause a fight! Lol

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I mean people should vote for who ever they want, but folks could at the very least vote for themselves, but there are a few with 0 votes. I mean, come one, there all great sabers, no-one deserves to get 0 votes. But, I'm not going to tell folks how to vote.

As for I tie. Well, it's my first time with the polls, so......... I would say a coin flip, but folks seem to hate that idea with the Arc reactor contest. (Though, if two, folks get 4 votes. it kind of says folks like them both equally, so however we decide it, it's hard to make it about who's is "better".) And, if it's a 4, or 5, way tie, where do I get a 5 sided dice. :lol HM....... Sorry, folks, I should have figured this out ahead of time.

Oh, I know what I did last year. 1st got a prize (well actually last year it was 2 for first, but we aren't doing that this year.) 2nd got a prize, etc. But if two folks got say 3rd, they both got a prize. I know some are going to say, "Yeah, but doesn't that mean the prizes wont make it very far down the list" "You had prizes for the top 12, Now your only going to make it to the top 8, because of all the ties" etc. Well, not really, I mean, if two folks tien then you have to figure, if just one more person had voted for one of them, one would have take one place in the top 12, and the other would have take the next place undr it. In other words, the top 12 folks are going to get prizes, weather they all get different placement from 1-12, or if a number of them get tied for the saber place. The to 12 sabers builders will still get rewarded. Now, as for who out of those ties get to choose first....... UM.....I think we are back to the coin flip. I know it's not perfect, but it's what we have.

As for people being able to see the way the voting is going. Even if we posted our votes in the thread, like we did last year. (the way everone seems to think it should be done.) Everyone could still see who the voting was going. Everyone would not only be able to see how many votes each saber was getting, but they would see who voted for who. (witch I think is worse)

If we could find a way to hide the vote percentages, on the poll, then folks would say that it was fixed, and that we need more "transparency". There simply is no perfect way, to do the voting, and there is no one way, that will please everyone. I'm sorry for those that don't like it this way, but the polls do seem to be here to stay, and at least the mods were nice enough to make this one for members only.

 

[Organic Mechanic]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

~Trying to make sense of it~

For subsequent contests I don't think this issue will exist. Open polls will, at the very least, enable a better vote spread. So that's a bonus I recon.

I think the only way to prevent the current situation with a closed poll would be to have everyone vote for, say, their favorite 3. Most everybody would still vote for the same "best" entry, but I don't think too many of us agree on who should be in 2nd or 3rd. See what I mean?

Again though, this will no longer be an issue with the open polls, so it's purely academic, and not very helpful.

As for helpful suggestions for THIS contest, all I've got is this; Speaking only for myself, I didn't enter the contest for the prizes. If I happen to qualify for one of the potential "Tie for a prize" positions, I'll gladly choose last in that group if it simplifies things. :cool

 

[Shylaah]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

>>>clip<<< I think it's going to get tricky to separate the rest of the field... who will get to choose a prize first out of, lets say, 5 people with 4 votes?

Been trying to think of some way that a mulit-way tie could be most fairly, by what most random means, broken down into who in that tie group goes, 1st, 2nd, etc. in the prize choosing.

I could only come up with one suggestion to offer that would be easy and is, in fact, already randomized = use the order of the entry numbers.

I copied the poll and pasted it into a spread sheet. I sorted the list by first the votes descending, second the entry numbers ascending. The spreadsheet does all the work, and it takes less than one minute to do.

I think right now there are 12 prizes, so I cut the list at 12. So the first tie is two entries for 6th place, and using the already randomized entry numbers, let #8 be the 1st to choose for 6th place and #11 second to choose for 6th place which would become 7th place.
Then, likewise, for the three entries that tie for what is now 8th place, go in order #4, #5 and #10...........

Just throwing out some ideas here........

Shylaah

 

[MooCriket]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

There are some really great entries! Good luck, everyone

 

[jason1976]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Been trying to think of some way that a mulit-way tie could be most fairly, by what most random means, broken down into who in that tie group goes, 1st, 2nd, etc. in the prize choosing.

I could only come up with one suggestion to offer that would be easy and is, in fact, already randomized = use the order of the entry numbers.

I copied the poll and pasted it into a spread sheet. I sorted the list by first the votes descending, second the entry numbers ascending. The spreadsheet does all the work, and it takes less than one minute to do.

I think right now there are 12 prizes, so I cut the list at 12. So the first tie is two entries for 6th place, and using the already randomized entry numbers, let #8 be the 1st to choose for 6th place and #11 second to choose for 6th place which would become 7th place.
Then, likewise, for the three entries that tie for what is now 8th place, go in order #4, #5 and #10...........

Just throwing out some ideas here........

Shylaah

I love it. Thanks, I think this is the way to go. Though of course we will late until the end of the voting period, and have to do the spreadsheet again, with the new numbers. (since folks do still have a few days to vote.)

Shylaah, I may need your help with that, when the time comes, since I don't think I actually have a program that will do that.

 

[Interceptor6]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

I love it. Thanks, I think this is the way to go.

So, using you're hypothetical cypherin' device, and the previous flowchart, if #4 gets "1" more vote, he moves up three prize levels!:love (it's the "new" math)
JUST KIDDING:lol
Sound perfect and simple! So "someone" had to mess with it!lol:lol

Truthfully, I'm astounded mine got a vote at all! Some of these entries show an incredible amount of engineering, time, and passion in their craftsmanship! I can only hope to get my builds somewhere near to that dedication!
GET YOUR BUILD THREADS READY! I wanna see them all!

 

[EvilRocketeer]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

is the contest already over?

 

[stromo]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

It really is a shame that some of these are getting zero votes (or close to it), but it's not that surprising, since you're not going to get a vote unless someone thinks you have the absolute best saber here. Some of the sabers, despite being fantastic (really, they all are) are, understandably, not contest winners.

I admit I voted for the most popular entry (before I saw the results), but only just. I had a couple of others that I really liked too, and almost voted differently.

Anyway, I suppose we have the opportunity here to at least mention how we felt about the entries we DIDN'T vote for, but that we still appreciated in some way or other, so here goes...

#3 - Loved the internals, especially the use of the spirit levels for space-age fuel cells (sorry if you intended otherwise)

#14 - Most excellent use of hair clips. Really love this funky design.

#26 - Loved this design, and the blood, etc. I very nearly voted for this.

Several other ones were really nice, clean designs, and I could not fault them at all.

Similarly, some others had the aged, battle-worn look, and were just fantastic. One or two of these very nearly got my vote too.

Like I said in my first post, I actually felt guilty voting for just one.

Again, congratulations to EVERYONE who entered.

 

[stromo]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Jason, on another contest site that I used to contribute to, if two people ended up with the same number of votes, the one who submitted their entry first got priority (just something to think about).

 

[Indy Magnoli]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Jason, on another contest site that I used to contribute to, if two people ended up with the same number of votes, the one who submitted their entry first got priority (just something to think about).

:thumbsup

 

[jason1976]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

is the contest already over?

NO! Voting runs for one week, that week isn't up until Wednesday evening. There is still lots of time for folks to vote for their favorite saber.

 

[jason1976]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Jason, on another contest site that I used to contribute to, if two people ended up with the same number of votes, the one who submitted their entry first got priority (just something to think about).

I actually alreay thought of that, but it just doesn't seem fare to punish those that procrastinated a bit. Some times real life gets in the way, I I would hate for someone to loose their place on the winners list, because, they just couldn't get it in sooner.

I'm really sorry, that all of this wasn't settled long before the contest ever started. However, I really do like the spreadsheet idea, and that is how we are going to do it this year. We can always do something different next time, but I think this is the answer this time around.

 

[stromo]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

I actually alreay thought of that, but it just doesn't seem fare to punish those that procrastinated a bit. Some times real life gets in the way, I I would hate for someone to loose their place on the winners list, because, they just couldn't get it in sooner.

I'm really sorry, that all of this wasn't settled long before the contest ever started. However, I really do like the spreadsheet idea, and that is how we are going to do it this year. We can always do something different next time, but I think this is the answer this time around.

I understand completely. If you were going to have a rule like this, it would only be fair to state it up front. Given that no rule was set, a random result is probably the fairest for all. :thumbsup

 

[Michael Bergeron]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

I actually alreay thought of that, but it just doesn't seem fare to punish those that procrastinated a bit. Some times real life gets in the way, I I would hate for someone to loose their place on the winners list, because, they just couldn't get it in sooner.

But it would be okay to get bumped off the winners list because the number you were assigned by someone else was high? Just food for thought.

In the end there's probably no fair way to do it. Here's hoping that all ties are broken!

 

[Shylaah]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

I'd be happy to run the numbers through the spread sheet and send it to you, Jason, when the contest is over. NOT YET TWO MORE DAYS FOLKS!!

Though stomo's idea was a good one also, a little more time consuming and not as transparent, but certainly random. The coin toss done for the arc reactor would work, again, random, but then very UN-transparent.

As others have mentioned about the voting, seems no matter what is done or has been done, there is runaway votes for the top one or two entries and many very deserving entries get so few votes. Actually, I was surprised this being a Star Wars item and there being so very many Star Wars fans on this forum that there is scantly over 200 votes right now with five days down and two to go.......If there is ever another contest that's for member's only voting maybe we could have a "Vote for a chance to Win" prize to bribe more mebers into voting :confused That, of course, doesn't address the runaway voting, but I didn't have any idea for that

Shylaah

 

[Michael Bergeron]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

That, of course, doesn't address the runaway voting, but I didn't have any idea for that

Simple, give everyone three votes so that they can vote for their top three (or two as suggested earlier). First place will still have lots of votes but there will be more variety in the votes for other sabers.

Too late for this contest of course but perhaps an idea for future ones.

As for the tiebreaker I feel bad for all those who happen to have been assigned high numbers... I think the "first to submit" is a fairer system (saying this I was one of the last to submit of course...), it's like bonus marks for turning in your homework early.

Another alternative would be for the tied members to guess a number that would be publicly available the following day (like the last two digits of the DOW at closing the next day). Closest number picks first, etc. Completely transparent, totally fair, and the members get a feeling of "pick your own destiny" as opposed to "Ah man, I have an awesome saber but I'm number 28!"

 

[Shylaah]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Yeah, that would be a good idea to have more than one vote, at least two, and possibly three. You think this would work out also, since the voting is going public next time? Have no idea how that's going to play out??

The Dow closing numbers was what I was going to use to break a tie had there been one in the Blaster Contest. This was stated up front in the rules before the voting began so there wouldn't be arguments after the fact.

Workable, but I can guess from how timely some have picked their prize in previous contests, that it might be a bit of a snag to get those involved in the tie to submit their guess in a timely manner. As Jason as often said, "I don't live on the forum", so say most of us, so you need to do something that is reasonably managable time wise and not have the prize selection process running on too long.

Shylaah

 

[Rikarus]

re: 2010 "$1 Store" Lightsaber Contest - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

well I am not number one, I'll say that, but when this is over i want to get feedback on my build, I persoannly thought it was good and would do better than it is.....will we be allowed to post up our builds and ask for feedback?