the RPF 2011 Halloween Costume Contest

[Art Andrews]

Hello everyone. I am sure you are wondering why we shut down the voting for the costume contest earlier today. If you have looked at the poll results, you are also probably wondering why all the numbers are drastically lower than they were earlier today.

Late yesterday a couple of members recognized a loophole in the polling software that allowed non-members to vote repeatedly for a single entrant. We let it slide because it didn’t appear that anyone was taking advantage of that fact or skewing the contest results. Unfortunately that changed earlier today and got so bad that we were forced to stop the polls.

Our initial intent was to allow both members and non-members vote in this contest, allowing entrants to encourage their friends as well as fellow board members to vote for them. However, because we can’t control non-members from exploiting this loophole and voting repeatedly, we have been forced to block non-members from voting and discounting all non-member votes.

We are very sorry that it has come to this and that a few over-zealous non-members have ruined it for everyone. We are resuming the voting (keeping all members votes) but only allowing members to vote.

To the entrants, you can still have your friends vote for you, but unfortunately, they will have to register to be able to vote. Thank you for your support and understanding.

Because we had to stop the contest and lost a day, we are going to run the contest through Monday, Nov 14 and announce winners on Nov 15.

 

[vaderdarth]

I like the members only approach.

 

[JOATRASH FX]

I like the members only approach.

Same here. Members here are the most likely to really understand and appreciate the dedication it takes to pull off a lot of the things we do here. I think the contest should be more about mutual appreciation than who has the most friends on Facebook.

 

[simul8r]

Same here. Members here are the most likely to really understand and appreciate the dedication it takes to pull off a lot of the things we do here. I think the contest should be more about mutual appreciation than who has the most friends on Facebook.

Totally agree with this. Personally, I would rather prefer votes from those who genuinely appreciate my work and who have an eye for art rather than votes from a social network and based on popularity. I purposely did not acknowledge the fact that I was competing when posting at other websites prior to the abuse for that very reason.

In other words, I would prefer critiques and honest opinions vs empty sustenance votes.

 

[Captainjaze]

I love these costumes!! great job everyone!

 

[TeresaMRoberts]

I think it should be a panel of judges. People in the industry. As a seamstress I'm not really experienced in working with plaster and things. So have professional experts like leather workers, prop makers, seamstresses to judge. That way it isn't anyone voting. Because you still make friends on here. So it can still become somewhat of popularity contest. Not as bad as including social networking sites but still.

 

[badass89]

just glad to get a few real votes thanks guys

 

[simul8r]

I think it should be a panel of judges. People in the industry. As a seamstress I'm not really experienced in working with plaster and things. So have professional experts like leather workers, prop makers, seamstresses to judge. That way it isn't anyone voting. Because you still make friends on here. So it can still become somewhat of popularity contest. Not as bad as including social networking sites but still.

Now there's an idea :thumbsup Question is, how do you prove that the costume entered wasn't just bought and not hand made or built using plaster, leather and such. An RPF WIP thread?

 

[aelynn000]

Just throwing this out there, a few changes I would like to see next year...

- active member participants only, or maybe a post minimum. as a regular poster, i think it would be discouraging to see a selection of active member entrants, and the winner being someone with 1 post who joined to enter, never to be seen again, or someone not even a member, entered by someone else. while i understand we're open and welcoming to new registrants, i feel that either of the above situations doesn't quite respect the active community. at least with newer members, if there's a post minimum, it would involve them more as well as encourage that community to grow.

- limited time ( maybe 3 days ) for members only voting to narrow down a top 3 selection. possibly even putting a hold on registration for those 3 days to prevent social network recruiting ( which has its pros and cons, pros being people join to support you because they like your work, cons being some people aren't active in social networks in general, putting them at a disadvantage...but mostly, it seems people aren't too fond of it ).

- a panel of judges to decide from the top 3 for each category. maybe 2 male and 2 female, both with one person of 'soft' costuming expertise ( wigs, technical sewing, textiles ) and one with 'hard' costuming expertise ( props, molds, prosthetics, vac-form pieces, electronics etc ).

i think these changes would eliminate a lot of the issues that seem to be coming up this year ( and who knows, maybe even last year too ) and wouldn't leave much room for disagreement or disappointment. the results would be winners selected by the community AND people who respect and know what it takes to make a costume from the ground up, regardless of mediums used.

 

[Pokeman]

Just throwing this out there, a few changes I would like to see next year...

- active member participants only, or maybe a post minimum. as a regular poster, i think it would be discouraging to see a selection of active member entrants, and the winner being someone with 1 post who joined to enter, never to be seen again, or someone not even a member, entered by someone else. while i understand we're open and welcoming to new registrants, i feel that either of the above situations doesn't quite respect the active community. at least with newer members, if there's a post minimum, it would involve them more as well as encourage that community to grow.

- limited time ( maybe 3 days ) for members only voting to narrow down a top 3 selection. possibly even putting a hold on registration for those 3 days to prevent social network recruiting ( which has its pros and cons, pros being people join to support you because they like your work, cons being some people aren't active in social networks in general, putting them at a disadvantage...but mostly, it seems people aren't too fond of it ).

- a panel of judges to decide from the top 3 for each category. maybe 2 male and 2 female, both with one person of 'soft' costuming expertise ( wigs, technical sewing, textiles ) and one with 'hard' costuming expertise ( props, molds, prosthetics, vac-form pieces, electronics etc ).

i think these changes would eliminate a lot of the issues that seem to be coming up this year ( and who knows, maybe even last year too ) and wouldn't leave much room for disagreement or disappointment. the results would be winners selected by the community AND people who respect and know what it takes to make a costume from the ground up, regardless of mediums used.

OMFG!!! Am I reading this right? You miss Aelynn are a piece of work, the only contest that you won, is the contest on who can ***** the most votes on blogs and who can disgrace the RPF female contest the most. Its funny how someone can get about 30 votes in a matter of a few hours in the last hours of the contest. It was really quite amusing to watch. The mens contest did not experience the same sharp increase in votes during the last few hours. I wonder why that is?



Observe ladies and gentlemen screen clippings from her blog........








I was introduced to your blog after I heard that you were making disparaging comments about our costume. The stark contrast in ideals was really quite fascinating.

 

[TeresaMRoberts]

Now there's an idea :thumbsup Question is, how do you prove that the costume entered wasn't just bought and not hand made or built using plaster, leather and such. An RPF WIP thread?

I think that is a brilliant idea. OR even just have pictures of "in the Making" to submit when you make your entry. I was asked by the hookmovie.com to make a tutorial on how I made my little hook costume. It was a lot of work and I wish I had known that WHILE I was making it. I would have taken a TON more pictures while I was doing it. Or even video clips. I think from now on I'm going to start doing that when making my costumes. It may help someone else but It will also prove it was all me! LOL I'm pretty new to this form. But I've been making costumes ALL MY LIFE! I wish I would have found u all sooner. I've already gotten some great tips to help me out. My I could do the same for someone else!

 

[Bizarro Lois]

As far as not allowing new members or people with one post to vote - Why? Part of the reason for contests and forum activities is to bring new members in. So what if some of them never post again? Then do you also advocate a minimum post count for participants in the contest? It's not hard to increase your post count by typing, "That's cool" in a few threads.
I've been biting my tongue on this for a while, but I'm just going to come out and ask: For those who are bragging that they didn't advertise their entry or ask for votes on Facebook, does that make those of us who did lesser competetors? Until the loophole was discovered, networking for votes was not only allowed, but encouraged. From the confirmation email:
"We will be posting your costume up on the site along with all the other contestants on Monday, Nov 7 and this is where the 2nd part of your task comes in to play. Anyone, member or non-member can vote in this contest. We encourage you to post the contest on Facebook and on other websites you visit and encourage your friends and family to vote for you! Your hard work on your costume as well as your tenacity in getting your friends to vote for you can make a significant difference in the results of the contest!"
Wasn't this intended to drive more traffic to the site?

I don't pretend to think I had any chance of winning - I still have a lot to learn before I can make competetive costumes. I'm not going to complain about anyone's entry getting votes because they're sexier. Sure, some of them were - Hell, most of them were. But they were also awesome costumes by skilled women. But I am thrilled that even after the non-member votes were discounted, I still had some left. I was having fun with this, until the drama got started.

 

[Izzzie]

This drama is getting out of control. I'd like to direct attention back to the beginning of the thread, where Art pointed out the following:

The voting is public, meaning both members and nonmembers are able to vote. The owner of the biomech, who is still an active member here on the site, did an amazing job of getting the word out and getting his friends to vote. It is no different than you see members doing here in the offtopic when they ask fellow members to vote for their daughter's art project or for their entry into some contest. The voting seems lopsided in his favor because he worked the hardest to get people to vote for him.

While the voting was changed to just include members to stop non-members from resetting their IP and repeatedly voting, aelynn has done nothing wrong in asking friends and followers of her blog to vote for her. So Pokeman, I found your comments hugely disparaging and an overreaction:

OMFG!!! Am I reading this right? You miss Aelynn are a piece of work, the only contest that you won, is the contest on who can ***** the most votes on blogs and who can disgrace the RPF female contest the most. Its funny how someone can get about 30 votes in a matter of a few hours in the last hours of the contest. It was really quite amusing to watch. The mens contest did not experience the same sharp increase in votes during the last few hours. I wonder why that is?

The reason that is is aelynn worked her butt off for those votes, the same way the aforementioned biomech creator did, and she hasn't done anything wrong in reminding people to vote for her. Being bitter about that and attacking her for it, particularly calling her a "piece of work", is uncalled for and definitely beyond the pale.

As far as aelynn's proposed changes go:

Just throwing this out there, a few changes I would like to see next year...

- active member participants only, or maybe a post minimum.
- limited time ( maybe 3 days ) for members only voting to narrow down a top 3 selection.
- a panel of judges to decide from the top 3 for each category.

First: I don't think a post minimum should be necessary, because it's a pretty false way of measuring someone's involvement on boards. As pointed out by Bizarro Lois, it's not hard to raise your post count. However, I think that being at least a member of the boards to enter should be a requirement. It seems odd to be able to enter a competition without registering, when registration is required to vote. While the change to registration-required voting was made halfway through this competition so it's fair enough that those who weren't registered were allowed to stay in the competition, I think that it'd certainly bear thinking about for next year's competition.

Secondly: Aelynn is pointing out the flaws in the system that she was able to use this year to get a lot of votes. I think that this more than anything shows that she's willing to be part of the development of this community and shouldn't be lambasted by other members. It's quite a humble move to admit that though she received a lot of votes through a certain way, others don't like it and she's actively suggesting for it to be removed for next year's competition. She did nothing wrong this year in campaigning on tumblr. If the rules are changed next year to disallow tumblr or social media campaigning, or campaigning above a certain number of posts on social media sites, that will still not mean she was wrong this year to campaign there.

Thirdly: a panel of judges would be a great idea, but again this is meant to be a community effort so I suppose maybe voting for finalists and then having the judges choose the final winners or something? I'm not really sure how to express my unease over this option, so I think I'll leave it at that. I think that there are advantages to having judges, but at the same time perhaps an easier way to police the actual 'making' of costumes would be to introduce a requirement that there is an RPF build thread detailing the creation of the costume. It need not be a real-time thread, but could be created after the costume is completed, to encourage last-minute or snap-decision entrants, but that at the very least would show that costumes were 'made' rather than bought and would allow the contest to stay in the hands of the community.

I know I'm a really new member of these boards, but a lot of this drama seems avoidable. Pokeman, please stop disparaging other members on the boards - a lot of this could probably have been avoided if you just asked aelynn to take down the post that offended you, in which she actually called your girlfriend's Mystique amazing, albeit with some incorrect information that she should probably have checked with you before posting. But you seem to be stirring up trouble relatively unnecessarily.

 

[Bizarro Lois]

First: I don't think a post minimum should be necessary, because it's a pretty false way of measuring someone's involvement on boards. As pointed out by Bizarro Lois, it's not hard to raise your post count. However, I think that being at least a member of the boards to enter should be a requirement. It seems odd to be able to enter a competition without registering, when registration is required to vote. While the change to registration-required voting was made halfway through this competition so it's fair enough that those who weren't registered were allowed to stay in the competition, I think that it'd certainly bear thinking about for next year's competition.
.

Were non-members allowed to enter costumes? I don't think they were. Or am I just reading your post wrong?

 

[Pascal]

Simple fix to all this for next year, just rename the contest "RPF Popularity Contest" because that's all online contests are. They have nothing to do with craftsmanship or how much time was spent and never will be unless there is a qualified judge who can check on how seams are finished etc. Winner here just gets bragging rights for annoying the most people, congratulations!

 

[Izzzie]

Were non-members allowed to enter costumes? I don't think they were. Or am I just reading your post wrong?

I was under the impression that a few were non-members entered by account-holding friends...?

I may be wrong though, so I'm open to being corrected. :behave

 

[aelynn000]

Pokeman, I sent you a message. Please keep it to pm if you have issues.

Personally, as per prior posts regarding winners, I did not think anything was wrong with showing off my work that I worked HARD on (as any contestant did ) and asking for support. And yes, I would rather see it judged by judges than votes, but if that's how a contest is run, and that's how people have won in the past with approval from the board, then yeah, you can bet I'm going to take that approach.

Please note that I said, I didn't think she made it, you did, and I don't believe she is/was a member here. I never said anything personally rude against you.

Bizarro Lois, yes. Registered members are allowed to enter non registered partners.

 

[Mojo_Turbo]

aelynn has done nothing wrong in asking friends and followers of her blog to vote for her. So Pokeman, I found your comments hugely disparaging and an overreaction:

Agreed! I think anyone one of us would have done the same in such a tight race. Remember, all is fair in love and war? Or is it - hate the game not the playuh?

peace

 

[TeresaMRoberts]

Aelynn did nothing wrong. When the voting went back up they said it was legal to have social networks voting but they just had to register first. Everyone did a great job on their costumes. No need to get nit picky and mean. BE A GOOD SPORT. To be a good sport you need to loose great to. Try again next year! Supportive post to your competitors. You never know when one of them might be able to help you on a costume or even give you your finishing touch to make yours the best. I think this site is more about building bridges not burning them down.

 

[Izzzie]

I think this site is more about building bridges not burning them down.

:thumbsup