Luna

This is not meant to take a stand on no voting or voting, but how much of our recreation is based on competition? Baseball without a score? Tennis? The Olympics without winners? Just an "atta-boy", wow, really good jump!

Just a thought....

Dragon

I hear you Luna. A hockey game without keeping score just isn't worth watching, but how often do you see scoring on drawings? (Other than here of course)

I'm not calling you down, just putting a thought of my own out there.

Dragon

Of course, being an artist yourself you might see it a lot.

Luna

Well, if you sell art the score is people giving you money, and if you enter shows, it is ribbons, and prizes, and exhibits in museums.

lynnspotter

Luna, the vote thing just seems to bring such animosity, I thought it would be nice to STOP. At least for a few months. Maybe then the system will be better fixed & any abuse will go the way of the wind. It IS worth a try isn't it?

lynnspotter

We can compliment till we're blue in the face~ I think that will mean more anyway!

Dragon

Personally I feel liberated by it. I felt I was giving 5's to pic's I didn't really think were worth a 5. I thought they were worth something, but didn't dare give anything less. I'm enjoying this new freedom.

Dragon

Ooo, I geuss we did get graded in art class too, but I always rather got the feeling that grade was based more on the amount of effort we put into it and whether we were getting the idea of the project. You know, using the techniques we were being taught.

DMarcella

Same here Dragon. Also if I left a message I felt I had to vote as well or it would be noticed I didn't vote. So most of the time when this was the case I didn't leave a message.

Login

Have you noticed the hush that has come over the whole site? I'm willing to go along with your protest but the silence is killing the creativity around here.

The voting system, as it stands, is why this situation has come about, but I enjoyed the amicable competition ... striving to improve ... having something to aim for. I found it stimulating and great fun. We have all improved since we started out ... encouraging comments had a lot to do with it, but I think the votes gave us something more to aim for.

I will go along with the veto, but I would prefer that the voting system is changed, rather than done away with ... a system with no averaging of ratings, cumulative votes and a return to the original pattern of voting ... 0 - 5, giving us the ability to use the lower votes for encouragement to those newcomers who show some imagination, without harming anyone's placing in the Showcase.

Some of us scan through the Gallery, looking for imaginative drawings, skilled or otherwise, but it's surprising how many find it too laborious. Without votes to keep the more interesting drawings in general view, I believe the comments will drop dramatically ... even peter out altogether ... with drawings moving down a conveyor belt, appearing only briefly and then forgotten about. Keeping exceptionally good drawings at the top gives us all something to learn from and to strive to emulate the talent.

Baldur

I'm seeing this as really just a way to get Rachel's attention, and that makes it a good cause. We have complained for quite a while but she seems to think the system is fine as is, or she would have changed it.
This is really a nonviolent protest.

Baldur

Welcome to ThinkDraw's 1960's

LadyO

I still like:

1-the vote-or-no-vote system -- if you like it or want to encourage the artist, vote for it. If not, don't vote.vvNo ranking involved.

AND

2-that the admins kieep the vote talley secret until the end of the competiton. that would cut down a little on some of the manipulation.

I don't do it for the votes, but when I do get some votes on a work, it encourages me to push myself a little harder. the next time.

If you've ever had classes in school that were "no grade," everybody ends up doing so-so work.

Login

I'm with you on your vote strike ... it's just the waiting that's going to drive me loco. Also worrying that our toy is going to be taken away from us (I had a very strict upbringing ... "don't play up or you'll be sent to bed").

DMarcella

LadyO you gave me another idea to add to what you are proposing. Lets say the vote count is kept secret until the end ot the competition; one problem still to address with that would be the showcase. Even if the votes were hidden the drawing would still line up on the pages according to their ranking. So I propose that the showcase page be renamed until the showcase is over so that we couldn't view it until the name/url address was changed back to it's original so we could view it again. For example one of my site pages ends like this: reading.html. If I wanted to hide that page I could change the word reading to any other word so it couldn't be pull up by that address. Then to view it again I would rename it again putting the word reading back in if the host site allows that, mine doesn't I don't believe, or having a new name each month. One would just have to click on the showcase link as usual, it just would not link to the site page when Rachel put it's page in hiding.

Robindcr8l

I was wondering if anyone had given any thought to making the voting system 1-10 instead of only 5. I would be much more likely to vote a 10 only on the masterpieces, but still feel good about giving someone an 8 or 9 on one I think is really good. Might make people less likely to only vote 5 for fear of sending someone to the bottom of the heap. I don't know. It won't however, prevent cheating. This is getting exhausting and discouraging. I just clicked and started a pic, then thought "forget it". I"m going to take a break from all of this drama for awhile and see how things pan out in a month or two. Good luck with your current strategy. I really hope it's effective.

LadyO

DM, you have a point. I bet the pages in the showcase could be change to reflect simply the order of submission, just like in the gallery.

And, Login is right ... we create too much of a stink, and they could shut it down. I've seen it happen to other message boards when the fighting escalated ... I mean, afterall, why do they need the headache?

matthew

They could be changed... the order that is... easy to do... It has been one of the most requested changes... Anything that had "highest rating" involved has been a change request subject...

Obviously they have chosen not to change things...

So now we are making an effort to change it ourselves... This effort will fail in the end I believe... But just perhaps, someone above will see that we care...

mekeys

I think the vote count range should be from 1 to 10

lynnspotter

Non~violent protest. I like that idea. I am hoping this grabs Rachel's attention. There is a better way, I might not have THE answer, but many great minds have put forth many great ideas. As long as there IS voting, there will be cheating? Don't know if that is as prevalent as some think, or it is just 'familiarity' votes. I know I did vote because I like the artist, so what if it's not a masterpiece! Or it made me laugh. Liked the title. I could go on & on. As for this silence some have brought up~I've been more chatty & commenting more than I have in a long time! I FEEL FREE!