I love seeing your images and I love giving away textures to show my appreciation to my subscribers and readers. I found this paid service with InLinkz that allows users to link to their images with a thumbnail and allows voting. The first challenge went smoothly with no hicks and everyone seemed happy.
Right now, I’m doing the second challenge using the Inlinkz service. This second challenge has revealed some glitches. I’ve had a lot of emails and comments complaining. I appreciate complaints as it lets me know when something is not working so I can find a solution. Please remember that I do not have a staff or an IT department. It’s currently all me. Technology is constantly changing and it’s inevitable that there will occasionally be glitches. Also, this is a fairly young site. I try things and see if they work for my readers. Sometimes they will and sometimes they wont. I appreciate your understanding and feedback.
Two Voting Issues To Address
Most of the complaints I’ve had are related to voting.
Problems Voting
Some people have not been able to vote. At first I thought it was people who had already voted because the voting graphics go away after you vote, but I soon realized that it was more than that. This is what I found in the Trouble-Shooting section of InLinkz:
I am running a contest with voting enabled. several people have reported that inlinkz is not allowing them to vote.
To avoid multiple voting from the same person (computer) we log the voting IPs and forbid repeated votes from the same IP. When the voting feature was first available, we did the same check with cookies which proved somewhat (a lot!) problematic since anyone could wipe his cookies and vote again or even switch browser and again, vote again. The IP logging method is used from almost all applications that somehow enable voting in the net. The drawback is that sometimes a whole household with say 3 computers, is seen as a single IP. So if someone from the house votes, the others cannot.
My Proposal
American Photographer and Designer living in France with my French husband, 2 Weimaraners and Cat Rescues. Camera, Mac, studio, garden.
That’s an excellent compromise and solution! Rest, Leslie! You have worked so hard for all of us and it’s so very appreciated!!!!
Thank you!
I’m a little disappointed. But since the other way isn’t fair, this would be the best fair option.
Tamara
I think that’s an excellent idea. That eliminates the “vote collecting,” which doesn’t prove anything about which image is best, but only who’s best at recruiting everybody they know to vote. It also eliminates the “mine’s better than yours” element inherent in competitions. As with other competitions I’ve entered, EVERY entry is excellent. Having the machine pick the winners randomly makes it about as fair as it can possibly get, and makes it more like a lottery. That way, we can share our images/ideas with each other as equals, and the winners are chosen by the luck of the draw. Thanks so much for your speedy response to the problem, and for your rational solution. 🙂
well I understand your choice but I’m sad about it. I was in second place so far and I don’t think is wrong to ask our friends and family to vote for us. the random choice wont choose the best, will just choose one no matter its value. so I don’t see these sollution any better than the previous one. I just understand it pleases more people so I guess you did right.
Ana Eugenio recently posted..the scare of my life
Well, I can see where she comes from having to change it more for the voting glitches than to please. I too had friends and family vote but I’m good with random as all each and every image is excellent, they are all the best!
Cheers!
I think whatever works best for you works for me! It’s your site, your generosity. Thanks again for having this.
Leslie, I think this is a fair way to go. I have to admit I did ask friends to vote for my photo.But in the end the most votes doesn’t mean the best photo. Everyone does the best they are capable of doing. I love seeing how creative everyone has been with using the purple prose. I hope you will have more challenges like this in the future.
Hi Leslie,
I’m glad to see the change. If it had been one entry one vote system, then if you were the winner you would have the satisfaction of knowing that among your peers your entry was the favourite, but if friends and family can vote . . . .well, I don’t see the point.
With the random selection we can admire each others work and someone will be lucky enough to win the prize.
Best wishes and thanks for all the work you put in, Teresa x
teresa recently posted..Down by the sea
Hi Leslie,
I’m one of those who does dislike asking family and friends to vote, because it doesn’t say anything about the quality of the picture, more about how many people one knows who use the social media. I think I’d prefer just the people who are in the contest to vote, or you yourself (though I do understand how hard that is). Of course having a program pick a winner at random does not say anything about the quality of the winner either, but as everybody who does participate has already made a work of art, which they put their heart and creativity in, it seems fair enough 🙂
Thanks for this contest and for your beautiful textures !
Inge Hartgerink recently posted..Hosta Impressions
Hi Leslie
such a shame to have these voting problems… but well done for finding a quick resolution. I think I agree with Inge, perhaps in future, only those who enter a competition are allowed to vote? Hopefully this hiccup hasn’t put you off running another!! It’s always interesting and inspiring to see how people use the same texture in so many creative ways.
Love your textures even though I’ve not been using them for long…and look forward to working with them in the future,challenge or no challenge!
regards
Annie
Leslie,
In my view the most important of all was the creating process, the having fun with your beautifull texture. the next was looking at all the other stunning creations which brings new ideas. You have given us so much already, don’t worry about this voting.
xx liesbeth
Whatever you decide is fine with me – I am so enjoying creating with your beautiful textures and learning so much that is completely new to me. Thank you so much for hosting such an inspiring site!
Perfect solution Leslie. As far as which one is best, it’s all relative. Mine was second best last time because I asked friends and family to visit the site and if they thought mine was the best to vote for it. That just showed their loyalty and friendship. This time I decided not to hustle the votes.
I love the challenges as all entries are so very inspirational! And we are all winners because of the expertise and free textures that you sp generously share with us.
Hi Leslie,
Your solution is perfect. Every one of the images are so beautiful. Lots of talented people with different visions. I so enjoyed looking at all of them and they helped inspire me too. Thank you for having this challenge and hope you will add more.
Regards,
Kathleen
I didn’t have any problems voting. It’s a shame that you’ve had to come up with a different solution. You are not alone: folks are having a lot of problems too with voting in the annual National Geographic photo contest. I can picture now that those who don’t win might complain that they’ve missed out on votes. However, if you think about it, even those who win will have missed out on some votes too!
I also think your solution is the fairest at this stage, given the concerns. But if memory serves, the original post on this contest included “tell your friends and family”, so that is what I did. I do agree that judging “The Best” is almost impossible in these contests, so I’m ok with the random selection too. And I do just simply appreciate your generosity in offering a prize in the first place! ~Kim
You’re right. I did say tell your friends and family, but I did not know about the problems that might arise. The little detail about shared IP addresses is found in the trouble-shooting section and this also means people can vote twice if they vote from a different computer. Believe me I’m not happy that this situation arose and I apologize to those who had already accumulated votes. It usually does take a few rounds of trying to figure out the bugs in every system, so let’s hope we get smooth sailing next time! I’m also rather glad though as I like a less competitive way to share your images.
People that voted for my entry did not show up as a vote also. I think this is a wonderful compromise
Great idea Leslie. I could not understand why my son and daughter could not vote for me but now I understand it is because we live in the same house so it will be the same IP address. Al my other friends that voted for me did not have that problem.Your solution is perfect !!
I told people to vote but I told them to choose THEIR favorite… Would hate to think of ‘stuffing the ballot’. It’s an unfortunate thing that happened. Just can’t trust technology all the time. It’s good you were up-front about it and changed it early in the game.