Discussion: How to improve contests

**woosh** · 04-08-2007, 06:48 PM

Thankies muchly Republikin :P

**Republikin** · 04-13-2007, 05:16 PM

Woosh, great suggestion and its not a part of the listing template.

**woosh** · 04-25-2007, 10:06 AM

Arrghh I hate whinging but theres been alot of CH's disappearing with comps lately. I have even removed some entries due to a lack of response maybe its time designers here started giving negative trader comments more often as a way to stop them doing this as designers would be wary to enter any more of their comps maybe encourage CH's to pay more attention to the contests they hold and those who come on here to get free artwork *grumpy face*

**Republikin** · 04-25-2007, 10:25 AM

The owner is currently on vacation but I brought this up with him the day before he left. He said we will discuss the idea of moving to a more professional system in the near future (although by no means am I promising anything on any timetable). This might also include listing fee's for CH's; at least I plan to make a point of it.

In the mean time, you are correct. The best thing designers can do is use the feedback and talkupation system to your advantage.

**angele803** · 04-25-2007, 03:03 PM

I am with you guys on this. It is so frustrating for people to ask for a contest, then just disappear. I have been keeping an eye on these contests and have been trying to contact the contest holders about it.

**woosh** · 05-21-2007, 10:21 PM

Okay another gripe it's been noticed lately by a few regulars that designers are trying to undercut people and offer their logos on contest threads and asking for PM in the middle of a comp, also harrassing CH's in PM, I am getting told this left right and centre, can something be addressed with this issue so they are clear on it. It's rather unethical to be poaching contest threads, maybe these can be removed????

**angele803** · 10:46 PM

Nobody has been complaining to me about this...how 'bout you Republikin?
I didnt say that to be rude, I am saying it because it seems like people dont let us know their problems!
Thanks for bringing this up Woosh. I will try to watch more carefully and warn these members.

**Edit - I went through several threads and removed the "discounted" offers. I will try to do a better job of watching out for these in the future.

**woosh** · 05-21-2007, 10:54 PM

No problem, I think its just more designers grumbling

and thank you

**Tropica** · 05-22-2007, 04:36 AM

CH should have the ability to PM removed for the duration of their contest, i said this ages ago!! lol

I totally agree with wooshy though!!!

**vkw91** · 05-23-2007, 12:48 PM

Has anyone seen the contest at sitepoint.com IMO, thats a good way of organizing them.

**angele803** · 05-23-2007, 06:03 PM

Funny you say that vkw91. Chris is working on an add-on that is similar to Sitepoint's. We have been planning on changing the system for a long time, but we keep finding better and better systems and keep changing our minds. Hopefully we can move to our new system soon.

**Republikin** · 05-23-2007, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by angele803

Funny you say that vkw91. Chris is working on an add-on that is similar to Sitepoint's. We have been planning on changing the system for a long time, but we keep finding better and better systems and keep changing our minds. Hopefully we can move to our new system soon.

Ditto, some great changes are coming soon and, I think this thread and all your suggestions has been a leading factor in these changes. I don't want to go into too many details as of yet (to preserve some mystery), just know that a lot of the issues brought up in this thread are going to be met and addressed in a meaningful way soon.

**coolwanz** · 06:21 AM

I actually feel the forum type contest are much better than sitepoint's in terms of preserving more of the interaction of designers and the CH, and the fair and equal exposure each contributors get. If you notice on sitepoint, there's little amiability in terms of interaction of designers and CH, and the isolation of some designers being left without a feedback because CH can easily pass one entry and shift to the next uncourteously, hence decrementing the chances for a feedback.

There's been a lot of debate from SP members themselves, about CH at SP intentionally leaving feedback to those who only passively satisfy them because of how the site is setup.

Hopefully NP will cover this type of matters on their planned changes. I'm sure NP knows better on how to balance between the fundamental and technical aspect of things...Good luck guys!

**xpressions** · 05-25-2007, 11:50 AM

While I do understand the whole "feedback" from contest holder issue, I believe that if your entry has received none, the contest holder is not interested in it. I would suggest to either make your entry better or provide a new concept instead of forcing contest holders to provide useless feedback, which at times can also be offensive to a designer. Of course I want feedback for all the known reasons, however, we need to be intuitive as well and get the "hint" every now and then.

**coolwanz** · 12:55 AM

Yeah I suppose you're right. I like the technical aspect of the site and I'm sure NP will do a better job implementing it. I just probably feel that the energy and motivation you get from a forum type contest is quite unique and appealing. There's a bit of tedium on doing contest at SP, but that aspect is probably given because clients come to the site to find descent works and not to have otherwise.

**woosh** · 05-26-2007, 12:01 PM

There is more of a community feeling here than on sitepoint you are dealing with hundreds of designers so you kind of lose that aspect which is sad, I have made alot of new designer friends and hope I continue to as its nice to speak to people who do the same kind of thing, I think I drive my hubby made when i start going on about logo and template design looool. I am sure we won't lose the community thing here

**cbeaudin** · 01:28 AM

Not sure if this has been suggested yet... I think it would be helpful to have an additional column on the thread index displaying the status of the contest. IE. Open, Past Deadline, Closed by CH. That way designers can see the status before having to read through posts.

**angele803** · 06-15-2007, 11:50 AM

I have been trying to keep up with things and post "contest closed" at the top of the post. I will see what we can do about adding it in the title.

**pigbait75** · 06-18-2007, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by angele803

Nobody has been complaining to me about this...how 'bout you Republikin?
I didnt say that to be rude, I am saying it because it seems like people dont let us know their problems!
Thanks for bringing this up Woosh. I will try to watch more carefully and warn these members.

**Edit - I went through several threads and removed the "discounted" offers. I will try to do a better job of watching out for these in the future.

who are the moderators and how do I find them there seems to be no links to the moderators anywhere maybe I'm not looking hard enough the only time I see that a person on the board is a mod is when they delete a thread for a certian reason. also contests would be much better if the winner GOT PAID!!!!!!!

**angele803** · 06-18-2007, 03:09 PM

You can find who the moderators are by looking toward the bottom left of the main forum.
For example, in the design contest section ( http://www.webmaster-talk.com/graphic-design-contests/ )
Scroll down toward the bottom. At the left, you will see there are 3 mods here. It is kind of small, but its there. It should be there for all the forums too.
It would be good if every contest holder paid like they should. Things really have improved here over the past year though, and I expect things to continue to improve.