George Skywalker
Active Member
For competitions and events which include an element of opinion I propose using the following system. That is for events like selecting best photo, fashion event, interior design etc.
The purpose of this system is to promote fairness. As many of us know selection based on electronic votes is unlikely to produce a result that is fair because friends are encouraged to vote for their friends. It then becomes a popurality or number of friends entrants have as the crucial deciding factor rather than the quality of entries.
So the new selection system could be as follows:
* Participants can vote but can vote only on another entry. They are not allowed to vote for their own entry. Weighting for participant votes could be higher than normal votes. The reasoning is each entrant would have put thought and effort into their entry and hence their opinion should therefore be more valuable. It would also encourage people to enter competitions.
* Non entrants can vote but their vote could be weighted lower e.g. half the value of an entrant.
* Designated professionals could also vote. Their vote could be weighted higher than normal. By professionals I'm thinking someone who may for example be a qualified photographer in real life for a vitual photo competition.
Also each vote should be made of the following parts to be considered a valid vote:
1) Disclosure section:
This section is to disclose who may be a friend or known to the person voting. The idea being if such disclosure is made public votes are likely to be fairer because observers can check each vote. If a person voting fails to make a full and honest disclosure their vote should be invalid.
2) Who they voted for
3) Their vote weight
4) Constructive Feedback:
This section could be to give feedback to any of the entries and also it would help entrants improve for future events e.g. especially good aspect of a particular entry but may not have been selected for some reason e.g. entry 101 excellent composition but since the HUD interface was not removed from the photograph I decided not to select this as the best.
If any part of the vote sections is posted incorrectly be it deliberate or by accident it should be considered invalid. Note votes would not be electronic but by posting votes in a thread and hence someone would need to total them up. Also since all votes are in a thread and public they can be scrutinised for any anomalies by all participants and observers.
The purpose of this system is to promote fairness. As many of us know selection based on electronic votes is unlikely to produce a result that is fair because friends are encouraged to vote for their friends. It then becomes a popurality or number of friends entrants have as the crucial deciding factor rather than the quality of entries.
So the new selection system could be as follows:
* Participants can vote but can vote only on another entry. They are not allowed to vote for their own entry. Weighting for participant votes could be higher than normal votes. The reasoning is each entrant would have put thought and effort into their entry and hence their opinion should therefore be more valuable. It would also encourage people to enter competitions.
* Non entrants can vote but their vote could be weighted lower e.g. half the value of an entrant.
* Designated professionals could also vote. Their vote could be weighted higher than normal. By professionals I'm thinking someone who may for example be a qualified photographer in real life for a vitual photo competition.
Also each vote should be made of the following parts to be considered a valid vote:
1) Disclosure section:
This section is to disclose who may be a friend or known to the person voting. The idea being if such disclosure is made public votes are likely to be fairer because observers can check each vote. If a person voting fails to make a full and honest disclosure their vote should be invalid.
2) Who they voted for
3) Their vote weight
4) Constructive Feedback:
This section could be to give feedback to any of the entries and also it would help entrants improve for future events e.g. especially good aspect of a particular entry but may not have been selected for some reason e.g. entry 101 excellent composition but since the HUD interface was not removed from the photograph I decided not to select this as the best.
If any part of the vote sections is posted incorrectly be it deliberate or by accident it should be considered invalid. Note votes would not be electronic but by posting votes in a thread and hence someone would need to total them up. Also since all votes are in a thread and public they can be scrutinised for any anomalies by all participants and observers.