Posted:
Book Talkers,
This is the first time I have faced this problem, and quite honestly, even I was torn as to what to do about it.
Even though most of you already know what happened, I'm going to explain it to the rest few who don't know... without taking any names because I do not want any fingers to be pointed.
After the first round of voting, I got a couple of complaints that a certain member might have asked his/her friends to vote for his/her banners. I contacted them regarding the matter and they confirmed that they did PM their friends to vote, but only generally. They didn't ask them to vote for their particular banner but they do have their own creations gallery so most friends do recognize their work just by the looks and may have voted for them.
I thought about it and realized that there were no rules against anonymously asking your friends to vote without revealing your banners. So I allowed it.
Then I had to go on a trip when the second voting round went on. And what do I see when I come back? Everyone has asked possibly every friend to vote. I don't know whether or not the banners were revealed but the entire thing definitely didn't seem honest.
It actually disappoints me that a contest of creativity and fun would be turned into something like this. So I have decided to cancel the second round of voting. I am not going to announce any winners based on the fraudulent voting.
Now, I don't want any fingers to be pointed or any excuses or any explanations or any complaints. I am, however, going to give you all two options:
1. I simply cancel the whole banner contest. No winners.
2. We do the second round of voting all over again WITHOUT any member contact anyone else to vote for the banners. We have the BT Banner Contest on the main GA on the homepage so if anyone finds out, they'll come on their own. I do NOT want any participants to contact any of their votes, anonymously or not.
The choice is yours. Reply with what you'd like to see done.
-Mahi
IF Development Team
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