Posted:
NOTE: Please read VERY carefully before voting to avoid your vote not being counted.
All right friends. I am ready and VERY eager to sort out this situation, so we can all get back to our lives. For the future, I plead with you all to please not create such a huge issue out of something as trivial as a banner and definitely do not start making assumptions or placing blame before you understand why the Develepment Team took a certain decision. If your favorite banner does not get selected this time, it probably will in the next contest. There are many more important things in life than this. On the other hand, I do realize that it is a priority here at I-F for the Development Team to make sure that we are fair to all members, and I would never try to shirk that responsibility. I just expect a little more cooperation, patience and trust from everyone.
Anyway, sorry for the spiel. Now let's get back to business. So here is the deal. I have come up with three plans on how to go about resolving this situation. I believe that they are equally fair, but one seems more sensible to me than the others. However, this is not my decision to make, it is YOURS. So please vote responsibly so we can avoid any more problems.
The three options are listed below, labeled as A,B and C, and they include a description as well as pros and cons. Please vote for only ONE option. Also, I do not want this thread to become a chat thread or war zone, so please avoid posting any unnecessary comments. I would prefer if you just post your choice, but you may also ask for clarification if you need it. Do not mention any specific jodis or fan groups. Any instigating or irrelevant comments WILL result in your vote not being counted. Voting will continue until 10PM EST on Saturday March 12, 2011. You may change your vote until voting closes because votes will not be counted until after that. Here are your options:
(A) The contest will be completely restarted, and this time members will only be allowed to submit banners that have NO jodi pictures. The vote counting team will consist of me and three or four volunteers who are not participating in the contest. Vote counting will not begin until the voting thread is closed until which time members will be free to change their votes. We will only announce the results once we all agree on them. Members who submitted banners in the previous contest will each receive a siggy of appreciation from me and all of those banners will be showcased in a sticky thread for a couple weeks. Unfortunately those banners will not be included in this new contest because they have jodi pictures in them (perhaps with the exception of one). This solution will prevent any arguments between different fan groups, and we can avoid having to conduct a new banner contest every time a new television couple gains popularity.
(B) The contest will NOT be completely restarted, but members will have one week to submit new banner entries. The new and old banner entries will be combined and then voted on. Unfortunately, the "winner" and "runner-up" entries that were recently announced cannot be included in this because voters are already aware about who created them. However, the member who created them can submit new banners to replace them in the contest, which may be similar but not identical to his previous entries. Voting will be conducted the same way as in Option "A". This solution ensures that the previous entries are not wasted, but does not solve the problem of fan group conflicts.
(C) The contest will be completely restarted, but this time will be preceded by a nomination thread. In this thread, members will nominate their five most favorite jodis (specific actors, not just character jodis) who they would like to see in the banner. The seven jodis that receive the most nominations will be considered "must have" jodis. Then a new banner contest will be held and all participants will be required to include those seven jodis in their banners. They may include more that just those seven if they want. Voting will be conducted the same way as in Option "A". Banners submitted in the previous contest will be showcased and rewarded as in Option "A". This solution will make it so that the most popular jodis are all included in the banner, but it may cause some fan groups who are in the minority to feel upset or unwelcome.
I hope that at least one of these options will appeal to each of you, and that you will agree that they are all more or less fair. If anything is unclear, please feel free to ask questions. Thank you for voting.
159