Rainbow Awards Cover Contest

[reviews_and_ramblings]

This is a warning and a request to play fair: I closed the poll for Round 14. For the last two months, and exactly from October 17, an internal fight started during the polls, week after week. I don't know if you realized it, but I think there were at least 2 opposite sides, and they continued to vote to have "their cover" ahead of the other one. Now if the votes were coming for all the covers, maybe more on one cover, a little less on other covers, that would be normal. But ALL the votes for only one cover and then ALL the vote for the other cover? No sorry, I see something that is not right here. Plus sincerely, I don't like that many of the accounts voting were opened right at the moment to vote for a cover and let it go through the elimination poll.

I kindly warned people and introduced the Jury to help me rebalancing the situation and those people got even more angrier... When I investigated on the reason, the only explanation I got was, "we want to support the author we like". Guys, this is a wrong answer for all kinf of reasons, first of all this is a COVER contest, not an AUTHOR contest, and you haven't to vote a cover for the author but for the artist. By the way I have the evidence, no questionable, that at least 4 accounts belonged to the same IP address, many cover didn't pass the rounds for less than 4 votes.

So sorry, but I'm really tired, and almost harrassed, and I decided to give it a stop. I closed the poll, the final 10 covers will be decided on the total amount of votes at yesterday night on ALL the 14 polls plus the votes of the Jury for the last 5 rounds. I will not invalidate votes, not even the ones from the same IP addresses since actually, I cannot determine if they maybe weren't using the same internet point. But please don't consider me a fool and if you are not right on your complaints, DON'T make them.

I ask you to play fair on the next poll: 10 covers, you can vote 3, but please vote the ARTIST, please help me in making this contest a serious thing, otherwise next year I will not host it. I will open the poll on Sunday, meanwhile, if you have question, comment here.

Comments

[girlofavalon.livejournal.com]

Oh, Elisa, I am so sorry it happened... :(

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I know that is difficult to be impartial, the love for an author can bring you to do thing that from your perspective are completely right, but they are not.

[luscious-words.livejournal.com]

I'm really sorry to hear this happened. :(

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

you have not idea on how tiring this situation was, almost a nightmare. I was hoping this week was different I did everything to give them a chance to play fair, but it was impossible.

[chris-quinton.livejournal.com]

Elisa, that is so not good. I am so sorry your wonderful idea and hard work has been marked by all that ridiculousness. I hope it doesn't put you off from running the Awards in the future.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I really want to give to the "readers" the chance to be part of the Awards, since with the literary contest it's impossible, I thought that a cover contest was a good option. I don't understand why people have to behave in this way, there is no real prize if not being happy to see beautiful covers.

[josephine-myles.livejournal.com]

How sad, and how ridiculous for people to even bother trying to skew the polls this way. I'm really sorry this happened to you.

I hope you'll run it again next year - I've found it has really focused my mind on what I look for in cover art.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I need to think how to run it without any of these again. The only option I see now is to ask people to vote through comments, since I can log the IP address. It's more work for me, but probably it's the only solution.

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

That's one of the reasons why I'm not asking "my" readers to "support" me. I'm on lots of author/publisher lists and every week, at least ten authors run around rallying the troops. It's simply not fair to the others and those with a smaller fanbase. The quality of the writing/craft should come first.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I found out that not all people are like that. And believe me, I'm not against the authors promoting their works/covers, there was more than one author asking to their fanbase to behave, moreover, there were authors whose covers went out continuing to promote the contest nevertheless.

[kika-k.livejournal.com]

Mi spice che sia successo questo casino con i voti.
Almeno tu capisci cosa è successo...(tracciabilità, ecc, ecc)...io sono nel buio più completo! :)
Quando ci sarà la nuova votazione farò la mia scelta sulla copertina che più mi piace. :)

ciao

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Non lo so per tutti i voti, ma di sicuro c'è una persona che ha votato con 4 accounts diversi usando lo stesso computer; quando le ho chiesto spiegazioni mi ha detto che lo faceva per sostenere la sua autrice preferita. Le ho chiesto di smettere, le ho fatto presente che avevo notato che usava 2 accounts, ma non le ho detto che avevo visto anche gli altri. Mi ha scritto "offesa" dell'accusa (ma la vedo difficile da giustificare con lo stesso indirizzo ip) e che comunque, siccome l'avevo mortalmente ferita, avrebbe smesso di "promuovere" la poll e che lei non avrebbe più votato... ovviamente ha votato con gli altri 2 accounts non sapendo che li avevo scoperti anche quelli. A questo punto non posso davvero determinare se i voti per quella cover sono reali o finti, quindi chiudo la poll.

[ryan field (from livejournal.com)]

Very sorry to hear you had to experience this kind of online behavior, Elisa.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

no place can be a safe heaven, Ryan; most of the time my LiveJournal is a nice place, and I'm all for giving people the chance to behave or prove me wrong, but when it's not like that, I have to take a strong action. I'm sure there will be consequences, but believe me, i give them all the chance to behave and again and again it was like they thought I was stupid.

[slavetopassion.livejournal.com]

good lord...Elisa, I can't believe people would act so silly. Winning through cheating isn't truly winning at all.

~snuggles~

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

It's another way to show your love I suppose

[lusiology.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry that this has happened to you after all the work you've done to put this competition together.

I don't know if you realized it

Nope. Totally in the dark regarding this method of voting. :((

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

The accounts were visible only to me, but other people complained for the strange amount of voting a cover was having just at the right time to save it

[juni-x.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear that this happened - especially given the amount of work you've put into it.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm still sorry when I think to all the covers that maybe would be here. There is an artist that is probably the best out there and no cover of them will be in the final 10.

[angelabenedetti.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's really despicable. I usually think of myself as a pretty cynical person, but it never occurred to me that people would create multiple journals just to stuff the ballot box. :/

And why would anyone vote in a cover contest based on authors?? That's crazy, and completely pointless. [sigh]

Sorry you had to put up with this nonsense. Hopefully the universe will pay these idiots back. A nice flock of pigeons lying in wait somewhere would be appropriate, I think.

Angie

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I'm not blaming authors who promoted the contest, they did me a favor and many authors who did so, even after their covers went out, continued to promote it. It's the behaviour of some "readers" that let me perplexed, they really didn't understand that to do a favor to their favorite author they were exactly doing the opposite.

[mondhellnacht.livejournal.com]

That's lousy. Personally I'd have discounted those duplicated votes from the same IP address, but I'm just coldly rational. It isn't fair to the others who voted and isn't fair to the contest to keep in "error votes". But again, that's just what I'd do, and I'm not the one running the show. I wish you luck in handling it and I hope you can still hold the contest next year.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Next year, and I think also for this last round, I will use a system that allows me to log the IP address of ALL people voting.

[valkovalin.livejournal.com]

Elisa, I'm so sorry you had to put up with this. The internet culture just gets weirder and weirder with each passing day.This has been happening on Amazon as well. Apparently, there are firms that a publishing company can hire to plant a huge number of votes on Amazon that support their book and denigrate the new releases coming out from their rivals. It really makes you wonder what's wrong with people sometimes ...

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I think here is a smaller thing, not so organized or well-thought, but for sure it ruined part of the fun of this contest.

[thequietalpha.livejournal.com]

This is a real shame. Many of the covers I voted for were for books I'd never read and I ended up actually buying many books based on this contest. And sadly along the way there were some books that I loved but hated the covers and they didn't get voted for. It's sad when the short-sited single-mindedness of some people ruin the fun for others. I do hope you can run it again next year and I hope that next time it runs smoother!

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Thank you, your was the right attitude and the reason why I like having this contest, giving people the chance to look again to some books that maybe they missed.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

This is what always happens with polls. People canvas their friends to vote for them - and of course friends do - you can never have a fair competition with a poll, I'm afraid.

Recently there was a competition, over at ARE I believe and the person who won was PAYING for votes by promising short stories in return. She won, and the prize was a monetary one, it was disgusting.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I was hoping here to be different since there is no monetary prize, and truly, no authors I knew about behaved in a wrong way, since for me posting a link and asking to vote it's fine. Here it was really something done even behind the back of the same authors, and they were the first to ask people to behave, but it was not enough.

[edenwinters.livejournal.com]

Hugs to you, Elisa. Love your site, and love your contests.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Eden, thank you. You were one of the authors promoting the contest and believe me, this post was not for you or the other authors doing that. The people I'm speaking to well know who they are since they were also the first to complain when I decided to make their action more difficult.

[clarelondon.livejournal.com]

Well what a bloody shame and how stupid of people to let themselves get carried away unfairly like that. And well done for you, for speaking out. I always saw it as a completely different competition from the fiction one, and therefore it doesn't depend on the author.

Please believe that most of us have really enjoyed this, and admired the lovely covers at each stage.
*hugs*

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I know that many of you liked the contest since it was fun, and that was the reason why I got even more upset in seeing people ruining it like that.

[lucifuge-5.livejournal.com]

This is such a lame situation. It's so full of logic!fail that it becomes perplexing (voting for covers because of the authors instead of the artists?).

I remember being mesmerized and/or curious about certain books because of their covers.

Obviously, it's a shame that some people have ruined this part of the contest (whether intentional or not), but here's hoping that your new measures work. It would be really bad if we didn't have the cover contest for next year's awards. :-/

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

of course tracking the IP address is still not completely safe, but at least it makes difficult for people to vote more than once

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

I thought some of those covers had an unreasonable number of votes. And like others, I'd have discounted any questionable votes.

Cheating has become epidemic in the US. A few weeks ago a writer "won" the ARe contest by buying votes -- literally sending free stories to anyone who voted for her. And, much to my chagrin, she actually WON that way because there apparently wasn't any rule against buying votes--I suppose ARe's management didn't realize they had to tell people cheating wasn't fair.

It's got to the point where I seldom enter anything online that involves a popular vote. There are some promo hustlers whos ability to coax people into voting--or stuff the ballot box--is far keener than their ability to win on quality alone.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I'm sure this post, and the final 10 (that actually are 12) covers will make these people even agrier; but they don't have basis to complaint. I have no problem to talk for myself, and since there is no monetary prize (or commodity), I can decide to invalidate all the contest anytime. I don't like to have to be like that, but I will if necessary.

[clmiles.livejournal.com]

Oh darn, I'm so sorry this happened. I've really been enjoying this poll and it's a shame that it's been tampered with. You're right, it should be votes meant for artists, not authors.

*hugs*

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I hope the last round will go better.

[evila-elf.livejournal.com]

Uugh :-/

And as far as people voting for the authors and not the covers, is there a way to blur out the author names? People could always look up the book by title if they wanted to, but that might help a little.

Glad to see this isn't discouraging you from thinking of doing this next year. I have found many good books from the cover contest because I really can't help byt judge a book by its cover ;)

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

> is there a way to blur out the author names?

ah well, I didn't think at that but it can be an idea for next year.

[elizaben.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to read about that. I hope it doesn't discourage you, especially since the problem voters were a minority.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

At this moment I'm thinking on a way to avoid the same situation in the future, but not yet to stop

[swquill.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear about this, Elisa. It's like a slap in the face after all your hard work. It's shocking the lengths some people will go to.

Harking back to the few comments made about the recent ARe contest - I entered this and it never even occurred to me that some might cheat (naive I guess) and when I discovered what a certain author was doing I contacted ARe expecting some action of some kind, only to be told they considered it 'acceptable promotion'. I do believe they have changed their minds since though as they did receive a lot of complaints. Just wish they'd seen how unfair it was before they awarded the prize!

I'm not at all surprised you are doing your best to make your contests as fair as possible, Elisa.

Stevie

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Thank you Stevie. Truth be told, I'm in an easier position than ARe, but yes, I prefer to take action now than having people dismissing the contest later since the result was not fair.

[devonrhodes.livejournal.com]

I'm just baffled as to what these people were thinking (and yes, I've considered that they weren't). It was a very telling statement to say they were supporting their fave author...but that's not what this contest was about--it was a chance for those angels behind the scenes, the COVER ARTISTS to have their moment. I'm a huge fan of the awards you put on, as you know Elisa, and participate in all the voting possible. And it irks me that a few people have tainted this round (and possibly others) for the artists' sakes. I would hate to lose this event! But I don't blame you for feeling as you do, not one bit. ((hugs)) Dev

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I think to have found a way to "save" the contest. People will vote with comments, so I can log the IP address and they will have to choose 3 covers, so if they are here only to "support" an author, at least they have to recognize the work of other 2 artists ;-) I can be devilish...

[luvenck.livejournal.com]

I would be interested to know if the explanation was forwarded to you with the results found.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Don't start this, it's better. If you had your proves and your were completely out of any cheating, maybe I could have considered them. But you used 4 accounts (and maybe more), you voted and commented with that accounts playing the role of different person. I cannot trust anything you say since your behavior cannot support your words.