Alternative to Voting System

[lostatsea]

First for a couple of disclaimers:

One : I don’t know if the suggestions presented here can be implemented within the current infrastructure of the guild. Only the programers know what this system is capable of. Updated: This include if available manpower can handle the extra workload !!

Two : Except where noted none of the scenarios presented here represent any specific events that have happened here on the guild !!!

Now to the meat of the matter
Currently the system allows “1 vote for every 5 participants”. Winner takes all.
As was stated in Gamerprinter’s post under Mapping Challenges Rules on01-25-2009 “There are enough voters, usually, so that the fact you don't vote for yourself, won't affect voting, as the best maps always gets the most votes.
In other words, voting is seldom very close - the winner usually has a large margin ahead of second place. Though that's not always true.”

Now while voting sometimes bears out this fact often The next closest to the best entry doesn’t get fair recognition and the remaining contestants are fighting for a second or third place that doesn’t exist !

Scenario One : This one actually happened last spring. It was a light contest I entered . There was a total of four legitimate entries. I say legitimate because I believe there was a couple of dropouts. Four contestants = one vote. I am not disputing the winner in any way ! Diamond’s entry was excellent! Due in part to the system He garnered all the votes ,except a single Charity vote given to the remaining three contestants. Yes He deserved to win but I put a lot of effort into my entry and Yes I got some REP. From people who didn’t vote for me but I thought a second place or third might have been nice. I am sure others have thought that. The current system doesn’t allow for this.

Scenario Two: Hypothetical ! A contest has 7 contestants which equals 2 votes per voter. Lets label these contestants by the overall quality of their entries. Scale 1-10 . We have four firmly at 5. Basically good entries but something is lacking. We have one at a 6 slightly better for whatever reason. We have one 8 and one 10 .
So we get two votes. We like Mr. Ten’s entry so of course we cast our first vote for him. We also like Mz. Eight’s entry also so we cast our second vote for her. However by voting that way we have effectively negated both of our votes. We have simply advanced them both ahead of
contestants 6 ,5 and the fours but 10 and 8 remain in the same positions in respect to each other . So the only way to really show your appreciation of Mr. 10's work is not to cast the second vote at all. But then you short change Mz. 8. So in the end 10 wins the rest all lose . 8,6,5,and the 4es all get some rep and a few votes but 10 gets the compass.


Now my SUGGESTION is this (IF POSSIBLE) : Voting Olympic style :
Gold Compass ,Silver Compass, Bronze Compass.
For the Lite contest Gold Shield , Silver Shield, Bronze Shield .

Statistical Math isn’t one of my strong points. But if the Gold vote was worth 3 or 4 points ,the Silver vote were worth 2 points and the Bronze vote worth 1 point. You could effectively show your appreciation for Mr 10's work while still giving Mz. 8 due credit for her almost as good entry. Total up all the points in the end and Mr. 10 still gets the Golden Compass but the others get a chance to walk away with the Silver or Bronze. I think this would promote more participation. It is intimidating going up against the caliber of talent present here in the Guild even in the Lite contest which was created to alleviate that !!
As a side note REP is nice but I got almost as much from the contest where I got a single Charity vote as the one I just won.
That’s my suggestion if possible. Now let’s open the polls to see If I am Totally off my NUT!! P


Ps. perhaps someone Knowledgeable can correct my spelling in the poll option 3. DOH !!!!