Placement In Contests - Varies

I just looked and perhaps it is because first and second place are tied in reality. They both received eight votes. Just guessing, but sounds logical.

Yes, I believe that happens if there's a tie for the place. The system switches the entries back and forth if they're tied.

So I guess the politically correct thing to do would be just to address it as 'placed in the winner's circle' in the contest..to avoid this bouncing back and forth....

Karen, if there is a tie for 1st, you each win. That's only fair! Same goes for 2nd & 3rd, even though they ALL can't be shown in the top 3 slots the leaderboard allows. As host of many an FAA contest, I, along with others, will award those with equal votes, equal placement, even if it is a 3-way tie! So, yes, you WON & you can claim first place in the contest! Sometimes, when I share a win, I will say that in my comment or image description. Have a great day!

When I share a win (1st, 2nd, or 3rd), I always say "tied for 1st" or whatever. And contest entrants do appreciate those administrators like Brooks who recognize that ties are just that, ties.

Whether I'm in the "winners' circle" or not, I sometimes pm administrators and mention that there were ties when they congratulated (or tweeted or featured etc.) winners according to the random placing on the winner's page, ignoring the ties. Most appreciate that. Some correct it. But a few argue that "FAA has decided and I'm not going against it". They even tell say things like "it's according to who gets the most votes first" or something like that. Since there are never any real prizes, I just don't get why they are so averse to recognizing ties. There are several people who host contests very frequently who simply will not recognize ties.

Thanks everyone for your input. I will definitely 'share' a finish. I am just so appreciative that others feel my work merits their vote! I was just curious about the 'bounce' between the finish spots. Will go amend my notes on the image to include a tie.

In another contest the contest promoter complained about just that. We received 3 e-mails with winner status change.

My last contest for the North American Trains and Rails and Stations NATRS group had an interesting finish. Three folks finished with the same number of first place votes. So on the group's page and in the e-mail, I said we had three first place winners. I did not place any 2nd or 3rd place finishers.

http://fineartamerica.com/groups/north-american-trains-and-rails-and-stations-natrs.html

Typically if one of the Top 3 spots has a tie, I will put four images on the first page, but I also tend to put in that in the event of a tie, the contest admin will choose a tie breaker. So far, this has only meant which image goes on the page first.

It goes back to having fun with the contests and not taking them too seriously. When my own imagesare in and I see that folks are actually clicking on them in my Behind the Scenes, I consider that a win!

Hi y'all!

It was really frustrating as a contest administrator to go and post winners when they kept changing every time I went to look that I had gotten them correct. I felt horrible emailing the members as many times as I did with corrections and apologies. It took someone to tell me about the ties.

Does anyone know if there is a place on FAA with info like what we're experiencing or is it just wing it and hope for the best? I have now hosted 3 contests and find out something new each time. Some members are gracious with their info some have been rather pissy.

Appreciate the discussion! Good info!

I guess I assumed that once the contest was over, and the winners were announced so to speak, that the results were final. I know I have received emails about the results of other contests changing, etc...and I can tell how frustrating it is to the contest administrators who are trying hard to handle this diplomatically.

Truthfully, what FAA does with the count after the admin sends out the e-mail is no bother to me. The placement only changes if there is a tie.

Thanks for the kind words, Nikolyn! Karen, hope your questions about contest wins/ties was answered, for the most part, anyway. Btw, I am certain there is no monitoring re who gets the how many votes first re a tie. In a recent contest, I was in 2nd place from day one of voting and stayed there all the way to the last couple of hours, when two other images received the same number as mine...and appeared above me in the leaderboard. So, it wasn't 'first come, first serve', for sure. Private message me, if you need more info re contests & voting.