To Vote Or Not To Vote

Since 99% of these contests are purely for fun, there is no "need" to do anything. It shouldn't be an anxious moment. You do not have to vote for anyone else. You do not have to vote for yourself. Quite frankly I'm confused about what your trying to say in your analogy toward the end and voting for 5 or 6 others.

Contests are not reasonable most of the time Erica. They are a showboat for your art to a very few people. They are loaded with solicited votes for friends rather than votes for the best entry. There are so many entries that probably 90% of the images never even get looked at. Do you really take the time to go through 1000 images in a contest one by one? I doubt it, but you may be an exception to the rule.

What most in the know do around here is enter the contest and then completely forget about it. Everyone else does as soon as it's over. It's just a bit of added exposure that other eyes may see.

Contests will be taken seriously when there is a reward at the end with a very structured system to refine to the best. Until then, they are another place for you to place your art and see how you feel it stacks up with others.

Contests here are a joke in that they are manipulated by contestants, most of them are popularity votes just like back in high school, its only use is to get your work visible but then most who see it are other artists, even the TV commcommercial contest was the same its all about who has the most devoted followers.

I never enter my work in a contest that I host. I firmly believe that entries should be juried before being accepted for entry . But FAA does not offer this feature. Weeding out the weak and pieces that don't meet the contest's guidelines would vastly improve the quality of the contests and and the overall quality of FAA. Hosts would not have the ability to delete an entry based on bias or competitiveness.

Contests are just for fun. That's it.

What the others said.

the contest is just for fun. go ahead and vote for yourself. if this was a real contest, you would still vote for yourself. if you were running for president, the same thing. no reason not too. that said, i enter but don't vote for anything at all.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Joke, fun, take your pick. Just never use the word 'serious'.

Not only should they not be taken to seriously, they are a total waste of time. If you just like the contests for the social aspects of it, fine. But if you think you are increasing you chances for sales, you are wasting your time.

For a long time I would enter, vote for me, and then kept reading on the 'rules' "don't forget to vote for others." But like I said, why do that if it keeps me down on the bottom and most of the entries seen have tons of votes. I only enter for fun, to be seen and I have no great expectations for winning big prizes or getting lots of sales. Guess I didn't express myself well. I do agree with you all and maybe I have been too serious. Time to relax and not sweat the small stuff lol. Thanks for your advice everyone. Appreciate it.

For those who say sales do not come from contests, you are wrong.. However, funnily enough it is rarely winners who sell. Not sure why. There is however a correlation of sales sometimes coming from contests. Some buyers use them in place of the groups.

I say vote for all the above, remarks that is. I have a group contest every month for the members in our group, Animals and wildlife, http://fineartamerica.com/groups/animals-and-wildlife.html
and it is mainly for the top spot on our feature page. However, the winners also have a choice to be on my personal website...I have restrictions that make the contest a lot of work for me and probably make the group members scratch their heads. However I take the time to screen participants and the images because I think it only fare to the group members.

Sorry got carried away, I join a lot of contests just for the fun of seeing how many votes I can get, just because I rarely get any. so I do it for fun and just another way of maybe being noticed
I also vote, after all whats the use of me wanting people to look at my work if I wont look at theirs? anyway daily i go thru the contests and vote on some of the contests I haven't even entered and because I figure that people don't look at all the entries(I don't, to many of them) well I start at the back of the bunch (the ones that get left out) and work my way forward voting for a few here and there..
And i vote for my own and just my own when I enter a contest(excepting the contest I am hosting) just so my image might at least make it to the leader page and get noticed..
Contests are not a total joke even if they are just for fun..but you don't have to vote for others when you are in that contest..but at least look at the other images because that is what you would want people to do for you. If you want to weed out contests that are worth entering I suggest you do a check on the people who are hosting the contest.

Hi EricaMaxine! It always makes me smile when some members 'pooh-poohing' the contests are the same ones entering most of mine! C'est la vie! Lol. I guess it must be the popular thing to do for some reason, put down the contests. But, they are an option that FAA offers its members and anyone can create one. Of course, some are better at it than others! Most members do really enjoy entering...and will vote for themselves, as a rule. In any event, like many have said & experienced first hand, contests do bring sale$.

Juried contests have their own 'issues', btw, including panel members voting for friends; happens all the time! Even the host, who is usually part of the jury, sometimes alone or with one other 'friend', has won! Yep, 'friends voting for friends', it happens in every contest; there's no way around it. Plus, in a juried contest you are allowing only a handful of members, whose opinion you may or may not agree with or who may or may not even like you or your work, to say who they think are the most deserving! It's just less of them than if you allowed all other members to vote! Lol. FAA offers us 3 options: open to the public, members only & juried...and NONE are blemish-free!

Speaking from both hosting & participating experience re what's the big deal about contests, anyway...well, they are simply one way to get your work seen, and we need to use every avenue we can as far as promotion, however, wherever, whenever. Members or the public who see our art-photography might well pass it on to their friends or family. If the public is allowed to vote and/or takes time to check out the contests, mostly likely a specific contest subject they are attracted to, they can do the same. Also, as host, I look at every image, even those contests with the largest number[s] of entries, not only to weed out those not following the rules, but I happen to enjoy seeing other member's work, some of whom I promote, share with my friends & family on fb and so on.

Re voting on your own, should you or not, and does it help...well, it's true, like I said, most members vote on their own. Landing a spot on the leaderboard affords you more views, but you probably won't get ON it unless you vote for yourself...the earlier the better! Otherwise, your chances of getting seen or voted on are slim to none. The leaderboard is, unfortunately, the first place where most folks go to vote, as a lot of people these days have a short attention span and/or little time and will not go through the pages of thumbnails to vote, especially when the contest host allows more than 2 or 3 entries per participant. I prefer smaller contests, myself. Placing 1st, 2nd or 3rd will usually get you only the honor of 'bragging rights' & some extra attention, as 'real' prizes are rarely offered. But, both pllacing & landing a spot on the leaderboard does afford you more views via the contests...and, thus, the probability of being seen by someone who may be in the market for your image[s].

The good news, and don't we need it, is that contests are a great resource. They provide a wonderful forum for us to get our work seen by more people/potential buyers and, hopefully, garner some $ales in the process, which is really the whole idea in the first place, besides the 'fun', sharing part.

I personally love looking at ALL of the entries in the contests that appeal to me. I have found artists that I love their work, that maybe I would have never have known about them, if not for the contest. I like to enter for the fun and to participate. :) I have not won a contest but do get excited when I see that someone took out their time to vote for me.

I would disagree jurors will vote for their friends, any way not in my experience of juried contest.

I remember one member in particular who hosted her own 'juried' contests & won them! And, more recently, a jury voted one of its panel member a winner. So, yes, it happens.

And, friends will vote for friends! What if a juror's friend has the best image in the contest? It's still a friend voting for a friend. Can't be helped. Then, to avoid that, what if the juror votes for someone else who isn't their 'friend', but whose image isn't as great? That's not good either. So, yeah.

You either choose a handful of members to vote for the best [jury]...or you let ALL the members decide [members only]...or you can allow solicitation as well as public opinion to say who's best. You've got three choices. None are perfect.

I jury all my contests and have only voted for a friend once when the work actually was the best. I vote for the very best images. There really is NO point in me holding a contest if all I do is vote for my friends if the work is not up to par. I may as well just feature them on the site anyway.

Yes, it's fun looking at the images, you see some great stuff you wouldn't ordinarily go looking for.

It's mildly annoying that they're cropped down to those little thumbnail squares, I wish you could see the whole image (in miniature). The way it's set up now you have to click on each image to see what they look like, you can't just look at the contest's image page. That probably affects what people vote for - people probably cast more votes for art that has initial "curb appeal" as a thumbnail.

There are some that look really bad as thumbnails that look great when they're not thumb-nailed.

Well I just got back to read all the rest of the comments and i'm glad I did. Made me think and weigh out the conversations. My original thinking a few years ago was correct and certain things made change my mind.
I'll continue with the contests with the same attitude that if I win I win... I am being seen or else I wouldn't have comments from people I don't know.

Thanks again all. I will check out your contests Valenteana J Chilsted. They sound very interesting.

Thanks again for my personal email also.

Erica, happy to hear you have decided to continue participating in FAA contests no matter the voting pitfalls! Like I said, some of us enjoy creating & hosting them with a lot of great feedback & interest in. I'd love to see you participate in some of mine, which you will find creative & well-tended.

I have 3 currently accepting submissions: 'Poppies Only' w/4 days left to enter...and two others w/only 23 hours remaining before voting begins: 'Iris Macro - photography' and another w/a musical theme. See link below.

If none of these fit your work, keep an eye out for others coming soon. Have a great day!

Here's a link:

http://fineartamerica.com/contests/musical-art--any-style-or-genre.html?tab=overview

Good luck!

Thanks.. Was in that one just voted.

i vote for my self to get me on the leader board when possible and art that i like ,and yes sales can come of them as Abbie said ,then i let my art get its own votes .i say yes vote
but having said that im currently in a competition where you could upload 10 images to the contest and vote as many times as you like . But when you get a competition where the same artist has 10 images all in the first 10 places with all about 10 or 11 votes for each is way over the top .,so perhaps Jurried ones might be better . very disapointing this competition not only for me but for all the others that are entered in it .SO NOT RIGHT .
COMPETITION
http://fineartamerica.com/contests/your-creative-side-contest.html?tab=leaderboard

Hopefully, we are all 'grown ups' here on FAA. Members have the ability to vote for who they want and/or run contests how they want.

It's up to everyone else to enter or not and vote or not. No one is going to be happy all the time in a contest situation. There are too many images worthy of a win, so if YOU don't show up to vote [for your own first], maybe no one will?

There are scads of worthy entries...BUT, only 3 top slots and a limited number of spaces on the leaderboard, which means, if you want to show up on either, you'll probably need to vote for yourself and sooner rather than later.

You can't please everyone, as Ricky Nelson once said. So, here's my thought, if people don't like how a contest is run, the options re or how folks vote, create your own with your own rules...and watch what happens. Good luck!

@Mystic... I see what you mean. Didn't read if soliciting was allowed but obviously same votes from same people. What pleasure does anyone get out of arranging to win? Glad I wasn't in that one... totally unfair.

Don't know if I'm remembering this wrong... but when I first started here at FAA and there was a contest, the name of the person who entered the picture was never shown. I think going back to that method might solve some problems. If it wasn't that way then maybe it should be.

Agree totally with Mystic Sparrow and Erica-I only voted on 40 images on that contest,but with the leader of said contest taking all 10 first place spots didn't really feel she needed my support. Thought their were a lot of great creative entrees, but perhaps we might all learn from the top person what it takes to be creative. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Wow, just went to check out the above-mentioned contest...and, I must say, I've never anything like that! How is it possible that the same person [not the host, btw] is in the top ten slots! Seriously, did no one else show up to vote? I'd really like to know how she made that happen? Didn't check to see if solicitation was allowed or not, but I'm guessing it was? Strange, but true.

I love to look at all the images in contests and I vote for the best which in my opinion are never my own. I've always loved other people's art.

Perhaps contest administrators should consider that if someone wins all first ten slots like above, or all the winning slots in any given contest, that they just take one of their choice as first place and allocate the next winning entrees a chance for the 2nd and 3rd places. At least the winner keeps their title and others have a chance.Could even throw a virtual party for the 1st place for their outstanding accomplishment. Winner could also say -"ALL my works blew everyone else out of the water, but the administrators only allowed me to keep one top spot, so if you want to buy the best works always, you know where to find me"

Hi Erica,
Its just for fun, take it easy. You vote for yourself, if you want, then you can also vote for others, I dont understand your dilemma exactly, but if you vote for yourself then it really doesn't matter because everyone can vote for themselves. So you vote for yourself and someone else and they do too, in the end the person who voted for themselves plus others who voted for them will win, just like you.
Janelle

I vote for myself and two others as soon as it goes to the vote. It's the only way I get to see my paintings in first place for a second or two. LOL! I think they are fun and I try to comment on the ones I like just to help promote them. They almost always comment on one of mine to help me back. So its all good.

@ Michel... Only fixes them until they solicit 20 others to vote for just them. 😊

@ janelle... The point was ... The dilemma is for all. If you vote for yourself which I do and others do and that's fine.... As soon as you vote for someone else it wipes out your vote.

I see that in the contest we were talking about that nothing was said about soliciting. Too bad because then all those pictures would not be allowed.

I don't see any fair solution to votes so guess getting on leaderboard is the only important thing.


Ps. Great sense of humor Mike!

@Lisa you cut yourself short on your work, in my opinion your work is excellent. I also know how hard you work, and what steps you take to get it prepared for the visual! (:

I think as far as contests go, there will always be questions on winners, and how the contests should be run to make it fairer. I think the most grotesque soliciting contest I was in was 2 years ago. The contest criteria was, the winner would automatically be entered into what I suspect was a vanity gallery contest. Money was involved. There were two competing pieces, (excellent work for both), the votes went way up, past the 200 votes for both. It was a joke, especially when neither one had a gallery, all they had was one image each on FAA. In a sense FAA was used, but there was not much they could do about it. I and others pulled out of the contest. That is an option one can do if they feel it was a stacked contest. I also sent an email to the one who was hosting why I pulled out of the contest. I received no response.

For the most part, those who do run contests, do the best they can do. These are not professional contests, but the creators of contests try to do a professional job! So enjoy them, sometimes sales come from them, and not necessarily the winners. Send a high five PM when you feel it was contest well done, win or loose.

Erica, Mike & Sparrow, maybe one of us should contact the host to see if he is aware of what's gong on in his own contest? Hmm. That's one reason 'why' hosts need to pay attention to their contests. He should, first of all, contact the person with the top ten and, then, remove the entries, if necessary. Because he said nothing about 'no solicitation' in the rules, allowed all genre, as well as 10 images per participant, it's his job to keep current re.

All in all, like Sydne says above, most of us who choose to host contests, do a great job! Anyone can host a contest, btw. But, we also need the members entering to play fair as well.

So agree with Sydne's last lines...
"These are not professional contests, but the creators of contests try to do a professional job! So enjoy them, sometimes sales come from them, and not necessarily the winners. Send a high five PM when you feel it was contest well done, win or loose."

I agree about contests being juried overall, but it depends. Here on FAA, contests are mostly about exposure - getting your work seen. It's best not to take them too seriously, I think.

On the other hand, over at Deviant Art.com, where I have my other art site, there's been a problem with user votes vs. juried votes. DA used to hold contests on various subject matter - monsters, anti-smoking campaigns, etc. and then let the DA members vote on the images. The trouble with that was, that some artists have a lot of followers - mostly because they draw a lot of fan art - and so images by those artists won most of the time. Now, sometimes the winning images were quite good, but all too often, the winning images were subpar. And the trouble with THAT - for DA - is that those images would go on to be put on T-shirts to sell in the DA store. Not surprisingly, those T-shirts didn't sell very well. Eventually, DA shut down its store due to lack of sales. There's a moral in there somewhere.

This is such an interesting discussion and I am enjoying everyone's points of view. I enter contests on FAA pretty often. When voting, I usually do vote for my own work, but often not all of the images that I have entered, especially if I see other work that I think is better. I do vote a lot for others, but try to pick my absolute favorites. As much as I like being on the leaderboard, I also like to vote for work that I really like. If the contest has several hundred or thousands of entries though, I usually don't vote or submit either.

@ Brooks i contacted the host of the contest 3 days ago and no reply .

Brooks -I sent an invitation to the host of the contest with a polite request for his input almost six hours ago hoping that he would at least read part of this thread beginning with Mystic Sparrow's discussion to your discussion. Not too sure that it will make any difference, but even if it doesn't, we can only hope that some administrators may play with the idea of avoiding this type of outcome in the future. It's happened before, perhaps not so gravely, but pretty close. The question becomes-Should this be corrected or encouraged.

Thanks, Mike & Mystic Sparrow, for being pro-active re the contest in question. I contacted the host, as well Too bad no one has received a response as yet, but at least he might read the messages and know better next time? We can hope!

Nothing in that other contest has changed so obviously the admin could care less. Well maybe he's on vacation or something. The first 8 or 9 lead images are the same person again. Maybe we all should go and vote for the next in line and bump them up.

It sounds like you enter just to win. What about the exposure?

I entered shows years ago. My intent was not to win. It was all about the exposure. I use to sit at sidewalk cafe tables with a piece of my work propped up. The exposure and conversations were more valuable than winning a contest.

Exposure is the key here.

If the contests are "juried" by FAA folks - chosen from the artist/photographers - or the votes are just for members of FAA - that certainly doesn't give you much "exposure" except to other artists/photographers. I'm not sure how someone who is NOT a member of FAA can vote - but seems to me - if THAT aspect of the 'contests' were pushed - you'd get lots more exposure - perhaps not quite as much as if you ran naked down main street of your home town - but more than just FAA folks.

Hey All;

Here are my points of contention:

- "10 images per person" - REALLY??? This just sets up 1000+ images to scroll through like Glenn pointed out right upfront. I say keep it to 1 or 2 images, which is much more reasonable.

- Art and Photography in the same Contest - I do both and respect both, but to me, having them compete against one another is like comparing fruits to vegetables. I'm Just Sayin'

Thanks :)

Erica -not just 8 or 9 , but ALL the first 10 slots are the same person. A bit overdone, no??

I've entered a few since I'm new and thought it was a good way to possibly get a piece or two seen. I vote for myself, as well as others whose art I like. I do look through quite a bit of the entries because I love art and don't see it as just a way to make money. Sometimes I favorite an image or follow the artists of work I like that I found through the contests.

Frank

Even when I require entrants to submit only watercolor or oils in the contests I host, I still get entries that are digital...made to look like watercolor or oil. Yes, I delete them. Some require going to the entrant's home page and bio. A little time and research, but I like to protect the entrants.

As to the contest, what it appears to me, only the winning artist used voter solicitation, while everyone else did not. However the contest does not specify one way or another whether people could or could not solicit votes. So from that stand point no contest rules were broken.

The first one to infiltrate the top ten barrier by one single person-Just voted for it-Hope others following what's happening will be encouraged to do the same. -Hopefully to make a statement-It is NOT mine
http://fineartamerica.com/contests/your-creative-side-contest.html?tab=vote&artworkid=6833245
http://fineartamerica.com/contests/your-creative-side-contest.html?tab=leaderboard

Sydne -No contest rules were broken. I totally agree; but if voter solicitation continues to encourage any single person to take all ten top spots, then I feel it has gotten out of hand. If 10 people did the same, then the winner and top finisher board would eventually show only 10 people with all their images. Out of over 2000 images it would mean an impossibility to ever get noticed. Letting the winner claim a couple top spots, then yes it shows their skills or desires to solicit-Cool-but taking all 10 first place positions-not so cool!!

Anyway, many thanks to those that just voted through the above link-The first to break the barrier is now tie for 1st- At least one other member might have a chance of being in the top ten.

Thank you all for giving someone else a chance-Put her in first place- the other one should be happy with the next ten places

Glad that Diane won but only taking 1 winning spot should be. Not 2nd and 3rd. Give someone else bragging rights. IMHO

Actually, everyone, the person who was placing in the top slots before others here voted for Dianne's to win did nothing wrong according to the contest rules set by the host!

In fact, asking other's to vote for Diane's image, amounts to the same thing, asking for votes, which is solicitation & manipulation! Either way, it happens all the time, even when we hosts say 'NO vote solicitation', certain members will always try! Usually, I can spot it or another member or members will 'rat' on the offender[s] to me personally. If I see it, I remove the entries ASAP! But, some hosts encourage it or say nothing, which leaves the field wide open for solicitors.

Btw, the woman in question, who had the top 10 for a while, is a VERY nice person and had no idea she was doing anything wrong. We 'spoke' via private message. I mean, others could have done the same thing, right. And, maybe they did, but did not receive the same king of support she did. Speaks volumes.

Totally agree brooks, But speeks volumes not necessary.If you have to solicit that heavily to get your work placed .we all know it happens, but to have every entry in the contest pumped to the top ? and also noticed another contest where 3 entries was the limit and yet again, all three are pump to the top again same artist...really over the top . I realise the contest really dont do much but it is kind of fun to see where your art will place. Its kind of getting old seeing the same person doing it over again ,

Well, I am not one to jump in to discussions, but this is a really hot topic, I would say!

I love contests! I think it must be my competitive nature! Sales has been my life!

The contests that I am in, I do look at all the images even if there are 3000 (for the most part). I vote for ones I like and for artists that I support. I do not vote for something I do not like. Just can't do it....but I support many artists here and will continue to do so.

I am trying to sort through the soliciting part. if we are supposed to get exposure, how better to do that than to ask others to look at our image and if they like it, then to vote for it? I have a friend who has taken care of an invalid mother for 4 years. The only thing she has in her life is FAA. She loves my work and gets so excited when it is time to vote. She is an older person, but has figured out how to register and how to vote. When there is no solicitation, I have to tell her so.

I really try to work the system as I have been instructed. but I get confused with the no solicitation and then, yes, general public welcome. I try to vote for all those following me (if I like the image) and their work is wonderful! If I see their name, I like the image and want to vote for it.

When I see the votes for mine....I may spend hours looking up artists in that town so I can send a thank you....but it takes so long! Haven't found many.

The thing is, if I complain, I feel like a whiner and if I don't understand I struggle with how to ask the questions in a non threatening way.

If you ask others to vote for you (if they like your image) then it really takes a lot of time and work to follow them, thank them, do the social media work to invest in them and yourself.

All this to say, I choose to spend hours figuring all this out, entering contests, giving my older friend something to look forward to, and supporting others.

AND sometimes I read these discussions, but give all stirred up!

Anyway....this is just life, right? Let's enjoy it no matter who wins or not!
Roberta

We are on the same page, Mystic Sparrow. Btw, there is a contest in voting mode in which my entry is running around 4th and another person is taking the 3 slots right above me. Once again, it's the same person mentioned above...and once again, the host did NOT say a word about members not soliciting votes. Lol, but seriously. Some of us just don't solicit...and some can't help but do it! When a host does not take the time to add the words 'NO VOTE SOLICITATION' in their contest rules, then it's open season for those who love to solicit from any/all their social media options.

In fact, there are some group administrators here who also encourage their members to solicit votes...and the more the merrier. The 'public allowed' option, one of the 3 allowed by FAA when it comes to contests, is prime for soliciting votes, as well. Like I said, we can say it 'til the cows come home', but there will always be some who will not follow our wishes. That's why hosts have to be on top of things, both re voting & folks entering images who are not following the rules.

I take these things in stride, for the most part, as I do enjoy creating & hosting contests. But, the tending part can get a bit tedious & frustrating. You just 'expect' everyone here to be an adult who knows how to read & follow some simple rules re entering a contest! I mean, really. Check out my blog re if you're interested & have a little time. I cover ALL contest-hosting bases.

There is another thread currently making the forum rounds re 'how to delete a contest' where the host wants to bail out of hers because members are entering things that have nothing to do with her contest title/rules! I've said it a hundred times, host just one contest yourself so you can see what it's like from the other side. Actually, you will find some members get very angry & rude when you remove their entries that don't follow your rules. They will even send you a nasty email re, sometimes. So, I always encourage folks to host their own contest & set their own rules. That way they will gain a little compassion for those who continue to offer them up for your, the members', benefit. Works every time!

Brooks, I appreciate you and all the hosts! I don't think I could keep up and certainly not with nasty emails! To all hosts and admin's.....THANK YOU!

Only Jury? Nah ,takes the fun out of it. Now a contest that lets you vote for yourself all you want. That would be a fine site to see and FUN!

Thanks so much for the kind words, Roberta! Nice to hear. Have a lovely evening.