Unethical to ask for votes in contest?
JHolmes763
| Posted in General Discussion on
Hi everyone. I did some searching and couldn’t find anything, so sorry if this has been covered before.
Is it unethical to ask your friends to vote for you on a contest? I know someone that entered a woodworking contest on FWW.com and then posted on a forum asking for people to vote for him if they liked his work. Obviously everyone can vote however they want, but you tend to favor your friends when asked, right?
So is that viewed as unethical on here? I think the winning prize was a couple DVDs with back issues.
Thanks for any insight. Sorry to barge in with this kind of question, but it’s needed to resolve part of a dispute. 🙂
-John
Replies
John:
From what you have written, the person asked that his friends cast their vote for him if they liked his work. By "liked" I am assuming he meant if you consider my work outstanding enough to be worth your vote. He gave his friends an out if his work didn't measure up so no, I don't see this as a lack of ethics on his part. Those friends that voted for him even though they thought someone else's work was better did have a lapse of ethics however.
gdblake
Is it unethical to ask your friends to vote for you on a contest?
NO!
What are friends for but to help and share with you!
Doh... Head slap...
So that is what I've been doing wrong...
Stuffing ballot boxes is fine, as long you live in Chicago
AZMO
Yep
I cast a new vote for myself every time I can get my IP address to change. ;-)
Stuffing ballot boxes is fine, as long you live in Chicago
lol,, Story of my life!
Thanks for the replies, guys. I'm in the same line of thinking as ya'll. I do think it approaches a line or gray area, though, if not handled correctly. Asking your friends on a forum is acceptable. Spamming several forums, especially ones you're not regularily involved with, would be crossing the line.
Maybe you missed my sarcasim
John,
For my own part, running for class president and getting all the cheerleaders to get others to vote for him was juvenile in high school. Frankly if you need to do this to get your project selected, then is it really isn't worth the toothpicks it's glued from? All this for a CD or a Back issue?
You build your work for far better reasons than that, and win, loose, draw in a contest is meaningless. Tell your friend to grow up, and spend more time on his next project so it is worth submitting for an honest appraisal.
Perhaps I am to blunt, no harm meant to you.
AZMO
AZMO - Thank you for clarifying. A few others have answered the same as you (elsewhere). It's good to see both sides.
I don't see the issue, though, if you ask people to make an honest vote. It exposes the projects to more people, but you can only hope they're voting honestly.
Any idea how many votes a contest usually drums up? Such as this "scraptacular" contest: https://www.finewoodworking.com/item/25419/cast-your-vote-for-the-most-scraptacular-project. That's not the contest I was referencing in my original question, btw. Is dragging over 50 votes from forum friends really going to make a dent? Just curious...
-John
John, I don't think it's unethical, but it may be better form to make the requests of friends via e-mail, rather than in public.
Yeah, I can agree with that, too. Or via PM if it's a forum environment.
Campaigning AOK
Getting the word out about your entry is fine by me... From my perspective... it helps to gather momentum our contests and challenges. :)
Gina, FineWoodworking.com
mommy, mommy will you vote for me!. if you have to ask , then you must have the perception that it isn't good enough to make the grade, for some winning is everything even if they are not worthy of it.
If your work cannot stand on it's own, to bad
ron
With all due respect... there was a contest run for trim carpenters two years ago that was decided by viewer vote. The prize was a pretty healthy stash of tools from a certain manufacturer. You could vote for the best submission 3 times a day for the lenght of the contest which was several weeks. There was a gentleman that jumped out to a dominating lead early and stayed there for a week with viewer voting.... then the tide turned.
That young gentleman was a very popular member of another large forum and ask for those on that forum to come over to FWW daily and vote for him 3 times a day. Consequently he took a commanding lead and it appeared he would be a shoe-in winner. Until a small revolt among trim carpenters and other sensible forum viewers swept other forums with the word of what was happening and they came to the rescue.
The young gentleman had submitted a simple project he built for his daughter from plywood. OK.. but nothing a begginer couldn;'t pull off with a little effort. First he was not really a trim carpenter. Second.. his entry paled in comparison to every other project by a real trim carpenter as several eloquent and complicated stair-case jobs were submitted by others. The comparison was similar to a cutting board opposed to a period high-boy... with the cutting board the clear front-runner!
So.... the cutting board took a commanding lead until others found out where the large vote was coming from which was popularity on another forum simply because they wanted their friend to win. So... the contest was biased from day one with the outcome subject to bordering on totally ridiculous. If the young gentleman had won the contest it would have been a distinct slap in the face to every experienced trim carpenter on planet earth. It should have been judged by un-baised judges that were qualified to render a final un-biased verdict!
But.. indeed the contest had a clear winner as the multitudes went to vote 3 times daily and the Manufacturer who sponsored it became the Clear Winner with thousands upon thousands of voters viewing their advertising daily. So... clearly I see why those that have contest based on viewer votes does not find the practice of begging for votes on popularity from the entrants as un-acceptable. Just good for business!
Sorry if I ruffled any feathes but... a spade is a spade... no matter how you camouflage it.... it's still a spade! :>)
Regards....
Trumping with a Spade
Sarge , you must have had quite a bit of coffee already ,, well said .
d
I did find that thread and read it while searching before I posted. I'm not a black&white kind of guy, so I think the size of the contest, the prize, the number of friends you ask, etc. play into it being acceptable or not. It's all a gray area, though, like I've said. Thank you for your response.
-John
it all depends on how self serving one wants to be
ron
No food Dusty... but our pollen count.. coffee containers and passion runneth over! ha.. ha... ha..ha...ha..
I'd hate to ask, then win.
John,
I don't understand the word "unethical".
Does it have a useful meaning, or do people misuse it? :-)
Mel
Asking for votes
This reminds me of a sotry the late, great Tip O'Neill told.
He lost the race for his first election.
He grew up next door to an old woman, and was talking to her about losing the race.
She said she did not vote for him.
"What!" he exclaimed....... "but you have known me since I was in diapers, and always said I would go far in this world."
"Yes," she said, "but Tip, you never asked for my vote."
She must not vote for very many people.
And a vote for a political office means something different from a vote about the skill demonstrated in a piece of craft work.
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