The contest results are bullshit

Alright, let's see...
First things first: I'm not mad that I'm not in the top five. I'm just utterly disappointed and angry for these winners. I'll probably offend most of the winners in this post. I don't give a single shit.

First of all...

We are kind of looking for something created for this contest. Stuff you already work on is fine but projects created just for this competition will be looked upon more favourably.
EhytFA.gif

Yeah, sure. Four of the winners aren't bounty projects.
And you know, what's even better?

In previous GBAtemp bounties, we have called upon our members to code projects for various devices. This however, left a lot of our fellow Tempers out in the dark, as not everyone has the knowledge or skill to code apps and games.
[...]
Projects can literally be anything; are you good with art? Draw, paint or craft something for us to see! Maybe you are creative with woodwork, an avid gardener or like photography? You can also enter!
The usual coding entries will still be accepted, but this time we wanted to make it possible for as many members to take part as possible!

Anything, you say? Really? Yeah. Anything's accepted. Too bad not anything's appreciated. Four of the winning projects are coding projects. Makes you think, ey?


Alright. Now, I'm gonna comment on all the winners, and why they should or shouldn't be on the list. The first place is pretty rant-y, I know, but I'm pretty angry about it as well, and you'll see, why.

#5 newo: NewoSky - $25 Amazon Gift Card
NOT a Bounty project
This has been in the making for around two years.
Interesting idea, but still not made for the contest.

#4 Asia81: HackingToolkit9DS - $25 Amazon Gift Card
NOT a Bounty project
This is an around 1 year old project, that is already well-known and widely used piece of software. This feels like as if someone entered FBI or freeShop. It's just not right. Software like this basically gets a head start, which is really not fair.

#3 Dr.Hacknik: SimpliiU - $50 Amazon Gift Card
NOT a Bounty project
This tool, while useful, presents nothing original, and is just a programme that copies stuff to your SD card if you're too lazy to do it yourself.
This should not be on the list of winners.

#2 cracker: DIY PCB etching / Arduino controller shield - $100 Amazon Gift Card
Bounty project
The only project that was made for the Bounty. Are you fucking kidding me?!
This one's pretty good. It should honestly be first place out of these five. It's really creative and has a lot of work put into it.

#1 Voxel: Stick Magician - GBAtemp Bounty Demo - GPD Pocket
NOT a Bounty project
Oh, boy. OH, BOY! This should NOT be first place!
This is also a VERY old project. And you know, what's the worst thing about it? It has nothing to do with the Bounty! What's this? A test level made for his game, that he's already been working on for quite some time. The Bounty might've motivated him to make said test level, but this is something he would've done anyway in some time. Not only that, but (according to unnamed sources) it mostly just uses Unity's built in stuff, and excluding the art assets, this can be made in a couple of hours. Also, according to my experience, said art assets can be made in ~30 minutes!


Now, what can we do to avoid this in the future?
More attention to stuff other than programming
If you're gonna advertise this "anything, not just programming" shit so much and then ignore it for most of the list, we need a different system. There shouldn't be five winners from any category. There should be a couple of fixed categories, and there should be one winner per category. This would not only encourage people to make more varied submissions, but would also prevent shit like THIS.

Fuck the mods and Patrons-only system
It should either be
Just mods: so we can have some responsible adults thinking about the distribution of basically 700 US Dollars,
or everyone: if we're gonna have normal people voting basically just for stuff they like, it shouldn't be just a couple of them.


I'm actually angry at this contest. Even by just looking at the first two places you can see the problems. One is clearly much better and more creative than the other one, yet it didn't win. What the fuck?!
I'm so furious, I could literally flip my table with my laptop, phone and Wacom tablet on it. Fuck this shit!

Also, wow. I've apparently taken more than an hour to write this shit. Phew.
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Comments

G
i didn't even vote because i can't pay for patronage anymore (long story) and they haven't removed my patron role yet...
 
G
but i agree about the voting system.
 
@blujay why shouldn't it be just mods and patrons that vote? We pay for the prizes.
 
G
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing about the patrons. But they kind of form a... clique. I believe the concept of being a patron is pure, but the patrons themselves are not. Maybe having everybody vote but patron's votes are worth more?

If I could still afford it I would, but circumstances have changed in my life.
 
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People keep saying this, but I have yet to see any examples of this happening. In fact, even the concept of that happening makes no sense in this situation.
 
B
How about this:
  • Staff votes - 3 points
  • Patron votes - 2 points
  • Member votes - 1 point
  • Newcomer votes - 0.5 points
 
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G
@TotalInsanity4 i get the joke, but was it targeted at patrons? I was just thinking not that much different, just enough to make them feel special.
 
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I'd be against newcomer votes imo. At the very least they should have maybe 25 posts to vote. That way someone doesn't make some dupe accounts and tries to rig the vote (not saying anyone here would do it, but you never know).
 
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@rileysrjay That's another valid concern, indeed all competitions with public voting that GBAtemp have ran in the past have been limited to users with 100+ posts, probably for that exact reason.
 
B
I never considered the fact that people might make dupes. In that case, there should probably be a threshold for newcomers to vote; they have to had made at least 50 legitimate non-shitpost posts before they can vote.

Of course, that would mean more work on the staff to keep track of who's voting. I would say just prevent newcomers from voting at all, but it seems mildly unfair to the newcomers who legitimately want to get into the site and the community.
 
@B_E_P_I_S_M_A_N Staff shouldn't be able to vote either. It should be just the Patrons and the members. Like in a democracy, people in a state of authority aren't allowed to vote, but the common people are. Then again, this wouldn't be a democracy because Patrons' votes are worth more (no equal power).

@rileysjray Well alts get banned/deleted so..
 
B
@aykay55 GBATemp is not a democracy. The site is run and maintained by a set number of staff. It is at the staff's discretion how the site should be managed and maintained. Sure, members can voice input, and the staff can (and probably should) choose to listen to said input, but they can also choose to ignore it. If one is extremely unhappy with how the site is managed, the only thing he/she/they can do is voice their opinion and, should it not be fixed, leave the site if they so choose.

Besides, the less-weighted votes of the many will eventually outweigh the more-weighted votes of the few, so the system is still democratic.
 
Tbh, new comers should not be able to vote, they are newbs, and anyone can make alt accs.

but, I think the people who vote, are Regulars.
atleast a year, and a couple of hundred posts
 
But when normal member are voting, couldnt be people exploiting that and making lots of alts to push their own stuff?
 

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