Poll: Self-Promotion in the Rose & Bay Awards
The 2012 Rose & Bay Awards are now complete. I've noticed that while activity tends to be low in the nomination phase, it rises sharply in the voting phase as nominees get their audiences involved, some of whom are quite lively. I'd like to see more activity in the nomination phase, because a lot of promising candidates never even show up.
One way to do this would be to allow creators to nominate and/or vote for their own projects. A majority of the people active in the Crowdfunding communities seem to be creators, although many of them also support other projects. I suspect they'd be enthusiastic about nominating their own projects, which would probably solve the low turnout problem in the nomination phase.
The drawback to this is that it would remove pretty much the last point of respectability, as far as awards are considered. People have more respect for awards that are nominated and judged by a panel of qualified people than those nominated and voted by a wider population. Most people think their own stuff is awesome; the point to an award is to find out what other people think is awesome. What's left is the "popularity contest" ... which really applies to any award, just the size varies.
The Rose & Bay Awards are primarily about raising awareness at this stage. They get people thinking about the crowdfunded business model, and encourage folks to explore new projects. The parameters were designed, not for maximum credibility and accuracy, but to do what we could do with the resources already at hand. So I'm going to open the issue of self-promotion to a vote, with results applying to the 2013 round.
[EDIT 3-5-12] robling_t suggests allowing creators to post about their project and encourage nominations, rather than nominate directly. You may also indicate your support for this idea.
Poll Rose & Bay Awards Poll on Self-Promotion
One way to do this would be to allow creators to nominate and/or vote for their own projects. A majority of the people active in the Crowdfunding communities seem to be creators, although many of them also support other projects. I suspect they'd be enthusiastic about nominating their own projects, which would probably solve the low turnout problem in the nomination phase.
The drawback to this is that it would remove pretty much the last point of respectability, as far as awards are considered. People have more respect for awards that are nominated and judged by a panel of qualified people than those nominated and voted by a wider population. Most people think their own stuff is awesome; the point to an award is to find out what other people think is awesome. What's left is the "popularity contest" ... which really applies to any award, just the size varies.
The Rose & Bay Awards are primarily about raising awareness at this stage. They get people thinking about the crowdfunded business model, and encourage folks to explore new projects. The parameters were designed, not for maximum credibility and accuracy, but to do what we could do with the resources already at hand. So I'm going to open the issue of self-promotion to a vote, with results applying to the 2013 round.
[EDIT 3-5-12] robling_t suggests allowing creators to post about their project and encourage nominations, rather than nominate directly. You may also indicate your support for this idea.
Poll Rose & Bay Awards Poll on Self-Promotion