How did they pick the winners?

BrachaVHatzlocha

Mon, Mar 19 2007, 4:17 pm

I wonder if micki got her email answered??

micki

Mon, Mar 19 2007, 6:24 pm

no I did not get an answer yet.
I would like to compose a letter from all of us asking what are the REAL rules and what is the criteria for the competion. they should give an explanation answering why the ones at the top did not win, and why thry got rid of some contstants. how the voting systm works.
I want to gove suggestions for making it a real contest based on the costumes.
anyoneone bored enough to write?

withhumor

Mon, Mar 19 2007, 6:30 pm

I know myself, it will be one long spiteful letter! I will sign though!

miriam

Mon, Mar 19 2007, 8:48 pm

GR wrote:

I see my nephew won. Smile

I saw him (and voted days ago!!). So cute, KYH!

micki

Tue, Mar 20 2007, 9:06 am

ok so here is a reply I got to my questions- the reply is first
B"H

Hi
I looked into this issue, and I see that our filter rejected them due
to excessive abuse of the voting system, including using proxy servers
and the like. In order to maintain the fairness of the contest as best
we can, they were disqualified. I am really sorry about this, and I can
understand that you may feel upset.

I hope that you can participate again next year, and that you can win
due to the the merit of the costumes themselves.

Best regards,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: On 3/18/2007 you wrote:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hi- I entered my kids in the purim contest. today when I check, their
picture is gone! even when I click on their link the picture is gone-
with a message saying they were rejected.

why?
I have alot of people who voted for them all emailing me and asking me
why they are gone.
can you explain?
I entered another picture today but I don't understand why my other
kids are off?

this is the kds links- the 2 original pictures I entered

http://www.chabad.org/go.asp?p.....32284

http://www.chabad.org/go.asp?p.....26090

I would like an explanation!

I then told him I had many peopel voting for me- and what is a proxy server BTW

amother

Tue, Mar 20 2007, 9:16 am

Tefila wrote:

Quote:

many ppl were at top 10 cuz ppl voted for them more than once so they counted it as one vote that's why theyre different than the top 10

Baloney macaroni I admit I tried Twisted Evil

but it only accepts once from same computer it obviously knows the ip address. Exclamation

Neh there has to be another reason.....................

If you delete all cookies, you can vote as many times as you'd like from the same computer. And, yes, people do vote multiple times to bring other contestants down as well Exploding anger

mali

Tue, Mar 20 2007, 9:16 am

Their entire voting system isn't fair. After all, the one who wins is usually the one who has the most friends who have internet. An original costume has little chances of winning if the person has no contacts.

IMHO, they should have a panel of judges to choose the top ten, and then enable users to vote for only one or two out of those ten. No such thing as bad marks. You either choose a person or you don't. The system they use invites trouble.

withhumor

Tue, Mar 20 2007, 9:16 am

Can I please have the email address? I will also write to them, and I’ll include your original links and my own too. It’s not true about the proxy servers, it’s insane.

micki

Tue, Mar 20 2007, 10:26 am

whats a proxy server?
and I did not vote more than once from my comuter!
I wouldn't even know how- I muddled my may just to find cookies to dletet to get the new picture up of the cutie of the week

withhumor

Tue, Mar 20 2007, 6:10 pm

OK, I knew that if I write to them, it will get nasty… but I couldn’t resist. So see my letter below (and reply from them under it.) I’m stuck now, I don’t know what to write back, since they’re clearly avoiding the answer. I don’t need to win, that’s’ not the issue here. it’s just that it bugs me that they won’t admit that they muddled up SO many people’s entries!

My letter:

I got your email address from my buddy who also posted her children to
your contest. Her original links are below

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/go.asp?p.....32284
<http>
http://www.chabad.org/go.asp?p.....26090

My daughter Tzip, original link
<http>
http://www.chabad.org/go.asp?p.....25011 was also
posted in the same week.

A bunch of us submitted pictures and luckily, many of us made it to top
10. Mysteriously, none of them won. In fact, from the winners that were
chosen, NONE of them appeared in the top ten. Your system seems to be
seriously flawed and the proxy server voting scam excuse is not going to
work this time (if you do think of replying with it).

Im going to need amore serious reply to answer why my friends and I were
highly disappointed in your failing approach this year.

Below are some original links to children of my friends, who were all in
the top 10 at one point or the other.

We are awaiting your response ASAP, replying to me will save you time to
respond to all of them individually. We havent cheated and we havent
spammed your servers. We simply asked our family and friends to vote for
us, and most of them are from all over the world. We feel extremely
violated.

My friend Brachas Kids:

http://www.chabad.org/kids/pur.....ntest
<http> &appid=1025247,1199303

http://www.chabad.org/kids/pur.....ntest
<http> &appid=1025246,1199300

Some more friends kids:

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/go.asp?p.....17920

And Malkes Family:

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/kids/pur.....mp;rn
=16.9026508331299

http://www.chabad.org/kids/pur.....large
<http> &cid=1028152&rn=16.9026508331299

http://www.chabad.org/kids/pur.....large
<http> &cid=1029221&rn=25.7123126983643

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/kids/pur.....mp;rn
=7.77942085266113

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/kids/pur.....=1029
222,1243119

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/kids/pur.....=1029
223,1243125

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/kids/pur.....=1029
224,1243128

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/kids/pur.....=1029
225,1243131

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/kids/pur.....=1029
227,1243137

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/kids/pur.....=1029
226,1243134

Chanies 3 boys

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/go.asp?p.....23672

Mindys Baby

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/go.asp?p.....11145

P.M.s Kids

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/go.asp?p.....96327

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/go.asp?p.....96333

<http>
http://www.chabad.org/go.asp?p.....96330

And many others.

Thank you.

The reply from Moshe Rosenberg, Chabad.org mrosenberg(at)chabad.org

Thanks for taking the time to write, and thanks for participating in the contest.

We do our best to make the contest fair, and to block abuse through many technical tools and blocks.

At the end of the contest, a process is run on all contestants that evaluates the votes based on custom algorithms. Unfortunately many votes get disqualified during this process since those votes were not entered in accordance with our rules and in good spirit.

The particular aspect that caused the shuffle was one step that removed many low votes that were not legitimate. This caused other contestants to automatically go higher that the ones in question. It is not that your contestants' points got lower, rather that others got higher.

I hope this clarifies the process a bit. I am sorry that you did not win, but I hope that you had fun and shared in the spirit of Purim anyway.

Best regards,

Moshe Rosenberg
Chabad.org

mali

Tue, Mar 20 2007, 6:29 pm

Which is why I think they should minimize the users' voting options into voting or not voting for a person rather than ranking them. The latter calls for problems. I just didn't bother with this contest for that reason.

micki

Tue, Mar 20 2007, 8:38 pm

so what does that mean in english?

BrachaVHatzlocha

Tue, Mar 20 2007, 10:02 pm

I sent them an email, too, after reading this thread. just a polite one (after they sent the email about winners) - saying I know my kid's didn't win, but what happened to the Raggedy Anns and adorable clowns?

Tefila

Tue, Mar 20 2007, 10:36 pm

It was a bit of a tease to have them up as the top ten and then reduced to nothing Confused

miriam

Tue, Mar 20 2007, 10:41 pm

Tefila wrote:

It was a bit of a tease to have them up as the top ten and then reduced to nothing Confused

Not to diagree with you, but it wasn't nothing. It was pretty exciting while they were on top.

BrachaVHatzlocha

Wed, Mar 21 2007, 4:13 pm

yeah, I can udnerstand that.
I was excited that my kids were there..then 1...the none, so I didn't really expect to win...
but if someone was up there for so long, even the day the contest ended, it was kind of a tease... Sad

Sorry

withhumor

Wed, Mar 21 2007, 4:34 pm

My daughter was position 2 until midnight of the 18Th! As soon as they anounced the winners... the wineers took over, and suddenly you see this whole new page of pics...!

miriam

Wed, Mar 21 2007, 8:53 pm

I guess we should be prepared for next year with a new set of expectations. If your child is on the top ten, don't expect a prize. If your child is not in the top ten, expect to be the grand prize winner.