Contest Rules

[HappyCockroach]

Apparently, the majority of the people here in the hive are suffering from a progressive procrastination issue, and contests (being informal as they always used to be), are starting to be quite disappointing due to the fact of the extensions being given to us, shameless procrastinators.

What should obviously happen when people don't finish in time is closing the contest thread right in the deadline and whoever didn't finish, pity they. But that doesn't happen when a contest has only 1 entry, or 2, possibly.

So I thought that it would be good to give contests inflexible and pre-determinated rules.

My suggestions are:

• Fixed Contest Deadline: A contest's deadline should be determinated at its start, depending on the amount of work/people the contest involves, more time, usually around 5-7 weeks, so everybody can finish. User-requested extensions aren't ever allowed - they shall just happen if the contest has no entries yet and a good number of recent WIP's shown. The thread is closed instantly by a moderator at that time and no more entries may be submitted.
• In Case of One Entry: If at a contest's ending, there's only 1 entry, the entry will be judged, and if achieved exactly 75% or more of the rating value, will be given Winner award and reputation. (The rating value can vary depending on the contest, the contestants know what they're signing up for)
• In Case of 2 to 3 Entries: If there are just 2 or 3 entries, there will be a poll and the entries will be judged. One will receive a winner award and the others no award whatsoever.
• In Case of 4 or 5 entries: If there are 4 or 5 entries, there will be a Winner and a Runner Up. 6 or more entries will receive full prizes.
• In Case of no entries: Dead contest is dead. It goes to the trash bin. (Unless there's a good number of WIP's in the past few days, then the deadline can be extended for 48 hours.)

I know this post is full of obviousnesses but... just to bring up the topic.

 

[Deolrin]

I agree with the fixed contest deadline. I disagree completely with the rest. In case of one entry, full reputation price and an award icon must be given no matter what, even if the entry itself sucks some serious ass, just because the entrant was the only person in the entire contest who bothered to stop being lazy for a while and finish something to submit. He shouldn't suffer from the rest of the contestants' inability to submit an entry. So it's like... a reward for effort.
I agree with what yous aid about "in case of 2 entries" but disagree about "in case of 3 entries". In case of 3 entries, full reputation awards and award icons must be given to all contestants. 3 entries make a good contest. Everything above 3 entries makes a GREAT contest.
In case of 4 or more entries, everything should happen as usual.
In case of no entries - I agree on what you said, with the exception that the deadline can be extended for as long as it should be. First the host must ask if anyone is still working on their entry, if no one is working on an entry the contest dies as you described. Otherwise it should range from 2 days to 2 weeks of extension, depending on contestant need, and there will only be ONE extension.