I agree with Heather:

I remember blue lurker when vote for one of my entry says:
"See this is why I always keep 5 votes left behind for the late entries"

This note was originally PMed to Heather when she first initiated the post. For now, it is my two cents worth on this topic in the forum..
Hi Heather....
It is, as you suggest, probably a very worthwhile and fairer course of action to wait until the third day to vote on the pictures. However, even if I religiously adopted that voting protocol, my hunch is that somewhere in the process of viewing the pictures, I would say," I am out of votes, but what a terrific picture". . Even after selecting and voting for the 25 pictures that I might think reflect the very best qualities of digital manipulation, there will, in my view, probably be some pictures that are so noteworthy that I want to honor the artist with a comment acknowledging the beauty of his/her work. If I simply make the comment and don't vote for the project, the author may wonder "well if they like it so much, why didn't they vote for it?" So to protect the integrity of my comment, I advise the artist that I have used my full quota of votes, but still support the exceptional quality of the work he/she created. There are so many talented image manipulators contributing pictures to the PSC site that 25 votes cannot always be enough to support and appreciate the artists above that number who contribute work of significant artistic value. My bottom line point is that waiting until the third day to vote would not necessarily guarantee that there wouldn't be more than 25 artists who deserved recognition for the work and talent reflected in the projects they submitted.

If I express regret for hastily voting on a project that was inferior to one I could have voted on, if I had waited until most or all of the submitted pictures were available for review on the third day, then that is a different issue. In that case, I probably might want to consider waiting for the third day to vote, so I can fairly evaluate all of the entries, and vote for the ones I think are clearly superior to the others. Although that too is a very subjective matter...

However, after all is said and done, there will probably be works worthy of honor and recognition that fall outside the scope of the voting parameters. At that point, I might choose to express my appreciation for the work by acknowledging its high quality and explaining my reason for not voting for it...

Thanks for the forum input, Heather...
I enjoy your work, and wish you all the best..
Pat (Patre)

My Chubba post! That one was tricky because the source image had autographs all over it.

I think that was a third-day post, when I was brand new. I was getting fidgety waiting around for my ten posts, so I slipped it in under the wire. I didn't think it'd get noticed, so I was pleasantly surprised by the votes.

I won't save all my votes for the third day--I like considering entries a few at a time. It's a huge task looking at them all in a single sitting, and I think it gives the entries less consideration than they deserve. So I pop on and vote a couple times on each day.

I think we're making a mistake by assuming that visual impact is the only criteria on which entries should be judged. The ability to work quickly and post early is worth rewarding, too, in my opinion. I think that's part of the contest. If you're too busy to put together today's post today, either wait until tomorrow's or realize that you might not get as many votes.

Indeed, if two identical entries are submitted, the first one in would (and should) have more votes (assuming it's vote-worthy in the first place.)

I agree with Heather when it`s put to me that way...I must admit that I`m one of those that runs out of votes earlier, then turns around and sees something Phenominal that has been postedand has regrets ...I think from now on, I`ll split my votes into the number of voting days and limit my votes per day...Then just keep checking back...Thanks for enlightening me...It`s just soooooo hard when there is always so much GREAT talent out there... anyway thanks to all of you for being so good to me these last few weeks...I Love it Here...and I really cherish the friendships I`ve made here...

As I was perusing my portfolio, I realized some things. The entries that score in the top three almost always rely on technical ability to get the top spots, almost. But technical ability was not really the determining factor when it comes to how well the lower ranked entries were received. Speed was. The sooner I posted, the better I did. Of course, creativity in those quick entries was important, but not as important as I would have thought. Speed and visual impact were definately the most important aspects of the chops that did well. My only win took me 45 minutes to put together and post. If you post something noticeable in the first hour of the contest, you will score well. The purely technical entries I have done, while ranking well, have not made the top of the list unless they caught the eye, whereas some of the quick and dirty but interesting entries, have done much better. I guess it's like in advertising, you have to wake people up and say, 'Holy crap, look at this!' And that all-important deadline must be met, for in art, as in life, timing is everything.

Ronni, that is a good plan. That is what I do.

I don't think I have the self-control to save ALL of my votes for the last day. So casting a few votes a day works really well.

Yoda, I think a person could write a thesis on the impact of timing on the contests, here. I console myself knowing that tomorrow is another day with another contest. And one of these days, maybe I'll hit on the perfect combination of timing, wit and ability. (Evidently a seagull wearing spats isn't it.)

I don't think most people even know what spats are anymore. Just us old-timers. :L

While I do agree totally with Heather, I have discovered that with alot of the higher voted posts, quality is extremely important, but,timing is EVERYTHING...I had both of my posts for yesterday in by 7:15 am (MST) and both have faired incredibly well...Better than I had ever hoped they would...I`ve been waiting to get my advantage account (no credit card...use debit...Big mess at my bank right now...LONG STORY) because I KNOW it makes a dfference and I`m tired of getting up so early to get my posts in...I`m going to get the advantage account when the whole mess with my checking is straitened out...and I definitely reccomend it to those that want to raise the VPP in a short period of time...The name says it all...

it seems that all the early entrys do get the most votes. this website is 4 hours ahead of me and by the time i wake up and check out the new contest there's already 4 pages of entrys. is there a way that the pics could be randomly added to the page and every time you load it they are in different order? i dont know... as for running out of votes.. well i cant vote yet soit hasn't happened to me!

BTW check out my latest submissions
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/66217/display.html
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/66305/display.html

alright, i'm late responding to this topic... but since everyone's complaining about the forum's being empty what the heck.

i don't have time to vote every day (wish i did) much as i don't have time to compete every day, and often i go weeks without making it on here to vote for pictures. this certainly doesn't put me in the best position to slag anyone else's voting habits... but i'm gonna. i have no problem with advantage posters having a certain, um, advantage, and i agree that by the end of a contest there's often more than 25 posts deserving of a vote. what i absolutely have no patience for an cannot stand is people who consistently leave notes saying "great but i'm out of votes" at noon est the first day of a contest. if you're just voting for the first 25 posts that go up, you're not really adding anything here.

Ditto.

I post early & I posted late. I've voted early, and I've voted late. Some people are on EST, some on GST, GMT, and cmt, & pst, and God knows where ever else , (such as London, Down Under, and some Isles), TIME Seems to be the KEY Factor. And "Guilty As Charged", I am also one of the infamous ones that state..." I'm outta votes but....." I don't always have the LUXURY of being able to vote, so I vote whenever I have the TIME. If I know my personal schedule isn't going to allow me time to vote come the 3rd, or even the 2nd day of a post, I unfortunately run out of votes on Day one! "Time is of the essence" to quote somebody imformative, and imaginative, I have so little that I am doing my best to attempt a runner up quality yet alone dare a WINNER, as I've done way back on 01/01/05! (BTW TYE1 again for that runner up), I guess my point is, TIME! And TIME alone dictates what some of us have and others of us do not have. So, do we wait until 3rd day, and hope we have some time left to vote, for "What is at hand"? or, do we use that vital, yet enjoyable TIME to attempt a Starring post, for a day yet to come???? Tru delimma eh? How about a "Different" form??????? maybe as advantage members we get 1 vote per member, or to simplify it even more, maybe set up a member's choice box under each posting, and give it either a box for each, Yeah! vote, Maybe vote or No vote???? Then tally votes at beginning of 4th Day's new posting???? I dunno. I just wanna get along, and let everyone know they're great here! And don't forget, Keep On Choppin! & Smiling!!!! Evidently we here on this thread NEED IT! LOL!!! Cheers! And uhm, Happy Votin! I'm sorry, did I run out of time here, and say too much, (as usual???)????

This must have been discussed before but I didn’t see it in this thread.

What would be the downside(s) to ‘locking out’ the voting until the contest is closed? Comments should still be allowed. For those whose vote criteria is the speed of an entries submission, they can sort by recentness and dump all their votes to the first 25 entries that came in. I think it’s only fair to see all entries before deciding which are better… and how you decide to determine ‘better’ seems to be a major part of this.

That being said something that comes to mind… this type of scoring is used for figure skating. The judges have to score one person (pair, whatever) before seeing the rest. This [b]generally[/b ]works because there is set criteria to score an entry with. Both technical and artistic scores are related to some sort of criteria. This is not the case here. There is not a set of tech and art elements that must be met. Each person votes on what they feel makes an entry good. I think this is a large part of why PSC is a fun place to compete. If there was defined criteria it would be much more cut throat, more arguments and probably less creative too.

I don’t think that the speed of an entry should be voting criteria because you have no way of knowing if they did it quickly or not, it’s very inaccurate (unless a non-Advantage user posts within the first hour or so of a contest opening). For example, an Advantage user may spend 5 to 10 hours+ on a chop and submit it as soon as the contest opens. Another user (maybe another Advantage user could spend 1 hour on a chop and submit it on the 2nd and a half day. If you’re voting based on speed of a chopper your criteria just went out the window along with your early votes.

I think that the way it works now it’s better to not use all your votes instead of “dumping” a bunch for the sake of it (or in the hope of getting reciprocal votes not based on your entry or for the purpose of upping your own voting stats!). I do find it amusing to see comments/complaints about running out of votes. It’s kinda like banging your head against the wall and then complaining that your head hurts. You did it, you’re the one pressing the vote button!

Does this issue come down to this question?:
Should timing be a factor or criteria in the voting process?

I can’t wait till I can vote, at my pace it won’t be anytime soon! When I can vote I may give out a few early votes to those entries that are obviously outstanding, but even then only 5 or 10 (at the most ) early votes.

I want to say that ScionShade has a good point in saying “Good chops get the votes”. The entries that deserve to win usually do, or come close. But I don’t think these entries are affected by this issue very much.

So… could the contests be locked out for voting until they close? Then you’d have 3 days to vote?
This would solve the running out of votes problem… if it’s a problem. And it would give lots of time to vote.

it takes some people like me 3 days to do a pick , might not look like they do but they do and if u have the advantage thing and can put your pic up on the first few minites the new pic opens they get all the first votes so forget all that just vote like you like forget this