I agree with Heather:
I find it curious that a lot of people mention: I would vote but I've no votes left.
I always save votes for the last day! A lot of good picts show up a little later!

Unless I see something that absolutely knocks me out, I always wait until the last day to vote at all.

It only makes sense to wait until you have all the entries before you to vote.

That way it is also fairer to the people who post late.

I posted this in another thread, but I'll throw it in here too because I think it's interesting:



This is total votes per page, default sort, for a selection of recent (pre-Christmas) contests. Food for thought....

Yep, I've brought this up too, and it bears repeating. I've seen that comment on the FIRST day of a contest, and it's inexcusable. If you're honestlly sorry about being out of votes, show your regret by saving at least some of your votes until the last day. You have 25, for petesake.

Food for thought:
those who keep votes for the end may not want to spend them on those who don't. It seems to always be the same names who keep running out of votes early.

Always save a vote...cause before advantage I use to be the late post...

That just doesn't make any sense at all.
Of COURSE the first page will carry the
major portion of votes.
Experienced choppers and those that know their way around photoshop
are naturally gonna get done first--the chart is totally
meaningless and puts a spin on totally rediculous and unfounded
bit of misconception that noone needs to waste time worrying about.
Good chops get the votes.
What difference are two or three people who use up their votes too fast really making?? none, none at all--It sure isn't going to cost anyone to lose a contest for
losing that persons vote= 99% of winning quality pics are posted BEFORE
those two or three people even do any voting-
Your wasting your time worrying about something that doesn't effect You.
Bear in mind that You are on the web and YES there are people on the web who would
open an account on PSC -chop ten bad pics to get voting power-
and then proceed to act like an idiot, leaving stupid "Iwould vote" comments just
to annoy people. The depths some weenies will go to is
just to degrade this site is amazing.*cough*!

Damn, Scion. Do you always make this much sense? I might have to follow you around scattering rose petals, or something, now.

Has anybody done a chart correlating the people who say "whoopsy-doodles, I'm out of votes" to the list of top voters?

Haahaa. Scion just loves to argue.

He does make a good point though, which is that the first page of entries tends to be better then the second page, which is generally better then the third page, etc.

That said, there are people who use up all their votes too early, and some of them might even later complain about not having Advantage, and blaming THAT on their not getting many votes. At the end of the day, it mostly comes down to voting habits. If people genuinely vote fairly, then even people on the third or fourth page should get the votes they deserve.

Scion - I disagree with your assertion that the chart "puts a spin" on the issue. It is merely a visual representation of the data - nothing more, nothing less. Too often people base their thinking on unfounded opinions or suspicions, and I put together the chart merely as a way to look at a particular voting pattern (and because I felt like nerding out today). The viewer must draw his or her own conclusions about what the pattern means, or why it is the way it is.

As for the substance of your argument, I tend to agree that "Good chops get the votes," just as I believe it's possible that some stellar chops submitted late in the game get overlooked. Such is life. Trying to mandate or regulate what is essentially a very subjective process - voting - is very tricky business. For all I know, there might be people that value promptness above clever humor or an original concept or consummate technical skill, and throw their votes at the first 25 posts merely because they are first.

In my opinion, if it really bothers folks, they will either get up super early every day, or they'll get advantage, and eventually when there are too many advantage users, and those advantage users who end up on page 7 (because of the sheer number of posts) and don't get votes will complain, and the cycle will repeat ad infinitum. Anybody want to pre-subscribe to Super Advantage?

Yeah how much?
I have been guilty of using my votes up too fast and that's a habit I'm on the way to breaking. When I have used them up too early (typically mid to late on the 2nd day) I almost always have found 2 late chops I definitely would have favored over others.
For example, this little beaut Cynn did late in the Squirrel contest, I was dying for a vote to spare for that one:



On the other hand, I have typically used my votes up before the third day, because I don't like to run the risk of not voting for great chops whatsoever, in case I had to go somewhere and wouldn't be in a position to vote at all, but most of the time that isn't an issue.

More data!



This shows highest vote count per page. As a point of clarification, can somebody tell me what happens when a person edits their post after it's been posted? If it drops out of line as though it were just posted, then these data would be skewed (if anybody did that). Again, it's just data for those that might find it interesting, not editorial.

Nice graph!

Yes, CP, since the changeover of the site, if anyone edits their post after entering, it gets moved. So that does affect our ability to track their positions.

I've got some 2004 stats cooking for posting soon, so keep your eyes peeled (for a chance to say: Ooh! Ahh! Fancy that!" OR to say "That HTUK is SO anal!")

HTUK - Can't wait for the stats. I think the patterns are interesting, whether or not they support or refute any particular controversy. There's an interesting thread somewhere out there about some possible alternative (or additional?) statistical measures. {insert robot noise} Listen to me nerding out!