Our 2023 Holiday Event is Here!

[Aquilla]

I’m completely on board with private voting, takes a lot of the anxiety away from it as others have said.

I also agree that I think the involved people should be disqualified. That being said, I also understand staff trying to keep the identities private to protect the responsible people from bashing, removing them from the competition now would out whoever did it. Maybe a participation cooldown/ exclusion for the next event could be a solution, similar to how cheaters have been excluded from egg hunts in the past (if their cover was blown).

Having more than one vote might also help. People can’t be prevented from simply taking their campaigns (can’t believe there are campaigns for an art contest over pixels on an AC forum lmao) to other private messengers, but having more votes might at least take some pressure off. If someone’s one vote is a tiebreaker, it can be uncomfortable deciding who to give it to. Having the voting private is already a great step to eliminating this bias.

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

I love these little competitions because everyone is so creative and makes some STUNNING artwork and its super fun to participate! This is really sad and honestly even makes me feel really bad because I did vote for someone who messaged me. Its a complete misstep on my part and we should be conscious of our actions.

I hope that all polls and events will be fair in the future, I won't let anyone deter me from honesty! Its really good that everyone as a community agrees on staying genuine, its really nice to see Revoted

 

[BetsySundrop]

Revoted! After looking through the entries, I ended up voting for the same ones as before. I voted for some absolute masterpieces, and for some adorable fun.

I love that the voting is hidden. I would really love being able to pick more than one.
It's just too hard to decide!

Some of the art is just amazing, but then some of the fun creativity is also amazing... tbh I could see me voting all of them for different categories... best art, best use of lighting/shading, most creative, most adorable, most hilarious.

I'd never leave the voting booth....

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

I'm back from vacation, and have absolutely no idea what is going on.

 

[Violet Witch]

I had no idea private bribery was going on but I love the idea of private votes as it puts everyone on a level playing field regardless of their aesthetic.

 

[.: Meri :.]

I love these little competitions because everyone is so creative and makes some STUNNING artwork and its super fun to participate! This is really sad and honestly even makes me feel really bad because I did vote for someone who messaged me. Its a complete misstep on my part and we should be conscious of our actions.

I hope that all polls and events will be fair in the future, I won't let anyone deter me from honesty! Its really good that everyone as a community agrees on staying genuine, its really nice to see Revoted

It's very difficult for a lot of people to say no to a friend, someone they trust/respect, or even someone they simply like/recognize. Receiving private campaigning messages like that puts people into deeply uncomfortable situations, and that's especially so when you're still quite young.

If you ask me, the only one who should feel guilty in this situation is the one who tried to pressure/manipulate a child into voting for them. Over pretty pixel squares on an Animal Crossing forum, no less. Your kindness and positive energy is greatly appreciated around here, and I'm so sorry someone tried to take advantage of that.

 

[Croconaw]

I went ahead and re-voted in the polls. I haven't received any messages from people asking me to vote for their entries. Looking through the entries, there is always one that stands out to me, and that is the one I end up voting for.

 

[Biyaya]

I wonder if not disqualifying the users who were campaigned was to keep the public of TBT from figuring out who it was and cancelling them and also in case the users were not aware of or supportive of their friends campaigning for them. With that in mind, I think this was handled well to avoid extra drama.

 

[Croconaw]

I wonder if not disqualifying the users who were campaigned was to keep the public of TBT from figuring out who it was and cancelling them and also in case the users were not aware of or supportive of their friends campaigning for them. With that in mind, I think this was handled well to avoid extra drama.

I think not disqualifying these users for this specific round was a good idea. I know I'd be curious who was eliminated and would use process of elimination. I think the staff handled it well. I absolutely think, however, the users should be disqualified from future nominations. I can't say how many, but at least for the entirety of this year.

 

[oak]

I wonder if not disqualifying the users who were campaigned was to keep the public of TBT from figuring out who it was and cancelling them and also in case the users were not aware of or supportive of their friends campaigning for them. With that in mind, I think this was handled well to avoid extra drama.

I noticed one entry has been removed, so it seems they were disqualified. Unless there was multiple people? I'm not fully in the loop of who was involved.

 

[Roxxy]

I don’t know what has gone on as I haven’t received any pms. As I am blessed to have friends including some of the greatest artists here, it is so hard voting but the artists who pour their heart and soul into their entries an honest win and acknowledgment of being the best is what is important. All my love and respect to the finalists. You are amazing and so talented

 

[idiotdoomspiral]

Hi all.

The staff team has been presented with evidence that many of the current polls from TBT's 2023 Stole-iday Season contests have had their votes manipulated, in the form of both mass private messages and bribes.

im crying imagine attempting to bribe people on a niche animal crossing forum

 

[Alolan_Apples]

Just letting you know, this wasn’t the first time something like this happened on an official site event. In fact, there were a couple of other cheating dramas in the past too. I’m not sure if it’s collectibles in general, certain rare collectibles, or the trophy collectibles (including animated ones) that drive users to this point, but this is unacceptable.

 

[Biyaya]

I noticed one entry has been removed, so it seems they were disqualified. Unless there was multiple people? I'm not fully in the loop of who was involved.

Oh! I didn’t realize that! I just noticed several people saying they should be, so I thought to mention my perspective so they would hopefully feel better about the decision not to. But if they were disqualified, that makes perfect sense!

I think not disqualifying these users for this specific round was a good idea. I know I'd be curious who was eliminated and would use process of elimination. I think the staff handled it well. I absolutely think, however, the users should be disqualified from future nominations. I can't say how many, but at least for the entirety of this year.

Exactly! But I feel like some people would possibly start ostracizing them. I absolutely agree on repercussions of some sort. I figured there were some kind of behind the scenes consequences in place in the least.

 

[Croconaw]

Just letting you know, this wasn’t the first time something like this happened on an official site event. In fact, there were a couple of other cheating dramas in the past too. I’m not sure if it’s collectibles in general, certain rare collectibles, or the trophy collectibles (including animated ones) that drive users to this point, but this is unacceptable.

I mean, given the nature of the site in the past that doesn't surprise me. (2012-2016 era, to clarify) It does, however, surprise me that it happened today.

 

[Oblivia]

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to make a quick statement after reading through all the replies here. We can't give out specific details for what I'm sure are obvious reasons, but I wanted to stress that there were multiple people involved in the vote manipulation, and most if not all of the action taken against the offending users will not be obvious to those outside the situation. I know curiosity is only natural in these situations, but please try not to speculate on who may have done what as this can cause unfair finger-pointing that someone may not entirely deserve.

I'd also like to remind everyone that the people involved in this are still people, and are still your fellow forum members. No one is debating that their actions were misguided or undeserving of consequences, but I feel like the point has been made and there's no need to make these people feel any worse than I'm sure they already do.

These situations are always frustrating and upsetting for everyone involved. Let's just try to maintain some sense of community here and remember that making mistakes is part of being human.

 

[-Blue-]

I don't know the community here well enough to know who is popular or friends with whom, but since I won a place for my cookies and Halloween stuff once in a community vote and that I have no friend, I still have hope.

Of course. I don't mean that it's impossible, but I've noticed it on a few of the events that something seemed off. Like favoritism was in play (or in this extreme case manipulation and bribes) Because there would be amazing pieces that didn't get many votes and or weren't nominated because they didn't get enough likes in the submission thread.

For example how are we to know that this issue didn't happen way before during the submission thread? I don't know, I never thought people would stoop this low for digital trinkets. All of the nomination threads have had some entries cut out and the ornament one had the most because it was halved. It's a shame not only for the people who worked hard to get nominated, but what about the members who worked really hard and could had gotten nominated if foulplay wasn't involved? I always work hard on my entries. Granted I know I'll never get nominated, but it still puts a damper on the whole situation regardless if I have a chance or not.


This issue also resurfaced memories of members messaging me about this very situation from like 2020 or 2021 before I was serious about the forum or the events. I just ignored their messages and didn't think anything of it. So this has probably been an ongoing issue and no one was caught until now. I apologize for not bringing it to the staffs attention, because I honestly forgot until now.

I've always thought that even the submission threads should be private until the deadline. I don't know, I feel like not everyone is going to continuously look at the submissions so people who submit later seem like they'd be at a disadvantage. Just my two cents.


Overall its a messy situation, but the staff handled it very well.

 

[Alolan_Apples]

Will you consider these rules in future contests too? So we can prevent anything like this from happening again?

 

[Aniko]

Just letting you know, this wasn’t the first time something like this happened on an official site event. In fact, there were a couple of other cheating dramas in the past too. I’m not sure if it’s collectibles in general, certain rare collectibles, or the trophy collectibles (including animated ones) that drive users to this point, but this is unacceptable.

I wasn't aware of any of this but on another forum anime related some people were openly cheating for a badge and called people who wanted to play fair and square "pompous" "arrogant" and "gatekeepers". ???! Can we just keep having fun?

 

[-Blue-]

I wasn't aware of any of this but on another forum anime related some people were openly cheating for a badge and called people who wanted to play fair and square "pompous" "arrogant" and "gatekeepers". ???! Can we just keep having fun?

I remember back when I went to this Sega forum there was this voting event and some of the nominees went to other sites to get randoms to vote for them. It back fired because the randos registered and voted against them lol.