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Online Voting
I want to throw some thoughts out there.
Yesterday, and again this morning, it was quite obvious that votes suddenly escalated in all 3 categories over a very short period of time. Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t think this is how Wendy and Anna wanted this to be decided since they obviously put some methods in place to prevent this.
Does anyone else feel we are belittling our field by turning a competition into a popularity contest?
Does anyone else feel it insults the hard work of those contestants who qualified for a competition when someone gets in because they had more friends voting for them?
Would YOU be comfortable competing on stage next to these women who worked so hard if you weren’t in the same skill level as the rest of them?
How would you feel as a contestant at this competition if the winner was chosen based on audience cheering or text messaging or even some system of audience voting like they do on some of the shows? Wouldn’t you be insulted if Suzie Smith won because Suzie had more friends in the audience than you did?
How would we feel as a pole community if that were the method of choosing a winner?
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54 Replies
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I witnessed something very similar to this a few months back when a friend of mines daughter made it model finals.
There were 18 girls…..The general public was encouraged to vote online for their selections.
However, I who only voted once-watched the other girls-votes jump up by thousands within hours.
I don’t know if it is possible to have some sort of program speed vote like that but I still found it bordering on "cheating" when it started to become a popularity contest as opposed to the girls being judged based on themselves.
Now, granted modeling is not the same as poling, but the people voting have the same intent.
People should be judged by their presentation not by how many people they know on the internet or have access to some bot type program that will speed their votes past their competitors.I am off to watch the 3 videos as I didn’t even know they were up yet…………..
reenie
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I agree that something is amiss here. One of the videos is from a girl in Connecticut. Why is she a finalist for West Coast? Second, she applied for the East Coast competition and didn’t get in. I thought that the rules stated you could only apply for one competition.
And yes, the video should be 2-3 minutes, but she’s not the only offender. Why have rules when they don’t apply to everyone?
And I do see posts from people stating that they will vote for their favorite girl on every different computer that they can find, which is unfair, and totally cheapens the whole competition. I am quite dissappointed in this whole thing. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif -
I want to be clear that this is not questioning the ethics of the USPDF and is not intended to be a controversy about how the competition is run.
Not everyone will agree with every organization or event but the USPDF has pretty well established itself as a reputable and respected one within the competition circuit.
I’m asked questions of the community itself…what WE are doing.
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There are a lot of pole comps that rely on online voting – pole superstar and IPDFA both do/did. I think the objective of online voting is to get the Community to choose who is the best dancer. I think judges get a lot of flack unfairly by those who don’t get in and their friends/supporters that some organizations chose not to be the bad guy.
There are more than 12 great pole dancers, there are more than 50 great pole dancers! I can’t imagine what it’s like to have the pressure of choosing competitors. I have so much respect for judges and comp organizers.
I think online voting is good if everyone votes fairly and for the person they honestly feel is the best and don’t let bias get in the way. It’s important to vote once and vote fairly – if we all did this then we as a community would have a voice https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif
BTW – please vote for polefit in our popularity contest https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif
http://wdiv.cityvoter.com/polefit-revolution/biz/573166 -
Hi everyone, I don’t want to cause any problems here, but it’s making me really depressed that everywhere I look people are picking on me and only me. It’s like the story of my life. About my video length, I got a new camera, and when I upload it to Windows Movie Maker, it wont play or work, so I couldn’t edit it. Only judge me on the first 3 min then, thats what I figured USPDF would do, because I was told they don’t watch past 3 minutes! Plus I’ve seen MANY other videos that were accepted into competitions that were way over time limits. Plus I wasn’t planning on entering, but I was convinced by my family last minute to enter, just for the hell of it. There is nothing in the rules saying you cannot enter both, plus I’m apparently not verry popular because everyone seems to be against me. I’m sorry I entered and I’m from Connecticut, but in the EMW competition, on the West Coast there were contestants who lived on the East coast too, which made me think it was ok.
I’m sorry you all don’t think I’m good enough to be a contestant, and that I can’t keep up with the others, that really hurts, because I work my ASS off learning pole, I’ve never had a teacher, I had to learn trial and error alone. I practice almost every day, plus I’m tall and not super skinny I’m actually over weight, which makes me have to work really hard. I don’t know what video USPDF would have picked if there was no voting! And I didn’t make the rules! All I know is I work very hard and don’t see why people have to say I don’t deserve it. Soooooo many times I have lost at things, and I think I deserve a chance to compete, and give it my all just as much as anyone else does, and think it’s unfair that everyone is saying I don’t deserve to be in. :*( I thought we were all supposed to cheer each other on and support each other, not say hurtfull things. I feel like crap now.
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None of my comments were directed at you or about you hun! i think you did great and I have seen others go way over time limits – so don’t worry about that – it happens, movie maker sucks!
I do think it’s good that the community gets to speak their mind as long as we all do it fairly https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif
I am proud of everyone!
AND…I thought regionals were just national qualifiers so it didn’t matter which coast you signed up for – there’s a west coast girl in the East Coast comp – I don’t think it matters.
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Raquelle Star…why would you say that "everyone is picking on you" or that anyone "doesn’t think you’re good enough to get in"?
You said we "all" don’t think you’re good enough and I think that’s a pretty unfair accusation to make.
If you read my comment I started with:
votes suddenly escalated in all 3 categories over a very short period of time
Note that I said "all 3" and I did not say any one of the 3 competitors didn’t deserve it. What I don’t care for is turning this into a popularity contest. I’m certain EVERYONE who has entered has put many hard long hours into their training and no one person deserves it more than any other for that reason, but because they are simply performing better than others.
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Empy I can see where your coming from with this. I think when it becomes a ‘let the public decide’, it naturally becomes a popularity contest. Ive experienced that when I would run for things like student council in school. If you werent the popular one, then you were out. But then again think about the American Idol or Americas Got Talent, they are both highly rated shows that rely on viewer vote. But from the things ive heard, its not really a mass vote (I read somewhere that on AI, they will restrict calls from those voting where the person is from). I do like the idea that they gave the pole world a voice on who should get into USPDF.
As for voting where you can, I look at it this way ‘if I was her entering, wouldnt I want people to help me as much as they could to get me in’. I always think as much as I help others, it will come back to me one day. If you were the one waiting to be picked, wouldnt you want your friends to help you out in every way they could? As much as I wanted to help RaquelleStar get in by attacking every computer at the dealer to get in a vote, I didnt. Quite honestly, I got slammed with work and really didnt have alot time to tell my coworkers about the USPDF vote.
As for the timing rule, there are alot of submission vids that went passed the mark – not with USPDF but also EMW too. They are only looking at the time frame they ask for, they could care less what you do after 3:00 mark.
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I want to step in a play the devil’s advocate here.
Excluding of course the situation where someone cheats the system and gets masses of votes by repeatedly voting for themself from different IPs or something… doesn’t the fact that hundreds of people are willing to vote multiple times imply that these people think whoever they vote for is good enough to get in?
Of course some people are likely to support their real life friends, over people they have never met, even if the other is more talented. Also, some people are likely to support the underdog, assuming that the shining stars will be okay, and don’t need their votes. Neither of these are "proper" reasons if you think the only valid reason to vote is based on skill. But I think they are good enough reasons.
We are pole DANCERS therefore our personalities, our stage presence, our costumes, our music, our appearance – they ALL matter, as do our routines, moves, tricks, technique and other things.
It’s not about who can hold onto the pole the longest, or can climb highest. It’s about who entertains and impresses us the most, and who we like watching the most.
If we were trying to see who could lift 40kg the most times, sure, you could say a popularity vote was cheating. But when you are picking the best performer, popularity is already intertwined – IMO anyway.
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Ive experienced that when I would run for things like student council in school
I agree but I also have to say this was when we were kids…I would hope a national competition would be more respected than this and I’m sorry but if my best friend was terrible at pole dancing I would not vote for her.
wouldnt you want your friends to help you out in every way they could?
I can quite honestly say no. I would not want to be on stage if I didn’t match their skill level. I wouldn’t want to beat out others who deserved it just as much as I do because of unfair voting. I’m certain ALL 3 of these women want this just as badly as the others.
If we were trying to see who could lift 40kg the most times, sure, you could say a popularity vote was cheating. But when you are picking the best performer, popularity is already intertwined – IMO anyway.
Valid point but let me say that you actually pointed out that I was not expressing myself correctly. My concern is then not about who is the most popular but about how many votes skyrocketed in a very short period of time in the early morning (or late) hours.
As I said…it was just something to think about and there is no absolute right or wrong in this situation. I guess it’s just about personal beliefs and what you think is right or wrong.
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All I will say is that I am very surprised that they opted to go this route after the fiasco that was Pole Star.
And, no, I am not voting.
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I honestly haven’t even been watching the polls and I really just want it to be over with. I feel like you are suggesting that either a.) I’m cheeting, which I’m not because not only am I an honest person, I’m a computyer moron! And b.) Your saying whoever wins doesn’t deserve it if they win by popularity. So basically, if I were to win, I’m not tallented enough to share the stage with the others, because my friends voted for me even though I’m apparently a "terrible dancer"? I don’t know if I’m just taking it wrong but it seems all the crap comments are toward me! Why don’t I deserve it? It seems this whole thread was started to bash me. I want to say thank you to those who support me and stuck up for me I really appreciate it!
It just seems like everyone else trying to achieve they’re dreams gets support, but people just want to bring me down. Guess what, its not working, its only making me stronger, and I will prove that I deserve to ahcieve my dream!
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Raquelle…where did I name you? Please read what I wrote and don’t turn this into something it is not!
Quoting myself here:
votes suddenly escalated in all 3 categories
Why are you trying to turn this into something between you and I?
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OK…on second thought. I am backing out of this topic as it is turning into something different from what I started and that is very disappointing to me.
Anyone who knows me or even knows OF me knows that I am fair, ethical, and honest. I’m not going to get dragged into something I don’t care for, so I’ve made my point and anyone who READS what I wrote will see that.
Best of luck to all 3 contestants. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif
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I’m not trying to start any drama with you believe me! All I said was it seemed like you were implying those things being directed toward me, I don’t even know you, why would I want to start anything with you????????? It just seemed to me that all the negative comments were directed toward me, not only here, but on facebook and whatever, I’m done trying to defend myself all the time, I give up posting here, thanks for your support
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