Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/polls.ez

Maybe they took it down because Legume was doing pretty good percentage wise and felt the need to shut it down before he actually won. Jack

From what I read, they select the AOY now, maybe to avoid the wrong guy getting voted in:

"What is AOY? At the end of the year, one of the artist of the month will be selected for the title of Artist of the Year. (The prize will be announced closer to the event."

But maybe it's a server glitch and the poll will re-appear.

This looks really, really bad. What the fuck is going on?

I agree with you Mosca, this really doesn't look to good. Jack

An AOY article was Pended and the Poll may have been too by mistake.

I've communicated to the other admins.

-JH.

Thanks Jeff Jack

Guys, RR Admins and Mods vote for the AOY. That's been the plan for some time. It was a mistake to set it up as a public poll and we apologize for the confusion. TC

Jeff, Will the poll be reposted ? Will the votes that already have been submitted be taken into account ? I really wish one of the admins would have posted something about this. Courtesy, if nothing else. ~S

I thought that members voted for their favorites and staff chose from there? But your way is much much better - don't let any "rabble" get showcased ok? Because too much diversity of art might spoil this place for the newbies.... ;-D

Whoa ! Crosspost ! So why did you guys decide to decide this for yourselves ? ~S

Hmmm.....Why indeed?

"It was a mistake to set it up as a public poll and we apologize for the confusion." Err, why? Something wrong with the public choosing whom they would champion as artist of the year?

Yet another dumbass control-freak fuckup from the PTB. Don't they have better things to do than hijack the AOY contest? Legume, I hope you do contact the Tenn A.G.; this reeks of fraud--you can't offer prizes as a promotion and then give them to employees, relatives, etc. It's dishonest and worse, it's insulting; clearly they think we're not smart enough to select the "correct" AOY, so now we'll have one selected for us. Clearly, the thought of Legume as AOY scares them shitless because he doesn't fit their heavily postworked "corporate image."

So after taking the time to look through the gallerys of the nominees and taking the time to actually VOTE, now my vote doesnt mean shit? Rest assured I will NEVER vote in any contest or promotion you guys come up with again. First you guys take away the nomination process from the members of this site, now the final voting is taken away too? Stick your contests and AOM/AOY where the sun don't shine cause this is one member thats PISSED! I VOTED! A LOT of other members VOTED as well, if you guys can't get your shit together how is that our fault?

Hmmm...have we seen this before....

Hehe, I don't have to say what I think, Spiritbro did it already. ;)

I suppose when the admins vote they'll have an old Soviet style ballot with one name on it? Isn't it a shame that we, the great unwashed, proved that we are incapable of voting the right way and had to have that taken away from us? This reeks more than a cattle barn in July.

Just when I thought the moral standards of the back offices here could not sink any lower! It really is sickmaking.

Legume. How close were you to the lead? I didn't see the poll.

He was in 2nd place running about 2 points behind--maybe a difference of 10 votes or so. The poll mysteriously vanished when threads started popping up here and there, urging people to vote. It's painfully obvious what happened.

The last I saw it was: ToxicAngel at 25% Legume at 23% Legume went from 13% to 23% in less than a day and then the plug was pulled. This did not surprise me at all, in fact I predicted it ! There was absolutely no way that Legume would be allowed to win................

"There was absolutely no way that Legume would be allowed to win................" This says it in a nutshell. The admins are terrified by the prospect of Legume as AOY--how will they write the press release? They're basically lobotomizing the whole site.

Some of you probably remember I used to work here for a couple years. So let me explain how something like this can happen: There are several people doing the coding for the site. Those people are not really involved in the activies they are coding. What I mean is. They don't really know what they are setting up a lot of the time. What probably happened was someone (coding personnel) posted the poll by accident. And nobody who was involved in deciding whether it was supposed to be posted or not caught it. Then one of the members IM'd the Admins. to complain when Legume was getting close to taking the lead. Causing the Admins. to notice that the thing was live. When it shouldn't have been posted in the first place. Yes. I've recieved many complaints as a mod. here from members angry that Legume was getting notoriety for posting "Unusual" images. And making the site look like a joke. So you can see how this can happen. Because similar things have happened before. So I don't buy the conspiracy theory. But I can't say it isn't possible. Anything is possible here. ;-) ScottA

If the poll is not re-instated, then the title of AOY is totally worthless. withdrawing our franchise in mid polling is wrong and everyone knows it!

Well it's nice to get that cleared up.....(it's sarcasm)

"Subject: x2000? i have to warn you... Instant Message from firefly: I'm surprised at your actions regarding audre and very disappointed too. It's one thing to voice your opinions on the AOY but to purposely lead a personal attack on someone is just mean spirited and hateful. I honestly didn't think you were capable of that x2000. I always looked forward to seeing you and your posts... I'm sorry, please consider this your second official warning :( (Sent 12/21 10:28)" I did NOT attack Audre, merely repeated what is established fact. Audre's actions in Audre's own words. I did no more than the equivalent of repeating a story from the news. And my only purpose was to prove that Renderosity have a history of "fixing" contests. Honestly, I think Audre had good intentions, though she did the wrong thing. Far more troublesome is the way the rest of the PTB covered it up and even insulted the members, as if Renderosity's lack of ethics was our fault. If anyone is seriously considering legal action, I still have the screen capture of Audre's confession in the admin forum (of rigging the emoticon contest, if you haven't read the OT thread), which proves beyond a doubt that Renderosity has already rigged contests before. And I'll be happy to send a copy to anyone who asks. This isn't about Audre, Firefly, it's about ethics.

If the "plan for some time" was not to post an open poll, then who told the coding staff to code it? Surely they didn't just do it on their own. Doesn't hold water. What does make sense is that some members (read merchants, mods and admins) complained, and the voting was yanked. That part I believe. So, now other members are complaining. Who do you listen to? There's no conspiracy theory--it's obvious what happened. What there is, is an attempt on the part of the admins to cover it up, and sweep the whole business under the rug. Did they think we wouldn't notice? That no one would care? Yet another insult to your intelligence, courtesy of the PTB.

"who told the coding staff to code it? Surely they didn't just do it on their own. Doesn't hold water." Mosca. How can you say this stuff without being behind the scenes to see for yourself? I'm telling you. I've been there. I've seen it before. The guys who code some of the stuff have posted things by mistake before. This isn't something new. I know it sounds crazy But: I'VE SEEN IT!!!!!!!!! Why the hell do you think I quit? I'll tell you why. Because I couldn't deal with the all-out incompetence. As far as bone headed mistakes....hell they wrote the book on that here. But I'll defend them to the end when people accuse them of being unfair. They really try hard to please everyone (and that's part of the problem).

man, I love this place :)

"So I don't buy the conspiracy theory." Didn't expect you too ! Its gotta be tough to remove the Jack Boots once you have worn them for so long.

ScottA, the point is not whether or not someone goofed on the coding, but the fact that the Admins have changed what has in the past been a public poll to a private one. That is the problem, and it has nothing at all to do with the programming guys.

Yes. I agree Phoenyx, I just wanted to show that this kind of thing happens and has happened. And probably will happen again. The fact still remains that there was a screw up. And although I persoanlly don't think they need to re-instate the poll (but it might not be a bad idea). They need to do something for all involved to show they are sorry for the mistake. Of course. History states that whatever they try to do to make up for the mistake. The members will still post angry messages. So I don't really feel sorry for them, because no matter what they get. They'll just complain about it anyway.

If management intended the "Artist of the year" to be decided by them "some time ago", then it was their responsibility to make the relevant announcement "some time ago". They didn't. Obviously, the only honest way they can make up for this mistake is to allow the votes of those who took the time to vote to count. And the only way to do that is to put the poll back up and allow the voting to continue. That way no harm is done. Deciding "the hell with you people who took the time to vote, we forgot to tell you the AOY was going to become our arbitrary corporate choice, we accidentally posted the poll, but that's all just tough luck to you" is nothing but stabbing your supporters in the back. There is no realistic way you can defend yourself from accusations of having closed the vote because you didn't like the result. If it was a mistake, it was too large a mistake. Besides which, regardless of whether it was a mistake or not, what exactly is the message supposed to be? The only reason that people are here and contribute their creative efforts here is because they feel it is an open forum where they can share their work with their peers. You are basically saying "well, it is no longer open. We control everything. You people stand or fall here according to our whim. If you don't like it, tough. Go elsewhere". That is the message you are sending. I don't believe that in the shuffle, that obvious message is being overlooked.

PINK PONY knows the score. PINK PONY has a judgement waiting.

Well if the programmer screwed up then the site should live with the mistake and leave the voting for AOY the way it was. You just can't change stroke in midstream. If Legume wins, and you guys aren't happy about it - take it up with the programmer who screwed up and take steps next year to make sure that it does not happen again. You guys are only compounding the mistake by handling this way - just like you guys compounded the mistake with the emoticons contest for OT.

"How can you say this stuff without being behind the scenes to see for yourself?" I was asking a question, based on your supposition that this was an "innocent" mistake. I'll ask it again: how could a programmer, completely on his own, without any input from a site admin, write and post a poll and put it prominently on the front page? And why would it then STAY up for a couple of days, until Big Scary Freak Legume started to make a race of it? It seems pretty obvious to me that the decision to put the poll up was made at the admin level, just like the decision to take it down. Nobody currently on staff has said anything to indicate otherwise. Obviously the PTB thought no one would notice, or care very much,and now they're once again insulting our intelligence with some lame explanation. What an unadulterated crock of shit.

Got that right Legume, two very agonizing steps. Too many hoops to jump through to post an article and a poll to go with the article for this to be a mere mistake. Jack -speaking from experience with bondware.

ScottA, Your final sentence shows your utter contempt for the whole Renderosity community, so how do you expect anyone to take your words seriously ? Are you sure you quit ? Maybe you were just asked to step down quietly because you couldn't keep your disgust for the community quiet any longer ? Anyway, I can now file your opinion in the place it belongs.........

Thank you Badco. God bless and Happy Holidays.

"So I don't really feel sorry for them, because no matter what they get. They'll just complain about it anyway." The customer is always wrong.

Can someone explain to me how, if there was to be no poll in the first instance, who would have given the list of the twelve artists and the instruction to code for the poll that was posted. Someone must have given the instruction to code and someone must have intended that we were going to have a poll? Own up! whoever is responsible for this disgusting mess? Pulling the poll is a gutless act and will damage the creditability of the site once again. I just can't believe we are being pissed on again after all that has passed this year. What is the management thinking of?

"So I don't really feel sorry for them, because no matter what they get. They'll just complain about it anyway." With the greatest of respect Scott! who are you talking about?

What doesn't make any sense is this, the mods nominate the artist of the month and then the renderosity members vote on a winner out of those nominated that month. So we still got some say in who was the winner. With this AOY, they are taking it totally out of our hands. To not vote on the AOY from the years monthly winners is absurd, to say the least ! We voted for the monthly winners but are now not allowed to vote for the AOY ? There is absolutely no reason, what so ever, for them to take the vote away from us, unless they have an agenda, and that agenda, it seems, does not include Legume ! Unfortunately, Legume is not the best marketing tool. They can get a hell of a lot more mileage if someone else is named, Artist of the Year ! Sorry Legume, but controversy does not sell well in the marketplace. imho

IIRC mods do NOT nominate for AOM, the members do

WEll I know for a fact this thread and all our complaints are falling on deaf ears. Whenever Rosity makes a terrible blunder do they fix it? Nope never. Do they admit they fucked up? Nope never. If they made the decision a long time ago to take away our voting rights for AOY then maybe a general announcement would have been nice. Something along the lines of, We regret to inform you all that we have decided to name AOY ourselves. We feel that the members of this site are far to ignorant to vote properly and would tarnish this wonderful site of ours. Thank you all for your contributions to the freestuff areas and thanks to the merchants for your contributions to our pockets, but your opinions and efforts arent needed or wanted in regards to AOY, now go F*ck your selves. Gee I didnt see any anouncement like that anywhere did any of you?As I said before I always tried to take the time to vote in AOM and AOY. I actually looked through the gallerys of those nominated made my decision based on what I saw and VOTED! Now after taking the time to vote in this years AOY Rosity says my vote isnt worth shit. Well the hell with voting in the future. I know one thing. Im certainly not a good enough artist to get nominated for anything, but if I were, I would be removing my name from the list right about now. I wouldnt want anything to do with this shit. Great job Rosity, Merry Fucking Christmas.

Oh and if anyone is wondering where X2000 is he got banned for a week.

gee what a surprise ;) lol You know people there are plenty of other online communities out there - you might want to shop around and find one that does think you count.

Amidst all this controversy, so far the site management remains silent on explaining how it could make a decision "for some time," or what it means by saying that a public vote was a "mistake." It seems to translate as: "There's no way in Hell we're going to let Legume win this contest after he mocked our attempts at producing art." I might not be as bitter if Renderosity would answer my e-mail, but I guess it'd be a bit naive to expect them to openly communicate with any of their users.

"WEll I know for a fact this thread and all our complaints are falling on deaf ears. " Not completely deaf, Spirit - they managed to ban x2000 for having the temerity to remember one of their other admin hoseups. ;]