Jeff brought this up below, and since I also am interested in the answer, I thought I'd go ahead and start this: The question is: is it OK to vote for your own contest entry? I understand that there is an expectation that you will not. I am wondering if this is essential, for instance in the banner contest. This is more or less idle wondering, but I am curious about what y'all think. Sue

Hmmm....I think it's probably not the right thing to do...but that's just IMHO....personally I don't vote in the category one of my images may be in, unless there's an image by someone else that I like better than my own.

Guess it always was a grade-school thing to not vote for self. I didn't understand it was a formal expectation, so I imagine others didn't either. [As it turns out, I personally handle it the same way as Michelle. That's why I get so many zeros... :-( ] I really do not think it should be a big issue with as many folks as we now have visiting the Forum.

I go the same way as Michelle also. As Misha said, there are so many people visiting the forum that it probably isn't that big an issue, but it is interesting to see other peoples views on it. :-)>

I go with the others here.

Vote for the best image, if one honestly thinks that her/his work is the best, why give vote for second best. Its again, question of one's honor and honestly. I would say, like Misha, it doesn't matter, but still, everybody should have right to vote anybody they want, including self. .n

Well, if I don't vote for my own work nobody will ;)

I go the Michelle route, but Niko does have a good point. However, the way I see it is that it's other peoples opinions that count, irrelevant of how I feel about my own work. If it IS good enough, I won't need to vote for it coz other people will - so I'm sporting and vote for the next best...... saying that, I haven't come anywhere at all in the ratings since we changed it from the 'e-mail / IM' system after winning 3 months in a row...sniff Probably coz I haven't entered many this year either after seeing the other brilliant entries popping up! (",)

Sue thanks for starting this thread hope I havent stirred it up. I think the feeling is vote for what you consider the best if thats yours then vote for yourself. This sounds good to me. Now I better go have a look and vote. :O)

Jeff, well, you triggered it, and I think that is something to be proud of. I haven't been here long myself, certainly don't know everything I need to know (including apparently how to count LOL), and also, philosophically my stance is that everyone is better off if the cards are laid on the table. In an unfair world, it is the best you can do. And look at all the interesting points that came up. Like Jordy I also wondered if the form of the voting made a difference. In other words, when you vote by e-mail you really can vote only once (always assuming 1 screen name per carbon-unit LOL), but the other way, you could (I guess?) vote repeatedly for yourself to make sure you won. I've never tried voting more than once, so I'm not sure that there are electronic safeguards against such. It would be really dumb to force a meaningless win that way but certainly not outside the realm of possibility for some. None of our regulars I think would wish to win that way, but we are not a closed group. And if our regulars aren't voting in the contests they enter, then they are being deprived of their voice, and so are the rest of us, seems to me. They might honestly think their own is best, and they might honestly think someone else's is best. Just the fact that they are willing compete makes me interested in their opinion, you know? And, I see images I prefer to my own (because they are clearly better) every damn day of my life--it's the agony and the ecstasy of making images, if you ask me... Sooooooo what's the right thing, what's the best thing? The easiest thing is to leave it that the honorable thing to do is not to vote for yourself. But does it follow that you shouldn't even vote at all in that contest? By the way I think we have thirteen votes in for the Banner Contest. I have not voted, Alpha has not voted, and 3 of the 4 contestants have not. Just to emphasize my point, the contestant who DID vote, did NOT vote for their own image. Sue

Sue I never considered the voting system would let you vote more than once for a image and in the last contest I asked myself how I should vote, I concluded not to vote for my own but to vote for the best of the rest. But not to vote because you have entered seems unfair both to the entrant and to the work you would vote for. Thinking on this made me ask this time and I feel now the correct and fairest way is to vote for the best and if that is yours, then thats OK. Would you and Alpha like to have the final word on this? Bigg Jeff :O)

Jeff I don't know about having the last word on voting policies, and anyway it is nothing I can rule on without discussing it with the old man (Alpha)--that policy is clear anyway. In terms of the banner contest ONLY, I would say that people should vote for the best banner even if it is their own design because: a. it is not possible to "stuff the ballot box"; b. the stakes are low, and there is no reason not to resubmit an entry for the NEXT banner contest (well, no formal reason); c. if you don't vote for the one you like best, or don't vote at all, then we (your mods) only know what some of you think--we don't get as a good a sample of the population, statistically speaking; d. and finally, because it is possible that, sampling schmampling, we get the same result, if you follow me?

umm, with the voting system in place on the competitions on the contest page, you can only vote once, no repeat votes, assuming u only have one user name.