Prizes and Contest Idea?

[Sherry]

I've been contemplating our next contest and I'm thinking it won't be so much of a face painting contest this time.  I'm thinking more along the lines of our community and the prizes will go to members who post and mean so much to it.  Possibly a "Best Poster", "Most Helpful Member" or possibly from an idea I saw on the Snaz list, "Lurkers turned Poster".  I know we have plenty of members and I would to see everyone jump in and start posting.  Do you like these ideas or have any of your own?

What prizes would you like to see offered in this type of contest?  You can check out the possible products at www.funfacepaint.com.

[sparklingfaces]

I can kind of see where this would help with participation, but in all honesty I would rather see "meaty" posts than TONS of one or two word posts. I think contests like these really promote more spam-ish comments such as " that's really cool" or " yeah I agree with XYZ" or even " never tried it - sorry ".

By no means am I saying that everyone who makes these comments are spaming, but I think when you have a contest like that, it's just what it leads to. You log into see that 150 people think "that's cool", and the REAL constructive comments get lost in the batch.

If you were to give an "award" out - for example - " most helpful", I think it should be done amoung the current contributors. Those who are helpful without any agenda or knowledge of any gain... just because that's just who they are - helpful. ( you know who are! )

One of the things I think would be helpful with participation is not to run your contest for so long.... alot of people tend to wait until the last minute to enter. I actually check back every two days or so to see if there are any new entries. ( yes I know I'm lame - I just love seeing everyone's work )

Another way to promote the noobs to post ( in my oppinion ) is to have beginners, moderate, professional catagories. Those who are new might be a bit shy or embarassed to enter after seeing some of the ladies work on here. I know I am! I imediately backed out of the rainbow contest after seeing that rainbow dragon... realy? come on! How am I suppose to compete against that?!

Didn't mean to offend you if I did - just my thinking out loud

[sparklingfaces]

oh yeah - and some people come back often but just never have anything to say - I know I dont always have  helpful advice or experience for others learn from.... I wouldn't stress it if the posting is in a lull ... it comes in waves.

( after posting this, I realize this is another thing "spammers" do that irratate me... post consecutively instead of keeping their post together or editing their original post... dont know if it urks anyone else... might just be me - but hey look! got up to 21 posts! lol )

[Sherry]

These smaller posts don't really irritate me, I'm just happy to know there are others out there and I'm not on here talking to myself.

When you said rainbow dragon, I had to go back and check the contest because I didn't remember a rainbow dragon on there.  I see that was one of Cat's posts, but she didn't actually enter the contest.  She just wanted to post rainbow designs because she loves them.  (Cat, you're still welcome to enter your designs in the contest, btw.    ) 

I don't think the contest is just about winning and I'd sure love it if you entered your designs whether you think you're good enough or not. (I know you are, btw having seen the awesome work you do.    )  I think the thing I like about the contests is getting new ideas from new designs or seeing another way an artist will do an old design.  This is so helpful in our gigs.  I don't know about you, but when I vote on a design, I don't vote for any that look like they'd take a million years to do.  I, personally am looking for real, in the field designs.  The 3 things I think about when I vote are that they are well done, are practical for an event and I happen to like.

I might run shorter contests if I had more help on the board and if there was more participation in the contests, but as of right now I like them running longer because I have a lot on my plate at the moment.  I'm looking for a moderator to help with things if you or anyone else is interested Vi.    Congrats on your post count.   

[sparklingfaces]

That's cool, I'm a member of a Hair Forum and on there we call posts 3 words and under ( such as " I like it" ) the "peanut gallery"... It's a really big community so it urks me to visit that forum. I wasn't talking about this forum.

Yeah, I understand that the contest is not just about winning... but I think for noobs, it's nice to have atleast a fighting chance....lol.... but I understand what you mean about how you vote... but honestly, I usually vote for the one that makes me go " hot darn - that's awesome". And they do tend to be the ones a bit more complicated in design. I think if someone spent 45 mins painting an awesome design, even though it may not be a design I could use for a festival event, They should definately be recognized for it. That was alot of time and effort.

Oh! I would love to help out as a moderator... what does the job consist of?