FAQ
Who are you and why did you suddenly switch to this informal format?
Hi I'm Shannon, and I'm the Deputy Director (fancy name for second in charge). I'm the (wo)man behind the curtain. I write most of the content on this website, and I design the pages and themes. So if it looks terrible, I'm to blame. But if it looks good, I'm also to blame! I'm also the one who designs the contests and contest pages, which is probably why you're reading this in the first place. I swapped to this informal format because this is where you can expect me to just be myself when responding to your questions.
I am the hostess of these contests, so it's my job to obtain prizes or donors of prizes, organize the contest format, come up with the rules and standards and voting methods, and create the pages and databases in which to do that. I then execute this by announcing the contest, promoting it, doing the behind the scenes work and sorting, and then publishing the results for everyone to see. Under no circumstances am I ever allowed to vote or participate in these contests. The guild leader also does not vote, judge, or participate. His role is to review my methods and ensure I am hosting a good, clean competition. He's an accountant, so nothing gets past that dude.
If you have any questions for me, feel free to drop them here to be added to the FAQ if I find them relevant enough to be put here.
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Why should we trust you to be fair with raffles or contests?
Good question, and it's my opinion that you should always be suspect of everything you come in contact with, within reason. It's a sign of wisdom not mistrust to check your sources and verify the things you see and hear in order to avoid being scammed or misinformed. We want people to audit our contests, because we're 100% certain you're more likely to find our methods fair when you see the results in action and read why we're doing things the way we do it.
What we'll do to make sure you can stay informed with our process:
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Raffles will have a public ledger available for anyone to see. You can see exactly how everything is balanced, and every donation to the raffle is recorded. This way you can be sure we aren't siphoning off resources or cooking the books. Our raffle ledger was created by an accountant and is regularly audited by him to ensure no errors.
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Contest results will always be public. Who voted for who will not be public, because no one should feel penalized for voting how they honestly feel.
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I am the only person who will see your information during contest judging or when you cast a vote, and I steadfastly refuse to share that information. Much like any professional (like say, your accountant or lawyer), you're all my clients in a manner of speaking and ensuring that you get what you deserve is my role in this relationship we're developing through the FAQ page. This prevents judges who may be biased against you from voting against you, and prevents judges who may have bias for you from judging in your favor.
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I will share your account/character name & submitted images in these circumstances: I will share your name if you are a winner of any prize only when the results are finalized and published. This will include being published to the XHSA guild website with your submitted images displayed, as well as the information being made public to Reddit, or announced in game at live events. Should we decide to stream, prize winners may also have their information announced there. If you cast a vote on any contest, only I can see your name and who you voted for, and that information will not be shared.
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I do not vote, and I do not influence the process unless it becomes absolutely necessary for the contest to move forward. I will however intervene if I feel like the judges are using criteria or biases that go against the rules I've set. This process will not be to invalidate your entry, but to remove the judge immediately and replace them with someone I feel can be more fair, and restart the voting process from the beginning to ensure that everyone that judge voted against or for has a fair outcome.
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We are constantly seeking new ways to improve our process. If you have suggestions, feel free to drop me a line via the contact form or in game at Shabangbang.9172. Keep in mind that I try to stick to resources that are free to use, easy for the user, and create a design that reduces user bias, as well as shows the results in a way that can be displayed openly for viewers.
So, what process DO you use for contest submissions?
Oh my oh my, another good question. Here is how (and why) we do what we do!
Initial Phase: Submissions are made through the website using a built-in database with metrics I created myself. I create a folder to hold all of the submission images. These submissions are then downloaded by me and sorted into sub-folders titled with your name on it. Each image is labeled with your theme name and a letter indicating what view the shot was submitted in.
Judging Phase: Images are then posted to a group chat containing myself and no less than three judges. These images will then have emojis automatically posted to them where the judges can react to each image.
The reactions indicate 6 different criteria and whether or not the poster meets those criteria. These tallies are then added up and added to the name of the contestant's folder. The contestants with the highest 10 scores will move onto the finals.
Should more than 10 finalists be chosen due to a tie, I will cast my own vote only if I cannot find a person to step in to cast their votes on the tied contestants. Should ties come up consistently through voting, it's possible more than 10 may make it to finals.
The reason for using judges during the initial phase is due to the large amount of submissions these contests generally see. Last year 60 were received from a closed roster of less than 200 people, and that would be very difficult to display in a fair manner and create a project that could be voted on without creating the typical "first/last" bias you often see. (People tend to vote for the first images they see that are decent, or the last ones they see, when displayed in large amounts.)
Voting Phase: Images for the 10 finalists will be posted into a display gallery. A google form will be presented for users to vote on. All guild mates will be allowed to vote. If this is for a contest including people from outside of the guild, the voting will still be limited to the guild.
The guild leader does not influence any of these phases, and only reviews my work to make sure that my metrics and requirements fit our goals, image, and criteria, as well as to make sure they are fair and balanced.
Why do you only let guild mates vote on private AND public submissions?
Well, because it's the most fair system we could come up with, and here's why!
This is to prevent voter manipulation. If it were entirely 100% up to me and I thought it was suitable, I would let you guys pick any day! However, imagine you're a little guy in the community. You're not well known, but you have great fashion sense. Let's say a Twitch streamer or Youtuber decides to participate in the contest, and tries to get their followers to vote for them. That's not fair to anyone. Not to you, the participants, the donors, or even me the host. No one wins in that scenario except the person who manipulated the votes. This counts equally so for leaders of large guilds, etc. It's the same reason why cases are tried by juries rather than the court of public opinion. So let XHSA be your jury, because under no circumstances will we manipulate votes.
Should anyone attempt to manipulate votes, they will be barred from participation in all contests current and future and depending on the extent and intent of their behavior, receive disciplinary action.
Is this just a way for leaders to give away shit to your friends?
There are much faster, easier, and foolproof ways to do such a thing that wouldn't involve weeks worth of writing, website styling, photoshopping, farming gold and items for prizes. Probably a few ways to do it that wouldn't ruin my reputation or result in me being demoted or kicked from the guild, too! I handle large sums of gold for the guild regularly and often donate time and resources. I have no desire to cheat anyone, as this guild is what brings me joy. I am also 100% the holier-than-thou type who thinks I'm great because I'm trustworthy, and no one likes to break their own self-image now do they?
As for the guild leader, he takes no friends, only minions.
Why are winners announced so long after we submit?
I'm an absolute maniac for fairness. In order to keep this as fair as possible, I need to make sure that your names are never exposed to the judges or the voters. It also means that a lot of sorting and keeping track of entries goes into it. I need to double, triple, quadruple check my work to make sure that no mistakes are made and that every label is correct and every contestant is accurately reviewed, scored, labeled, and moved on accordingly. Sometimes this means making changes on the fly and implementing a new system mid-contest that I think is more fair, resulting in me having to re-do a lot of the work I've already put in. These contests are constantly evolving and I'm always finding better, more fair ways to do things. I'm a real person though, and I make mistakes, and sometimes I need time to figure out where those mistakes are and fix them before it's time for the big show.
I appreciate the trust you all put in me to make sure you're being treated fairly.