Indiblogger of the month - Voting Procedure Recommendation
I have been going through the stories that are put up for the 'Indiblogger for the month'. There is a lot of awesome writing there. And this got me thinking
I fear that the current voting procedure rarely ensures that the best blog for the competition topic wins. The current procedure, more often than not, will ensure that the most popular blogger wins. My rationale for this is:
1. Everyone plugs their blog among their 'blogger friends'. I did this too. My blogger friends would, by first impulse vote for me because the know me and not because they think I am the best blogger in the competition.
2. Once they vote for me - there is no incentive for them to read any other post. I am convinced that very few people read more than one (or maybe less than a handful) blogs before they vote. BECAUSE THEY CANT VOTE MORE THAN ONCE. What is the point reading more posts once you have voted
3. This would mean than the blogger who has the highest number of friends wins and not the blogger with the best blogpost for the topic of the competition.
My Recommendation
Allow everyone to vote multiple time for multiple blogs. BUT no one can vote for a blog more than once. And ofcourse noone can vote for themselves.
This would ensure than people have some incentive to read a number of blogs and keep voting as they go on... people can come back to indiblogger through all the days of the competition to vote for blogs and spread their reading across a number of days....
I would love to know that you think... and would love to have indiblogger implement this... technology, time and cost permitting of course :-)
Finally I hope this is not seen as a criticism of indiblogger... They have done a brilliant job by giving us a forum... that by itself is a huge benefit for us blogger... I only try to recommend an improvement (and this one can be complete rubbish really) as a forum member...
Reason: Update
@ seniors..I'm very new to Indiblogger,infact just 3 days old.I created an account on the day,when the nominations for this month closed. Somehow my blog managed to get nominated! And as of now,I hav 15 votes. To be honest,I just had only one frnd in Indiblogger,who told me abt this event here! The rest 14 votes came from other benevolent Indiblogger users,whom I dont know even now! I jus canvassed to other users abt my blog and they did the rest! So I jus wanna say there are people who still appreciate good works,inspite of being loyal.As a starter,I would be happy to finish within 10 ranks,but who knows I would hav ended up even better,had I got some frds in Indiblogger before this event started. May be there comes the difference between winning and losing :( ! But I firmly believe,the best bloger wins,against all odds! And there s God above and Indiblogger users here to crown the best work..So chill guys! Don't worry..If u feel u deserve to win,u will.. Cheers to Indiblogger:)
Well said, benny!
@Benny :Welcome aboard.you have got me interested,let me go and look up your stories.as a story writer myself,I m always looking forward to read some good stuff.
@Neeraj :couldnt agree more.there are very few hindi and other regional language participants in the contest.A critics award suggested by blog gore is an excellent idea.Dont you think so?
my contention is that there are blogs in english, hindi, tamil in this month's competition. Isnt it unfair competition for the minority or they can feel happy by just being included.
I had deliberately had not submitted my englsi stories but the hindi ones but Just discovered that mine is the only hindi blog in the contest(and there are two Tamil blogs too ).Would like to see more hindi blogs here.
cheers,gee
another typo for english
@Dr. Sinha :well, for someone in minority who has no "followers/friends"on this forum, I believe I have received some votes,i guess we are not really such a minority...and its not really only about winning but also about discovering some good writers.isnt it?
,minority or no minority I am still proud that i chose to submit my hindi stories which are much closer to my heart than my englsh stories.
cheers
@ Sonya bravo :)
@ Renie can we block voting trend before its complete . Simply giving message you have voted will be ok.
I'm sure this topic is going to get even hotter when Indiblogger crowns this months winner.. It s like IF U HAVE MORE FRIENDS HERE, U WIN hands down !!! I reiterate I'm happy ending in the top 5 ranks,as an amateur blogger,but I personally felt there are lots of other blogs which deserved to finsih first! 
Disappointed... N ofcourse congrats to the winner for having such loyal friends!
Well friends, I was a runner up in Indiblogger of the month Apr 2009 edition(Social Causes)..
Back thn i was not having many frnds out here, i think not more thn 2.. bt i got 22 votes against winner's 25..
Today, I hav a much larger following, bt cudn't evn cum closer 2 tht figure.. I blive quality of my submissions this time is higher thn b4..
SO IN SHORT THERE MUST BE SOME REASONS BEYOND LOYAL FRIENDS..
HOWEVER, without naming any1, i blive, this time thr r ppl who deservd the award more.. it might b my prsnl liking or perception.
Guys, for the next contest - we will alow multiple votes. Let's set the cap at 5?
About disclosing the vote count, thanks for bringing this up - as of now, the moment you vote, you can see the number of votes each person has recieved. We did this because we feel that any contest should be transparent... but there are 2 sides to every coin, I guess! Can we take a vote - all those in favour of NOT DISCLOSING the votes until the contest ends, say "Aye!". 
Aye
@Renie :Over the weekend,I must have read atleast 50 stories of people from top and bottom on the voting list (I am such a sucker for fiction and poetry) and I must say that I found the best stories either closer to top(if not exactly top) and on some blogs which were at rock bottom with aparently no or fewer votes.
I guess we should not show voting at all after some one votes as some people may get influenced by looking at votes and dont even go and see other entries.Once the contest is over,I would like to share here some awesome,low on the votes blogs, that people must read only for the sheer pleasure of reading good fiction
@Vipul :well,good for you that you managed without loyal friends.I woudln't like to comment beyond that.
I hear you Sonya! Appreciated - at the very least I'm glad you found some good stuff to read.
as i said..
HOWEVER, without naming any1, i blive, this time thr r ppl who deservd the award more.. it might b my prsnl liking or perception.
I could hav written jus tht stff.. as um happy thr r more n more ppl here who agree with me on this thing (the we r not getting a deserving winner) bt hd 2 put up tht explanation b4 it as i myslf got votes without frnds.. as u say good for me..
but evn this time thrs benny who himslf says he was not xpcting so many votes..
So in short we have both +ve nd -ve trends.. of course we must root out the -ve ones.. multiple voting will definitely help to some extnt.
Lets hop it does :)
K.D.. u 
u never told wat must be said if one s not in favour of this
so I gotta say "Aye"
ha ha! Oops, forgot that one.. all those NOT in favour say "Aiyoo"
@Benny -I loved your stories, for a particular genre and style ,you write very well.Since you write in first person,I wonder if they are all real life experiences
@Renie -yes Renie I surely did and would follow them too.In the process,I discovered one photo story blog with beautiful photography but no content :)
I know, that was a dilemma... there's were a few lines below each photo, and since the photos were taken by the bloggers, we let it slide...
@ sonya..jus now commented in u r blog and came here..surprised to see u r comment!! thanks a lot :) Some stories may sound real,but nothing has happened in real though I wish a few of what I wrote do happen atleast in d future
@Renie.. AYE
i have a question for the multiple voting system. Does someone have to cast 5 votes, or can i stop and just 1.
yup its up2 u how many times u vote with maximm being 5..
I wish someone said Aiyoo... at least for the fun of it!
All right, guys, we'll take a call on this category in a few days... we need time to make the changes to the voting system before we can start the next contest!
Aiyoooooooo.... !
way too much suspense to hold for 5 days !
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