Your Inner Child Contest = Where are the voters?

I am new to the site Gene, but I honestly didn’t know about it… Maybe better coverage of events on the main page?

-- Sneaking up on the line....

Could LJ add a tab at the top labeled “Contests” after “Jocks”? I am guessing that could increase awareness of any ongoing contests and/or increase traffic to this website. I thought I had read through most of the Forum subjects and spent a fair amount of time on this website, but I sure missed the one about this contest, so you can label me as part of the problem. Another issue could be the intimidation factor. There are so many great projects on this website that it can be overwhelming to the more casual observer and they in turn may believe, to borrow a phrase from Wayne’s World, “I’m not worthy” to vote in such a contest. Just a couple of thoughts/suggestions to throw in the mix.

-- They call me Mr. Silly

Gene
I am glad you are taking up this issue and I can honestly say I did not have a good enough project to participate .
The problem I have is that I have forgotten how to play and think like a child and with my grand kids growing up I have to make a big effort to understand what interests them .
I put time aside to get them interested in woodworking and listen to there ideas and build things for and with them having a lot of fun doing it .
The feeling I have is that the majority of us love our children and grandchildren but have problems relating to the new generation as they are way different then we where and creating things that they would be interest in.
We are creating play things that reflect our childhood which is not relevant to current times as much as we would like it to be and I believe the voting was strongly influenced by the current generation .

Kiefer

-- Kiefer 松

Now i’m not 100% sure on this but I think you have to enter a project to vote.

-- Made in America, with American made tools....Shopsmith

Wow Gene. I have to say you all are so much smarter than I am. I don’t even understand what you are talking about. Seriously. But I’m listening. Something about voting maybe? Yes, we vote in many ways. I would have entered if I had the time. Maybe next one. :) Carry on…

-- Backer boards, stop blocks, build oversized, and never buy a hand plane--

I had NO CLUE about this contest untill it was all over, Big announcements as to the winners, but who knew this contest was even in progress?
And yes I totally agree with everything you said.

-- Love thy neighbour as thyself

That’s horrifying Gene.

Now i’m not 100% sure on this but I think you have to enter a project to vote.
I’m fairly sure I’ve voted in competitions I didn’t enter (which is most of them), so I don’t think that’s the case.

I confess – I didn’t vote in this one, although I’ve voted in others.
Why?
Because I forgot.
And I’m annoyed that I forgot – I actually like opening up those windows and looking at them all, and thinning them, one by one, down to the top few.
I think it would be a good idea for the site to send a reminder email when voting opens – “Voting now open for the next 7 days”, or some such – then I would not have forgotten and there would have been at least 99 votes cast.

-- "Do not speak – unless it improves on silence."

I had never heard of the contest and I still have no idea what it was. I go on LumberLocks every day and look at viz. everything.
I think the contest should’ve been advertised more.
An e-mail alert would probably do the trick. I would’ve been happy to cast my vote.

-- Tyrone - Canada, BC

Somehow I haven’t been clear enough, but my concern is a lack of people bothering to vote on the contest entries, not the number of people posting an entry.
A 3% turnout seems awfully light to me.
I’m sorry if anyone misunderstood.

-- gene@toronto.ontario.canada : dovetail free since '53, critiques always welcome.

I didn’t see the vote count or compare it to the member #. But, 3% is pretty low.
The only way I knew about the contest was because I follow one of the contestant’s blogs and posts.

-- Gene 'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

I wanted to vote! However, since I have not posted a project, YET! (nor have one worthy of posting, IMO) I was not allowed to vote.

I’m not complaining about not being allowed to vote, just explaining my APPARENT lack of participation or involvement!!!

-- Randy-- I may not be good...but I am slow!

Sorry, but I’m in the “what contest ?” group.

-- Glen, Vernon B.C. Canada

I’m on LJ’s nearly every day, and I would have voted but for some reason I forgot about the contest, and didn’t see any notice that the contest was open for voting. Today is the first I’ve read it was over…..but thanks for letting me know…at least I can go look at the projects…

-- To realize our true destiny, we must be guided not by a myth from our past, but by a vision of our future

I didn’t vote. I heard about the contest, but I had no interest.

I don’t make toys, or things for kids. I do like kids, and I see from a quick scan of the entries that there are a lot of cute / interesting items. But it’s just not my thing.

Perhaps I should have reviewed entries in more detail, just to lend support and encouragement to the entrants. But since I’m not doing that kind of work, it never occurred to me to stick my nose in.

Mostly, I use LJ as a source of informed opinions. I very rarely have anything to contribute, and then its almost always a question. I do value the resource, and I’ve recently subscribed to one of the feeds. But I doubt that anyone here needs to regularly hear my uninformed opinions.

I also belong to many other websites: social networking, professional and hobby groups, mags, rags, blogs and forums – and I have for decades. I behave the same at each of them. I offer a comment, vote, opinion or response very rarely, only when I have a more-than-momentary interest in the topic, and only when I have something worth bohering other people to hear.

But I feel that I do contribute as a good listener. That’s all I feel qualified to be, most of the time.

I don’t think that makes me, or the other 98%, a bad guy. Does it?

-- Jim Maher, Illinois

I seem to recall that the links to the contests were more prominently displayed at one time (in fact, I had a hard time finding this one to vote on it. I ended up searching for Martin and clicking on his blog posts). I agree we need a tab for them across the top. I think it would also help if there were some kind of attention getter on the tab itself during the important phases (entry and voting).

And you do not have to have entered the contest to vote. You only need to have a project posted on your own project page.

-- My broker promised me he would treat my money as if it were his own. Trouble is, he did.