I was extraordinarily pleased earlier this week to find myself nominated for a Spinetingler Award. However, I’ve discovered a problem with the online voting, which others might encounter themselves--and which might prevent some choices from registering.
If you go to the online voting page for the Spinetingler Awards, you will find 10 white boxes containing the categories of nominees. (Scroll down to see them all.) At the bottom of each of those boxes is a small gray button that reads “Submit.” Now, if you’re like me, you will assume that you can go through this complete series of categories, vote for your favorite in each one, and then press “Submit” once at the end. However, that’s not the way this system works. Instead, you have to press “Submit” in each of the individual boxes, or all of your votes will not be counted.
If you punch “Submit” once at the end of the ballot, then only your vote for Best Short Story on the Web (the last category) will be tallied, the rest will not.
Fortunately, if you fouled up your voting the same way I did, you can now go back to the online voting page and finish making your picks in all of the categories. Only if you try voting in the same category more than once will your vote be rejected.
Technology--ain’t it grand?
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Yeah. It's a big step up from the procedure last year, but the problem is people often don't know who they want to vote for in each category right away - especially the short story category. So then they wait to vote, and possibly forget, think they'll come back later and the opportunity never presents itself.
Each category is set up as a separate poll, and it limits one vote per IP address to try to eliminate multiple voting. But it does have this downfall - you have to press submit for each category separately.
Thanks for making this clear. Maybe by next year we'll have all the kinks worked out. :)
I didn't have a problem, but there were a few categories like the SS on the Web and Graphic novel that I really need to think about. I want to read the stories--and hope I have time.
Lots of nominees in each category, too.
I haven't tried this, but is it possible to vote more than once if you have different computers?
Voting on line is hard, but looks like Sandra is figuring it out. Good work!
And, congrats to The Rap Sheet!
Janet, not if you have different computers. It works off IP address, so that's one vote per household, unless you take your laptop to Starbucks or Panera or the library, or have access to a computer at work. It's not perfect, and for the few who've contacted me, with a legitimate second party at the same house, I'll manually add their votes that they've e-mailed.
Narrowing down the shortlists is always tough, and in some cases you could literally flip a coin. The voting reflects that as well. There's only one category that is bordering on a landslide at the moment, with a 73 vote lead for the frontrunner. Most of the other categories are too close to call just yet, so every vote matters.
I actually don't do the technical stuff/design work/uploading for Spinetingler anymore - my own knowledge of that stuff is limited. The technical gurus have made this so much easier than last year, and I'm thankful for that.
Post a Comment