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The results are in on our 6th Annual Beat the PMS Blues Online Show ‘n’ Shine.

We will announce the winners in the newsletter that your newspaper comes in, tomorrow morning.

I will be contacting the winners and organizing for their prizes to go out. 

I have some things to say, they are hard to say but they must be said.

There are a few people who made this, our sixth annual - FREE Show 'n' Shine hard to deal with - they took all of the fun out of it for me.  

You see I truly love seeing all of the entries and knowing what my friends and other community members ride. I get a kick out of it and it really does ease up some of the dreadful PMS that I suffer with - Parked Motorcycle Syndrome, for those not in the know.

When we do it again next year there will be some measures put in place just for those who think they need to win at all cost.  Or they think someone is cheating so they should too, to win.

People do not seem to understand the power of social media and if one person has lots of friends voting for them, their tallies go up - fast. 

There is a right way and a wrong way to win. This is the right way, getting your FRIENDS to vote for you.

Everyone was encouraged to contact us if they had any issues. 

Many people did, their problems or challenges resolved, one rider had friends that Sasktel was blocking from accessing our site for some unknown reason, he emailed us, we verified the problem and worked through friends, to get the issue with Sasktel resolved, and he gave us the names and phone numbers of people who were having trouble voting for him and he was given the appropriate number of votes.

We verified that their IP's had been showing up consistently and then all of a sudden all 5 stopped.

We do everything in our power to keep it fair and real.

We can tell you if some one is cheating or not by the IP addresses that they use and the time stamp.
When someone has 50 or 60 friends voting for them and they all have different IP addresses – there is no cheating.

However when you see the same IP on the show 'n'shine page 25 and 30 times a day.... 
We remove those votes, we email the offender and tell them they were removed – so there really was no point to the effort. And this of course, would therefore be, the wrong way to try to win.

The reason I no longer do calendar contests is for a similar sort of reason.
Back biting, name calling, horrid, horrid behavior from people who are supposed to be adults and of course the attempts at cheating.

I hold contests for FREE – the prizes, we spend hours and days gathering, the labor it takes to host a contest is mind numbing - we do it because we want to have some fun, lighten things up – we have enough grief and enough challenges to deal with every day as riders and people. 

Does it help our business – yes, but my primary purpose, especially with this contest, is to have some FUN.

BUT - there comes a time when one really has to look at the whole thing and ask yourself – is it worth it?

Our community is based on the fundamental principles of life – being respectful is one of them and another is standing up for what you believe in.

Well I believe in fair play.

I believe that if I don’t like what someone has to say, I don’t need to take it in to my soul and then lash out hatefully. 

I believe that if someone is a jerk, you don’t keep poking them – you walk away and give them no energy.
Soon enough, they go away.
These are but a few of the core and fundamental values of being a good human being, I believe.

I have never pussyfooted around an issue that was important to me, much in my life.  
I listen to other people’s opinions, I decide what if anything they have to say resonates with my core values, makes sense to me on any level and look to understand their point of view, but understanding their point of view and adopting it or taking it into my soul are two different things. Understanding lets me hopefully find a better way of working towards a resolution to a challenge but I do not have to take that person's viewpoint on as mine in order to work to a resolution.

AND I am not pussyfooting around this issue either.

RESPECT is one word that I believe in and the disrespect shown to Ali who busts her hump, our sponsors who supply the prizes blows my mind.  

As the idiot who does all of the legwork; the obtaining sponsors, the emails and letters, the promoting – I am just discouraged. 

Next year will be far, far different.

We will be putting in every safe guard we can find to ensure a FRIENDLY AND FUN contest

And if we can’t find a way to prevent the nastiness – then we won’t be doing it again. 

I do not get paid enough to put up with some of the situations I have been put in over this.

This was supposed to be a fun thing. 

But there were some people who took the fun out of it for me.

That won’t happen again – I do not do things like this unless they make people feel good. PERIOD.

Belt Drive Betty,
Editor & Rider

Post a Comment

  1. Nikita Johnson8:23 AM

    It was very enjoyable for me to click on the blog and see such an honest approach to making this statement. I for one, applaud you. Too many times it is forgotten that the community values one thing most highly and that is RESPECT! Its a simple concept that so many forget. A contest is to be fun, enjoyable and FAIR!. I cannot discount one word of this blog, and say to self, WHOOO glad someone stood up and said exactly what you did. I am sorry that the doers actions caused you to not enjoy this as much as you had planned, but do know that there ARE still many who DO respect "RESPECT". MLH&R to you Betty <3

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  2. Thanks Nikita - I appreciate the support

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  3. Anonymous9:31 AM

    I agree that this can be a major issue, but do have a leg question..... how would you handle it if I had everyone in the office vote? Since they are all on a local network, the IP that you would see would be the same and yet it would be coming from many different people. There is always going to be issues and to resolve these is a major task.

    You are doing a great job for the biking community. Thnaks so much!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Derrick9:51 AM

    Well said as usual. I agree as with me and my custom work, I see what people are like on a regular basis. If your bike isn't black, its not worth looking at. I do have to agree on the fact that the voting(in my opinion) should be from the viewers, not just because you have more friends than I do. I have won Show and Shines due to my work rather than my friends. But it is YOUR site and Your contest, so you set the rules. I believe to the real adults out there, you will be more popular than ever. You have my vote.
    DJ

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  5. Anonymous9:56 AM

    Speaking out is good. I usually take crap in my stride but there are times when you must be heard and others need to hear you too.
    Thank you for sharing with us.
    Personally I have dealt with cheaters and liars as well. The idea that someone always has to be on top is a personality disorder that is far to common. You ran a great contest. Don't let the haters and cheaters win....hang in there. Good luck with the new season....Will (Viking)

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  6. Thanks Derrick - an online contest is hard compared to a real on the ground show n shine. It does end up becoming about popularity. Unless there was some way to convene a judging panel and for something that is supposed to be about fun, too costly and time consuming to do. Online contests like this are hard.

    And thanks for your vote of confidence....

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  7. Anonymous10:16 AM

    ive always enjoyed your site and am glad that you have the 'guts?' to call a spade a spade. thanks for being.....we all love you for it

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  8. Cruisinthru10:33 AM

    Your candor is much needed..many years of running a charity and helping with others..you see the good and sadly, the bad. Those who display the negative are usually the most visible. Plant your feet and hold your ground..we need people like you Renee..even if we don't provide the support we could/should..we appreciate all you and the BK provide and do for us.

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  9. Anonymous - we deal with that issue by calling the person who is voting or whose bike it is. If there are several people in the same office on the same IP we then determine how many people are in the office who have the ability/desire to vote, what their email addresses are and then we monitor the IP to ensure no more than that number come in each day. It is challenging but we have, for the most part overcome.

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  10. Anonymous6:53 AM

    Well written and moving article. I value respect for others and fairness above all else as well. I wish I knew about websites and stuff. Too bad couldnt use some manditory cookie or something to help.

    At the same time. It is a problem that plagues major companies as well. I recommend looking at what happened to Mountain Dew's public vote for their name ge drink contest. Guess manditory logins might be only way to go which is sad...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Personally, I'm glad you mentioned it, any form of cheating should be exposed..Lets put this into perspective. This is an online show and shine..there are no judges, the only way to gain votes is for either members to vote for a bike they like or members friends to support them by voting..Playing with yourself is not in the equation.. Given the format it is meant to be fun. Still you have idiots trying to abuse it. To what extent would these same idiots go to "win" if it was a life and death situation..lol, Honestly I would have disqualified the both of them..You're to way to nice!!

    ReplyDelete

 
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