Friend's kid needs votes for his monster

[cowsmanaut]

well since you all love monsters, perhaps you can help out my friend. His little 6 year old boy made this monster and filled out the entire bio for a local contest. if you would perhaps like to go and vote for him that would be great and I'll post back later if he wins or not.

http://greatgrossout.com/content/entry-16

moo

[Sophia]

I feel sorry for the poor kids who entered the contest hoping to win on merit... or whatever passes for it in a "grossest monster" contest. Might as well teach them early it's all about connections and not ability, though, right?

[T0Mi]

This creature is called Chemicrow. It is a mutant creature that evoled from a crow - because of stuff like the oil spills and all the chemicals that go into our air - these are the types of birds we will be seeing in the future if we don't take care of the planet. Chemicrow lives in mostly in Canada and the United States. Because there will be very few trees left on the planet, the Chemicrow is forced to eat junk and garbage left behind. It doesn't get very big or live for very long because of it's bad diet. It doesn't get the proper vitamins and clean water it needs to grow. Chemicrow can hardly fly because it's wings did not get properly developed.

(most gross and scary - least votes. )

[Bit]

pfft - that one has votes enough. sorry cows, i fully agree to Sophia. My vote was given to entry-133 - the great unfini... erm... almost invisible one. (...though i got some doubts that this was a child's idea - but never underestimate them - they hand you a white paper that shows a cow and a meadow - grass eaten -> cow gone -> nothing left )

[cowsmanaut]

wow... he's 6 years old. Seriously..? Merit?? His concept of things is still developing.

He made all the decisions himself for what, when, where on the body and what it was called and his entire description (obviously). To him that is gross and scary. Think about his statement.. he doesn't like people to fool around.. now imagine you're 6 and one of your parents yells "stop fooling around" .. it's a scary moment. Their concept of how things work and what is scary develops as they gain knowledge. Just as our society has.. in the 50's a guy with a paper mache fly head on running while trying to hold it on his shoulder was "realistic" and this:

was scary... and for many kids the concept of a monster that lives under your bed and eats your socks is scary. You rationalize it to them and say wait.. he eats socks... and they say yeah.. and that's scary? ... yeah!.. why? .. well what if he mistakes me for a sock? or.. what if I get in trouble because I have no socks and mom is mad at me? or any number of odd explainations for why eating socks is scary..

when I was young I thought the boogie man liked to dance and he would use his music to lure you away. (I was born in the 70s.. boogie was dance..) because my mom left him as an open threat.. "boogie man will get you if you don't watch out..." no explaination of who or what he is.. I had to come up with my own concept. Even as an adult my concept of gross changes. I thought eating raw fish was gross and couldn't imagine ever doing it. Now I love Sushi..

I think you've forgotten what being 6 was about.. you don't want to vote, that's fine.. but suggesting there is no merit behind his design is a bit insulting. He used what he had available. pick a head.. body etc. there is only one head that burps little green naked things.. which you have to admit is pretty gross. He described the penguin wings as slimy the head is supposed to be a crocodile (in his eyes) now stop and picture a flying crocodile (like a lighting bolt) that vomits frogs and can fly.. would you say .. aww.. how cute? or do you find that concept kind of gross and a bit scary?

Anyway, I read the entry, I know he's 6, I know he tried his best.. and that his dad made him do it all by himself. I'm also sure he's competing with people twice his age and that anyone of them could have had help from mommy or daddy.. Chemicrow sounds like a pretty mature ideal and like it's pushing the environment issue in hopes for the "yay he's talking about saving the environment.. more children should do that.. what a good kid" vote

again.. I say I don't mind of no one voted for him.. I just don't think anyone suggesting merit has stopped to even think about this..

[Sophia]

Seriously..? Merit??

I think you misunderstood. I generally agree with your assertions about a 6 year old's world view. My point definitely wasn't that his entry was without merit. In fact I wasn't making that kind of judgement at all. Rather, I was saying that the entries should be evaluated fairly, based on merit, and the winner should the be the person that the most people actually who looked at the entries actually chose-- i.e., the entire point of voting for a winner in the first place. The winner should not the entry that can get the largest effort of "hey, go vote for my friend" mobilized. That's the sort of vote-funneling effort which has nothing to do with the quality whatsoever, and that's what I was talking about. Rather than being based on merit, the winner is being based on who can get the biggest PR machine going.

I know he's 6, I know he tried his best.. and that his dad made him do it all by himself. I'm also sure he's competing with people twice his age and that anyone of them could have had help from mommy or daddy..

A fair point, but how is it that much different for the mommy and daddy and friends to troll the net and funnel in votes from people who would otherwise have absolutely nothing to do with this contest, and aren't likely to evaluate any of the entries fairly?

[cowsmanaut]

it's not much different from my attempting to get him more votes via posting here. However, that's kind of my point. each one of those in the top likely had the same game plan of voting through their own public relations.. so why not him? The main difference is that he's 6, and that he was made to do it all himself without help. To be honest, this contest is not exactly advertised and so unless you're told it exists, you would not otherwise have heard of it. Thus the reason there are so few entries. so when you see a handfull of entries and a whole lot of people voting there, I think it's safe to say those are votes via family and friends..

So in the way that it was set up.. it was doomed to begin with. In fact just looked at the main page and it tells people to get as many friends as possible to vote for it so you can get the "people's choice award" the main award is done by internal judges and will be based on that "merit" you were speaking about. The point of the people's choice aspect and why they included the "post this on facebook" button.. is to get advertisement .. so the more people who see it, the more people who see metropolis which is good advertisment for their kids parties and such.. so the more people you show it too then the more advertising they get.. So, that means you're safe to vote for him because he's completing the function they intended..

Anyway.. the majority of vote related contests are a popularity contest.. including those for running a country..

[Bit]

Current vote ranking is: 142 (for him), 98 (2nd), 29, 29, 25, 7,...
It's just good that numbers don't mean that much for a kid in that age.
I just hope that he won't get kicked for cheating

Dammit, my favourite got not one more vote. I ... ... ... okay, I don't

[Sophia]

it's not much different from my attempting to get him more votes via posting here. However, that's kind of my point. each one of those in the top likely had the same game plan of voting through their own public relations.. so why not him?

Yeah, everyone else is doing it, so you either do the same thing or you've got no chance. This definitely sounds a lot like politics.

The point of the people's choice aspect and why they included the "post this on facebook" button.. is to get advertisement .. so the more people who see it, the more people who see metropolis which is good advertisment for their kids parties and such.. so the more people you show it too then the more advertising they get.. So, that means you're safe to vote for him because he's completing the function they intended..

I don't know, it seems like a lot of people would just click the link that they're directed to and then forget all about it. Of course, that does happen to still be one more step than most advertising involves-- that is, going straight to "forget all about it."

Anyway.. the majority of vote related contests are a popularity contest.. including those for running a country..

Yup
Like I said:

Might as well teach them early it's all about connections and not ability, though, right?

[cowsmanaut]

Well, again, people in the local area know what and where Metropolis is.. it's a nice movie theater that also does kids birthday parties. What they get from the kids having their generous nature posted all over. Those aware of them (which would be local) would be reminded they have kids parties (because they mention it on the first page) and the winner of that prize.. (the one with the most people behind him) will have "cash" that only works at Metropolis. Where he can take those people and have them run word of mouth about how much fun it was.. not all of them certainly, their party rooms aren't quite THAT big.. but you know..

..and I do remember you said that.. which Is why I made that point

Oh, and Bit. I pointed out that it was not Cheating. It's what they want. More exposure for their contest, and themselves. They encourage you to post it on facebook to all your friends and call them all to vote for you. You can find that on the main page to the bottom right.

[Sophia]

I guess I should feel better because at least the judged prize is twice as big as the popularity contest prize.

[Bit]

Eek, now as you pointed on it, I read the rules. With that prize that'll end in a last minute rush between some greedy non-six-year-olds... Will be hard to understand for the little one that he was in front for such a long time but beaten in last minute.
I know why I dislike competitions at all. Let's see how it ends.

[MasterWuuf]

I'm still trying to figure what movie that picture came from, Cows.
I saw part of a movie when I was a kid, while visiting my grandparents, but we left before I knew what it was called.
A monster, much like the one in the picture, came out of a cave.
Hmmm. I actually believe I thought it was scary.(lack of exposure)

[MasterWuuf]

Oh yeah, and I did vote for your friend's entry. I just checked the count.
He's going to have to call in all his favors to catch a couple of the entries.
Still, a good showing for the future 'gory' film producer.

[Bit]

See, the goldrush begins...