Mech Madness 2012 Round of 32 Started

[FallenJedi]

I'm going to put my vote into the complete opposite camp of these nay-sayers - just to even the odds and chances of an upset. Everyone loves an underdog, right?

I would hate to lose your vote because of what somebody else said about my mech without my permission, but this is a democracy so I will support any reason for placing votes.

Hopefully no one will get swayed by what others write in their posts. Personally, other viewpoints have no effect on how I vote. While I appreciate their point of view, I am assuming that each member's vote is based on something that they find personally appealing about the mech. I am blown away by the quality of the entries, regardless of who wins, or for what reason, everyone should be appreciative of the efforts that these guys put into their mechs.

[ted @ndes]

When I went to vote, many times I couldn't tell which ones were the higher ranked. A lot of great builds. I think voting will be close in a lot of cases... and I wouldn't necessarily call them upsets either. Good luck everyone.

[MotionOTheOcean]

Hopefully no one will get swayed by what others write in their posts. Personally, other viewpoints have no effect on how I vote. While I appreciate their point of view, I am assuming that each member's vote is based on something that they find personally appealing about the mech. I am blown away by the quality of the entries, regardless of who wins, or for what reason, everyone should be appreciative of the efforts that these guys put into their mechs.

Agreed, I think no matter what people say about theirs or other peoples' entries, I think everyone should try to approach each vote completely objectively. Since the tourney is about machups, instead of looking at the whole field, just compare each pairing and make your own decision on a case by case basis. No matter what you do or say, people are still going to voice their oppinion, which is their right. Just don't get caught up in them trying to sway you to thinking one way or the other.

[Chief]

^^ I can't stand this kind of commentary. Why do people feel the need to state that they think some entry or another is going to get beat, or why they voted for this moc or not? Just place your votes and see what happens!

Now I don't know much about the hierarchy of the mods, but this seems a bit harsh Chief: I don't think they were hoping for a particular entry to be beaten, just that maybe something unexpected could be exciting.

Some background to my previous post: this has been going on for the last 3 or 4 contests, and it won't seem to die. There seems to be a new wave of commenters in the last 9-12 months who feel the need to pick the winner from the get-go, then pick apart why the other entries won't win. Harsh? Ask that question to the people whose mocs are the ones that keep getting dissected. It bothers me and I don't even have a creation on the line.

I don't think it's a question of looking for excitement, it's being inconsiderate to the players I'm concerned about.

[zhouston]

I'm with you, Chief. It gets really annoying when people make lists of their favorites. It's one thing to praise a build when its first posted in the forums but other than that nobody needs anyone else campaigning for their mech. We all get one vote, all of our opinions are equally important (and odds are despite what one thinks there are a lot of people who disagree with them), lets leave it at that.

[captain sambuca]

Ask that question to the people whose mocs are the ones that keep getting dissected. It bothers me and I don't even have a creation on the line.

I don't think it's a question of looking for excitement, it's being inconsiderate to the players I'm concerned about.

Quite right Chief, well said. Although, to be fair, I can't think of any inconsideration that I could quote: people have not been mean or nasty about particular entries, just full of compliments for others, which you're right can be discouraging.

It's nicer when we're all nice to each other: a word of encouragement is always helpful!

As for people wanting to predict the final three: could we not somehow set this up as a new thread for future competitions: where users post their predictions, and that gets locked in, so no one can see what's been predicted until the close of the contest. Maybe even give a prize to the first person who's correctly called it!

[FallenJedi]

Ask that question to the people whose mocs are the ones that keep getting dissected. It bothers me and I don't even have a creation on the line.

I don't think it's a question of looking for excitement, it's being inconsiderate to the players I'm concerned about.

Quite right Chief, well said. Although, to be fair, I can't think of any inconsideration that I could quote: people have not been mean or nasty about particular entries, just full of compliments for others, which you're right can be discouraging.

It's nicer when we're all nice to each other: a word of encouragement is always helpful!

As for people wanting to predict the final three: could we not somehow set this up as a new thread for future competitions: where users post their predictions, and that gets locked in, so no one can see what's been predicted until the close of the contest. Maybe even give a prize to the first person who's correctly called it!

Interesting idea, not much different than a sports pool and it would be very difficult to predict as winners sometimes depend on the bracket they find themselves in, so could be a very interesting element of the contest.

Personally, I don't really care who "wins", I love seeing all the creations. I often find myself on the member's Flickr post trying to dissect how they pulled off a particularly cool feature so I can incorporate that technique into a future build. I consider myself a reasonable builder, but often elements of these builds just blow me a way and illustrate a level of creativity that is truly impressive. I don't feel the need to publicly critique builds, and in the written word, it is very difficult to convey tone and true meaning and so critiquing will often be received negatively so why bother risking it? And if this public critiquing and speculation about who will win is really just a thinly veiled attempt to guide/coerce voters to picking a certain submission, then that is just sad. I don't think that is the case, I just don't believe some people understand how their comments may be received before posting them.

[itchybreath]

As for people wanting to predict the final three: could we not somehow set this up as a new thread for future competitions: where users post their predictions, and that gets locked in, so no one can see what's been predicted until the close of the contest. Maybe even give a prize to the first person who's correctly called it!

I also agree with the suggestion of separating discussions from the submissions thread. Looking back on the recent submissions thread, there's a lot of commentary misdirecting attention. While some highlight and compliment certain builders, they also distract from other submissions.

Going back to my previous comment that upsets could occur. Favorites can even change in between match ups. But, I didn't mean it to campaign against any premium submissions but rather to give some hope to those who feel like they've got no chance.

In the end, the submissions and the quality of their model's build will and should speak for itself without all the unnecessary commentary and banter.

[MotionOTheOcean]

Wow, what a great round everyone! I never expected to get this far. With one striking upset, and some interesting voting, I can tell the next one will be fun to watch.

[madLEGOman]

isn't feedback the whole point of a forum? i mean without the commentary, generic voting is rather boring. those guys who say stupid stuff are supposed to bug the hell out of ryan! that's part of the fun, what makes the whole thing interesting. we need the stupid drama.

[Flynn]

Hm, all but one of the entries I voted for ended up winning.

IIIIIIIINteresting....

[Mister Ed]

Hm, all but one of the entries I voted for ended up winning.

IIIIIIIINteresting....

So either you didn't vote for me, or I was the anomaly. I'll pretend it was the latter.

[zhouston]

we need the stupid drama.

I agree, nothing gets my heart going more than pure hatred for words typed by someone i've never met! And despite what I have said to others, I am trying to have well-spirited arguments.

[Master Beef]

I agree, nothing gets my heart going more than pure hatred for words typed by someone i've never met! And despite what I have said to others, I am trying to have well-spirited arguments.

So if your heart ever stops, we'll need to skip the defibrilator and head straight for the "Your mech is a pile of dirt-chewing ABS!", right?*

*Since it's hard to tell online sometimes, I was being sarcastic.

[SDIronClaw]

A few models have lost my vote, because their creator,for lack of better words, is a ding bat. Something's are just better left unsaid.

[madLEGOman]

A few models have lost my vote, because their creator,for lack of better words, is a ding bat. Something's are just better left unsaid.

wait, i lost your vote?

[zhouston]

A few models have lost my vote, because their creator,for lack of better words, is a ding bat. Something's are just better left unsaid.

what do you consider a dingbat?

[onions]

we don't have to name names.