Deciding the Winner of the YDC Auctions

[Armstrongs]

Just a few mutterings (gained from experience) ......

You will need to wear the biggest diplomat's hat ..... EVER!
Because you will never please all of the people all of the time.

There is no workable shortcut to hours of "searching & reviewing" 100+ listings.

Even if you add to the title with 00's or whatever else ..... someone will forget to do it! (plus, imo it would look daft to anyone who didn't have the first inkling about YDC) ...... errrrr, what does that mean????

I found it easier to "find" the winner, then if any "wording" or anything else wasn't quite "correct" ... talk to them & find out if they intended to be taking part in the competition.

Employ the KISS method ........ keep it stupidly simple .... even if it means more work for you. It makes life so much easier.

Best of luck.
Yvonne x

[raindropsies]

Thank you for your post and taking the time to review the listings from the most recent YDC event.

It would appear you have "missed it in later versions of the rules." The word competition has been part of the rules for over two years. It is not something newly added.

The precedent is that this rule has not been consistently enforced. This would be one of the reasons I raised my original questions.

And your list of specific auctions points to another one of the reasons why I raised my questions up during the YDC. Thank you for making one of my points for me. Though I’m unclear how it answered my question to you.

The rule as written is ”the description of your item must include the following text:
This auction is an entry in the YDC nn charity auction competition. All money raised by this auction will go to: charity.” By the way, nowhere does it indicate only these words are to be in the description.

You say “the spirit of YDC should be more important than the wording being 100%”. What is this spirit to you, since evidently you disagree with the premises raised in post #40, that was partially quoted?


Then you probably have missed the listings that we have "pushed out" before the event started.

You asked me a specific question about enforcing the rules correctly.
I have answered this in my post above. If you want to enforce this rule, then you need to do it 100% and apply it to everyone.
With that said, I could not see a listing that would be able to win
The spirit of YDC to me quite frankly is getting lost as there seems to be more focus on the rules than on the fun.
The spirit to me is having fun, raising money for charity

Your post one asks if we should change the rule, enforce the rule or get rid of it
I have simply pointed out that the rule would either need to be shown some flexibility or enforced fully.

So I would like to propose that a vote be made on this specific rule

[emmily121]

Here's a suggestion...

Start a thread with something like 'Add your name for YDC Competition' all those who want to be part of the competition add their name to the thread. Change rule 7 to something like add your name to this thread (with link) to be part of the competition. The OP of the thread would probably need to have all YDC the rules in it.

You would not need to open listings at end of YDC to find the winner just look at the seller name.

[raindropsies]

Here's a suggestion...

Start a thread with something like 'Add your name for YDC Competition' all those who want to be part of the competition add their name to the thread. Change rule 7 to something like add your name to this thread (with link) to be part of the competition. The OP of the thread would probably need to have all YDC the rules in it.

You would not need to open listings at end of YDC to find the winner just look at the seller name.

You would still need to open the listing to check
a) the duration
b) the start price
Something in the description would need to inform buyers of it being YDCxx and where the money was going

I just do not think that YDC needs to have EXACT wording used to be part of the competition element.

[hurryb4itsgone]

Just a few mutterings (gained from experience) ......

You will need to wear the biggest diplomat's hat ..... EVER!
Because you will never please all of the people all of the time.

There is no workable shortcut to hours of "searching & reviewing" 100+ listings.

Even if you add to the title with 00's or whatever else ..... someone will forget to do it! (plus, imo it would look daft to anyone who didn't have the first inkling about YDC) ...... errrrr, what does that mean????

I found it easier to "find" the winner, then if any "wording" or anything else wasn't quite "correct" ... talk to them & find out if they intended to be taking part in the competition.

Employ the KISS method ........ keep it stupidly simple .... even if it means more work for you. It makes life so much easier.

Best of luck.
Yvonne x

Yvonne,
Thanks for stopping by. Glad to see you back in the forums.

When I asked about the job duties, you never mentioned that I would have to wear a hat! Are there any other "duties" you would now like to share with me? A detailed PM (private message) would be appreciated.

Your point about how OO in the listing title would look to people not familiar with YDC is a valid one. We want to encourage more participation and not confuse people not in the "know." Will amend the "Recommendations,Notes and Requests:" section of the YDC rules to only include those items you had already put into place.

You asked me a specific question about enforcing the rules correctly.
I have answered this in my post above. If you want to enforce this rule, then you need to do it 100% and apply it to everyone.
With that said, I could not see a listing that would be able to win
The spirit of YDC to me quite frankly is getting lost as there seems to be more focus on the rules than on the fun.
The spirit to me is having fun, raising money for charity

Your post one asks if we should change the rule, enforce the rule or get rid of it
I have simply pointed out that the rule would either need to be shown some flexibility or enforced fully.

So I would like to propose that a vote be made on this specific rule

We are in absolutely agreement. Rules apply to everyone and should be enforced consistently and in the same manner to everyone.

The current rules were all in place prior to my participation in YDC and well before the "changing of the guard" from Vonz to myself.

YDC 130 was only the second YDC with me at the "reins." My original questions were not directed at any specific listing. As you have pointed out, many listings were technically not in compliance with the current rules.

I think I now understand your original comment in post #38 about "enforcing correctly". Let me see if I have this right. You feel correct enforcement is 100% enforcement. If it is not 100% then it is incorrect. Do I have that right?

Here's a suggestion...

Start a thread with something like 'Add your name for YDC Competition' all those who want to be part of the competition add their name to the thread. Change rule 7 to something like add your name to this thread (with link) to be part of the competition. The OP of the thread would probably need to have all YDC the rules in it.

You would not need to open listings at end of YDC to find the winner just look at the seller name.

You would still need to open the listing to check
a) the duration
b) the start price
Something in the description would need to inform buyers of it being YDCxx and where the money was going

I just do not think that YDC needs to have EXACT wording used to be part of the competition element.

Yes, the opening and checking of the listing would still apply. In addition, I think this would mean more work/steps for everyone, (I have to start another thread ... you have to remember to add your name, in addition to creating your listings) rather than less.

And if someone is unwilling to copy and paste a phrase into their listing description to indicate they want to be considered for the competition, what would make them add their name to a forum thread? I may be wrong here, but I think both require the same amount of effort.

[raindropsies]

I think I now understand your original comment in post #38 about "enforcing correctly". Let me see if I have this right. You feel correct enforcement is 100% enforcement. If it is not 100% then it is incorrect. Do I have that right?

Yes.

I was not suggesting that you would enforce against some and not others.

I was stating that the way things are at the moment, if the rule had been enforced to the letter, then there (from what listings I looked at for YDC130) would have been no winner (other than the charities that the money was raised for)

I still honestly believe that as long as the auction description makes it obvious that it is a YDC auction and where the money will go (as long as it is a good cause / charity) then the auction should not be disqualified.

Yes there may be some people not wanting to win, which I understand, however, should someone win, and they not want to win, I would imagine that they would let you know when you send them a message about them winning the YDCxx

I see no reason to add a opt out thread, opt out OO in title as like I said people would let you know that they didn't want to win

[emmily121]

Here's a suggestion...

Start a thread with something like 'Add your name for YDC Competition' all those who want to be part of the competition add their name to the thread. Change rule 7 to something like add your name to this thread (with link) to be part of the competition. The OP of the thread would probably need to have all YDC the rules in it.

You would not need to open listings at end of YDC to find the winner just look at the seller name.

Just to clarify, I'd meant a one off thread for YDC competition participants, not a thread every month.

[hurryb4itsgone]

Yes.

I was not suggesting that you would enforce against some and not others.

I was stating that the way things are at the moment, if the rule had been enforced to the letter, then there (from what listings I looked at for YDC130) would have been no winner (other than the charities that the money was raised for)

I still honestly believe that as long as the auction description makes it obvious that it is a YDC auction and where the money will go (as long as it is a good cause / charity) then the auction should not be disqualified.

Yes there may be some people not wanting to win, which I understand, however, should someone win, and they not want to win, I would imagine that they would let you know when you send them a message about them winning the YDCxx

I see no reason to add a opt out thread, opt out OO in title as like I said people would let you know that they didn't want to win

No auction that "makes it obvious that it is a YDC auction and where the money will go" is disqualified from YDC. Although, the criteria to enter the competition component has not been met. If a person wants their item/auction to be considered a competition entry, the listing needs to indicate their intention. Perhaps this is one of those things that is different in the US than the UK. In the US, you have to enter into a competition, not out of it.

As I understand it, the OO in the title was suggested to help lessen the load of reviewing so many listings. At this point, I think we have moved passed that.

Just to clarify, I'd meant a one off thread for YDC competition participants, not a thread every month.

This is the selfish response - If there is a master thread of YDC competition participants, then I would have to check this list in addition to checking each YDC listing - more work for me.

This is the general response - Do we think people would be more likely to keep up to date with a forum list than they would be to update their listing description?

[raindropsies]

No auction that "makes it obvious that it is a YDC auction and where the money will go" is disqualified from YDC. Although, the criteria to enter the competition component has not been met. If a person wants their item/auction to be considered a competition entry, the listing needs to indicate their intention. Perhaps this is one of those things that is different in the US than the UK. In the US, you have to enter into a competition, not out of it.

Fair enough.
I take your point on board
To enter into a competition, they must state this. Fair enough.

My opinion is still that I entered the YDC130 competition as well as a lot of others, but I am getting the feeling that because some of us did not state the exact phrase, withdrew us from the competition element.

Even though I didn't win the YDC130, I wish Cheaver the best of luck for YDC131

I am thinking however that the spirit of YDC should be a higher priority in someone winning than using an exact phrase. My view will not change on that.

If the exact phrase is a compulsory rule to enter the competition, then there was no winner (other than the charities) of YDC130 from the auctions I looked at as the entries were either incomplete or incorrect usage of similar words

I understand that you do need to determine an outcome regards the wording and what is deemed as acceptable and wish you the best of luck in doing this, and once this has been decided I look forward to taking part in the YDC as a seller again.

[Gill]

IMO hurry close this thread and take stock of what has been said.

You will never please all of the people all of the time BUT you are the administrator and, as I have said before, it should be up to you regarding the rules and not the members that list.

YDC has been going for years and its time that the new blood (you) implemented what they see fit. Unfortunately you will also get the flack of the intransigents but, if they believe in charity, as they have done for the past xx years, they will change to your rules and be happy to do so.

I for one would be happy to list in charity auctions again but I would want to see more international charities winning and not just the UK but I do believe this may have something to do with postage as I have said before.