I’ve heard of at least three incidences of mass-PMing influencing the vote in this latest contest, and I don’t much care for it.

In any BBCC, there are cases where a really good MOC is in a poll where it outshines the rest. There are also polls with no clear winner, where the voting should be more open to subjective tastes. In both cases, mass-PMing can affect the vote, narrowing and maybe even surpassing the gap between a loverly MOC and that of a mass-PMer, or else that between two fairly evenly matched creations.

People complain that BBC contests aren’t fair because the same people keep winning. But they seem to miss the fact that everyone has a fair chance in the polls. Voting for someone because of “popularity,” or mass-PMing, or a nationalistic feud dating back to the 18th Century, go against this. If a BBCC existed in a vacuum, presenting the entries and letting people decide based on their own ideas as to what makes a good MOC would be the way of things. But as with any poll, election, contest, etc., there are outside factors influencing both peoples’ ideas and their vote.

Of the three things I listed, mass-PMing is especially naughty because it most explicitly tells the voter how to vote (It is true that feuds and self-interest may do the same, but only to one entry, and removing the popularity factor has its own problems. Anyway, those aren’t the focus of this entry.) and presents its own special difficulties.

Using mass-PMing to give someone an advantage in the polls affects the vote in a way that is not easily available to every entrant. Even if everyone did do it (and there’s, like, no way they would), the chances of each mass-PM reaching the same members are gastronomical.

Mass-PMing can influence members who wouldn’t otherwise vote, and might well have no idea what the theme is or even what constitutes a decent BBCC entry. It’s like having a swarm of zombies ready to attack at your request. “Hey, this guy seems nice, so I’ll vote for his MOC because he asked me to!” It seems to me that that circumvents the point of BBCCs. I’m admittedly a little unclear on the definition of that point (Is it to have the best MOC win? To have fun? To show off BZP?), but I’m not at all unclear on the fact that mass-PMing gives an unfair advantage.

Please note that I’m not staff and as such my word on these matters is nowhere near infallible. Any false suppositions or reasons are just that and probably unintentional. It is also possible that my entire way of thinking about this matter is flawed or incomplete, in which case I invite you to enlighten me as to the proper way of things.

And now I've taken up lots of space to express something that probably could have been explained in less. But I wanted to write something, and as my novel is held up with plot difficulties, blogging it was.

Also, Google Ads likes my entry best. :3