Honestly, I think it should matter though.
If someone (including myself) pours their blood, sweat, tears, and THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS into a build, they deserve to win a hell of a lot more than someone who has put in 0. Little things like winning "Soul of the Month" can mean a lot. I almost lost to stock Souls back in May, and thankfully I didn't. It was way too close than I would've liked though. And if I did lose, I would have felt seriously robbed.
Quote Originally Posted by
DutchSoul98
Come on, why are there more votes for the (stock) first Soul than the modified last Soul. Imo, the Soul of the month has to he something special, something where the owner has done some work for.
I voted for the fourth Soul, but the second one is also fresh!
To answer both these..........Please don't misinterpret what I mean by "it doesn't matter". What you do or don't do to your car is to an extent irrelevant. People will either like it or not like it and that's entirely down to personal taste. I checked yesterday and the thread had over 300 views, yet only a handful of people had voted. Like surveys, the smaller your sample cache, the more biased the results will be, so it then comes down to the preferences of the few that bother to vote. You can win or lose based on only a few opinions.
Even as a Super Moderator I am unable to see exactly who votes for what...........in fact nobody can...........so I don't know if it's the same people taking the trouble (I thank you) who vote each month, but I note that the congratulatory responses to the winners usually come from the same group of people.
I personally think that Soul Of The Month absolutely SHOULD be about somebody winning with a nicely modified car. I've always maintained that it should be a showcase for the possible modifications and "looks" that are achievable with these great cars. It's why I've pushed and promoted excellence in photography for presenting your car to the people who may vote for it. I volunteered to take on the running of SOTM because the site owner's Administrator who's responsibility it was had been less than efficient in consistently posting the competition at the correct time.
During the Summer months we tend to get a drop-off in entries and general participation. There used to be a prize (A Quaker-State Free Oil Change) but that often never got collected because the winner did not live in the US. Because we are international in scope the logistics of having a physical prize is difficult. What do you give? Who pays for that? etc, etc. I think that just getting voted by your fellow Soul owners and enthusiasts as Soul Of The Month ought to give one a warm and fuzzy feeling. I know I felt it when our Soul won in 2011. It felt good...........if you're a "Trophy Hunter" maybe you need more?
Everyone is different and that's why people's likes, dislikes, prejudices and a million other factors affect how they vote on any given poll.
I totally understand how the owner of a Soul with thousands invested in it (and probably a few skinned knuckles) feels when they get beaten by a new Soul that was in a showroom a month ago. I'm sure I would too.
The Moderation team has discussed SOTM in the past. One thing we considered was a "Soul Of The Year" competition where we lump all the year's winners into the hat and people vote on that group. With a group of 12 cars to choose from, the votes would get spread around more.
Another idea was for us Mods to choose a group of cars that we consider the "Best Of The Best" and have everyone vote on those. Then we would have a "Best of the Best of the Best" Winner, which would be a hell of an accolade for anyone right?
I'm eager to hear opinions/thoughts/gripes about these ideas. If anyone has got ideas about how to get more people participating and more importantly VOTING, then I would love to hear them.
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