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Rating others' entries when you've entered yourself
Thread poster: philgoddard
Kristina Love
Kristina Love  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:35
Spanish to English
+ ...
It's not a problem. Jul 25, 2021

Initially it is pretty surprising to find that you have the capability to tag/comment and rate the entries of fellow contestants, but I trust that there are good reasons behind it, and several plausible ones come to mind:

1. The fact that fellow contestants are allowed to give feedback and ratings can make the contest that much more rigorous and a win more (not less) meaningful. Who will scrutinize your entry with more determination than your competitors? If your entry can weather... See more
Initially it is pretty surprising to find that you have the capability to tag/comment and rate the entries of fellow contestants, but I trust that there are good reasons behind it, and several plausible ones come to mind:

1. The fact that fellow contestants are allowed to give feedback and ratings can make the contest that much more rigorous and a win more (not less) meaningful. Who will scrutinize your entry with more determination than your competitors? If your entry can weather the onslaught of criticism and be the last one left standing in the end, that really says something.

2. Maybe there is low interest among non-contestants in giving feedback and ratings, especially in more rare language pairs. Those participating in the contest are interested, involved, and motivated to see it through and see that it progresses to the next stage.

3. Unfair feedback and ratings will be pretty easy to spot and would make the person giving unfair feedback and ratings look like a self-serving fool. Those comments and ratings would be disregarded anyway.

4. I'm assuming that there are are qualified human beings making the final decision - it's not just a mindless computer algorithm that tallies up plusses and minuses. The tagging and comments are just nice to have (yes, even the negative feedback).

In the end I think that the "meaningfulness" of a win is probably more affected by how many people will participate (both as entrants and as judges) than on whether entrants are allowed to rate one another. I wish more people would consider the above points and then join in the fun, which would raise the prestige of the contest.

Or the site staff could change this rule and disable contestants from rating each other, but I suspect that they would have already done so by now if it were feasible on a practical level.

BTW, I have given lots of positive (green) tags as well as high ratings to fellow contestants, along with the negative. I've tried to be fair and it looks to me like everyone else is (more or less) doing the same, in their own way. ▲ Collapse
 
Kristina Love
Kristina Love  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:35
Spanish to English
+ ...
Turns out it is a problem! Aug 9, 2021

The beginning of the "Finals Phase" today marks the end of the contest in Spanish-to-English without any finalists chosen, because there were not enough ratings.

What a COLOSSAL waste of time and effort!!!! Never again.

I've also changed my mind. Phil was right. Having entrants rate each other doesn't work. A panel of qualified judges is needed, otherwise it's not a real contest. Now that I've seen it play out, I get it.

Elizabeth Tamblin
 
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Rating others' entries when you've entered yourself






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