DOWNVOTERS Back with a Vengeance!

I love that design. I voted 5 both times. It's a disgrace whats happening with the scoring system. It isn't Threadless' fault obviously. I do miss the days of when submissions got over 2000 votes and voted based on feelings towards the art versus trying to win a contest and piss on the competition.

I'm with you. My design Fresh Air was comfortably in the mid-3s last night. This morning when I woke up it was at 2.80, and only 30-40 new votes. I know that score doesn't ultimately matter, but it's nice to see your design high up on the list after working hard on it.

@little_g_design, Thanks. @csweiler, wow thats also a big knock. I really like that design! I'm just hoping the downvoting is done for this week, haha

:( that sucks. was hoping to get back in the game again. would be sad to see my scores go down

@Gamma-Ray fingers crossed...

I'm quite curious as to how this downvoting happens... I wonder if it's one guy who creates loads of fake accounts or a guy who gets all his family and friends to vote 1 on all the other top designs , haha.

I don't like subbing during down voting spells, as despite everyone saying "scores don't matter", they matter to me personally. I see them as a personal goal or target and it is frustrating when selfish individuals skew the numbers. It also effects your positioning and thus exposure, so is a double whammy. Why don't threadless, at the very least, have a pop up check box when you sub to explain to these brain and heart deprived noobs that down-voting is pointless as designs are not selected on score alone and that it actually damages your chance of getting printed. It could be done with your first 2 subs only, to get the message across from the start.

ThePaperCrane said:I don't like subbing during down voting spells, as despite everyone saying "scores don't matter", they matter to me personally. I see them as a personal goal or target and it is frustrating when selfish individuals skew the numbers.

This. An honest score it's mostly the only reward we get from the process, so yeah, it matters.

@thepapercrane, yeah I think I'm just like you in that Regard that a score matters to me personally. That pop up box idea is a really great idea! i wonder how many boobs actually think that highest score wins automatically. You have so many friends , congratz u win 1000$! Hahaha

Sorry noobs, not boobs , hahaha

what's this about boobs now?

This happens to so many good designs and then crappy ones sit there with large numbers and high scores looking mighty suspicious. Just like you said, it's the new guys thinking highest scores are automatically chosen. It's such a shame they crap on others to try and get their moment. I scored your vinyl system a 5, as it deserved it. Best of luck with it, despite the downvoting!

This Thread is officially about boobs now, hahaha. @martinascott, apprecaite the support :)

I noticed that suspicious change in my score... This is very painful because this design could've been my best score ever until that happen, and yes that isn't the most important thing to Threadless but as @ThePaperCrane said that affect your positioning and exposure, I went down from 1st to 4th after the downvotes wave. But Cest La Vie...

It's certainly a problem with a difficult solution. When I'm competing on a challenge, I usually check the top designs to see how high is their score (and see my chances ;)). When the score time for a design is closed (a really good one per example), is always as unbelievable as sad for me to see how tall are the 1's and 2's columns. It really piss me off. I mean, maybe you don't like the design personally because is not your style or something, but can't you appreciate another things like technique, concept, etc. behind it? I'm sure 90% of time it's a matter of "hate", like envy or maybe selfish motivations, trying to get down the top designs and make theirs visible. If the 1 and 2 buttons had a "why?" pop up window in which the haters had to explain first to make the vote count (writing, not checking) the reasons why the voted so down, this would be reduced by simple laziness. But I supposed this is a too far fetched solution. Anyway, I hope my 5 will help you man and that this problem will be solved soon. And now, I'll say what I really came to say: I love boobs.

It's a bit worrying that the downvoting happened outside of a competition. Seems like an extra level of dickishness on the downvoters side. My suggestion is that voting should only be given to people who have either submitted a design in the past or people who have bought stuff from Threadless, that way you'd cut out all of the spam acounts straight away. The only downside would be a reduction in the amount of votes, but then at least they'd all be legit. Also, The Vinyl System is an awesome design and should immediately be printed. Also, boobs.

ThePaperCrane said:I don't like subbing during down voting spells, as despite everyone saying "scores don't matter", they matter to me personally. I see them as a personal goal or target and it is frustrating when selfish individuals skew the numbers. It also effects your positioning and thus exposure, so is a double whammy. Why don't threadless, at the very least, have a pop up check box when you sub to explain to these brain and heart deprived noobs that down-voting is pointless as designs are not selected on score alone and that it actually damages your chance of getting printed. It could be done with your first 2 subs only, to get the message across from the start.

Interesting suggestion! Other idea... A tab in the profile with all the designs that one has marked in 1, as well as 5 right now. If something seems crap and you want to put 1 you take care of that. The cheaters will come out.

ThePaperCrane said: Why don't threadless, at the very least, have a pop up check box when you sub to explain to these brain and heart deprived noobs that down-voting is pointless as designs are not selected on score alone and that it actually damages your chance of getting printed. It could be done with your first 2 subs only, to get the message across from the start.

I think that's a great idea! I hope Threadless implements it. That would hopefully curb all of the negative downvoters who simply just don't know any better as they're newbies. However, haters still gonna hate --- even in the best case scenarios. Stay positive!

I pushed for attention on my first submissions and have followed many people to fully immerse myself in the Threadless community - this has worked wonders and although people scoring my work 1,2,3,4 or 5 out of 5 is not important - how many people score it is. I think the more people who interact with you is more important than the value put against my work, the work and idea is mine and I only submit things that I am happy with. Downvoting in my opinion is bang out of order and should be stopped at all cost because there are hundreds of people that will be affected by scores. It is a very personal thing putting your work in the public eye and can cause anxiety if falsely scored work comes back low.

I really like the pop-up box idea. Adding @lxromero. Hi Luis, just notifying you and the staff ;) Really appreciate the support guys! We have a great community of artists on Threadless!

DinoMike said:It's a bit worrying that the downvoting happened outside of a competition. Seems like an extra level of dickishness on the downvoters side. My suggestion is that voting should only be given to people who have either submitted a design in the past or people who have bought stuff from Threadless, that way you'd cut out all of the spam acounts straight away. The only downside would be a reduction in the amount of votes, but then at least they'd all be legit. .

Also a great idea @DinoMike. And yeah, i've also never seen much regular comp designs being knocked! Is a bit concerning...

I wonder if this design/profile has anything to do with this? https://www.threadless.com/designs/creative-ideas Don't get me wrong, it's a good illustration. I'm not pointing any fingers but there are a disproportionate amount of votes on this design compared to everything else on the site. I wonder if the people who have voted this design to the top of the pile are the same people who have contributed to the downvoting of other designs?

Gamma-Ray said:I'm quite curious as to how this downvoting happens... I wonder if it's one guy who creates loads of fake accounts or a guy who gets all his family and friends to vote 1 on all the other top designs , haha.

Scripts, botnets, 'services' for sale, everywhere. You can buy fake likes and friends on social media, so there's no reason that can't be done here. The downvoting in the Tiki challenge was on a scale not seen yet, with hundreds of 1s on the top quality designs of the usual winners. There's no way one dude however dedicated can do that on their own. Also botnets mean there's nothing anyone can do, the only sensible way is to do away with scores altogether. I'd hate it because just like you guys I use scores as a measure of progress, but it's not even a meaningful measure anymore.

csweiler said:I wonder if this design/profile has anything to do with this? https://www.threadless.com/designs/creative-ideas

metalsan said:

csweiler said:I wonder if this design/profile has anything to do with this? https://www.threadless.com/designs/creative-ideas

4+ in sight! C'mon dude, you're almost there!

It's been super frustrating, especially recently. The Vinyl System looks great as a tee, too... for what it's worth.

I get a lot of the out of no where torpedo voting. I tend not to get a lot of votes as it is. What's the point of detonating the bell curve on designs with no votes?

^ sorry man but these graphs are not indicative of downvoting. This graph is: Because downvoting takes time and/or money, it has to be targeted. Downvoters only concentrate on the top designs, those with a lot of votes and high votes. Rick's had 500 votes, with more 5s than 4s than 3s etc. Consequently he earned 200 1s. Yours don't fit in this pattern, with 50/160 votes total incl 10/60 1s and no clear upward tendency. Sorry but not every 1 vote is a downvote.

I'm really sorry that people down-voted the vinyl system designs. I voted 5 on both. I like the idea of the warning about down voting, although if it is bots doing it then it might not help. (As an aside how do you see the scores on your design before the contest is over?)

superdesigner said: (As an aside how do you see the scores on your design before the contest is over?)

Search tool is your friend =)

Manupix said:

superdesigner said: (As an aside how do you see the scores on your design before the contest is over?)

LOL It is magic. I can't believe I didn't know that. Makes me want to submit a design right now just so I can be even more obsessive about following the scoring!

@ Manupix Ah, I see the error of my ways, I was a such a fool! I'm sure I earned every single 1!

Well, now when I know how to see my score I am upset too. I know it's far from perfect but I hoped that my Otter would be at least 3 :(

Idea: that every new account should wait 10 days to start voting designs... I'm sure it will ease this.

palitosci said:Idea: that every new account should wait 10 days to start voting designs... I'm sure it will ease this.

Good Thinking! Or even 3-5 days...

Manupix said:^ sorry man but these graphs are not indicative of downvoting. This graph is: Because downvoting takes time and/or money, it has to be targeted. Downvoters only concentrate on the top designs, those with a lot of votes and high votes. Rick's had 500 votes, with more 5s than 4s than 3s etc. Consequently he earned 200 1s. Yours don't fit in this pattern, with 50/160 votes total incl 10/60 1s and no clear upward tendency. Sorry but not every 1 vote is a downvote.

I'd love to know what my score would have been minus the downvotes as it could have been a personal best ;( With a gift for numbers, could you work that out for me @Manupix ? ;)

Happy to oblige =D Total score/706 = 3.13 so total score = 2210. The 1 bar looks like 200 votes high, let's be conservative and assume 160 of these are 'unfair'. They cont for 160x1 in the total, so a fair total would be 2210 - 160 = 2050. Fair average = 2050/706-160 = 2050/546 = 3.75. Not too shabby!

*count !

Hmmmm, Good calculation that! I was just gonna guess that it would be around 3,7-3,9ish, hahha

Manupix said:Happy to oblige =D Total score/706 = 3.13 so total score = 2210. The 1 bar looks like 200 votes high, let's be conservative and assume 160 of these are 'unfair'. They cont for 160x1 in the total, so a fair total would be 2210 - 160 = 2050. Fair average = 2050/706-160 = 2050/546 = 3.75. Not too shabby!

ive been meaning to ask threadstaff for the API for the threadless website. That would be nice to write my own tools to do these analyses

When will these guys learn that the real key to downvoting is to vote 3? Nobody wants an average tee!

Thanks @Manupix I'm happy with that now

welp i just submitted a new design in a long time. Time to find out how these downvoters do

ok, I haven't been on Threadless in years due to this nagging down-voting practice that obviously cannot be stopped.. and now I wonder how do you see the stats for your submission if the contest is still running? I just want to know if I'm wasting my time

I'm at 3.8 after day 1. Let's see how this goes..

bepina said: I just want to know if I'm wasting my time

Designing for Threadless is NOT a waste of time, whatever the results. Scores don't matter at all regarding printability; and it's about progress anyway, not prints (for most of us, most of the time).

ok, but do you know where I can see the stats? :)

bepina said:ok, but do you know where I can see the stats? :)

Use the search bar and filters (submissions/open)