Proposals for fair FUOTY votings(updated version of my prev. thread)

[VelvelStein]

There are certain rules currently in place - basically, no graycels or newcels can vote - and honestly, that’s somewhat valid in terms of determining who should be allowed to vote.
However, across many instances, I've encountered and been affected by various forms of SPAM - not direct spam, but still disruptive - as well as self-promotion (either by the candidate or via so-called "puppets") and generally immoral behavior. In one of the elections I closely observed, candidate B initiated a campaign involving adding people to groups and misleading them with messages like, "Your life will be hell if you don’t vote for me."(and thats not a joke, treat is as direct quote)

And I haven’t even started talking about the "rep showers" - attempts to buy votes with reputation points.

Main Problems:​

1. Greycels who aren’t really greycels (with 500 -1000 posts) end up deciding the results.
2. These not-so-greycels then become targets of spam (or even actual greycels - some of the auto-spam accounts can’t even see their posts ), and they are often misled.

To be clear, I’m not attacking anyone personally. The issue is systemic, not individual. My goal is not to affect any results, including ongoing, but at least propose things, that could make voting process somewhat FAIR.

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TL;DR:​

Right now, the voting results are mostly decided by people who don’t really care - and some candidates win through blatant spam.

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My Proposals:​

1. Stricter rules on promotion:​

It’s fine to praise someone if it's relevant to the topic - and it’s okay to drop a link when asked, or have promo in your bio. In related threads, it’s okay to discuss what candidate A or B said/did and state your opinion.

But it should be moderated - not treated like “free speech” without limits.

1.1) Any malicious misinformation should be punished, posts deleted, and users warned.​

This includes extreme accusations (e.g. calling someone a pdf without proof) or anything going beyond normal forum discussion, and forum matters, if done so without proof

1.2) Harsh policies against any form of rep showering - even hints at “vote for me and I’ll give you rep” - should be severely punished.​

Including, doing so by alts, or so called "puppets"

1.3) Random wall posts on people who haven’t interacted with poaters you should be punished, especially when done via alts.​

There are exceptions to think of, for example - like if everyone knows each other and the promotion is mutual(just asking freind, person who interacted countlesly with) but when it’s mass spam toward strangers, that’s not acceptable.

1.4) Closed threads created solely to promote oneself, especially targeting random users or using point 1.1 tactics, should be banned.​

Even for non-randoms, there should be a limit - e.g., 5–10 targets max, not 25+. Providing info is okay, but not mass spamming or misleading.

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2. Tougher or revised voting rules​

2.1) Tougher rules for newcels:​

One month is too short to be allowed to vote, even if they’ve shed their grey status. These users are often:
a) active only in Off-Topic,
b) lacking enough knowledge to judge the forum dynamics,
c) primary targets of all the spam tactics described above.
Proposal: increase the time to 3 or even 6 months.

2.2) Tougher rules for greycels:​

Same reasons as above (except point a).
If the other proposals are implemented successfully, I’m perfectly fine with letting 600-post users vote.
But for now, limiting voting to users with 1000+ posts could be a simple fix, as these lower-post users are the main spam targets.

2.3) Introduce vote weighting (coefficients):​

The vote of someone who recently joined should not weigh the same as someone with 10k+ posts since 2021.
This would help encourage genuine interaction with the forum community.
The implementation needs to be thought out - maybe a scale based on post count + registration date - but it’s a good direction for the 2026 FUOTY.

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TL;DR (again):​

These proposals aim to make the voting process more authentic, and a lot less dependent on spam/misinformation, while ensuring that real contributions to the forum are what actually matter, not a spam competition as it is nowadays

 

[alurmo]

All this for @enchanted_elixir. And @Notcel to dnrd ur post

 

[VelvelStein]

@enchanted_elixir @mohi_100 @HighLtn @TechnoBoss (sorry for pings guys, but I really want at leat consider ways to make FUOTY less spam-depentable )

 

[enchanted_elixir]

I'll review and integrate these insights into the rules for FUOTY 2026. I actually was thinking about adding new rules to the tournament to combat some things I saw this year that I didn't like (e.g. conspiracy to use alts)

 

[mohi_100]

I honestly dont really agree with the vote weighting part. I also believe a fun part of voting is seeing candidates try to promote themselves by any means necessary. But overall some good points have been made in the thread

 

[VelvelStein]

I honestly dont really agree with the vote weighting part. I also believe a fun part of voting is seeing candidates try to promote themselves by any means necessary. But overall some good points have been made in the thread

Probably just one of the easier implementations to battle with the spam - so candidates would be much more towards intercating with existing ACTIVE users. I`m not against it, and if pervents the spam whatsoever, let it be.
And I also belive that promoting is fun, however it should be humane to some extent + interesting, not copypaste spam at all