But there was no such rule! Ok you're not going to put it right, period!

Yes there is such a rule, otherwise tamarian's hack would still be in the HOTM poll it got removed from for doing a very similar thing...

However, I can argue with you until I'm blue in the face, and you with I...

You are not going to change your view evidently, and nor am I going to change mine - Let's just agree to disagree...

Chris

Not the same situation as mine was not even nominated, but I really don't mind. It was unfair then, and still unfair now, until some rules are listed, instead of being selective as to which rules to apply, and to whom.

Nominations and winning are not a big deal, but since it's there, it's best to have some rules that apply to everyone equally.

The "rule" only existed in the "Staff" minds and was not written down so no-one knew about it. Possibly tamarian has a justified gripe to pursue.

I'm not going to change my view because I know what is right and what is wrong. And removing ibProArcade from this poll when it was an almost certain winner is most definitely wrong. But you're "Staff" and I'm not and so you can do what you like and I can't. But your credibility is lost and mine isn't. Bye bye.

Well regardless, what is fair is having one stance for everyone, and that is exactly what he have had...

We're going to rectify the situation for any future discrepancies by making sure the rules pretty much cannot be missed...

Chris

This rule has been applied to everyone that has been reported for doing such things. Once again we don't pick on certain members just because we feel like it. You are free to throw that around all you want, but it doesn't make it true.

If the author wanted (and if he still wants to) he can contact me via private message and I will attempt to get this solved in private. The only reason I've even posted in public on the topic is the fact that this is getting out of control.

If you'd prefer to go above me, then Wayne is the man to talk to.

I think that should do it. Sort of like the BotM template, either listing the rules or linking to them.

Telling members to click install if they ask for support should be fine, IMHO. But if it isn't, then a simple and clear statemnt in the rules should help.

20 votes ahead, and about 26 days left in the poll makes it a certain winner? Lol..

Please, everybody - stop talking about it, Chris and the Staff made their decision, and we have to accept it. There is no way to change that.

Only thing I personally put critics on is that:and the first response about those 17 PM was a PM I got from Erwin tellingThere was no taste of breaking any HotM-Rule or something like that, the matter just was "Spam".

I myself answered this and explained that it was no Spam as I only sent this information to those 17 people from "my Team"...




But anyway, that's the way life goes, and so we all have to accept.



Congratulations to John and v3arcade :)



@Brad:
I will PM you to clear everything out, no problem :)

Well, who knows? Since ibProArcade has been removed from this poll we'll never know who the real winner would have been. As it is, V3Arcade looks to be the winner albeit it due to not-very-divine intervention.

V3Arcade is to win! :D YAY!

ROFL! :D

Hardly, admitedly support for v3arcade right now is pretty bad. Premium or not.

Well, in fact there is better/any support for those who paid:(Source of this quote)

;)



Anyway, this thread should go back to a HotM-Voting-Thread without discussions ...

Ditto. :) My co-admin is switching them over to ibProArcade.

Isn't that post in the V3Arcade thread flouting the board rules:

I wonder what would happen if any other hack author tried to charge $60 for a new bug fixed version of their hack? Anyway, back to the HotM for December. I wonder which hack will win? :)

If you are unhappy with that post, report it...

The least that will happen is we watch the thread more closely...

Chris

Thing is this poll now has no winner, there is no HotM for December 2005. No one can call a win by default a real win especially when the other main competitor was taken out for an unwritten rule. Its as much a loss by whoever wins as the disqualified hack.

I voted prior to any PM, I based my decision on the hacks I was using and those installed hacks have been down to my personal choice. MrZ did not even know if I had switched to v3arcade, this was indeed a possibility.

I dont consider a 17 user PM to developers and testers of a product, a link to a poll with "have you voted yet ?" as any kind of rule breaking as ther was no mention of what hack to vote for. If in the past other polls have had items removed for the exact same broken rule, then it was high time a set of rules was in place aftre the second occurance. The decision in this is bad imo. Oh well no point coming back to this thread now but to read further.

If you guys have a serious problem with anything, please contact Wayne or Brad in private about this matter.

From everyone's coments here, would vb.org consider calling December HotM a dead issue with no winner? If so, would you be willing to allow all entries another run in January?

I have not heard any major objections, if any at all of letting IPBProArcade back into this. I swear i saw a comment mentioning that v3Arcade made note of this in an update email. Perhaps I am mistaken and if so my apoligies.

Seeing as there are no "written" rules, these "rules" are nothing more then he said/she said Although not fair to previous disqualified particpants, this is a pretty contraverseal issue and untill IPBProArcade has been reinstated the rants are just going to conintue. I say let IPB back in this and reset the polls.

I have nothing more to say.

Wow. Simply wow. After reading this thread, I have to seriously question the decision making process at vb.org. How does one get removed from a contest for breaking a rule that nobody knew about but the staff?

The line of reasoning that tamarian got removed from a contest for the same thing is meaningless. Implying that the psuedo-rule should be known across the board because the tamarian event occured is ridiculous. I personally don't pay any attention to HoTM unless a hack I have installed or plan to install is involved so you can't simply assume that every board member knows about the goings on about a HoTM they weren't involved in.

I was a little miffed about the removal of ibProArcade when I first read the thread but I figured, okay, rule broken, the removal is justified. However now that I know that the rule doesn't exist (matters not if the staff knew it, if the rule wasn't written and accessible by contestants, it doesn't exist) I wholeheartedly disagree with the removal of ibProArcade from this months poll. Either put them back in the running or nullify the entire December HoTM contest.

/me tosses 2 pennies and leaves . *smh*

i'm with rjordan with that...

i think that this flaming have gone too far, and this HotM thing is now out because there is now a serious lack of support/answers from the staff...

i really think that the vb.org guys need to interact a lot more when some decisions like that are taken... that would be a simple proof of Real Public Relations...

EDIT: oh, and i think of this... if vb.org guys are too occupied or absent for the season, maybe a GOOD announcement is welcome here... because i think they deserve their vacations, but actually we're not aware of any, so a lot of other guys will continue arguying with no echoes.

That's not fair to the rest of the December participant's, or those that will be in January's.

HotM looks dead to me!

Not entirely true on the December side, seems the runners in it was either arcade, if one of them hadnt existed it would have been as it is now (but with a lot more votes on the one most likley), as I pointed out earlier when one of the main runners is removed for a breach of an unwritten rule the other which will likey win now cannot consider the win a victory as it has no fair competition, Besides which I remember the v3arcade for v3 which romped home last time and was pimped rotten, a whole lot more than a PM to a select few of the testers and developers. If i remeber correctly it was pimped on the v3arcade forums, it was pimped in its thread and I am sure I got a v3arcade.com email pimping it aswell. I really see nothing wrong with a single mail/pm as a reminder theres a HotM comp, spam to me would be something like one a day on the same subject.

The January side yes it would be quite unfair to block in this months into next. The end result is there is no Dec 2005 HotM as there cannot be any fair or reasonable outcome now, whatever is permitted to continue.

I went and took a look at ibProarcade, it is not saying to vote for ibproarcade for HOTM, only the best free arcade for December HOTH. In your post it shows to vote for v3arcade and the other's, but you can only vote for one and not the other's ;).

*edit
Anymore unwritten rule's the members here should know about, I hate to see this go on & on. :devious:

From ibPro post:
Note how it says vote for this version of arcade.


From v3 post:
Note how it says this version of arcade or (not and) other modification.


I do agree, however, that the unpublished rules should be published. They said they are going to be doing this in the future. I also agree that it would be unfair to January nominees, etc. as posted above, but at the same time I think it unfair that ibPro got knocked out. Those that voted for ibPro might have voted for one of the other modifications and may have given v3 a run, but how will we know now?

I guess vB.org has made their final decision. No sense in continuing this.

Since the rules are unpublished and not known to the general public, isn't it possible that the other hacks have broken one of these "rules" as well?

Good point. Personally, I would never have voted for V3Arcade and if ibProarcade had not been nominated I would have voted for adsense banners in the archive!

I agree. This month's HotM should be stricken, and a fresh start in Janurary. Or pull v3Arcade from the poll and let the other 3 be voted on and have special poll just for the arcade hacks.

This would not be fair to the author of v3arcade.

I need to also point out that my use of the phrase "Unwritten rule" was not correct. The rule does exist and has been viewable by the public for a long time now:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/rules.php?

The actions that would be taken (removal from the HOTM poll) was not something the public was aware of. As I've said before we will make sure everyone is aware of that next month.

Yes other hack authors have been removed from the poll (some before it was even posted) due to the same thing. Again we don't pick on certain people while letting others slide for the same thing.

You should remove the ability to PM more than one user then on this site. The whole feature is to send the same message to more than one member :rolleyes:

In any event, you still apparently refuse to apologise to the coder in question for shooting first and asking questions later. He's explained several times whom the PMs were sent to.

I am aware of the authors actions and I am speaking to him in private.

Booorrrrrrriiinnnnnnggggggg

There's a setting in your admincp under usergroups to set a maximum number of recipients you know. Why even have that rule?

Look brad, seriously . This hotm is corrupted. If my hack was in here i personally wouldnt want to win. It would be a i won because the better hack got removed, or i won in a totally unfair vote. Literally ibproarcade was unwarned. From what i have experienced on my forums, when you want to kick some one or warn him you either warn him using infernos hack OR you pm him a warning to stop. Now youll say: but what if he has already pmed it to all his hacks installers? Well heres the answer to that , its NOT his fault if he did. Theres NO rule saying he cant. Mabye tamarians hack got removed and mabye he KNEW that rule. But the maker of this arcade didnt. That makes this a curropt poll. From what im reading i also know th admins of this site are stubborn fools , that cant bring them self to either apoligize for their mistakes of not posting the rules, and further more they just dont want to feel they did something wrong. Seriously if you dont want to cancel this hotm, remove the OTHER arcade. That way the other two guys left cna have a fair vote. And then have the two arcades for the next one. That way itl be fair for all of these guys. Thats all i would like to say

No hard feeling

-pspcrazy.com

Sorry for the spelling errors im in a hurry.

So when a hack developer has 2 or more beta testers where the hack is currently in a private beta stage the main coder has to write a completely seperate message to all testers and make damn sure its worded differently else the hack itself is not valid.

Really in four years or more of HotM and there is not a HotM rules page or sticky post, even though similar problems or other problems has arisen in the past. Seems to me you should think about coding the HotM properly as its likely to be quicker done.

ie. Top 3 install count for month is the contenders
Months installs multiplied by average rating == winner, 2nd place and final runner up.

The end, no rules required, no poll required, no way to break rules of the HotM feature itself. No arguments nothing.

A competition with no set rules or guidelines is to be frank ridiculous. I would suggest something like the above if thats the case.

That just affects a single send, you can repeat send a PM to different people as many times as you want.

Why should they remove the other arcade, they did nothing wrong. As for not wanting to win - I think you may view it differently if your hack was in this months vote. If mine was in i'd be more than happy to win. In a few months no one will care how how you won, you will be in the HOTM list and that's all people will see.

So Does This Also Mean That Coders are Not Allowed To Pm or Email Members
Who Have Installed There Hacks That There As been An Update......

Good For The Goose Comes To Mind