Anonymous Poll re: Voting

[Liam]

Hey everyone! I don't wanna create drama here, I simply want to post an anonymous poll regarding how you vote in NSC for my own curiosity. I was discussing in a convo with some people about how they vote/their friends vote and it made me wonder... How many people in NSC vote purely for songs? Maybe this problem seems bigger than it actually is but I would like to know, how many of you vote based on the songs, and how many of you give a few points to your friends to avoid that awkward conversation when results time comes? I'll openly say that when I first joined NSC in the 40s, I made some friendships and some members would make me feel awkward, guilty and even pressurise me into voting for them, but it didn't take me long to see that these people were doing it to others and were even winning off of these "gift points". So, after investigating for maybe a year and talking to numerous members, old and new, whether they admit it or not, I found that they have been in a similar situation to me. So just for my curiosity, how do you vote? I can assure you all that all of my votes are completely honest based on the songs and my taste, not on the people I speak to on MSN - feel free to analyse them if you wish

But what I wanna know is, how do YOU guys vote, and do you see this as a big problem?

Note: No one will ever know the option you chose, so please be honest! It'd be interesting to see how this poll ends
And also, this poll is not asking if you vote for your friends, but voting your friends regardless of the SONG, for whatever reason

 

[Turkish97]

It doesn't matter who is it,i'm always voting for the songs,if she/he has a great song i would vote for her/him.

 

[No Name]

Interesting topic, and certainly something that should be looked into. It's something I've been thinking of regularly but never really cared to bring up.

I have this discussion with myself each and every edition, but I always end up making the right decision and vote for the songs purely, and not the countries. Some countries might have be favourized a lot more from me than others, but that's simply because I very often like the songs they send.

I don't give much for threatenings or pressure towards other members. Luckily I've never experienced that, but I'm not surprised of its existence in NSC really.

 

[Liam]

Luckily I've never experienced that, but I'm not surprised of its existence in NSC really.

I still experience the occasional bitchy comment but I think most members realise I won't vote for them if I don't like their song But I heard about something today which shocked me and I felt the need to finally open this topic.

 

[Sean]

This poll is a bit flawed if I'm honest. I'm sure everyone even slightly is influenced in some way by either the friendships that they make in the contest or their preconceptions of the nations. For example, if you love every song that a nation sends then you may become accustomed to their style and be more likely to give them higher points than another, for example. I'm not entirely sure if this is the case but I can imagine that for some people it may silently influence them without them even knowing that it happens.

Of course, simply voting for friends is wrong and I judge each entry. Even if I'm good friends with someone here, if their song is the worst then I will rank it last.

 

[spiluke]

I don't do this but I know somebody who does. Please let us see the results at least.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

No I don't vote for countries based on the people I like. When I'm listening to the songs the person behind it rarely comes into my head who is behind the country. (Some of the newer countries I'm not even fully sure who's behind them tbh)

We all have countries we seem to vote more often for just because they like a similar style that we like, but I don't think that's unfair because in the end it's a matter of taste (and that's what this contest is about) There's always exceptions to this though, nearly every edition there's at least one country that while I don't support them very often, have sent a song that I like enough to give points.

 

[Liam]

Just to clarify, I don't mean voting because you have similar styles, I mean voting for someone simply because they're your friends completely disregarding the song. An example of this is maybe... no names or titles... But a song was considered in an MSN NF and was completely slammed by someone who said how awful it was, and picked 10 points from this person when someone sent it they have a supposed deal with.

 

[berlyda]

Interesting idea
I agree with Sean; as much as we don't want to admit it, it's likely that friendships affect all of our votes to some degree, even if it's just that 1 point extra when you really can't decide between two songs. You might not realise you're doing it, but subconscious association of friendship with "good" can be transferred over to your opinion of the song.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

I think it's a bit of an insult voting for someone disregarding (or mostly) their actual entry.

 

[Liam]

I probably didn't make this poll very clear I wrote it in like 2 mins... I don't mean simply voting for your friends subconsciously, but literally not wanting to vote for a song but feeling (because they're friends with you), that you have to.

 

[berlyda]

Yeah, i know what you meant, and i voted based on that But the psychology of it's kinda interesting xD

 

[Sabrewulf238]

I probably didn't make this poll very clear I wrote it in like 2 mins... I don't mean simply voting for your friends subconsciously, but literally not wanting to vote for a song but feeling (because they're friends with you), that you have to.

In that case, even less so. (if that was possible)

We're moving into plain cheating territory here...

I wouldn't appreciate somebody voting for Dalisska because they're friends with me. If they were really my friends they'd respect my entry and vote based on what they actually think of it.

 

[SpZ]

Can't really vote in the poll as non of the answers are suitable.

Simply said the sender of a song influences the points given at some level. There are 3 things which influence the decision of at least 90% of people here related to countries:
1. Familiarity with the song. Believe it or not, but people tend to like songs which they have listened more than once, if you get shown a song by someone in msn or have voted in an nf you are already favouring a song more due to the actions of a person (eg him/her presenting you the song while some other person didn't do it) ==> people's action influence how their song is done.
2. Secondly a perhaps more controversial point, but I still think it goes for pretty much all of the long time people here. Anyway the thing is that most people have favourite artists and not all of the songs by the same artist are equally good. When our favourite artist has a bit weaker song, we still might like it (or at least aren't as critical towards it as to some random song by a random artist). Our brain psychologically wants to protect and affirm our decision that our favourite artist is good and tries to make us believe that even the not so good songs are decent. Well what's my point? Replace your favourite artist with your favourite country and you'll get more or less the same.
3. You actually pay more attention to something if you expect it to be good ==> songs from good countries get more attention.

So yes, the song is not totally independent from a country, but that is not due to the must vote for someone or else they hate me thing. (It might be that too in some cases)

 

[Sabrewulf238]

Can't really vote in the poll as non of the answers are suitable.
1. Familiarity with the song. Believe it or not, but people tend to like songs which they have listened more than once, if you get shown a song by someone in msn or have voted in an nf you are already favouring a song more due to the actions of a person (eg him/her presenting you the song while some other person didn't do it) ==> people's action influence how their song is done.

Depends on how familiar we're talking about. If it was shown to me before the contest (in the NF) it probably does effect me somewhat (but is the transition from NF to Semi-Final that different from the transition from Semi-Final to Final?)....but there comes a point when I'm so familiar with something I feel against giving it high points because it doesn't feel like a fresh discovery. It just wouldn't feel right for me to award points to something I know so well (even if I still like them) We're talking about songs I've known for years though in this case. There's not the same kind of excitement around them that there would be with a song I've only recently discovered.

 

[twister]

This poll is a bit flawed if I'm honest. I'm sure everyone even slightly is influenced in some way by either the friendships that they make in the contest or their preconceptions of the nations. For example, if you love every song that a nation sends then you may become accustomed to their style and be more likely to give them higher points than another, for example. I'm not entirely sure if this is the case but I can imagine that for some people it may silently influence them without them even knowing that it happens.

Of course, simply voting for friends is wrong and I judge each entry. Even if I'm good friends with someone here, if their song is the worst then I will rank it last.

xgood

 

[Jukica]

This poll is a bit flawed if I'm honest. I'm sure everyone even slightly is influenced in some way by either the friendships that they make in the contest or their preconceptions of the nations. For example, if you love every song that a nation sends then you may become accustomed to their style and be more likely to give them higher points than another, for example. I'm not entirely sure if this is the case but I can imagine that for some people it may silently influence them without them even knowing that it happens.

Of course, simply voting for friends is wrong and I judge each entry. Even if I'm good friends with someone here, if their song is the worst then I will rank it last.

+1 xgood

 

[My Star]

I've never been pressured by anyone to vote for their song, and I've never personally engaged in such pressurising. I honestly don't care if someone is my friend or not, I'll judge the songs based on whether I like them or not.

 

[Simon87]

When some country has or sends a similar taste songs i will always give her points no matter what person it is.

Some countries choose songs together or give each other suggestions, so thats also normal thing and can be misunderstood by some but i dont care at all.

Also you cant persuade to your friend to not vote for you if he wants, thats his choice, but at least he can be sinsere and tell you that.

At this point i dont care who is friend with who, nsc is a big contest were always song that has most support takes a victory.

 

[94ayd]

Well, this CLEARLY doesn't apply to me because I usually try voting for countries I give points less often and I'm quite disappointed when I give high points to some of the ones that generally receive high points but it's the song that matters 100% for me anyway. I won't give more or less points because I like, dislike a country/person and I think my points this edition will show to a certain aspect this...