I always thought they made a mistake when they decided who played what instrument. Archie on lead guitar made sense as he was the frontman and namesake of the band. Veronica playing keyboards made sense - the rich girl probably had piano lessons early on. But Jughead and Reggie got the wrong instruments. Drums would suit Reggie's personality much better - big, loud, and flamboyant. While the bass player is usually more in the background but really holds the band together - perfect for Jughead.

If you feel the contest is biased, you're right. Any "contest" where people are asked to pick their favorites is inherently biased.

If you think you have a better cover than everyone else, realize many others feel that way too. There's no one criteria to what makes "the best" or "the favorite" for everyone. Sometimes I think the covers that win are lousy and great covers get no votes, other times I agree with the consensus vote. Am I biased? You betcha because no one else here has the same exact tastes and standards I have and no one else bases their choices on the same criteria I do. Sometimes nostalgia plays a role, in that someone posts a cover that has special meaning to me because of my experiences, no one else had those experiences so yes my vote in that case is biased. Sometimes I think a cover perfectly fits a theme, I vote for it, sometimes I think other covers better fit the theme but I like another particular cover better for whatever reason, so I vote for it. All of that is biased. Every vote I have ever cast in this contest is biased. Because I am me and not you. Unless we are all using the same rubric to judge each entry and all have the same standards how to interpret the rubric, the results are going to be biased. And even if we had a rubric, the rubric would reflect the bias of the person who designed it, so the contest would still be biased.

What can and does happen occasionally is that many of the members have a common experience with comics, so certain people can hit on covers that resonate with other members fairly frequently, but that's because the nature of the contest itself lends itself to that in a community built around those shared bonds of comic experience. Is that bias? Sure. But nothing in real life is unbiased. The first thing I was taught as a historian is that everything is biased. There is no such thing as unbiased when dealing with human beings. The trick as a historian to dealing with that is identifying the biases and keeping them in mind when interpreting the material. Maybe some folks don' like the biases the influence the vote, but that then is their bias.

When people asked to port the contest over from the old place, it was because they enjoyed the experience of discovering new covers and participating in a community activity, so I brought it over and adapted it to our classic focus rather than any cover in particular. It's older than this forum and it has been biased since before it came here because that is the nature of the beast.

If someone doesn't enjoy participating, they don't need to. Winning can be fun sure, and I feel it's an honor when my cover gets votes or is selected, but if it doesn't, oh well,it's still a great community building activity. I've been here since the beginning and brought the contest over from the old place, I've won there and I've won here, but I couldn't tell you how many times I have won or who voted for me when I did or how many times I have gotten no votes at all for covers I contributed that I thought were perfect for the theme. But I can tell you all about the great covers I discovered and have tracked down and bought though. However, the fun should come from the participation and not the outcome. Enjoy the covers, enjoy the sense of community the contest builds, if you win, it's gravy. If it's not fun for you, that's ok too, but realize that's your bias and not everyone shares it.

Follow your bliss!

-M

Here I come to save the day!

I think you got him mixed up with this dope smuggler...



NOT AN ENTRY