I’m not too convinced about the random haters being responsible for most unexpected -5’s. I had a couple enemy ideas this week that I thought were brilliant (for the record, YES WICCAN and Blessed Beyotch) but got axed within the first day. So I tried slight variations on both later in the week and pretty much the same thing happened. I still don’t have a good theory on why I overestimated their chances so poorly, especially since the first still makes me laugh, but I don’t think random downvoting can be blamed. Another enemy submission that I made at the same time as the first two is doing great – and it was the one I thought was going to die quickly and quietly!

In general, I think a useful way to analyze why a submission succeeded or failed is to keep in mind that the vast majority of voters are only giving things at most a few seconds consideration before voting. Any joke that takes more than a few seconds to appreciate is doomed, which means your references need to be very accessible (and you need to know your audience pretty well, of course). I have to admit that I’ve downvoted a couple items that didn’t “click,” only to get them later and wish I could go back and change my vote.

Log in to see images! MySpace Tom edited this message on 05/18/2008 9:58PM