Top Affiliate Challenge - where money buys happiness…
As many of you know (or don’t 
) I’m a contender to be on the internet reality TV show the Top Affiliate Challenge. As of late it’s been almost impossible to get on the site to vote (although it’s been much improved today). They’re having major server issues and while you might think this would affect all the contestants the same, it doesn’t.
The major problem with having the server not responding lay in the “super vote”. You see, for $5 you can buy one of these super votes and each super vote counts for 25 regular votes of 10. Well, this is a major issue for people that don’t want to buy their way on the show. While we, and our supporters, are waiting 20 minutes or more to get a regular vote in (and I’ve received emails from a few supporters of mine stating they finally gave up - it just took too long), a “I’m gonna buy me in” contestant can (and will) wait the 20 minutes to buy their super vote (or hundreds of them). So while my support gives up and I don’t even get one vote the IGBMI (as I affectionately call them) gets 25 votes of 10 (or more).
WTF? You can buy votes?
YES! And it’s not very fair. There’s a contestant currently in the top ten that has an average vote score of a trifling 2.67 - OUT OF A POSSIBLE 10! He’s in the top ten (at the time of this writing he’s 8th) because he has 170 super votes. Yes, do the math. You got it, that’s $850 worth of super votes… Friggin’ IGBMI’s
In fact, here’s the link to his video - you be the judge (and the more votes he receives the less his campaign to buy his way on will work). And I do want it noted: I have NOTHING against him personally, I just don’t think it’s fair he can buy his way on the show. Here’s the link to his buy in partner’s audition video (see below for the explanation of the buy in partners). This guy only has an open vote average of 4.93 but has 194 super votes and is in 2nd place because of them (with no super votes he wouldn’t even be in the top ten).
There is an aspect to the super votes that was designed to keep people from buying their way into the top ten. That is the way in which they’re applied. You see, when you buy a super vote you must also apply it to two other people. All three get 25 votes of 10. This was initially intended to help prevent people from buying their way to the top because it would benefit several people. I can’t say this is a bad thing, I’m doing the same thing with two other contestants myself and am glad this is how it works, but… It’s not stopping anyone from buying their way in. The guys mentioned above are dumping in a ton of money to stay in the top ten.
And yet, one more way to get screwed
Now the formula used to calculate scoring is also biased to contestants that have a lower number of votes (either contestant the entered last minute or people that have a shitty audition and have spent most of the time low in the rankings and therefor received less views/votes). It’s biased because it gives their super votes more value.
How’s that you ask? Because the scores are calculated based on the total sum of all votes (both regular and super) divided by the total number of votes (both regular and super - and remember each super is worth 25 votes of 10) to get your average. Your average is then multiplied by your base score (assigned by the producers) to reach your final score.
So person A, that has 100 regular votes of 1 (i.e. an open vote average of 1) and bought 150 super votes ($750 worth of super votes. This equals 3750 votes of ten) and a base score of 6 (this is about average) would have a final score of 58.60. On the other hand, person B, with a better base score of 7 (they worked harder on their audition video) who has generated 1500 votes of 6 (6 point open vote average) and can’t afford to buy more than 20 super votes ($100, worth 500 votes of 10) will have a score of only 49.
Recap:
Person A only generated 100 votes of 1 for his lame video gets a total score of: 58.60
Person B generated 1500 votes of 6 for his relatively good video garners a meager score of 49.
Person A wins and gets on the show because he has money. Person B worked hard on their audition video, worked hard to drive traffic to the top affiliate challenge site, but has no money (they spent it all on making the video and driving traffic to the site), and gets screwed…
Does this sound fair to you?… I doubt it.
For the mathematically astute, here’s the exact formula used to calculate scores: ((sum of votes value + (# super votes * 250)/(# of votes + (# of super votes * 25)))base score = score
Rant over…
Anyways, this doesn’t really effect me that much. Just pisses me off. I’m doing well in 1st place, but it is effecting some other contestants that have been active in the audition process, have made some great auditions videos (more than several good videos in some cases), and have been a formidable force in driving traffic to the site. It’s just sad to see good people that have worked hard lose out to those willing (able) to buy their way on the show…
C’est la vie I guess - I’m still looking forward to being on the show!
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12 responses so far ↓
1 anon // Jun 11, 2008 at 2:48 pm
you want some cheese with your whine?
[Reply]
Ty Hurd reply on June 11, 2008:
Everyone, this is Big Jason, the dude with like 200 super votes that’s buying his way onto the show. I searched the IP associated with this comment and it’s from his hometown in TX… Too bad you have to buy your way on. And even with like a grand in super votes, I’m still beating you!!
And I have to mention, he’s the BIGGEST schmack talker I’ve ever seen (but a puss as he always does it anonymously)
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2 Chad Van Norman // Jun 11, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Thanks, I think everyone needed to hear this.
Chad Van Norman
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3 Devin Hunter // Jun 11, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Ty,
I want to thank you for putting out this info and bringing this to light for everyone to see. I also thought it was about driving traffic and with a quality video. Look at the videos with the most traffic, the got down and dirty and helped create the buzz. Good luck on the show and I’m still plugging away at #4 looking to be a TAC contestant.
Devin Hunter
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4 Joe Tech // Jun 11, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I don’t think that you should ever be given the option to buy your way up the ranks in any contest in which the winner(s) or finalists are supposed to be selected based on skill and merit. It undermines the entire idea of the contest, which is to find the “Top Affiliate”, not the “Deepest Pockets”.
I certainly hope the best man really wins this one.
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5 Josh // Jun 11, 2008 at 7:30 pm
I agree with Joe being able to buy you way in will result in more people with money winning. I am still glad you are in first.
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6 Wenbin // Jun 11, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Extremely interesting article. I’ve been supporting you from the beginning TY. Hope you can maintain your lead!!!
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7 Ronda Del Boccio, The Story Lady // Jun 11, 2008 at 8:35 pm
There are many things about voting and even scoring of the videos that are hinky.
But anything without a finish line is open to all sorts of interpretation.
For example, there are plenty of great videos that scored a 5 or 6 that by all accounts, and by the strategy guide, should have earned a higher rank. OK and Thor has a thing for the toilet. maybe it comes from raising a toddler.
Ther are boring videos getting high marks and interesting ones getting low marks.
No finish line. Producer’s opinion. That has a lot to do with the score.
I also hate annonymous comments because it shows you don’t have the cohones to own up to what you’re saying.
I also know that there are people who vote people down just because - and such is life. No finish line. It’s like a high school popularity contest at times.
Anyway, it’s a shame that throwing money at the process is going to get someone on the show. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent readinghearing comments from people about how whacked the whole scoring nd judging system is. I’m teetering around the top 10 a lot these days. and I have no idea if I’ll make it or not. But if I do it certainly isn’t because of throwing money into super votes.
Oh and I’d like to thank Chad for giving me such a lovely bit of drama by having my guide dog’s audition banned. By taking down Molly’s video, Thor have just angered about 19 million people with disabilities and dog lovers. Should bring some nice attention to the show!
Ronda
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8 Hey Big Spender! Buying Your Way to the Top Affiliate Challenge » Viral Storytelling with The Story Lady, Ronda Del Boccio // Jun 12, 2008 at 8:08 am
[...] I would like to thank my most worthy “adversary” Ty Hurd for pointing this out on his blog post “Top Affiliate Challenge - Pay to Play???”. i had not looked at the statistics in a while. And I bet this is one reason the servers had [...]
9 Joe Tech // Jun 12, 2008 at 10:33 am
I agree completely about the anonymous comments. I was actually going to say something similar, but got side-tracked. I am curious, though… Why would a guide dog have an audition video. Is she (the dog) an affiliate marketer? I only ask to play devil’s advocate. I think I would have also removed it and I don’t think it should really anger activists or anything unless Thor made disparaging comments about people with disabilities or dogs while removing the video. Would you hate a police officer for stopping your guide dog from driving or McDonald’s for rejecting your dog’s application for employment?
[Reply]
Ty Hurd reply on June 12, 2008:
The funny thing is, the dog IS an affiliate marketer! The dog has a blog, lead capture page, mailing list, and the whole lot. Obviously however, everything the dog does is actually her owner, Ronda Del Boccio.
The thing that isn’t mentioned in Ronda’s comment is that Molly Flagtail (her dog) somehow had two auditions up and people were applying the other two super votes to each of these audition profiles negating the whole point of having to apply them to other real contestants. That’s not very fair (but then again, neither is the whole super voting thing), and that’s why the dog’s profiles were removed.
I’ve been in touch with Ronda on several occasions and thinks she a lovely lady and very nice person. I do however think attacking Thor and Chad for having the dog’s profile removed is misleading. Chad didn’t have an issue with the dog (just the fact the dog had two profiles) and Thor certainly didn’t remove the profiles because he’s a dog hater or prejudiced toward people with disabilities.
I feel for Thor. He was accused of the latter by George Byron Kerford, PhD., Chairman - Emeritus
World Association of Persons with Disabilities. Who called the TAC website “fishy” because the score fluctuates. I believe Thor is a straight shooter. Maybe next year there won’t be super votes and there’ll be no reason to question the integrity of the show…
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10 Last chance to vote for the Top Affiliate Challenge!!! Ends 6/14! | TysBlog.com // Jun 13, 2008 at 3:54 pm
[...] Top Affiliate Challenge - Pay to play?!? [...]
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