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Why I don't like (most) kiribians
13 years ago
So it's been a few months since I've posted a journal yet there's nothing special happening with my life right now, so I've had the urge to go on a bit of a semi-rant on why I've come to not like how most people handle kiribians on this site.
I'm sure most of you know of what I'm talking about: The journals that often fill ones inbox most often advertising free art, sometimes stories, either done by the sponsor of the kiribian or bought from another artist within a budget. The two most common are "Screen-cap this arbitrary number!" or "Be my y watcher!". There's some other less common ones as well such as ones centring around favourites.
The problem is that most of these are highly unfair and flawed, especially on a site that in itself is flawed. Let me explain more in-depth about some examples.
---The Page-view Kiribian
Most are familiar with these: Get a screen-cap of an arbitrary number chosen by the host, then provide a link to the uploaded image proving you won.
1. This encourages an artificial spike in the hosts page-view count, brought on by people hitting the page in hopes of getting the free art.
2. Each unique visitor can only give one hit to a page per day, meaning that when you're sitting on a page hitting that F5 key you are in fact taking advantage of other people's hits.
3. This system rewards campers who have extra time on their hands and can sit around spamming that F5 key until that magic number pops up.
4. It's possible for numerous people to catch the magic number, resulting in multiple "winners". Most hosts get around this by saying the first one they get wins, thereby turning the kiribian into a frantic race when you do finally get that capture. This punishes those who were diligent in their capture yet still "lose" because someone else hit the "post comment" button two seconds before they did. I've personally been a part of a few kiribians where a half dozen people got nothing despite getting the magic number.
5. People need to work and sleep, the magic number may occur when they can't be available to capture it. I've gone to work knowing I'd miss the chance to get art.
The first of two additional notes: Timing can bother me. Sometimes you get people posting a kiribian just shy of the target number, rewarding people who happen to be on right now. I do enjoy it when the host posts the kiribian well in advance as the people who really care about getting art from them will keep the journal around as a reminder. Often this this gets ruined anyway as many times I've seen the host post a new journal right before they get the number, spiking their page-views again and basically saying "screw you" to the people that were waiting multiple weeks for that magic number.
The second extra note is that there is a certain exploit that can allow a single person or multiple people to spike a page count really high. Ever been participating in a kiribian where suddenly the page count starts jumping by 3-4 per page refresh? You've just witnessed this exploit, and without knowing it you are part of it to. I won't say details, but I'll point you to my old account drager (Click) where the majority of it's page-views are from me in a matter of a single minute back when I tested this exploit to verify it for myself. People do take advantage of it to win kiribians.
---The Watcher Kiribian
Where an artist rewards a user for being their [insert arbitrary number] watcher.
Despite all the flaws of the page-view kiribian above, when I see a watcher version like this in my inbox I can't help but see a big middle finger directed at me. Why? Because this type of kiribian does not reward your existing watch base in any way.
/sarcasm on
"Alright! Getting close to that thousand watcher milestone! I'll just click on this here journal button and advertise the fact that my 1000th watcher will get some free art! What's that? The journal only notifies people who are watching me anyway and can't hit that awesome + button a second time? Pssh, whatever, I only care about that number that measures my popularity on some internet site!"
/sarcasm off
I'm well aware that most people are innocent in their train of thought when they hit that journal button, but here are some other reasons this version sucks:
1. Often times this free art gets awarded to some random person who didn't even know about the kiribian.
2. Existing watchers cannot participate, and thus often feel cheated.
3. People will use secondary accounts to "win", bloating your watch list with useless accounts.
4. People will make dummy accounts, again bloating your watch list with useless accounts.
5. People will un-watch you just so that + button becomes available to press.
I think you guys will understand why this is my least favourite of all the kiribians out there.
---The Favourites Kiribian
I'm including this because I've seen it on occasion. Thankfully few people do this one. Basically you either screen-cap an arbitrary favourite number or be the notification that corresponds to that arbitrary number.
1. In most cases people have already favourited the artwork they like, this type of kiribian only encourages them to hit the favourite button on art they would have otherwise not.
2. The count can be manipulated by removing favourites, dropping the count so that they can re-favourite it later to "win"
3. Secondary/dummy accounts can favourite artwork, only serving to bloat the counter and cheat someone of a legitimate win.
---An Alternative! The Kiribian Raffle
Te reward your existing watch base, eliminate most unfairness, eliminate the need to screen-capture, eliminate the need to camp, as well as many other benefits I'd suggest using a system like this one. It's not without it's flaws, but it's a lot better than most of the systems used on the site.
When you're approaching or have approached a milestone, post a kiribian journal as normal. However tell your watchers to simply state that they'd like to enter and that's it. When you close entries, preferably upwards of a week or more to allow sufficient time, draw a random name of those who entered and reward that person.
It's kind of a raffle of sorts, and yes the host has to go through a little more work but it's a lot more fair! People have an equal chance to win, and they were given time to enter, plus they don't have to sit around hitting F5 over and over and hoping they hit the comment button first. It also circumvents the many flaws of the site.
And please, please don't make people have to advertise to enter. This is not meant to be one of those publicity stunts to gain more watchers, but rather a celebration of a milestone with your existing watch-base that got you there. Making people advertise re-opens another can of worms, and once again makes the existing watch base feel cheated.
---Final Thoughts
I rarely participate in kiribians now days, partly because of how most are a waste of time due to all of the flaws I've already pointed out. I got tired of spamming F5, only to have to race to post the image. I won some, I lost some, but let me say that even if you do win you may not ever see the prize! It was free after-all, the host isn't exactly obligated to hold their promise of a free prize.
I would gladly participate in a lot more of these raffle kiribians if more people did them. I know the publicity raffles that are rampant around the site are similar, but I don't like spamming my watchers with advertisement journals to enter them.
Some people may remember the last kiribian raffle I held a long while back, unfortunately I had to cancel that prize as we had difficulty finding an artist plus I couldn't afford it at the time. I do plan to hold more in the future, and will probably stick to writing a short story instead of having to restrict the winner to a limited budget that often times severely cuts ones options.
My final thought of the journal: I believe there is a psychological connection to the whole thing. People like big numbers, when those numbers get bigger they feel like they're growing in popularity. Most people will celebrate arbitrary numbers so they can see those numbers rise even higher. Thankfully most people mature past this mindset and realize that popularity on an internet site means almost nothing. Kiribians are meant to be celebrated with your watchers, not to use your watchers to get bigger numbers. Done properly, you can ensure to reward your current watchers while at the same time gaining more.
I'm sure most of you know of what I'm talking about: The journals that often fill ones inbox most often advertising free art, sometimes stories, either done by the sponsor of the kiribian or bought from another artist within a budget. The two most common are "Screen-cap this arbitrary number!" or "Be my y watcher!". There's some other less common ones as well such as ones centring around favourites.
The problem is that most of these are highly unfair and flawed, especially on a site that in itself is flawed. Let me explain more in-depth about some examples.
---The Page-view Kiribian
Most are familiar with these: Get a screen-cap of an arbitrary number chosen by the host, then provide a link to the uploaded image proving you won.
1. This encourages an artificial spike in the hosts page-view count, brought on by people hitting the page in hopes of getting the free art.
2. Each unique visitor can only give one hit to a page per day, meaning that when you're sitting on a page hitting that F5 key you are in fact taking advantage of other people's hits.
3. This system rewards campers who have extra time on their hands and can sit around spamming that F5 key until that magic number pops up.
4. It's possible for numerous people to catch the magic number, resulting in multiple "winners". Most hosts get around this by saying the first one they get wins, thereby turning the kiribian into a frantic race when you do finally get that capture. This punishes those who were diligent in their capture yet still "lose" because someone else hit the "post comment" button two seconds before they did. I've personally been a part of a few kiribians where a half dozen people got nothing despite getting the magic number.
5. People need to work and sleep, the magic number may occur when they can't be available to capture it. I've gone to work knowing I'd miss the chance to get art.
The first of two additional notes: Timing can bother me. Sometimes you get people posting a kiribian just shy of the target number, rewarding people who happen to be on right now. I do enjoy it when the host posts the kiribian well in advance as the people who really care about getting art from them will keep the journal around as a reminder. Often this this gets ruined anyway as many times I've seen the host post a new journal right before they get the number, spiking their page-views again and basically saying "screw you" to the people that were waiting multiple weeks for that magic number.
The second extra note is that there is a certain exploit that can allow a single person or multiple people to spike a page count really high. Ever been participating in a kiribian where suddenly the page count starts jumping by 3-4 per page refresh? You've just witnessed this exploit, and without knowing it you are part of it to. I won't say details, but I'll point you to my old account drager (Click) where the majority of it's page-views are from me in a matter of a single minute back when I tested this exploit to verify it for myself. People do take advantage of it to win kiribians.
---The Watcher Kiribian
Where an artist rewards a user for being their [insert arbitrary number] watcher.
Despite all the flaws of the page-view kiribian above, when I see a watcher version like this in my inbox I can't help but see a big middle finger directed at me. Why? Because this type of kiribian does not reward your existing watch base in any way.
/sarcasm on
"Alright! Getting close to that thousand watcher milestone! I'll just click on this here journal button and advertise the fact that my 1000th watcher will get some free art! What's that? The journal only notifies people who are watching me anyway and can't hit that awesome + button a second time? Pssh, whatever, I only care about that number that measures my popularity on some internet site!"
/sarcasm off
I'm well aware that most people are innocent in their train of thought when they hit that journal button, but here are some other reasons this version sucks:
1. Often times this free art gets awarded to some random person who didn't even know about the kiribian.
2. Existing watchers cannot participate, and thus often feel cheated.
3. People will use secondary accounts to "win", bloating your watch list with useless accounts.
4. People will make dummy accounts, again bloating your watch list with useless accounts.
5. People will un-watch you just so that + button becomes available to press.
I think you guys will understand why this is my least favourite of all the kiribians out there.
---The Favourites Kiribian
I'm including this because I've seen it on occasion. Thankfully few people do this one. Basically you either screen-cap an arbitrary favourite number or be the notification that corresponds to that arbitrary number.
1. In most cases people have already favourited the artwork they like, this type of kiribian only encourages them to hit the favourite button on art they would have otherwise not.
2. The count can be manipulated by removing favourites, dropping the count so that they can re-favourite it later to "win"
3. Secondary/dummy accounts can favourite artwork, only serving to bloat the counter and cheat someone of a legitimate win.
---An Alternative! The Kiribian Raffle
Te reward your existing watch base, eliminate most unfairness, eliminate the need to screen-capture, eliminate the need to camp, as well as many other benefits I'd suggest using a system like this one. It's not without it's flaws, but it's a lot better than most of the systems used on the site.
When you're approaching or have approached a milestone, post a kiribian journal as normal. However tell your watchers to simply state that they'd like to enter and that's it. When you close entries, preferably upwards of a week or more to allow sufficient time, draw a random name of those who entered and reward that person.
It's kind of a raffle of sorts, and yes the host has to go through a little more work but it's a lot more fair! People have an equal chance to win, and they were given time to enter, plus they don't have to sit around hitting F5 over and over and hoping they hit the comment button first. It also circumvents the many flaws of the site.
And please, please don't make people have to advertise to enter. This is not meant to be one of those publicity stunts to gain more watchers, but rather a celebration of a milestone with your existing watch-base that got you there. Making people advertise re-opens another can of worms, and once again makes the existing watch base feel cheated.
---Final Thoughts
I rarely participate in kiribians now days, partly because of how most are a waste of time due to all of the flaws I've already pointed out. I got tired of spamming F5, only to have to race to post the image. I won some, I lost some, but let me say that even if you do win you may not ever see the prize! It was free after-all, the host isn't exactly obligated to hold their promise of a free prize.
I would gladly participate in a lot more of these raffle kiribians if more people did them. I know the publicity raffles that are rampant around the site are similar, but I don't like spamming my watchers with advertisement journals to enter them.
Some people may remember the last kiribian raffle I held a long while back, unfortunately I had to cancel that prize as we had difficulty finding an artist plus I couldn't afford it at the time. I do plan to hold more in the future, and will probably stick to writing a short story instead of having to restrict the winner to a limited budget that often times severely cuts ones options.
My final thought of the journal: I believe there is a psychological connection to the whole thing. People like big numbers, when those numbers get bigger they feel like they're growing in popularity. Most people will celebrate arbitrary numbers so they can see those numbers rise even higher. Thankfully most people mature past this mindset and realize that popularity on an internet site means almost nothing. Kiribians are meant to be celebrated with your watchers, not to use your watchers to get bigger numbers. Done properly, you can ensure to reward your current watchers while at the same time gaining more.
Man who know that Kiribians could be so iffy ...
So couldn't agree more about the raffles that require you to spam everyone else about them. I would actually enter some if I didn't have to bother other people.
A totally great idea about raffling the kiriban prize though, I'd love to see some artists or commissioners actually give this system a go. I would myself, but I'd be all weird about pictures with people other than friends. :P