It's over. FINALLY, right?

That's never a good feeling to have when a project as large as this is completed. I mean some matter of relief is fine, but when you're happy to see something end that means you're happy to see it go. Not exactly the feeling I wanted to foster for a project I was hoping to continue, but I think a lot of people share that sentiment... It's unfortunate, but it happens. I'll try to explain why that's the case in the following journal, so future furry artrepreneurs take note:

First of all, to anybody reading this who still feels upset over the tournament... how can I put this delicately... DON'T. Stop taking this personally! Just stop it! This is a silly little competition for silly little characters and fans of a silly little adult theme. I understand that some people have strong personal attachments to these characters, but I am not affecting those here! These characters are not being changed or injured or affected in any permanent way! It's just an inconsequential scenario, a hypothetical occurrence, after which everything will go on as if this never happened. You should root for competitors like you root for a sports team, but to form any greater attraction or to admonish any particular side for liking what they like while sitting in completely oblivion to the fact that you like something equally as much for entirely different arbitrary reasons is the absolute height of immaturity. I appreciate the passion, but you guys have to learn how to control it and when to properly apply it. Like towards things that actually matter. Speaking of that...

The vote buying. Holy crap was that a bad idea on my part and I am so sorry for instituting it you guys. In theory I still think it COULD work with the proper balance level (which obviously wasn't used here), but for all future projects I'm just going to avoid anything like this. This was one of the rare moments in my life where I let my capitalist spirit overcome my ethics. Yeah, I did need the money and OH BOY did I get it (really regret that was all made public, by the way. Please nobody think I'm rich. I'm currently unemployed and going to college so that all won't last long or be spent superfluously). It won't happen again though, no matter how in need I am. I prioritized cash over the voices of my audience and I apologize sincerely for doing so. I honestly thought the vote-buying option would regulate itself a little better (I was expecting 50-100 votes being bought for each page tops). There are many options that can be considered to better balance such an option in the future, but this experience has taught me what I already knew: The best way to balance the influence of money in a democracy is to remove it entirely. So I'll be doing that from now on. Again, sorry guys. Please stop complaining about the people that took advantage of the system. You can't fault somebody for how they choose to spend their money. Blame the system itself. That's on me.

I still think the tournament itself was a good idea. If vote buying had not been an element at all I would probably have considered this a smashing success. Public vote totals rose increasingly as the thing went on, along with page views, and it seemed like (for the most part) people behaved themselves. Yes there was drama, there still is, and there always will be, but that's why it was expected. It's an unfortunate fact of life that when you get enough people together, odds are, one of them will be THAT GUY. The more people you gather, the more of THOSE GUYS will appear. But they can be easily ignored and I want to commend the rest of you for, by and large, behaving yourselves and not feeding the resident trolls. We can't let immaturity affect our lives or our love of competition. This was fun and I had a good time offering it to you all. I hope those of you that enjoy competition (and vore) enjoyed it as well.

I do have a project that I'll be unveiling in the coming weeks. It will be a vote-influenced thing and you will be able to contribute money to it (because I still don't have a job, remember). But it will be entirely different from the -VST- and the money-buying parts of it will be kept separate from the vote-influencing parts. Much the same way jelly is kept apart from peanut butter until they are combined to make sandwich nirvana, they will be two elements that combine with one another to support a greater whole. And don't you dare mention that two-in-one jar stuff. That never offers the proper balance of jelly and you know it.

... I think I got side-tracked. Anyway, the details of my new project will be journaled in the coming days, so keep an eye out! I will be very public with its rules to make sure everything is at least partially troubleshot before pulling the trigger, so hopefully we can avoid some of the bigger problems the -VST- ran into and come up with a project we will all look forward to seeing continue instead of end.
~Frankly Mr. Stankly