Discussion: What happens when a person breaks the rules?

[JWR]

What should be the consequences when a person has been proven to have broken the rules?

I would personally leave this up to the event organizers to handle by a case by case issue.

So far in the awards I have been a partisipant in there have only been 2 issues of different severity. 1 case involved a person creating "sock puppets" to be able to vote more than once and the other where a fan cel artist submitted a cel that they had sold prior to the contest.

While ther first deserved for all entries and votes by that person to be removed the second should have only had the cel in question removed. I am not a fan of blanket punishment.

What do you think?

[cutiebunny]

I say leave it up to the organizers to decide the severity of punishment. However, the awards should have a disclaimer which notifies people that, should they engage in some sneaky business, not only can their entry(ies) be disqualified, but they could be barred from participation in future ABAs.

I don't think there's any way to take into account all the methods of cheating available nor do I think that a blanket punishment should apply. One person creating sock puppets, to me, is not as severe as a group of people creating sock puppets to vote for their artwork.

Additionally, I think that the "English is not my first language" excuse needs to be thrown out. If you don't understand something, ask an organizer. No one is going to laugh at you because you couldn't understand - most of us have studied another language at one time or another and realize the difficulties involved. However, this site is primarily an English-speaking only site. To translate the rules into several languages would only invite other people to participate solely to win awards, and not to really participate in the community that we're all a part of.

[zerospace]

I, too, agree that punishment is something to be left to the organizers for each contest. I also don't think blanket punishment is necessary, either. As CB pointed out, different questionable actions require punishments of different severity.

I also agree wholeheartedly with the following:

Additionally, I think that the "English is not my first language" excuse needs to be thrown out. If you don't understand something, ask an organizer. No one is going to laugh at you because you couldn't understand - most of us have studied another language at one time or another and realize the difficulties involved. However, this site is primarily an English-speaking only site. To translate the rules into several languages would only invite other people to participate solely to win awards, and not to really participate in the community that we're all a part of.

[ReiTheJelly]

Additionally, I think that the "English is not my first language" excuse needs to be thrown out. If you don't understand something, ask an organizer.

This year I have arranged for the rules (and only the rules) to be translated into French, Dutch and Spanish.