A little story before we announce the winners this year. Two years ago, when the theme of the flotilla was "peace", a boat entered without registering, or displaying a number. It was a great boat, and the kids worked very hard on putting it together, and did a great job. The judges, who were on the shore, had a hard time determining the order of the awards, and another boat was awarded first place. We received phone calls saying that boat should have been in "1st place" instead. Nothing could be done, as we already awarded the prizes. I was disheartened, as we were just coordinating the event, and not a judge; our boat was in the event ourselves.
In looking at how to better the judging, we decided to have the judges actually be on the water, in a quiet place on the lake, so they could have more time to watch the boats more closely, and make their decisions. This worked out quite well last year, and we had no complaints. However, we were still limited in just the "physical" judges determining the winners, and I thought it would be nice if all of the residents could have a say in whom the winners would be.
Which brings us to this year.. With our new website, and the technology available, we were able to invite the members of our community and their family and friends to cast their votes for their favorite boats. However the "polling" technology, although wonderful, has some inherent problems with it that I knew of, and had some concerns about:
1.) Anyone and everyone on the internet who went to our site could vote. Last week alone, we had visitors from all across the United States, as well as the United kingdom, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Thailand, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Canada, and Australia. We had a total of 592 visits and 1,974 page views last week. We appreciate everyone visiting, and we hope you enjoy our website!
2.) The polling software looks at the computers "I.P." address, and will allow only one vote per IP address. This works fine if the ISP provides a "static" address (usually DSL and Cable high-speed providers). In the case of internet providers such as AOL and MSN however, each time a computer logs on to the internet, the computer is assigned a different IP address, thus allowing an individual to vote more than once in a poll.
3.) The ability of someone to influence the voting by emailing / calling everyone they know, asking them to go to our site and place a "vote for them".
Unfortunately, we did experience these problems with the on-line voting. Two boats got into a bit of a "race" throughout the week- one boat would be first, then the other boat would pass them, then the other one would pass them, on and on, etc. On Friday morning, we had a total of 537 votes in the "1st place" poll, with one boat having 315 votes, another 215 votes, with the other 3 boats having 0, 8, and 13 votes. On the other hand, the "2nd place" poll only showed a total of 52 votes, and the "3rd place" poll showed a total of 42 votes. Needless to say, the voting was being "swayed". So, I reset the counters of the two boats that were having the contest to "0". To those participating in the "ballot stuffing"- you are to go to your rooms after dinner this evening with no dessert, no TV, and no video games, and you are to write a 500 word essay on why "voting" is a privilege not to be taken lightly, and why "ballot stuffing" is wrong.. (the "smiley’s" aren't working, so insert one here, please) :-)
The good news is that the "real" on-line voting trend matched the physical judges votes.. All the boats were great, so here we go.. The "physical" judges voted as follows:
Judge #1 voted: 23, 17, 54
Judge #2 voted: 23, 17, 54
Judge #3 voted: 54, 17, 23
Judge #4 voted: 23, 02, 54
"1st Place" is hereby awarded to boat #23- The Ullery Family, for the 2nd year in a row- Congrats! $50 gift certificate to "Hammerin Hanks", as well as the "travelling trophy" for another year!
"2nd Place" is hereby awarded to boat #17- the "Rockin" Sweet Family- Nice boat, folks!- Loved the rocking chairs!Congrats! You will receive a $35 gift certificate to Sauk Trail Bar & Grille- they have great food there!
And "3rd Place" is hereby awarded to boat #54- the Inglett Family- Fantastic job folks- Loved the guitar- just wish your guitarist had chosen an acoustic instrument, so we could've heard what he was playing..- Congrats! You will receive the $20 gift certificate to "Farm House" bakery- lots of great goodies there!
PS- Be sure to keep your pontoons "above" the water, and your prop "below".. ;-)
As we all know, there's nothing but "winners" here on Shavehead Lake! Boats 02 and 14 will receive coupons for a cup of coffee (or beverage of choice) and a pastry at the Farm House Bakery.. Both boats were "great" as well- boat #2- we loved the "Uncle Sam" outfit and the "Bald Eagle" costume; #14, great job with your boat as well- the "hair coloring", etc. actually fit in pretty well with the musical group / song we chose for the video!
The both of you had very great boats, and here's wishing you better luck next year!
Thanks again to the judges, both physical and virtual, and to all who participated!
I also wanted to mention that we had two other boats register for the event, that weren't able to participate in it- sorry to see that you weren't able to make it to the event!
And, a very special message to the boat that two years ago in the "Peace" theme that worked so hard, and were disappointed in the way they placed in the event, please don't "give-up", and we're all looking forward to seeing you out there participating in the flotilla next year!
This website is for the benefit of all of the residents of our Shavehead Lake community. Courtesy of Mike Bosela -resident, board member and treasurer - Enjoy!
