I was just checking the previous month Avatar Contest, when I noticed the scores are extremely low in my humble opinion.
Which made me think that probably other members have a different scale to value them, and I was wondering what it could be.

I rate:
0 if the avatar is awful.
(I don't think I've used it ever, to be honest.)

1 if the avatar is -in my opinion- bad.
For example, using all the items from a TT set is a big no-no from me. Yeah, sure, they match, but that's the less original thing to do.
(It rarely happens, so I hardly ever give such a low rating.)

2 if the avatar is ok (color coordination wise specially) but I find it too boring, nothing catches my eye.
(Sometimes happens.)

3 if the avatar is nice, although not the kind of avatar I really like for whatever reason. But, you know, nice anyway.
(Happens quite often.)

4 if the avatar is beautiful. Colors work well together, and there is usually a theme of sorts. Or not, but just looks beautiful.
(Few ones every month.)

5 if the avatar is absolutely stunning in every sense.
(Does not happen much, some months I may not rate any 5.)


For example, last month all the honorable mentions deserved a better rating imo.
Would you care to share how do you rate them?

I take 3 as an average, so any decent looking avi will get a 3 from me. If I feel that it isn't a high effort avi, a very generic one or I don't like it, then I will grade lower. I rarely vote 1.
If it stands out, then I rate higher. 5 is only for the avis I want to see as the winner.

So I guess we have very similar ways of rating. I just feel like I'm doing it more based on feeling than defined criteria

Makes perfect sense to me.

What shocked me seeing the scores is that they were so very low.
You can't see the winner scores, but all the honorable mentions were below 2!
I don't think I would have given any of those avatars less than a 3, and several of them a 4 or even 5.

I rate about the same, Amura, but I don't vote very often. I don't think the scores get high simply because it's 1 or 2 people's votes cast together.

But the score is the average of every vote, so a low score means people vote low on average...

I stopped voting when I noticed my taste is the exact opposite of what the general public thinks... the avatars that won always looked messy and inspirationless to me, whereas I entered some avatars I thought had a big chance and I never saw them anywhere on top. So I guess I kind of lost interest because it didn't feel like fun to me. Somehow I'm not surprised that the scores turn out so low... do many people still use this feature?

Was it an average? But I think if there are only a few votes and one of them is a 1, then it shows more, does it not? It might just be that the few people voting have opposing tastes.

@Merry:
I don't really know, because I've been away so long. Maybe not so many people use this feature anymore, there are not many entries either.

@blackbriar:
Well, if there are few votes a low one will show more, but this much?


I'm not complaining, I even managed to get a medal last month xD
But I was used to the old times, when honorable mentions were around 2.5 or even 3, and this surprised me.

I also noticed this, but I wonder if maybe few people vote during the first days of the month and the total is taken from the total amount of voters?

I never give 0, but I often don't vote...

I don't think that's the case, I would bet it's just a plain average of each avatar...

Anyway this month the scores seem to have been a bit higher.