I can't understand why you take this so personally. It's not just for the editions that you will host but also for the editions that other people will host. As other people mentioned what if some new member who we didn't get to know very well wins next time? Why do we have to trust someone we don't even know? And the same rules must apply to everyone and not just people who we might not trust...

I think there were about 20 songs in my edition and I had about a week to prepare the recap, design flags for people who didn't have and study for my exams and I'm sure that some people must remember me being in the chat at that time but not talking at all because I was working on the recap and the threads (as the rules at that time had to be read again before posted). I had never done anything like that video by that time so it was obviously very time consuming. I think it took me 2-3 days on which I hadn't done anything else than work at it. What I mean is that for the same amount of time you need to create all these amazing graphics and the player, etc was pretty much the same time a novice like me needed to produce the recap and all that stuff we had at that time...

"(we all know how arben is)" just PROVE that u have NO IDEA...

if U would know me u would know that my english is by FAR not the best... and when i talk like that u should know that i mean it for everybody...

i just said what i want generally... if U take this as an accusation, then THAT makes u rather suspicious...

but thanks anyway... for clearing my mind about u ....

and AS I ALLLLLLLWAYS DID i will do what the democratical majority wanted....
i may have stated things i disliked or whatever... but if most of u disagreed me, i was never the one who turned his back on this site and its people, i always stood behind the decision...

thx again for knowing me that well... (through the i-net)

WELL. First of all it is worth pointing out jw isn't participating in this edition anyway so therefore there is no need for him to publish his votes as he has no incentive to change them, fiddle with them etc. (Not that i'm saying he would because I very much doubt that)

As for the other editions, tbh I really hadn't noticed, and I really don't mind whether he does or not. I think maybe it was more essential in the earlier editions, as we maybe didn't know each other quite as well, and like jw said there was a fair few less songs to listen to. But anyway back to the original point, as to whether the host reveals his/her votes or not, i'm really not bothered.

On the plus side its nice this hasn't turned into all our war and its remained relatively amicable, unlike some contest-related-discussions we've had before

Fair. And now i'm just lengthening the message cos it says I need at least 10 characters ....

Seems fair indeed. Happy days.

Just write a message in white-text like so Jonny: I like dressing up in tutus and making people call me Talula and I fancy Mark.

yap agreed...

with my first post i didnt mean jw to show his votes but the host in general...

i think we should have a wild discussion about some things after this edition anyway, but ofc as harmonly and unchildish as today...

and no matter what let th majority decide

is there anything unclear with my post now ?

I'd just like to add my opinion, in case it can contribute to future thought...

In order to have a fair, democratic[!] voting system, the host should have same rights as everyone else: that being that he/she may alter their votes, in private, until voting closes. I mean, I would hate to reveal my votes before closing [as a host or not], because I am one of those people.. and I'm sure there are more people like this out there too.. who find a song grows on them or gets boring during the voting process, and my reactions can depend on my mood and the atmosphere surrounding me. So sometimes I will come back to the songs and think, 'gosh, how did I manage to miss the beauty of this song the first time round?!?'. For these reasons I think it's fair and equal if everyone including the host can switch their points round until the quite obvious, strict deadline.

The problem then of course is: what if the host is checking other people's voting and changes his/her votes accordingly, i.e. a fix. JW, for instance, has kept it no secret that he watches the potential scoreboard as votes come in and will sometimes suggest that positions are close, or the person at the bottom is way off the rest etc etc. Can we trust him? I, personally, trust everyone here, because well.. how boring would it be to rig votes! That said, this contest has a past of unsporting behaviour, so it's not unheard of.

Still, surely the solution to all this is simple? And that solution would indeed be that the host should not look at other participants' votes just like participants can't see the host's votes. This brings trust into question. Do we have their word they won't look? This for me throws up two possibilities. One would be that somehow it is made physically impossible for the host to look before the deadline.. I mean there is no reason for him/her to do so. If it means the contest will take longer to make, I'm sure we can all wait . OR we keep the faith and trust. Neither would change the current format drastically.

Oh yeah, I forgot about reminders. Well, I suppose it IS up to each person to make sure they vote, the deadlines are made blindingly clear.

Sounds good to me ;D

Lets be honest, who doesn't. Although I would fancy Mark but I have erectile dysfunction

Oh fuck .....