chazman

iTrader: (4)

I propose that once a car wins COTM it should be disqualified from being nominated again, unless it's undergone a significant change.

What say you?

punzak9

That would force different cars to be nominated and have a chance to win COTM. I dont know if its nessecarily a problem or not as i just came back to this site a few months ago. Is there really that many repeats? Maybe a time limit like 6 months. If your car is already top notch, like all the COTM winners are, then they might never under go a "significant change".

TkernIROC1986

iTrader: (1)

Right now as it stands, the time limit is one win per year. There have only ever been two repeat winners, with the same car, that I know of. They are mw66nova (Matt Walter), and myself. There have been members that have won multiple times with different cars, like kymmee with her TTA and her Formula 350, and if there's more, I apologize for not remembering... For myself, I won in 2013 and again 4 years later. I never expected to win twice ever, but being nominated is an honor in itself. I think that the COTM bait thread has helped with a place to showcase the complete cars that are deserving of being nominated. I just wish that more people would take the time to search for a car, and that more people would take the time to vote. There seems to be less than 100 votes each month on every COTM, with so many members here, why don't more people take the time to at least place a vote? I agree that sometimes it does seem that the same cars get nominated, its just up to more members to take the time to search for different cars. There are so many nice complete cars on this forum.

Bob88GTA

iTrader: (2)

I agree with the comments mentioned so far. BUT, if you look at the nominations every month, it seems we only have 30 cars in this group.
People get so hung up on someones car and continuously nominate it. There are so many beautiful cars out there. Just take the time to use the Bait Thread.

This comes from 1st time winner of COTM for March this year.....thank you very much!


PS: I'm good with one members car every 12 months.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

I thought there were several repeat winners, wasn't this month's winner a repeat winner? I could be wrong. Anyway, the goal would be to get fresh blood into COTM.

Like Bob said, we've got so many worthy cars on this site and it seems we recycle the same cars over and over again. It's one thing to be nominated and not win and get another crack at COTM, it's another to win and then get renominated. Just thinking out loud.

My black '89 was COTM a couple of years ago. If it were renominated, I'd respectfully bow out and give other folks a chance.

QwkTrip

iTrader: (22)

No, I think this month was new. I don't even think he's been nominated before. Similar to another car from a little while ago. But aren't they all similar? LOL!

I don't think this is a problem needing to be solved.

Bob88GTA

iTrader: (2)

Yes, he is new. I never seen it before,

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Okay, I'm mistaken, I thought he was a repeat.

Abubaca

iTrader: (3)

Not to stray off topic, but I have a hard time finding cars to nominate. Not saying the cars aren't here, but finding a good picture of a good car. Where are you guys finding them? Don't get me wrong, I DO find plenty of cars, but with the idea being to nominate top cars, and this has been going on for 4 years or so.....I guess I'm looking for newer blood!

MY87LT

iTrader: (2)

Well isn't the rule that you can't nominate yourself but someone else can?


How about throwing your car out for consideration as a lot of people do not know each other really or are newcomers. That way we have a better selection and more new nominations. I see a lot of new people come in, show off their latest acquisition, and then fade out to obscurity.


In other words, create a monthly thread of new or totally changed members cars.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

You know, that's interesting. So what if you nominate your own car? You may be the only person who is aware of it. I could see COTM getting crowded though.

MY87LT

iTrader: (2)

Let's change it up and make interesting. Next one: Best preserved Iron Duke Camaro or Firebird.

punzak9

I was actually really looking for someone who had not been nominate before to nominate this month, because it was mentioned about getting newer cars in for nominations. My problem was i'd find a really nice car i wanted to nominate but the user hadnt been active for some time. So i didnt want to nominate a car where we would never see more photos, never hear about the cars history, and the potential winner would never even know they won. So i was trying to find worthy cars with active users and most of them where just in the bait thread.

vinny R

I too have had this happen, Nominated a nice "new Blood" car , and the guy was nowhere to be found. I had it happen to me when I first joined. Someone nominated my car and I really had not many pics or posts. I never got seconded as it was only one photo and no one knew me to "track me down". I am guilty also of not voting like I should as I love this part of the forum. I think in part it is due to the same cars being posted and some other things.


My two cents to make this better: I agree with a one car one winner. I know members have multiple cars and have no issue with the same member winning with a different car. Change the bait thread to a monthly like the COTM part. Have the bait thread run the month prior and then dump it and start a new. Too many cars in there now and not sure if one of those is a winner or even still a member. Maybe even only cars from the months previous thread get the nod. This would help participation as you would have to post your car again for the next month. If you do it this way it is self nomination that can get weeded out. Meaning you won't have 100 cars getting thrown in the nomination thread. Have a mandatory waiting period for new members to vote and nominate. This may help with someone trying to stack the deck in their favor. And lastly we have to be honest with ourselves. As Jbucahnan does, if your car really is not worthy, bow out. There is no money or anything life altering here. It's just a internet based car show.


I will also start to pick my participation up on this. I agree that with the amount of members here there should be way more people voting.

jworks

iTrader: (1)

as a newer member here I don't really know anybody's cars, and can't really find an efficient way to find decent cars to nominate, surfing profiles just seems a bit too "online stalker-ish" to me. I do however try to make it to the bait thread, it seems like an easy for the newbies to pick from the cars that the experienced guys nominate.

QwkTrip

iTrader: (22)

I think you guys are making this way harder than it really is. And any idea that makes more work for Linson is a bad idea.

You guys are saying it's hard to find nice cars but there are lots of nice cars that don't win COTM. Don't be afraid to nominate again. Just keep it reasonable, not 6 months out of the year. And no, we don't need a rule about this. Who can possibly keep track anyway?

As far as finding new cars, you're not going to find them hunting for one hour a month. You find cars by being a regular all over the forum and just keeping your eyes open. Basically you stumble across them.

QwkTrip

iTrader: (22)

Nothing is stopping you from nominating one.

dmccain

iTrader: (2)

Totally agree. One month had a whole lineup of "newblood" cars which is what I thought we were kind of aiming for, and one who had previously won and been nominated numerous times etc.. and guess who won that month in a lineup of first time nominated cars... It was a lil disheartening I thought. Getting some new cars in here sparks interest in other than the same people who look at and vote in this thread every month. Linson does a great job with this thing id love to see some more participation. Plenty of very nice cars on here.

Bob88GTA

iTrader: (2)

EXACTLY! You get a lot of new members pleading for answers on how to fix their "new car" or what gas cap to buy, then you throw a few answers at them and they disappear. You never even get a chance to see their car.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Oh yeah, BIG shout out to Linson, non of this would even be possible without him and his hard work!

Cars win for various reasons. Some are just really well presented, some have owners who are really popular, some appeal to a certain segment who happen to be voting that month, (we've REALLY got to work on more voting participation). So once a winner wins, what makes anyone think that re-nominating a previous winner into a field of new nominees will give a different result?

OrangeBird

iTrader: (1)

As a possible partial reason , I'll cite my own example ;

I was already well into middle age when these cars were first released and I always liked the looks of them . Over the years , starting when the third gen was about 10 or 15 years old I'd end up with a decent condition specimen as a "good low mileage used car" that I'd use as my day to day car on every day that snow wasn't on the ground . Although I like them and like the looks of them , and yes I can perfectly see the collector appeal in some of them (TTA , 91/92 GTA , for ex) , for me they are not something I'd collect VS something I like to have simply because they look good (when not all beat up) and are fun to drive . Hell yea I like the looks of all of the nice pristine examples of third gen to be seen here , and yes they likely should have more collector than daily driver status to most , but honestly if I owned any one of the "COTM" cars I'd be driving them so much every day that very VERY shortly they'd be too up in miles to be considered any kinds of "serious" collector car .

In other words , I'd be more likely to drive than collect a third gen , and I'd be more likely to collect than drive a Tucker .

bk2life

once my car gets closer to being CTOM worthy, i'll post pics of it. Until then, you can only view my rebuild thread.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

What makes you think that a high mileage car wouldn't be COTM worthy?

vinny R

I think if we can get more participation some of these other issues will work themselves out. Yes I agree with the fact that cars win on WHO they appeal to, so if more people vote there will be a better chance that a "newblood" would win. I think this month is the truth in this statement. COTM got the most voter participation in a long time and a purpose built drag car won. Way to go! I don't want to make suggestions that will cause more time or grief for Linson...Great Job You Do! but I do feel we need to change something to get more overall participation.


I don't know if this is feasible, but what about a window that opens up everytime you log in. The window will direct you to the Nomination and or Voting thread. Kinda like the PM message window when I sign in. The voting thread already knows if you have voted so I don't think this will be difficult? Maybe this way you would just click the window, it directs you to the thread, you vote and go about surfing the forum. Just a thought.

Bob88GTA

iTrader: (2)

COTM March 2017 right here. 194K Miles, Daily Driver


88 GTA

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

I like it!

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Your Honor, I rest my case!

chazman

iTrader: (4)

I don't know if JT would want to do that, but it would certainly drive activity to COTM.

Bob88GTA

iTrader: (2)

cop332

In the end its all about the CAR, milage or not. I have no problem with a once only winner car that then can't win again unless a major change to the car has taken place if that is what the members want. I agree with chazman that certain model appeal to certain groups that may of may not be on-line that month (thats just being human)What might help is (again only if the majority want it) is rather than change that rule, as someone has already said, split it into different categories Camaro/Firebird or Years of membership/newbies/engine size/Trim you get the idea. Just food for thought.

OrangeBird

iTrader: (1)

Well there ya go , if it's COTM worthy at over 100K that's indeed impressive , but as 200K closes in no matter how pretty it is , In no way would I call that a "collector car" , just a super nice well maintained (well restored ?) fun car to drive . Ol Orangebird has barely 80K on it's clock but due to it's daily driver status has a few more uglies than could ever be considered either a collector or COTM car .

Go ahead , nominate my bird , even if it's the color of one of those highway construction safety cones , I double dog dare ya ... On second thought , Naa , wouldn't want to give anyone any orange nightmares

QwkTrip

iTrader: (22)

Good insight, that is exactly what happened. But it has to be taken one step further by being proactive to bring in the other crowd. I made a post in the Racing forum to bring in people that would be interested in his car and that is probably where all the "mystery" votes came from.

But those people won't check in next month, I assure you that. COTM followers tend to be the Show 'N Shine crowd and not many others. I think most people enjoy participating in COTM (being nominated or winning) but don't enjoy following it. Putting a notification in your face when you come to the site will just annoy the majority of people that don't give a rats ***. Bottom line is the best way to get interest is through nomination because it creates participants, not watchers.

QwkTrip

iTrader: (22)

Oh, it goes way beyond that. The COTM regulars aren't exploring the forum enough. Although I think that is getting better this year as some people have realized that. The truth is, the COTM regulars are the engine that keeps COTM going. It's like a car club in that the club would die if it weren't for a few core members that do a lot of the work. In this case the work is finding nominations.

Regarding ideas how to bring people to you.... if you want people to participate in COTM then the message has to be about competing for a slot, not voting on others. (I'll say it again, most people don't give a rats *** about voting). Perhaps the best recruiting method is sending out a mass PM once every 6 months saying we're looking for the next COTM and people can post their rides in the bait thread.

MY87LT

iTrader: (2)

Well here is another category for car of the month. Non-modified Third gen with over 200,000.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

A high mileage COTM would be interesting.

Lets say, original 3rd gens over 150,000 miles.

It would be hard to beat Bob's GTA though!

Bob88GTA

iTrader: (2)

So.....would i win AGAIN!!!!???? JK...Back to topic.

Linson

This thread has really blown up, which is a good thing. It's good to see the interest.

I am making note of all the suggestions herein.

I am, and have been very on board with those suggestions about increasing participation by increasing the visibility of the COTM contest. I have lobbied for this on at least a couple of occasions. However, this is something that goes above and beyond the power of my moderatorship and technical computer skill. Also, it seems that the Main Mod/Webmaster here, JT, has a different philosophical opinion about increasing the participation. Basically, while I'm trying to stave off stagnation, he wants to maintain quality control. While I fully appreciate his "quality over quantity" philosophy, I'm not sure that it allows for the fact that the quality control aspect would remain intact as a major facet of my job as COTM Editor.

From an end user perspective, Vinny R's suggestion about something like a pop up window prompting people to vote in the monthly COTM sounds perfect. And while I really appreciate those of you who are mindful not to create more work for me, I'm not sure how much work this would create for JT - but I really like that suggestion though.

Keeping in mind that this is a tech site - not a social site, and not a car contest site, its not for nothing when I mention each month that the COTM winner represents us, and that, I think, is worth something.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

my 89 Formula has 240k miles on it far from original tho

Linson

It is hard.
There are so many people who have nice cars (stock or modified) but have nary a picture on this site. And so many members who have nice cars, but have only posted 4 times in seven years.

Its very hard to keep track of who has been nominated, unless you're here for every contest.

Ultimately, I can't see a better way to stave off the type of stagnation that you're/we're talking about, than to increase COTM's footprint/visibility on this site, thus increasing overall participation.

Linson

It doesn't have to be. I know that we all know that, but I want to make that clear.

Linson

For the record, at heart, I agree with you 100 percent.

This has happened only a couple of times that I'm aware of. In theory, this should work itself out naturally by way of people simply not voting for the same car that they know has already won.

For now, I will refrain from adding a new regulation unless it becomes a problem.

As someone pointed out, it sometimes seems that certain people get hung up on each others cars, insisting that their buddy should be nominated time and time again until they win COTM. If the same people start insisting that their buddy should be a "two-time COTM Winner", then we have a problem.

I think that time frame could be a factor here, but for now, I'll just say good point, duly noted.

Linson

Most of the COTM rules were in place when I took over for BADNBLK. I may have added a couple, but for the most part those have been to further detail the existing rules.

While I would tend to agree that what you're proposing might solve a few problems, it might also cause a few problems. One problem would be people who have zero understanding of the rules of COTM just dropping in to nominate their car. Basically, as it is, having two other members certify your car as COTM ready is a measure of built-in quality control, although it too fails on occasion.

The COTM Bait Thread is intended to at least half-way fix the issue that you're speaking of.

Linson

Also, the suggestions for COTM categories are always welcome. We will most likely be finishing this year with the Open Season format, but we will likely doing, at least, some category based contests next year. When recommending a category please keep in mind that the quality standards must remain in place, and one car does not make a contest.

Iron Dukes? You're gonna have to show me three of them before I can consider making it a COTM category.

MY87LT

iTrader: (2)

Good point on the Iron Dukes Linson. I know there has to be some still out there that have not been discarded in favor for a larger engine.

IMissMy86TA

how about rare configurations. such as 1LEs or 5 speeds or Notch Backs or Fire hawks. etc. go off the "is your car rare/desirable thread ordered list

tglennon11

iTrader: (2)

chaz- how about throwing the COTM nom link and voting link up on the facebook group- we just saw that lots of the people in that group are members here, maybe that will help them get the word out, at least a start, i would think people would see it in their facebook feed before they would hunt out the voting thread.

Not sure if that kosher with everyone- if not forget i mentioned it.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Will do. I think there is nothing wrong with that, but so often I see COTM posted on FB pages by people vote begging. We'd probably want to avoid that.

tglennon11

iTrader: (2)

why whatever do you mean?

Just thinking it would carry a little more weight in my mind for a post from the page owner directing people to a poll with options, vs a "member" campaigning their ride.

BTW Linson, please keep up the great work. Its always great seeing the range of cars posted in these threads. Just goes to show how far these cars have come. Originals, factory correct restorations, and resto-mods. Its great to see the combination of cars.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, we'll start posting it on the ThirdGen Expo page.

If I forget, one of the TGO members here can post it as well.