I've seen a few conversations lately questioning the fairness of the un-anonymity with the voting system. Mainly speculating on how a reputation of the artist can color the entry and sway some to vote in a more biased fashion.

I'm curious if this has ever been brought up before and why the major battle entries aren't anonymous in the first place~

<3

It would be really good if the major battles had the same level of anonymity as OHBs do. I don't really think there's much of a problem with bias, but it would add a nice level of suspense and excitement to the battle, just how it happens with Famicompo.

Somewhat agreed though "the regulars" known each others' styles of composing. We let authors known on OHBs which tunes were their tunes so that that known we know, heh.

what

I think that most BotBrs that have "reputations" are identifiable by their styles alone. I kinda like the non-anonymity of major battles anyway--it means that the composer of a track can discuss the entry with other BotBrs before the battle sluts, and it means that MP3s don't have to get re-tagged afterward.

say for example there are practically only a few BotBrs who use raw PCM in 2A03 in every major battle and anonymity has no effect there
but we have a lot of n00bs every year so~~~

well, i like the idea. How about as a suggestion, BotBr's level 10 and above can have the right to submit their tune anonymously for 10 Stealthist points. The entry remains by a hidden submitter until the BotBr is guessed by a Private Dick. Each BotBr has two guesses to find out who the hidden (Stealth) BotBr is in a form entry; making sure to spell their username correctly. If they guess correctly on the first try, the BotBr is unmasked and that BotBr receives 15 Dickist points; 5 for the second guess.

I know many of you will like the idea of Dickist points.

^ i like this a lot!

i feel like limiting it to level 10s would take some of the fun out of though, namely mysterious sexy strangers submitting ridiculous music and getting everyone into a bother

perhaps level 10s and up can get bonus points for remaining unmasked... :p

n00b n00bs can be alternate identities or "sexy new strangers" anyway. The whole idea of waiting for level 10 is to give someone who has already established an identity the chance to remove the associated expectations. Sometimes well-known BotBrs here use alternate identities to explore different styles. This could effectively squash the purpose of having alternate identities while adding funfactor to guessing who made the mystery tracks.

Also on the administrative side of things, all "Mystery BotBr" tracks could be categorized under the same username and could have an optional time-out of 30 days if the user wants to time out the Stealth entry. At that point of 30 days the BotBr can receive another 10 Stealthist points. However if they choose to not time out the entry, each 30 days afterward the BotBr receives another 10 Stealth points; but no public credit on their entry. A BotBr may choose to Unstealth their entry, but 10 stealth points are deducted. Also if a Private Dick determines the identity of the Mystery Composer within the first 3 days, the 10 stealthist points are deducted; within the first week, 5.

well put, i love this concept! please make it a reality!!

Yes. I'd love me some Stealthist points (and some Dickist points for guessing Zanzan songs)

sounds good to me anyway

At some point you might just be better off implementing a voting curve, with a very minor decrease to the overall score of an entry with higher average scores.

I mean no ill will, and I don't understand how much of a problem this really is in the first place; but how exactly is a system that rewards people when they single out which tracks are which, based on composition style at the cost of the artists who submit them going to help artists break free of their "expected styles" in the first place? The idea seems a little tangential to the issue at hand here.

After all, if well-established members here already know each other's styles, then the only bias that would be deterred are from users who are new and don't have as much of an influence in voting anyway--while at the same time condoning the very behavior that caused this problem in the first place by rewarding people who seek out those styles alone and evaluate them accordingly.

people have different biases and expectations for things, so what?

@Zero,
I think a lot the issues you brought up were already addressed by b00daw in his initial description. It's not only an option to give people a chance to try something new, but a different take on anonymous submissions in general.

Zero: "how exactly is a system that rewards people when they single out which tracks are which, based on composition style at the cost of the artists who submit them, going to help artists break free of their "expected styles" in the first place? "

b00daw: "to give someone who has already established an identity the chance to remove the associated expectations. Sometimes well-known BotBrs here use alternate identities to explore different styles. This could effectively squash the purpose of having alternate identities while adding funfactor to guessing who made the mystery tracks"

And 'funfactor' being the key word here. Reading between the lines, I appreciate b00daw's idea for quietly stating, "Simple anonymous entries aren't good enough for BotB, it needs to be a little more original and fun."

Hmm . . . yeah, I suppose that makes some sense.

personally, i'm against anything that's fun

well, then you'd HATE having sex with your mother.

lol yikes