Mix March Madness 2014 Webcomics Tournament Elite Eight! Vote now!

Glenn Hauman

Glenn is VP of Production at ComicMix. He has written Star Trek and X-Men stories and worked for DC Comics, Simon & Schuster, Random House, arrogant/MGMS and Apple Comics. He's also what happens when a Young Turk of publishing gets old.

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24 Responses

  1. Sage says:

    Wow. I think it’s kind of sad the comic was leading the polls above all the others (Amya) is out due to paid votes. And that Dick Ruby made it through despite being lowest in the poll. It makes it hard to take this seriously as the ‘Elite 8’. More like the wealthy 8. I think the prices of the votes should have been raised each round. Buying a win shouldn’t be that easy.

  2. Umla says:

    Uhhh seriously? I went back to check the results from the previous round and Stand Still Stay Silent lead over Dick ruby with over 200 votes vs. only 80, but the Dick Ruby people bought 450 extra votes to win instead?!?

    If you’re going to keep the buy to win system in coming years you should at least raise the vote cost to something like 1 USD minimum because this is kinda ridiculous and out of balance IMO.

    • Pylgrim says:

      Agreed. Vote cost should increase with each round. No one would care or think much of spending a short amount of money to push a title from a close race into the 64 or even 32, but that you can also use pocket change to force a title into the top 8, trumping a clear winner and finalist material should not happen.

      • As artist for Dick Ruby and speaking for the writer as well, I can assure you neither Brett nor myself paid for any votes this round nor do I think in the previous. I have alot of respect for Stand Silent, Stand Still and fully expected for us to lose against such a powerhouse. But the whole point of the contest is to raise money for Hero Initiative. Last year alone, one comic had over $1400 in donations alone. If we had fans or friends and family who wanted to donate to a cause we can’t discourage them from doing so, but I can assure you we did not actively seek out donations nor did we actively advertise the fact. And bear in mind nobody knows who is donating and to what amount. So it’s just as likely we would lose as we would win based on votes. I hate that anyone would think we would want to buy our way to the top, as I promise you that’s not the case. We are devoted to putting out quality comics, and if you would take a chance to visit our comic and see all the stories we offer I’m sure you’d see that.

        • Sage says:

          ” But I can assure you we did not actively seek out donations nor did we actively advertise the fact.”

          Tweet 1: DICK RUBY is way behind in the vote. Please come out and give him some help before voting ends at midnight tonight.
          Immediately Following Tweet: — Please remember @GlennHauman and @comicmix are trying to raise money for charity – http://heroinitiative.org

          I would consider that advertising the fact that you need more votes, and that people can donate; but that’s not the point.

          The point is that the higher voted comics are not making it through; not even the ones with the most collected votes above all other comics- because it’s too easy to buy a win with $10. It should not be that easy, not this far into things. That is the point.

          I stand by the fact that the amounts should have been raised with each round; and that the bought votes should have been posted as they were purchased; so that the actual vote count was public knowledge during the voting process.

          • Gwen says:

            Regardless of what any individual creator did or did not do to promote their comic in this contest, the problem with the donation votes being so cheap is that they make the whole contest seem less legitimate. This hurts the winners as well as the losers, since there’s the danger of people believing they only made it through because of a few fans with money, not because of quality.

            Last year, the winner and several other comics were carried through to the end exclusively due to donations. I remember being disappointed and feeling like my vote didn’t count. This year, there have been fewer votes and also fewer donations.

            If the paid votes are going to continue, I echo several peoples’ opinions that they need to increase in price significantly. I shouldn’t be able to overturn the votes of 100 readers for the price of a pizza. I’d suggest $1/vote in the early rounds, and going up to $5 later. And, I’d support making the cost even higher in the finals, or simply eliminating paid votes in the last round.

  3. One tweet is not actively seeking donations. Yes we want votes, but everyone has the same opportunity. And I have no problem with raising the price per vote, but I’m not the one putting on the contest. And if we’re talking about fairness, would you say it’s right to blame our webcomic and single us out because one or a number of our fans decided to donate based on the established rules?

    • Harold Church says:

      Exactly! You all won fair and square according to the rules of the competition. If they want to increase the cost of a vote, I’m good with that too. Maybe it would raise more money for charity but, like you said, Matt…Dick Ruby’s fans donated based on the established rules.

  4. Traci Harris says:

    Where was this outcry in a previous round when it was reported that Dick Ruby won by paid votes when it actually won by a 20 point margin before paid votes were counted? Consequently, Dick Ruby’s vote count dropped dramatically in the next round. Glenn dismissed my accusation that his incorrect comment about Dick Ruby winning through paid votes in a previous round (when it was top 32 comics) caused the drop in votes. He wouldn’t delete or retract his statement and Dick Ruby’s vote count was cut in half in the sweet 16 round. This time when it actually did win through paid votes, there is definitely a backlash so I stand by my previous accusation. It may not have been able to win against Stand Still Stay Silent, but I believe it would have been closer had DR not been incorrectly called out for winning through paid votes in the previous round. I get everything your saying about the fairness and the paid votes showing up before voting ends, but for Dick Ruby, it seems like an issue of damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

  5. Sage says:

    There wasn’t an outcry because anyone who actually followed the poll could see you had won. Hell, I even pointed it out to them . However; this round the voices of 146 people counted for nothing in your bracket. Do you honestly expect then to smile at the fact they were nullified by money, and click on and enjoy your comic?

    None of them would have expected the competing comic to receive a massive 450 paid votes; if they could have seen that before the poll closed, I bet you anything they would have started forking over donations to make themselves feel heard.

    Your votes were not cut in half; you were only 23 votes under what you received in the previous round; which can easily be written off as a matter of personal opinion. If you has 23 readers who also read Stand Still Stay Silent, they could have simply voted the other way. Or perhaps some of them simply didn’t make it to the polls. It’s not an outrageous loss.

    I am really saddened to see Stand Still Stay Silent and Amya out due to a bit of money, after all the effort we fans have put into gathering legitimate votes. As stated by a previous commenter, the cost of a pizza should not undo all out work at voting and promoting.

    I know I’m not bothering to vote on this round. Why would I? My voice can just be nulled out for a measly Twenty-five cents. It might be for a good cause – but I think it’s too little to outweigh the opinion of an actual person; and I think it’s too much to keep hidden during the voting process.

    • Traci Harris says:

      First, it’s not my comic. I’m a fan. Second, I don’t disagree with what your saying about increasing the cost of paid votes or seeing the paid votes up front. I just feel like you (and others) are unfairly lashing out at the creators of Dick Ruby. They didn’t establish the rules. They didn’t pay their way into the next round. Their fans did. What would you have them do? What could the creators have done differently? And, yes, if you searched through the polls you could see that Glenn’s comment was incorrect but not everyone does that and their votes were cut in half the round after he incorrectly called them out for winning through paid votes. Now in this round when they really did win through paid votes, people are lashing out at them. Just seems unfair to me.

      • Traci Harris says:

        Sorry…correction…not cut in half…but they were growing in numbers every round and then votes went significantly down. You may not call that a significant drop but I disagree. Whatever….I’m growing tired of this whole thing too, but for different reasons.

      • NotFred says:

        Sorry but that is an unfair claim.

        First: Dick Ruby also had less votes the second round than the first. Exactly (NOT counting paid votes):
        1st: 153 – 2nd: 95 – 3rd: 108 – 4th: 85

        Second: it was NOt the only one. If you check ALL the comics had exactly the same behavior. At random:
        Ava’s Demon: 1st: 328 – 2nd: 209 – 3rd: 352 – 4th: 260
        Monsterkind: 1st: 226 – 2nd: 98 – 3rd: 335 – 4th: 178

        So, it was NOT the comment about paid votes, more likely it was cause the day of the week.

  6. Introverted Chaos says:

    Another option to make the paid voting seem more fair in the future might be to increase the cost of successive votes for individual voters per comic. For example, have the first vote for Order of the Stick cost $1, while the second costs $2, while the third costs $4, and the fourth costs $6, or something like that. The current pay system definitely feels easy to manipulate, and it’s entirely understandable why a lot of creators and fans feel cheated right now.

  7. Yorp says:

    As folk’s are making suggestions about how to reduce the emphasis of paid voting, how about a cap? Paid votes can increase the basic total by up to 50% and no more.

    That will not greatly impact on the amount going to charity, as the paid vote amounts are not shown. So if there is intense paid voting going on, then any overflow above the cap will still go to charity.

    But it will stop the situation where a low basic vote can be totally overturned just by paid votes.

    So paid voting would only be worthwhile if two matched contenders were in the same ballpark with regular votes. If adding 50% to the lower total would not beat the front-runner, then no amount of paid votes would change the outcome.

    That is the one situation where money would not be raised. But, if people are getting turned off by the paid voting, and public interest in the competition is falling off, then that is a far worse impact on the charity revenues. So I think giving a feeling of fairness, by such a cap, would benefit the charity more in the long run.

  8. I’m all for any adjustment to the voting process that makes it more fair for the contestents. In all honesty I was as shocked as anyone that Dick Ruby made it through on paid votes. I thought Stand Silent Stand Still deserved every vote it got. It’s a top-notch comic. Well drawn, well written, and the website is phenomenal. Minna is a fantastic illustrator and has an amazing eye for design. But that being said my contention is that it’s unfair to SINGLE OUT Dick Ruby because it’s fans are willing to support it through money rather than simply voting. The point of the contest is to raise money for Hero Initiative. I just had one fan email me and apologize for causing us trouble? How is that right? How is it right for someone to do something for a good cause and have his actions cause people to get upset? I’m not saying the process works. I’m not saying that it shouldnt be adjusted, I’m all for adjustment. But having my webcomic become the scapegoat for a flawed process is just as unfair as the results of the process. Regardless I could care less if we win this round or not. I didn’t care if we won or lost the last round. We were happy to take part in the contest to give people the opportunity to see and read the kind of comics we like to make. So go ahead and vote for our competitor if it makes you feel better, or if you flat out just like the comic. That’s great. Grrl Power is another top-notch comic. It deserves votes. All I ask is that you give our comics a read, you might find you actually enjoy it…

  9. Traci Harris says:

    Well said, Matt.

  10. Yorp says:

    Speaking as a fan of Grrl Power, I would not complain if we were beaten by paid voting. Being flat broke, I do not have the option, but am perfectly happy to point out the pay vote option to fellow fans who do. So equally am unconcerned if paid voting gives us the edge in the next round.

    Do not let charity suffer because of a few gripes.

    It is the same as attending a charity auction. If you win, you payout, but the money goes to charity. If you loose, some other person gets the item you were bidding on, but the charity still benefits.

    Either way, you still get the rush of competing. My investment is one vote per round, but it still interests me to see who wins. And I campaign to support my favourite. Beyond that I view the paid votes as a roll of the dice. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes the other.

    *shrugs*

    C’est la vie.

  11. NotFred says:

    I am a Grrl Power fan too and I concur with Yorp: there is nothing unfair about buy votes because the rule is the same to all the comics.

    Maybe no every comic have the same CHANCE to buy votes but that is hard to manage and since it is almost random could be not unfair anyway.

    That said I also think that the mechanism about buy votes could use a couple improves, like an increasing cost of the votes and have them showed LIVE.

    Just in case my early post refering to Dick Ruby was about the justice or not of putting the blame on the Comic Mix’s comment, and not about buying votes.

    Have luck.

  12. NotFred says:

    Could you please give some update on Round 5 voting status?

    Any idea when semifinal will start?

  1. March 31, 2014

    […] not sure of the hows and whys, but Grrl Power has moved on to the final 8! Thanks for all your support so far, but I assume it’ll only get tougher from here on out! Go […]

  2. April 1, 2014

    […] *Update* Because several of our fans (and we thank them for their support and their willingness to donate to a good cause) donated to the Heroes Initiative in our webcomics name, we are now getting backlash on the Comic Mix Mix March Madness with people singling us out for buying votes (when everyone has the opportunity to do so). We would love to prove them wrong, so please go vote for our webcomic in the Comic Mix Mix March Madness top webcomic round 5/elite 8. And a big thanks to everyone who has voted thus far! It’s much appreciated – VOTE NOW […]

  3. April 10, 2014

    […] UPDATE 3/31: Round 4 is over. Vote in the Elite 8 round now! […]

  4. April 10, 2014

    […] you weren’t going to believe anything we posted today anyway. Go vote in the Mix March Madness webcomics tournament, even though it’s now […]