Guilt, one of the single most powerful emotions we as humans are capable of instiling into another human, second only to fear.  Passing guilt is one of the most simple ways of getting what you want. Making a person feel valued, and causing them to feel indebted.


GUILT: one of the most frowned uppon practices in our lives, we hate when our moms guilt trip us, we hated it when teachers made us feel guilty for not doing our homework. Guilt is one of the EASIEST ways of GETTING WHAT YOU DON'T DESERVE!

For Example, I got this letter today:

"Hey!

Sorry to barge in like this, but could you please check my profile and support my campaigns? I only have 1 day left and I really wanna make it. I just reviewed/voted your work, and will continue my support

Best of luck!

Thanx in advance."

Notice the nice way that this person approached me...drew me in, simply asking me to look at thier campaigns, and profile. It seems just fine when they plee with me that they only have one day left, and REALLY want to win....this shows passion, which I VALUE.

Suddenly....as if out of no where BAM! Catching you off guard...the final weapon...THE WEAPON OF MASS DISTRUCTION! THE GUILT!  " I just reviewed/voted your work, and will continue my support" basicly....'you want my help? well, nothing is free punk, now go and vote for MY WORK!' Now, this is ok I suppose if the person deserves the votes...so I click the link to thier profile and start checking out what they have...they actually have some pretty decent stuff, so I comment, give my thoughts, you know... a little of this and a little of that, then vote for what I wanted to vote for. HOWEVER...had I not been of more sound mind at the time...I would have thought...'GOSH! they sure are sweet...I need to go and vote for EVERYTHING!' This thought brings to mind....hmm...I wonder if they even LOOKED at my work...or are they just another one of those *vote* or 'SUPPORT' or -here's my support, now I want your's- whores that runs around (I'll get back to them later). Well, it turns out that is EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE! And they have not even supported ALL of my work like they said! What is with you people now? Do you expect that we are all to stupid to see who votes on our work? I know for a fact that they did not even vote for my stuff because I still have many campaigns that I am STILL the ONLY supporter of...me....alone...voting for my own work.

Now, back to the *vote*- *support*-*Here's my support now support me* etc, etc copy and paste whores out there....Drumming up all sorts of guilt....like throwing chum in the water. They are like sharks...they come and vote for a campaign pulling a bit of meat off....then, it seems the other 'sharks' smell the blood and come racing to get a piece as well. Even this CONVERSATION campaign has a rash of *SUPPORT* posters when the reviews are SUPPOSED to be part of the conversation. It seems that every new campaign is like a feeding frenzy...especially the ones with LOTS of entries.  And if you watch the TOP REVIEWER/VOTER spots it is like a contest between them...who can be the 'big shark' in this campaign the longest!?

And it seems instead of fixing this problem, Brickfish is just continuing to make it worse....now every time you review or vote for a concept...you are entered to win MONEY! WTH! Now instead of discouraging people from leaving shollow reviews and voting based on guilt, not skill WE'RE GONNA GIVE THEM MONEY!

The shallow voting here is posing a REAL problem...people with skill, and a life outside of this, unable to be devoted to guilt 24/7 are losing standing to people with no skill or even the common decency to FOLLOW DIRECTIONS! Now, it is not the lack of skill I hate...this is a community, we are here to help eachother...give constructive suggestions...point out things that need improvement AND the way that that person can improve them. Now, I don't want to open another can of worms here...there is another Blog/Conversation going for that already. 

What are YOUR views here? What do YOU think of the shollow voting on BrickFish? Should it continue? Should we REWARD them? Well, now is your chance to voice what you think....and if I get a * vote* whore on here...so HELP ME!

SAM
(no, I swear, I'm not a violent person....normaly)

SUGGESTED REPLIES TO SPAM:
Here are some messages that you can copy and paste into the comments sections of the profiles of the people that harrass you for votes. Feel free to modify them, and use them as much as you like:

For when they leave a 'VOTE FOR ME' copy and paste review on your campaign:Hey There! I just noticed your review on my campaign, and could not help but notice that you placed the SAME review in every campaign that I clicked on. I know this may not be a big deal to you, but I thought that you should know that it annoys a great number of people out there. The review section is to place, meaningful reviews and/or constructive criticism in for the benefit of the originator, not to monger for votes. You have gravely misused the review section, and I and many others, would appreciate it if you would cease and desist the cut/paste fashion of reviewing that you are so fond of.
For when they send you a 'VOTE FOR ME' Email:Sure, I'll check out your work, but I want to make you perfectly aware that I will not vote for your work unless I believe your work deserves it. If I can help you with any constructive criticism, I will leave some. I feel that I should also make you aware that this fashion of getting word out about your campaign is rather frowned upon by many members of BrickFish. And please don't threaten me with pulling your votes from my campaign...votes should be based on quality, and relevance...not on trying to get votes in return.