Feb 19, 2017, 07:19 PM
ChrisMDB Wrote:So long as you don't purposefully break the anonymity (I've broken it without thinking in the past as well) it's fine, but if you're advertising which is yours that's an issue.
This is key. If someone figures out on their own that an entry is yours, they've taken the time to review the entries, at least enough to click on a YouTube link. If you bluntly state that an entry is yours, however, you're actively promoting your own entry during a round, which, though not a violation of the rules, is a stellar way to turn the other builders against you. Winners who win after promoting their own entry are at a high risk of becoming alienated by the other builders, which is far more difficult to recover from than losing one round.
There is no rule that states that the users must keep their entries anonymous. The author's name was removed from rounds both to keep people from voting based on the builder, which was an ongoing problem that could work in the builder's favor or against it. Anyone who states outright that they built an entry is doing so at their own risk, since there is often little way of knowing what the voters think of you independent of your creations.Â
Most of us who enter on a regular basis have broken anonymity in some way or another, whether it has been from uploading a POV, posting a preview screenshot of an entry, or building multiple roller coasters in the same park and naming the park in the description. This is not the same as including an author's name directly under the coaster's name on the voting page.Â
Crediting the author on the voting page--the way it was for most of 2015 and before--can have a powerful effect, especially with builders who have won in the past. Voters who routinely don't take the time to review all four entries carefully before voting and/or don't have the confidence in their decision-making to determine which coaster is the best are likely to vote for a name they've seen win before, as they may trust that that entry is the best simply because the builder has won more times than the others in the round. In contrast, if they see someone win too many times, they may vote for another entry solely because they want someone else to win. Keeping the author's name readily available directly under the name of the coaster created a bias either way, and it isn't the same as voting for someone whose style you recognize and like based on your own criteria.
![[Image: 7sFmb4x.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/7sFmb4x.jpg)
¡Viva Mexico!