thewronggrape wrote:Walmazan is one of the most printed artists here with lots of fans (myself included with several of his shirts).
So although it's probably not just you, methinks you're in the minority :-)
I understand that, but I also think you've identified the reason Woot changed the structure of the derby.
I realize a lot of this artist's designs have printed. However, when I go back and look at the sales figures (first day, and overall) for his prints, the meta of reflexively voting for favorite artists, rather than judging designs on the merits of whether or not they would sell well to a wider public is, frankly, bad for business.
I had never noticed this until I was showing the derby to my wife one week, and she asked "why the heck was that one (not mentioning which one) a winner?" I explained the meta to her, but then went to the shirt.what page and sorted by final placing ("I wouldn't buy any of these," was her comment - and she's a professional graphic artist), and then to the Reckoning page a couple weeks later to see the final figures.
So, while I understand the sentiment of "I love [insert artist's name]'s designs, and will vote for every one of them, regardless of whether they look like kindergarten scrawls", I also wonder why it took Woot so long to change their voting model.
