One To Rule Them All: The Fellowship of the Fifteen

Interesting topic right? I have been seeing too many movies lately (sighs).

This post is a detailed explanation of my standpoint on the most recent development in the vibes community: Top 15 Options For Winners List.

Before this development, I intended to make a written post on my perspective of the weekly nomination list, here's why: a few weeks ago, I was nominated top 10 but did not make the awarded 6. While I was super grateful for the nomination, I felt really unhappy not making top 6. Feelings are normal and they make us human but that particular feeling was quite intense for me, so I decided to evaluate my feelings. I do that often because feelings are fickle, but they could also influence the decision-making process and should not be ignored all the time.
This post explores the psychology in competition and I hope you find it interesting.

PS: Though inspired by how I felt, this post is not about me so keep an open mind as you follow, thanks!

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As humans, the main way we evaluate ourselves is by comparison to the people around us, which is normal. Comparison is not an evil, it helps evaluate levels of our skill set, identify deficiencies, and improve on weak points. And in an actual competition, comparison is inevitable. In a huge competition like the vibes competition with over 300 entries of incredibly talented individuals, there is a likelihood of a feeling of inadequacy or insignificance when one does not make the top 10 at the end of each week. Making top 10 is an immense boost for the morale and an incredible elevation of hope because it increases your confidence in your skill and overall ability as a singer or musician. However, making top 10 and not top 6 creates a hollow feeling that tends to overshadow your elation, called the near miss effect. Now this tends to be highly discouraging even more than not being nominated at all. This background is necessary so you can understand my standpoint on the top 15 nomination.

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AI generated image

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I was going to suggest top 6 instead of top 10 or a form of encouragement for the unawarded 4 in the top 10 (which can still be explored). However, top 15 turned out to also be a brilliant solution to this problem I identified. You ask how? Look below ⬇️

1. Top 15 increases the probability of nomination of every individual each week. While measures are already in place to ensure the nomination process is not repetitive, the increased number of nominations helps increase the chances of many individuals to be recognized.

2. The increased number of nominations allows inclusivity. With over 300 entries each week, the weekly nomination can now feature various styles of performances, allowing for better diversity, so in case of not making top 6, one can easily learn from winners with similar interests or style of performance rather than being discouraged.

3. A mitigation of the near-miss effect. This just means that due to an increased number of competitors, it reduces the emotional impact of not making the top 6. That is, an increased number of non-winning nominees from 4 to 9, makes it feel less terrible. This provides a more positive experience for nominees, serving as a point of encouragement rather than otherwise.

4. A higher number of nominees translates to a better recognition for everyone rather than exclusivity in the competition. In my opinion, this will foster a need for personal improvement rather than an obsession to win.

5. A higher number of the individuals in the polls highlights a need for community engagement rather than familiar voting. Trust me, voting was pretty hard this week, but the bright side is that it encourages engagement and recognition of artists who support and make a meaningful contribution to other artists in the community, fostering a general development of Vibes as a whole.

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The judges are not exempted from this. Look who else is excited about this, @verbal-d hahaha.

Hope you all are as excited as I am about the big change of 5 additional slots of recognition. Now you can see how it feels to be like a judge and have a harder selection amongst some of our top performers.

1. This feature helps our judges knock themselves out at nomination. Listening to some of the nominees this week, my eyes were almost leaking. Perhaps it was just midnight blues. I can imagine how it feels doing this every week.

2. This feature helps the judges express their expertise in recognizing uniqueness among the diversity of styles and skills, balancing both skill and presentation criteria in judging.

3. This nomination process will also help judges acknowledge a broader spectrum of talents which will encourage more participation in the community at large.

All I have written above is my perspective. While our feelings are valid, this is still a competition. Goodluck to this week's edition of the "FELLOWSHIP", I cannot wait to see the results!

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Kudos to the Vibes team @verbal-d, @silentscreamer, @lordbutterfly, with the incredible work they put in every week. Let's continually have faith in their sound judgement and y'all should stay cheesed up. Peace!