Sounds cool. Having the weekends to work on the shirt derby sounds like a great improvement.
Reading the Terms and Conditions… Has the payout for derby winning shirts been reduced to $200? It makes no mention of the $1000 payout that is still listed in the FAQ. Is this the “second derby” T&C or are all payouts reduced now?
We haven’t changed the payments on the standard derby. The T&C’s will change depending on the derby that’s running at the time. So in this apron derby the winners get $200. When it’s a standard derby the normal T&Cs will go up.
Thanks!
Perfect- my nervous was reaching critical mass! Thanks for the clarity and the opportunity! I love this idea.
Er. Mah. Gerd.
My issue with this is that there are many voters who only get the chance to check once a week due to busy schedules. I suspect this will further reduce vote counts overall because of the confusion. Remember, the artists may understand and follow these changes but the voters are all clueless and lazy. 
I also worry that it’ll further reduce submissions. I barely have time to do the once a week thing, twice a week is a little overwhelming. Although I suppose artists can look at it as a better opportunity. I imagine fewer subs to the ‘plus sale’ derbies, so a better chance for a newbie to break through and print. And more contest = more chances so… we’ll see, I guess.
Hmmmm…
Three days of voting time is going to be a pain to deal with. If I were to enter twice a week, I’d have to send out two marketing campaigns a week. Two emails. Two facebook posts. Two everything. Saying “hey guys please vote!” twice a week is rough. I don’t even like doing it on a weekly basis because people do get tired of marketing and voting. They get overwhelmed and then become apathetic.
You are also bisecting voters a bit. Some folks I only see online on weekends. Others only on weekdays. I will not be able to reach everyone in three days.
I find it curious that Woot keeps offering more and more products and keeps getting busier all the time.
Every single person I talk to at conventions regarding Woot tells me that they don’t like to check Woot anymore because it’s too overwhelming. “Looks like Amazon’s dumping grounds.” Some of them have forsaken all of Woot for this. Some have forsaken all but Shirt.Woot for this. For the ones who still frequent Shirt.Woot, they tell me that they don’t like the overwhelming amount of new products every week.
Everyone is excited about Meh though. “I love Meh. Reminds me of old Woot. I just joined and I’ve already bought more at Meh than I have at Woot in the last year.”
I’m a bit concerned because with all the feedback I get from fans I’ve talked to, Shirt.Woot keeps going in the opposite direction. The people I talk to seem to want less overwhelming variety, higher quality products, and better customer service.
I’m curious to see what data Shirt.Woot is using that guides their marketing decisions this year.
Thought you’d like some feedback from the con trenches though.
Sales are down, so they have to go with volume instead.
They’re still new and shiny. Needs more shirts, though. 
+1.
Thanks for the feedback from the trenches. On the one hand it is sad to hear that people aren’t checking as much due to the overwhelming nature and they could use a boost in quality of materials (obligatory AA plug); however it is nice to know that people still think of Woot from time to time. They keep accidentally making themselves yesterday’s news and it makes me sad. T
This was something I asked about in the big survey they sent out a while back. I am happy to see it has been implemented.
While things are changing, how about changing the WootBot posting templates? It’s been how long since the Reckoning opening post was irrelevant? Likewise, with the “Introducing Your Contenders for Derby …” posts too.
I have a question, when does the submissions close for the three day apron derby? Sunday at midnight? Because right now it looks like I might be able to accidentally sub my shirt to the apron derby if it doesn’t close until the other derby starts.
I thought it would close at noon on Sunday so I’m a bit confused.
I won’t be surprised if this was overlooked. Likewise, the rejectionator doesn’t usually work weekends, so how will that get handled in the future derbies? As it is, there are several entries this week which missed the “No black aprons.” rule and a few which may be “We can’t run this.”
Yeaaaahhhhhh, no kidding. You can still enter the apron derby even after midnight so tomorrow I will just have to be careful when I sub. Good point on the rejectionator too. Will be interesting to see how the short derby runs.
As well as the ‘similar product already exists’.
And I miss the pre-derby discussion thread. 
For the uneducated, can you please fix the URL in the post for the Aprons to bring it to the Aprons derby and not the current Baked Goods derby?