Derby Preview #731: Teenage Dirtbag

#1

It’s throwback Thursday! This week’s theme is nostalgic pop culture. Music, tv, movies or games popular in your teen years! Just remember parody is your friend to avoid IP infringements.

No politics, no cream shirts, no trademark, copyright or IP infringements!

This Derby begins THURSDAY October 17th & ends THURSDAY October 24th at noon, CST. The three winning designs will be featured as the Daily offers Friday - Sunday. Great designs that don’t win may be included in an Editor’s Choice sale each Monday, so be sure to check back and see who makes the cut!

Please be sure to email your artwork to derby@woot.com as soon as you submit!

If you want to submit any off-topic designs, submit here!

If you are new to the derby and want to participate, WELCOME! Also, please check out our full derby guidelines over here!

You can also download updated templates for your artwork over here . Happy designing!

#2

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#3

Does it have to be teen years? Can it be kid years?

#4

I think let’s keep this one to teen nostalgia…

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#5

Say…perhaps…I’m old. My teen years are likely a different decade than some. I’m thinking of a TV show popular in my teen years that would then fall into someone’s kid years. Maybe it’s even still on. That’s cool, right?

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#6

Yes, it’s your own teen years. So the content should be relevant to teenagers of that time. What we don’t want is something like Sesame Street - clearly a kids show.

#7

Big Bird… teen years

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#8

THE HORROR!

#9

Molting… It’s rough.

#10

Limp Bizkit shirt coming right up!

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#11

I’m picturing a biscuit that is sagging…

#12

A saggy biscuit would be an improvement

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#13

@Lady5tark Will facebook voting be part of this derby?

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#14

@Lady5tark? Is this something you can inform us in advance of the derby launch (and ideally when the themes are posted going forward)?

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#15

Hi @acraigl, no we can not tell you whether Facebook will be a part of this derby. It is one of the mechanisms we use to keep the derby exciting so we will not be announcing before a derby launches whether that will be used that week.

Keep in mind this is an engaging opportunity for our followers on Facebook. It’s a way we can offer some fun on the Facebook page that’s not just “buy this shirt” posts all the time!

#16

I’m not following. How does my knowledge of Facebook voting change the Shirt.woot engagement with it’s followers??? I can tell you that as an artist, I don’t love surprises. It creates extra work and stress.

I don’t think it’s unfair to inform us ahead of time how voting will be tabulated.

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#17

The derby competition is a live event that we monitor on a daily basis and have developed a variety of tools and levers we can pull based on the performance of all aspects of the shenanigan. I’m not able to announce which lever we will pull on any given week because they are reactive in some cases and we don’t know how to react until the data is in front of us.

I think what I am personally failing to understand is how this promotion negatively impacts an artist. Even if you choose not to promote yourself on Facebook, you are not only gaining exposure though our promotion, but you can still use your own chosen promotion tactics to gain votes in the derby and win by derby votes alone if your votes outnumber the combined totals. We are not in any way limiting the way an artist can drive voters to the derby.

Facebook is also a great feedback mechanism and a direct connection to our customers for you guys. The Shirt Facebook group is comprised of actual customers that are talking to us in real time. If something isn’t resonating with them we’ll know, and you will know. With that real time data you can react quickly to give them what they want and ultimately make more $$.

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#18

Not to speak out of turn… But it think since the vote totals are relatively low, knowing where extra votes may come from on a given week if helpful to some artist. If we fully understand how these are totaled, then we can help flood the web with our art and guide more people to woot; which i think is the ultimate goal?

So if I know FB votes will count than I need to set extra time aside to flood my groups, etc with pleas for extra votes. Doing this every week can cause voter fatigue and places that could garner major support may stop giving any, due to a regular contributor flooding a group with possibly off topic content.

If I knew FB vote would be counted on a given week, I might design to pander to a specific FB group knowing that could trigger a cascade of extra votes. I would not want to do this every week do to the reasons previously stated and because the design my not play well to the “standard” woot crowd…

Like I said, if we had voting of 500-1500 for the fog shirts then all this would be just a part of the equation. But (since the votes are low) if you get 80 likes from a FB group that is really into Onychophoran; then you could win with a design that would normally garner only a couple votes otherwise…

To get the FB votes counted, do we need to click on the share icon under the shirt image? What if we copy and pasted the URL to a specific FB group, would those likes get counted? If friends and family re-post the shirt from our feed, do those still get counted? I am only asking because I have seen “like” totals for specific posts, but I have never seen the likes tabulated in total from all the reposts back to the OP on woot.com

Please don’t tale this post as a complaint or condemnation. I am just trying to understand the process and it’s intent…

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#19

An artist should assume that every week it is possible to have Facebook votes included in their totals.

So if I know FB votes will count than I need to set extra time aside to flood my groups, etc with pleas for extra votes. Doing this every week can cause voter fatigue and places that could garner major support may stop giving any, due to a regular contributor flooding a group with possibly off topic content.

This is exactly why it is used as a reactive mechanism, rather than a planned weekly activity. Due to it being a reactive mechanism we will not publish ahead of time that we will be doing it.

If I knew FB vote would be counted on a given week, I might design to pander to a specific FB group knowing that could trigger a cascade of extra votes. I would not want to do this every week do to the reasons previously stated and because the design my not play well to the “standard” woot crowd…

This is kind of a reason for us to not announce it ahead of time. The point is to design for the buying audience at Woot, not pander to the audience that’s going to get you to win and then not buy shirts.

Only the likes on the original Shirt.Woot Facebook post will be counted towards your totals. You can share that post and the likes will stay with it. You can also share only your image from that post and the likes will stay with it.

#20

Ben shares some of concern (thanks @benjaminleebates).

I can’t speak for everyone, so how does it negatively impact me specifically? I don’t feel I can complete on the social platforms. When that component is involved I either have to work very hard, attempting to drum up support and/or exhaust my friends and family by double-hitting them up for votes. As Ben mentioned with the lower vote turnout, whether it’s true or not, I feel like I’m throwing away my work and derby entry if I don’t market to the facebook thing. And if that’s the case, I’d prefer to know ahead of time and make that choice for myself.

@Lady5tark, obviously you guys can do what you want. Your more lengthy response provides additional visibility into the decision making which I really do appreciate. Since you don’t know when it will happen you’ve answered the question I posed up front. What I think is getting missed here is how the artists feel about these changes. If I’m such a minority I’ll happily stand down on the subject.

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