Here's what i find confusing: If our first round fails, rules on second round inclusion for participation never have been clear. Am I nixed from competing in another grow battle in general or from that vendor for having had failed my first round, or can I at least keep participating with the seeds remaining (or if i had germinated all seeds buy my own seeds eligible for that competition and continue as a non-competing participant in the other legs to maintain my gladiator badge).
How should I handle extra seeds sent for competition, should I grow them, or hold them until such a time as the next round comes along so I can participate in the next competition?
Would Vendors, staff and fellow gladiators allow those whose attempts did not pass the finish line and need to start a new plant asap due to legitimate reasons to do so using the competition seeds as long as they are documented properly here on AFN and then be allowed to be included in equal consideration for next years growing rounds/growoffs/etcs and retain their gladiator badge?
The deadlines on some of the legs of the grow battles are a bit tight if you're running a super long strain like some that are ultra long flower strains (a la auto ultimate and my one dreamberry).
I have seen it where who enters one battle, enters multiple battles and wins multiple battles using the same picture. I never understood why there was no rule requiring different pictures to be entered into different battles. Like if you are in a grow off and a lighting battle, you shouldnt be able to use the same pictures.
Like if you're going the KISS route, i understand multiple pictures, but is it possible to allow a forum user to only win one battle and not multiple, like if they win a light battle and a grow battle, they have to choose and then 2-4 move to 1-3 on the battle they conceded in. I think that allows more inclusion of people as it will allow more newbies to enter grow battles because it will feel less scary.
Plus, the name grow "Battle" Is scary to a lot. I know I hate being compared, and I always know I'll lose. Last time I voted in the battles it was a bit iffy feeling for me, but i think things can change... HOWEVER, here is a scary issue... It is currently possible to make zombie accounts which appear as live people and vote anyone you want to win (if you wish I can show you). There has to be some way to fight this through a verification method of voting rights with those who vote required to have a certain posting count or a ranking weight with less than 100 posts based upon their content strength value. Such a plugin could be developed to simply take the user, evaluate the overall data of the user's posts, then add weight based upon who quotes them, who they are replying to, what words are and are not said, in what sentence structure etc. Such a structured system could be achieved with a simple and quick auth script.
So basically i believe voting itself should require multi factor authentication.
To properly manage battles you will need to write a custom module that basically does the following: It will allow each admin to create a battle group. it will then allow the admin to fill in the battle sponsor, the battle subgroup(s), the battle subgroup leader, then the battle subgroup members. The forum also has basic details such as the Strain info provided by the company and their rules for the grow, start date, end date, and the code used for the run and when the grow battle will be announced.. After the leaders are selected in the admin module, a new topic announcing the grow battle is automatically generated by the system giving all details that were entered into the forum and then put either directly online, or into a queue to be published at a later date when the grow battle is to be announced. If the users are not announced at the time of the grow battle, the admin (or the subgroup leader) can go into the battle management section and then either add members, remove them, or message all of them, or one at once as the list is available. They can also see the last few posts by each of their group members in their individual battle threads. Once this list is completed the battle leader can lock the list. Once the list is locked, a time can be set for another auto generated set of topics to be generated and published by the system under the names of each user who is part of that grow battle allowing them all to have the exact same format for their topic. Since the system generated and published the growers grow battle topics, the system has access to all the information needed to fill in the grow battle leader's management field. The management module can then alert the grow battle leader on x number of updates to the grow battle so there are less updates to scroll through on the home page. The system can also pick up on images that are published, so when an image is published by the user, the grow battle leader can simply click to reveal the latest post with the photo and then go over to the account update window and check off that the update for grower x is complete for that day. When the grow battle leader checks off this box, an auto generated post is added to the first post announcing the grow battle's start date and information
[EDIT]You could also have such a system so that each individual grower submits their pics through such a module and then their pics are also automatically submitted via the system to the main thread and then the grow battle leader gets an actual time of arrival for the photograph and its instantly uploaded for them to check out without wading through pages of threads[/EDIT/]
