Boy, I am kicking myself for being gone all week and not having the time to check this thread as often as I would have liked.
First off, I must apologize for not making one of the rules more clear as it has apparently been misinterpreted. It had been stated that this must be an all new custom and not one that has been posted here or on another site. What I meant by that is that the custom in question couldn't have been posted anywhere in the past. There are many people here who post their work on more than this site "myself included" and it wasn't my desire to tell you fine folks that this is the only site where you can post pics of your creations. That would be selfish and I always believed that work like this should be spread across the globe for everyone to enjoy and be inspired by.
The situation where the one member went to pad his votes is just plain shameful and the act disappoints me. Folks, if my parts are that desirable, all you have to do is place an order. None the less, I am not turned off from participating in the creation of future contests and hope that you all feel the same way as far as participation in these competitions. Do realize that we do run a tight ship around here and will keep things fair.
Since the voting has restarted for this contest, I do urge you to take the time to recast your vote as the final decision still needs to be made.
DD, don't get upset about the reaction to your postings as it's obvious that the outcome of any competition can be affected by information that is misinterpreted. We are a protective lot here, as has been made obvious in the past. Most of the work here was documented in the original contest thread where it could be seen who was the creator in their individual postings.
About the whole front page thing, getting onto the front page has always been a privilege and not a right and is to the discretion of our staff, each of which have real lives and real jobs. We are such a growing custom community now that we might see 5 or more new custom postings a day, every day, and when allotted time, sometimes for a FP custom story, we must just grab and go just to keep up with things. Do realize that the front page needs room for more than just stories about our members customs and sometimes, sacrifices must be made. I myself have been working out of town for the last month and only have access to my home terminal, where I do my front page postings, on the weekends.
I take it that the implied suggestion from Tamer about nothing but positive comments and concentration about voting for this contest didn't sink in.