I wonder if pimping really helps.

[Garylisk]

I mean, there's a lot of site goers who will be voting that do not visit the forums at all, I bet. I wonder what percentage of a vote you can get by pimping. In the end, does it make a difference, or is it more due to what floats around on the filesharing networks and is talked about in various OTHER anime boards?

BTW, vote for Kyo's Habit. It's in my sig.

[Scintilla]

As far as I'm concerned, it can't hurt to try, and I like posters.

[dwchang]

As far as I'm concerned, it can't hurt to try, and I like posters.

I think it can.

I guess this entire thing will come across as a bit mean and I apologize if it hurts anyone feelings, but these are my feelings regarding this. Also sorry for being overly dramatic....

I'll be frank, all these self-pimping threads that I see? I almost never download the video that the creator himself says that the video is the best thing since sliced bread. So this overly-biased person says their own video is good? IT MUST BE GOOD :O.

Also Garylisk, I think you bring up a good question. My first VCA (last year), I decided to just kinda observe and see what actually got nominated vs. what was being said on the forums. Look at the nominees. If we could look at the VCA forum from last year or you have a good memory, you'll notice *most* of those creators didn't say much in the forums about their own videos.

Then how is their vids got nominated?

Maybe because they were good videos and well...popular. As you've alluded to Gary, the popular videos are popular and will get in without a forum. Most *casual* viewers don't read these boards and will nominate with what they think is good. Is that right that they don't see a ton of these great vids? Maybe not, but it is the viewer's choice and just one giant popularity contest right? Is it really surprising vids that win major contests tend to be nominated? They did show in front of a large audience right?

At the same time, don't at all get me wrong. Videos that are "pimped" on these forums can and do get in. It's not to say it's not 100% ineffective, but honestly...most of the nominations the last two years were great videos that were popular prior to the forums becoming active and I have a feeling it will remain that way. In fact I see plenty of really popular vids being pimped and they'll probably get in...at the same time, I don't think they really need it either .

Also I AM NOT SAYING IF YOUR VIDEO IS NOT POPULAR IT MUST BE BAD. Good != Popular and vice versa.

Furthermore, I am not at all condemning anyone's actions here. In fact, with these forums I've found quite a few gems that I missed out on. Perhaps that's the great purpose of these forums vs. what people would like them to be. So be positive....at least people will see your work with these promotions.

In any case, again, I apologize if any of this comes out wrong, but it's how I've felt about the VCAs and promotion since last year. And remember...have fun!

Good luck to all!

[Garylisk]

As far as I'm concerned, it can't hurt to try, and I like posters.

I think it can.

I guess this entire thing will come across as a bit mean and I apologize if it hurts anyone feelings, but these are my feelings regarding this. Also sorry for being overly dramatic....

You TOTALLY do NOT come off as mean. What you say makes perfect sense, and I know exactly what you're saying.

True, you can't take a creator's word for it when they promote their own stuff as being awesome... because to them, it might be awesome, but to someone else, it might be crap. Ya never know. Like Shounen Bushido. The video is well loved by many, but I just don't like it much.

One man's gold is another man's garbage, and vice versa.

And you also bring up a valid point.. I bet con audiences tend to decide quite a bit. Con centests get shown to a fairly large audience, and then those people seek out thos videos, show them to their friends, word spreads, and next thing you know, you've got some WELL known videos.

For people like me who have not been in con contests, it might seem unfair, but that was MY decision to not compete at a con, so really there can be no blame put on anyone but myself.

So yep, due to the nature of this contest being a popularity contest, it's hard to guess the outcome.

I still wonder what kind of percentage of voters read these forums, though...

[dwchang]

You TOTALLY do NOT come off as mean. What you say makes perfect sense, and I know exactly what you're saying.

It's bad, but I'm overly cautious on the .org now because I've been burned way too many times because someone misunderstood something I said. Oh the wonders of the interweb...so yeah, rather be safe than sorry.

True, you can't take a creator's word for it when they promote their own stuff as being awesome... because to them, it might be awesome, but to someone else, it might be crap. Ya never know. Like Shounen Bushido. The video is well loved by many, but I just don't like it much.

Well it's not to say EVERY self-pimp video is bad either. I wanted to make sure I clarified that. However, to me, a viewer....I really am more attracted to threads where people promote other vids. A) It shows a selfless act and B) why would someone promote someone else's work? It must be good?

...and you didnt hear this from me, but I feel the same about said video >_>.

And you also bring up a valid point.. I bet con audiences tend to decide quite a bit. Con centests get shown to a fairly large audience, and then those people seek out thos videos, show them to their friends, word spreads, and next thing you know, you've got some WELL known videos.

For people like me who have not been in con contests, it might seem unfair, but that was MY decision to not compete at a con, so really there can be no blame put on anyone but myself.

So yep, due to the nature of this contest being a popularity contest, it's hard to guess the outcome.

I still wonder what kind of percentage of voters read these forums, though...

As you said, if a video is seen at a contest, the viewer goes and finds it and kind of propagates it further from that point on.

Also I think a lot of "casual viewers" are like me and rarely watch AMVs. If you've noticed in my own thread like 90% of the vids I mention I saw at a convention. That's the only time I really watch a lot of AMVs and since it'sa contest, generally they are good videos. Now I don't claim to be every viewer here, but I have a feeling looking at the results in the past....that's the way a lot of people are and thus the popularity contest.

And again, even if your video isn't "popular" or isn't nominated, it doesn't mean anything regarding the quality. It just means X # of viewers here didn't click a little button. All I'm saying is based on my own observations and not an absolute truth or anything.

[dji]

pimpin only helps.. if you're helping me!!! and everyone else is tooo!!!! hehehe

[MOD22: Moved to General AMV as it is a discussion topic about the VCAs in general, not a pimping thread.]

[Resk]

Personally, I think pimping your own videos (or those of others) rarely gets much attention. Just to give a example (no, I'm not trying to be egotystical) I wasn't going to post my videos in the VCA forum, since I didn't expect it to lead to much. Well, I eventually decided to point out two of my videos (once each in one post each) in the numberous threads (one in each, very simple.) And I got the expected result. A couple days later, I went to check the number of hits that video gained since I posted. There wasn't any change. So, in effect, the post didn't actually help.

However, I'm not one who is overly concerned with the popularity of my videos. Even though I posted about them, I rarely actually promote them in any other way. It's more like those people who enter contests on a dare and actually get somewhere from it, and if they don't, then it's no big deal.

But I do agree that while promoting your videos in the VCA forum will at least get the word out there that you are concerned about how your video is viewed by the public, it's been my experience (from this years VCAs) that if you're an 'unknown' either on the forum or in the a-m-v.org community as a whole, the chances of getting recognized are slim. For example, several times in that forum, I keep seeing the same videos, or the same creators being nominated over and over again, and while this suggests that they're work is popular (not differentiating between popularity=good or bad), work by other lesser known creators goes generally unnoticed.

[godix]

A while ago I got curious about the same thing myself. So I noted exactly how many hits/downloads I had before I pimped and how many I had 3 days after pimping. As far as I can tell it doesn't seem to matter if you pimp yourself in an egotistical way, a self depreciating way, a funny way, a serious way, or a simple 'here's the link' way. It's about five hits and one or two downloads for any of those methods. Of course, there are a few creators which are incredibly well known and maybe their results are different but for the vast 'oh, I think I've heard of him' level of fame users self pimping just doesn't do much. Results are slightly higher if someone replies specifically to your pimp to say nice video but even then it's pretty trivial.

From the other side of the question, I am EXTREMELY unlikely to look at something self pimped. I've just seen way to many videos where the creators didn't realize they suck. I'll look at videos pimped by others if it sounds interesting but not ones by their creator. So I can easily understand why self-pimping doesn't seem to do much. The announcement forum is, of course, the exception to this.

Incidently, the video in my sig is pretty close to 1000 hits so lets see if I can get it 5 hits closer to that mark: DOWNLOAD <a href="http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... 6">SPOILER WARNING</a>! NOW! RIGHT NOW!

[downwithpants]

i imagine self pimpin does help and rarely hurts you unless you act like an ass about it. it won't turn an unknown vid to a winner, but if you the top two runners are pretty close, a promotion may get a few more forum readers to download the video and vote for it.

in addition, if we're going to have a semifinal round of nominations with 20-25 nominees, some categories will have nominees with only handful of votes. and if getting on a nominations list is any reward, forum promotion can be a factor.

but in the end, it all comes down to the urban vote. play the minority card.

[Arigatomina]

Heh, I'd never think to count the hits I got after promoting in the vca forum. I just didn't want to promote myself next to the videos I wanted people to watch. So I put my little thread out and then went off to pimp vids in the different category threads (none of my own, I'd already finished the self-promotion).

I doubt I got more hits from that, but I did get 15 reviews in the following week, 4 of them for the same video (one I'd promoted). Are the two related? How would I know?

All I can say is I went a week with no reviews, pimped in a little thread (that only one sweet person replied to), and got a rush of reviews immediately following it. You tell me if it's a coincidence or not.

I look at every thread in that forum, at the links given and the descriptions of the vids. If they look interesting, I download them. For me, it's a great way to get amvs you would have missed. But that's because I *do* come here to watch amvs. I don't come here to daydream about con videos. I look for vids I might enjoy, and anything that gets me new vids that I might enjoy, is a good thing.

No, it probably won't help with the contest. But who cares? I nominated a few vids that were pimped - ones I wouldn't have downloaded if they hadn't been pimped - so the self-promotion didn't hurt those people.

Was the self-promotion necessary? Not if they're con-goers instead of org-viewers. If they're sharing their vids with members of this site, it can't hurt.

Are we trying to limit the VCA forum to only promotions for other people's videos? And if so, why? Does it hurt you if someone doesn't have friends to mention his videos for him? Of course not. So why worry about it?