While it's a shame it had to come to this, I have to play devil's advocate. The way this contest was set up was pretty idiotic in the first place. If they are really going to go by this top 20 view count, than in truth, the viral video counts can be counted. The only chance these guys had was by putting the URL to the video anywhere they could, and it's worked. In the context of the rules, it's not cheating. Do I think it's a dick move? Yea, but it's legal according to these rules they gave. They could've totally avoided this though if the label chose the top 20 themselves are just went straight to the top 5.

I feel so annoyed by StudioB and humpedbackshack.

We all worked so hard on our covers and they're just passing us like we're nothing... and there's nothing we can even do about it. I should flag their fucking videos.

Goshin has a bit of a point, but the problem is "douchebags ruin everything". Yeah, they could have done it so advancing in the contest isn't based on views, but just because it is and just because you "can" doesn't mean that viewspamming should be an accepted alternative. Exploiting shit is still exploiting shit, whether or not there's "room" to do it or not.

I'm really not sure how youtube handles non-copyright issues. If everyone were to flag the said two vids as Spam -> Advertising or whatever, would there be a possible chance of action?

^I'm not going to flag their videos because we don't have [i]proof[/i]. Even if they are, and I'm pretty sure they are (especially that fucking My Foot cover), if you don't have any proof you can't really accuse them.

[quote="little_norbert"][quote="Marekenshin"]Far better than that meh FOTP cover that is in the top 20 already, that's for sure. :/[/quote]



If you're talking about this:[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXdlw6kLPhg[/url]


I actually liked that video a lot.[/quote]
I really liked that video. The only thing is his singing. Its good for the most part, but on his long notes he has a bit of dolphin call syndrome

Yeah, I thought it was good too. Like you said, it's the video part that I liked the most.

That My foot cover was fucking horrible. AND THEY CHEATED!!!
Fuck that, they were off tone the singing was atrocious.

Everyone flood the pillows message board/mailbox with your concerns. Suggest a better way to decide the top 20.

Is there proof that this "viewspamming" works?

^No. That's why we can't do anything.

We can't prove that they viewspammed. Seriously. They'll just say "we sent to all our friends". And, there's always the chance that they [i]didn't[/i] cheat anyways.

I don't think it's that bad though... Marekenshin and I aren't any danger of being removed from the top 20 because of it. It's only a few accounts that are suspicious anyways.

The number has increased...throw in healingflowers to the possible cheater's list too, they made as big a jump in views the last few days as any of those dicks.

When it comes down to it, the ones losing out are the 3 or so people who won't make the Top 20 because of people viewspamming or doing what StudioB's doing and passing the link out to every person they know. Which sucks, because the view count was already working against enough people, especially those who were late to submit their video (such as the acoustic/violin Fool on the Planet). All the people playing dirty are potentially "earning" themselves are spots in the Top 20 as the furthest they'll go in the contest, because their entries suck compared to everything that's rightfully there.

Now, don't the contest guidelines also say that they'll also be looking at the comments? Maybe, in the case of say StudioB, someone who's more fluent than I am should post a comment in Japanese stating that you don't think it's in the spirit of the contest and the pillows to be having random people viewing and commenting. People who very, very clearly aren't pillows fans (like the "y is this in japanese?!?" commenter). That'll have a lot better chance of being noticed by the right people (and probably overlooked by the wrong people).

Like Tidus said, because there's no proof, there's nothing that can be done about the view numbers themselves. And flaming back and forth won't do anything (well, or even if it would, there's already plenty of that to be noticed). But there still may be a few legitimate and respectful ways to raise concern, at least where wrongdoing is pretty blindingly apparent.

As far as I'm concerned the only video that is blatantly a full-on cheater is that My Foot cover. The commenters aren't even pillows fans at all. They're just random people. Also, the cover isn't that good, so you know they aren't watching any other covers, they're all just like "PERFECT FIVE STARS"! That's bull-crap.

I've heard the Carnival cover-guy runs a popular video site, so that would explain the rapid increase/sustained increase in views. And if you have a video site... wouldn't you exploit it as well?

As for the Back-Seat Dog cover, I've been talking to Mafu (person who upload it), and I don't think he's cheating. Unless he's lying to my (and the rest of Moletown's) face... which I don't even want to believe right now. Anyways, his cover is really unique so I think it deserves to be in the top 20.

It could be that he just sent it out to a lot of people at the last minute, but it's still a huge spike in views for ANY video, even the really popular ones, that he's gotten, which is hella suspect.

I think I'll comment in Japanese on that stupid-ass My Foot vid sometime bitching about cheating.

[quote="Marekenshin"]
I think I'll comment in Japanese on that stupid-ass My Foot vid sometime bitching about cheating.[/quote]

Great, then the pillows will see it:

Sawao: DAMN THIS VIDEO HAS A LOT OF VIEWS AND IT SOUNDS LIKE SHIT

Manabe: Hey look, "Tonight" said something!

Sawao: Accusations of cheating!?

Shin: ELIMINATE NAO

[quote="Tidusauron12"]^No. That's why we can't do anything.

We can't prove that they viewspammed. Seriously. They'll just say "we sent to all our friends". And, there's always the chance that they [i]didn't[/i] cheat anyways.

I don't think it's that bad though... Marekenshin and I aren't any danger of being removed from the top 20 because of it. It's only a few accounts that are suspicious anyways.[/quote]
I didn't say to prove that they [i]did[/i] "viewspam". I'm saying let them know that people could easily cheat to get into the top 20 and suggest a better system. Worth a shot.